My PC has become increasingly useless in the face of new games, so I have been forced to examine options to upgrade. The various routes to rejoining the gaming fastlane effectively come down to money. My current system is a very underpowered 486. The options I have described are all based on upgrading my particular machine but many of the principles will apply to a variety of platforms. Each section is based on a particular budget and shows exactly what gaming potential you can get for your hard-earned cash.
American prices tend to be much lower.
The prices of various components seem to change each week, so don't be surprised if any of my estimates are wrong. This is the basic PC that I will be building on or even totally replacing. There's really not much to say about this system except that it's a jolly good job we're going to be upgrading it. As you may have guessed from the title, this option is somewhat easy on the finances. Both the new 486 chip and the extra RAM only cost about 25 Ukp each.