Tech Help Needed.... come on you geeks!:)

[Hurrikane]

Hi, this is to all those helpful and knowledgeable people who actually know how computers work.

My set-up: A Compaq Presario, with AMD Athlon 64 +3200, 512mb RAM, ATi Radeon Graphics Express, and Windows Xp. (Barely able to run the game). I've had a 128mb RAM card added, which seemed to help the game a little.

I want: more memory (RAM) (512+128 to 512+512).

A better graphics card (Ideally, would one that works well with Phys-x be best, as EU is the computers main task?), and a decent sound card that will allow me to adequately record and mix live music input.

I'd also like the damn thing to not be clogged up with all the crap it seems to have picked up (Norton shows 3 quarantined Trojans...which I can't help thinking is a bad thing....).

What I would like is the names/numbers of all I need to buy that would serve me best, where to get it, how much it costs, and how to install it! (not asking much, eh?)

Please bear in mind when replying that you are talking to someone who only learned what "copy/paste" was last week

 

[Agar]

(...)
I want: more memory (RAM) (512+128 to 512+512).

Yep! Although I would consider 1GB as a minimum nowadays.
Atm, I just have a notebook with 512Mb, and my harddisk is highly stressed
(little memory -> big swap file -> bad performance ).

A better graphics card (Ideally, would the Phys-x one be best, as EU is the computers main task?), and a decent sound card that will allow me to adequately record and mix live music input.

The PhysX card is not a graphics card
It is a physics acceleration card and a physics engine for games. You can play EU very well without it. EU has already implemented the PhysX engine and a PhysX card is optional.
Hmm, sound cards are not that important, except for you are going to use your computer as a recording studio. Sure, there are things like surround sound in some games... but EU?

I'd also like the damn thing to not be clogged up with all the crap it seems to have picked up (Norton shows 3 quarantined Trojans...which I can't help thinking is a bad thing....).

Hmm, firewall, virus scanner, periodical updates, and no visits on xxx sites

What I would like is the names/numbers of all I need to buy that would serve me best, where to get it, how much it costs, and how to install it! (not asking much, eh?)

ehh, according to prices I can only give hints on the german market...
And according to parts: How much money will you spend?

Just my , hope it helped a bit.

 

[Legion]

erm.. it's a compaq... get a new one.. totally

other than that good soundcard soundblaster x-fi fatalaty or platinum.

 

[AndromedaDiablo]

buy a 1024 mb ddr 400mhz stick much better with 1,5gb ram