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System Questions

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First post, by dulphinia

Posted on 
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Hello,
I recently came across a COMPAQ Desktop PC Presario SR1610NX(ED865AA) Sempron 3200+ 256MB DDR 80GB HDD ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Integrated Windows XP Home. It had no operating system but I installed Windows XP home edition. I'm trying to run Fable and some older Windows 98 games. Dungeon Keeper, Dune, and Command and Conquer are just a few on the list. The computer says it won't run Fable. Do I need a video card? I've been looking at them and they are compatible with XP up to the GTX 960 and the Titan but I am unsure if this computer is compatible. Is this even a good processor for this era or should I look for something different?

Reply 1 of 1, by Horun

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Yes it is OK for an XP era computer but you need to improve 2 things:
A PCIe video card if you really want to improve the computer, it does not have to be as fancy as a GTX 960. Even a nV 8800GT (~ $25 on ebay) would be better than the onboard video, .
AND: Increase the ram, 256Mb is not enough to run XP proper for gaming or really anything I can think of (a clean XP will suck near 1/3-1/2 of it just at idle, no apps running).
I would upgrade to 4 x 1Gb sticks (max board allows) even if running XP 32bit.
You also should upgrade the cpu to a non-Sempron version. https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/msi-ms-7184-v1.x-2
but one thing at a time 😀
I hope you did not pay a lot for it. Seen them for anywhere from $25 at thrift stores to $300 at rip-off places.

added: I hope you actually checked the hardware and am not just going by some manual. It could have had a few upgrades along the way.
Check My Computer > Properties and also Device Manager....example below

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

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