upgrading my first real pc HELP PLZ

Buy the AMD Phenom X4 9750 Quad Core Processor at TigerDirect.ca is the processor i am looking at i dont really know what mobo i have and looking for some cheapish alternative to a speed boost using mostly stock well kinda got a nivida gts 250 1gb oc and vista home premium 32 bit mostly goin for gaming but not alot of funds with a child n all and i am going to upgrade my psu but dont know what size i should get and my pc is a acer am1201 windows rating is 5.2 cause of prcessor but everything else is 5.9 but it is real slugish now and virtually clean like 3 games and some base programs and music total of 23 gigs used outta the 320 and takes like 5min to boot up now and i just wiped it like a week ago and made no difference to boot speed ran all the clean ups including nortons and i thought it was norton slowin me down but even after wipe and no norton still plugin it lol i am pretty sure taht processor will work but this is my first time upgradin a pc so kinda new but i know a bit not fully but got some knowledge anyways this is long pls help thnx

You might better off using 64 bit in this case. And upgrade to 4 GB or more RAM. If you want to fully utilize your computer/hardware. 64 bit is where you will need to go.

There is also a tutorial on how to increase the performance on vista is Tutorial section. i am sorry that I am not good with hyperlinks.

I hope this helps.

so upgrading to 64 bit windows would make a bigger diference then upgrading to quad core processor and yeah for sure thinkin ram but at the point i am at 3.2 is max so only need 1 gig there so i should up to windows vista 64bit or should i go with 7? i know i need a new psu either way sause only got the stock 250w and suprisingly enough my 250 gts works so to go about upgrading all i have to do is get windows ultimate put on right lol thats bad eh

Heres a good example.

You can upgrade your processor as much as possible but if you are stuck with 3 Gigs of RAM there is no point. Going to 64 Bit allows you to go up to 128Gb of RAM. Yes that is impossible by todays standards but that is what you can do. Personally for me...more RAM is better. A pc at 2.0 GHz is fast, but restricted on RAM is what hurts. Going to 3Ghz is even faster...but once again...stuck at 3GB of RAM is a waste.

A dual core with 4 GB of RAM running 64 bit OS will run faster and more efficient that a quad core with 3GB of RAM stuck on a 32 bit OS.

I have a dual core laptop with x64 Vista Home, and I have a Dual Quad Core Xeon workstation I work on everyday with 32 bit Vista Business and my laptop beats it hands down. If that pc had 64 bit on it...that would be an awesome computer.

Upgraded to 7 will only help if you upgrade to the 64 bit. If you truely want to utilize your pc to its full potential. 64 bit is the way to go.

Upgrading everything else is your choice...but for me I would stick what I have a go to a 64 bit OS.

yes taht does make sense but i did not realize that this was so limited compared to the 64 bit that is intense well that is the upgrade i am doin but i have never installed windows b4 lol i have wiped and rebooted but is it a intense process or should i take it in and have it done?

Buy the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64BIT - OEM DVD at TigerDirect.ca is this what ya talkin about lol

If what you are buying is a Legit copy with a Serial Key then yes you are fine. When you purchase the Windows 7 its comes with 2 DVDs. It comes with a 32 bit and a 64 bit. The install will be the same as any other Vista install. You shouldnt have a problem. You can probably do it yourself.

Boot from the Disc and you will be on your way.

Hope this helps and good luck.

yes thanks alot man i really apreciate it and i will do taht before i put more into this and get no boost lol thanks for the tip and also so i just start the cd when my comp is on and it wipes vista and puts on 7 or open the bios on startup lol i am sure i can get it after taht and i got another pc with 7 on it but my parents and it is 32 bit so i can still look some stuff up if **** hits the fan so to speak

You should probably just start the computer with the dvd in the tray, it should automatically boot on the dvd then give you the choices including installing Windows 7. If it does not, it will be a pleasure for us to help you with this too. I have always booted from the disk when installing, because I think it's better, but I don't think you can start the 64bit installation while running 32bit Windows, the reason I think you should boot from the disk.

I'm seconding Blackhawk's suggestions here and telling you that you just have to upgrade the RAM and OS to 64bit, where you will have a really good performance boost for less (I think it will be for less). I personnally have an Athlonx2 as well with 4GB of RAM and Vista 64bit and it starts in well under one minute. Windows 7 is much better than this too if you're doing the upgrade, so yes (and I'm buying it for my desktop too!), as it will stay updated longer.

well i finaly figured out what was miking it take like 5 min to start it was i cant remember now but the thing laptops use to search for other monitorrs cause there is 1 vga and 3 dvi ports on my comp and turned on the 2nd processor on boot and it starts in lik 55 seconds i shaved off lik 4 minutes i am so happy again but i am still gettin 7 64 bit just cause 32 bit is way to limited for the upgrades i want overtime basically rebuilding the whole thing one piece at a time

but thanks alot i really apreciate it and if i have any problems i will be right here asking questions and when i get 64 bit i will have plenty of questions boxing day be prepared lol thanks :P