What is better for gaming? CPU, RAM, Video card,...?

I bought my PC about a year ago. It has ran perfectly for me since now, when I have bought Vista. Now, since I love it, I'll stay with Vista, but also an excellent PC is required for the latest PC games. With the current system, I decided to upgrade my PC slowly. What would be the most important and vital thing to buy first, that would run my games and the whole PC better.



Current system:



CPU: AMD Athlon 3500+

RAM: 1,5 GB

OS: Windows Vista, Home Basic

Video card: RV530 LE (Video RAM: 260MB)|||Based upon your current specification, I'd say the first place to start should be your graphics card. Both the New Nvidia and ATI cards would be ideal for your specification, with the processor being AMD, some find that the ATI cards, like the one you currently have work better with the Athlon's as opposed to Intel and Nvidia. Definitely consider a higher Video RAM, a minimum of 512Mb.



1.5 Gb of ram is ideal for Vista, although for a lot of gain you could consider upgrading a little more, anything 2gb+ will give big performance increases as Vista does consume a fair amount of RAM.



The Proccessor is one of the most complicated things to change, but the Athlon 3500+ is not a bad processor, and leaving it the same would be your best bet in my opinion. If you know a little about overclocking, you could also consider doing that, a little at a time.|||You really love Vista Basic? That's the worst OS. Upgrade to Home Premium soon, for the best gaming experience. Also, the best video card is nVidia GeForce 9800GTX. Buy an AMD processor better than 2.5 GHz. Look for at least or 4 GB RAM. Ask your computer retailer before buying any of the components. They must be compatible with your system.|||the most important thing for gaming is the video card BUUUUUT you also need RAM... it's not as important but you should have at least 2 GB, 1.5 might be ok but it's sorta pushing it... so if you had to make an investment for gaming, its the video card...|||first upgrade your video card to something that is 512mb like an 8800 GT (nVidia) or maybe a Radeon HD 4850 (ATI)



however this all depends on your games your looking to play and what your motherboard is compatible with....more specs are needed for better answers.|||definitely a graphics card|||Overall, a graphics card is needed most. But if you have a 3500+ and a kickass graphics card, it wont do you any good. Another example is using a Q6600 intel CPU chip with a not-so-good graphics card. It isnt equally balanced. You need to equally balance everything for best performance. As for RAM, I recommend 4GB or more since you are running on vista.



I see you are deciding to upgrade your PC slowly. Best place to start first is a brand new motherboard. Remember to get a motherboard that works for your CPU. Because you are going to get a new motherboard, you must get a different set of RAM sticks that also needs to checked in order to see if it fits. And then comes the Graphics card or also known as the GPU. Get a GPU that works best for your CPU.



An E6XXX, Q6XXX, Q9XXX runs great with an 8800 or if you are loaded with cash, go with the GTX280.



Remember to make sure everything fits perfectly. You dont want a 780i motherboard with a AMD CPU. Look for the socket type.