[Albino]

Hi,

I am having troubles with my computer, in that running games seems to be a problem for it. It is reasonably new (only 3 months) but I get the impression that my graphics card is really not great. If any one has any suggestions for an upgrade, then please let me know. Here's my specs:



Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name USER-CD12A470E2 (Tim's Computer)
User Name Owner

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 3000 MHz (15 x 200)
Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-8S661FXMP-RZ / 8S661GXMP(-C) (3 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset SiS 661FX/GX
System Memory 480 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award Modular (09/27/04)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter SiS 661FX (32 MB)
3D Accelerator SiS 330 Mirage Integrated
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (12321)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter SiS 7012 Audio Device

Storage:
IDE Controller SiS 5513 IDE UDMA Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive Maxtor 6Y120L0 (120 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
Optical Drive LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1673S (DVD+R9:4x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/24x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 117232 MB (39938 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse PS/2 Compatible Mouse

Network:
Network Adapter Belkin 802.11g Wireless Card (192.168.2.7)
Network Adapter SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter

Peripherals:
Printer Auto HP LaserJet 5L on FAMILY
Printer HP LaserJet 5L
USB1 Controller SiS 7001 PCI-USB Open Host Controller
USB1 Controller SiS 7001 PCI-USB Open Host Controller
USB1 Controller SiS 7001 PCI-USB Open Host Controller
USB2 Controller SiS 7002 USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
USB Device PD308 Net Camera



I'm sure you didn't need half of that, but I'm not sure what exactly is what.


Thanks for your help


Albino

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As far as gaming with newer games, your system doesn't seem to be cut out for it.

Notably-

Video Adapter SiS 661FX (32 MB)
System Memory 480 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)

For most games nowadays you need around 128mb of video ram and at least an AGP card (Integrated and PCI don't usually make the grade) and at least 512 mb of ram usually. Was this a computer you built yourself or something from a brand-name like dell or HP or something of the like? Running windows XP, I would also reccomend you make an upgrade to the amount of system RAM you have.

[MikeFromNY]

As far as gaming with newer games, your system doesn't seem to be cut out for it.

Notably-

Video Adapter SiS 661FX (32 MB)
System Memory 480 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)

For most games nowadays you need around 128mb of video ram and at least an AGP card (Integrated and PCI don't usually make the grade) and at least 512 mb of ram usually. Was this a computer you built yourself or something from a brand-name like dell or HP or something of the like? Running windows XP, I would also reccomend you make an upgrade to the amount of system RAM you have.

[warriorscot]

You could do with an upgarde to about a gig of ram at least(1024mb) if you want to play new games; and the graphics card in it, well it doesnt have one, it has onboard graphics which at the best of times is poor. If you get a program called cpu-z and run that it will tell you your system specs but its simple and it will tell you the speed of your AGP port which will determine how good a card you can buy, the best you can get is one of the AGP x850s or 6800 ultras as they dont make any of the new cards for AGP sockets now.

[Mr.Chow]

^^ Bout wut u said abou cpu-z ... is it really all that aucurate ? i have herd talk that it is a lil .... wierd at times ...

[Thebinaryman]

you really have 512mb of ram right now!! sis chipsets "steal" any given ammount of your system ram to use as video ram, when you get a new video card, and disable the onboard video, you will have 512 mb of ram. that should be decent for now, your biggest downfall is your video card, i would recomend a 6600 or higher, get a new card, and deal with your ram as soon as you can after you get a new video card. from the looks of it (your SiS 661FX/GX chipset) you should be able to get most agp 8x cards, depending on your power supply.

[Albino]

woah....slow down einsteins, I don't know too much about these things. Okay, I normally buy things off this site www.aria.co.uk so what would I buy from there in order to make my machine better? Or, is there any where cheaper for these things? So I need a new graphics card/ video card (are these the same thing?) and some new RAM. Do I need a new motherboard? As for the computer, it was custom built technically; www.acmw-trade.co.uk have the option for you to choose components, and they build the machines for you.

thanks for help


Albino

[warriorscot]

Well websites ebuyer and overclockers are the best ive found overclockers have the best selection of quality hardware and ebuyer is the cheapest for most things.

CPU-Z is a very nice little peice of software and ive never heard of any problems with it. And ive been using it and reccomending it for a quite a while now.

Well a new 512mb stick at the same speed as the other stick will do you fine on the ram front and gfx card just look and see what speed of agp port you have(it says on cpu-z under graphical interface on i think the mainboard tab) and pick an AGP card to suit.

[Albino]

I downloaded CPU-Z, and this is what I know.

CPU-Z Report
CPU-Z version 1.30.

CPU(s)
Number of CPUs 2 (1 Physical)
CPU#1 APIC ID = 0
Name Intel Pentium 4
Code Name Prescott
Specification Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Family / Model / Stepping F 4 1
Extended Family / Model 0 0
Package mPGA-478
Core Stepping E0
Technology 0.09 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3
CPU Clock Speed 3001.0 MHz
Clock multiplier x 15.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 200.1 MHz
Bus Speed 800.3 MHz
L1 Data Cache 16 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kµops, 8-way set associative
L2 Cache 1024 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 3001.0 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 256 bits
CPU#2 APIC ID = 1
CPU Name Intel Pentium 4 (logical unit)

Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Motherboard model GA-8S661FXMP-RZ, x.x
BIOS vendor Award Software International, Inc.
BIOS revision F1
BIOS release date 09/27/2004
Chipset SiS 661FX rev. 11
Southbridge SiS 964 rev. 36
Sensor chip IT 8712

Memory
# of memory modules 1
Module 0 Nanya Technology DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes

Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX version 9.0c




If anyone could direct me to any new approriate hardware I'd be gratful, I'm not familiar with good or bad components or what is needed and can run together for that matter.


Thanks


Albino

[Thebinaryman]

albino--

like many of us have said, a new video card is your most important upgrade.

look for ANY video card with the folowing specs (this will ensure one that is FAR better than your existing onboard video), this is in my opinion, a minimum for a performance card. other users feel free to post your opinions on specs also!

-nVidia or ATI
-AGP 8x connnection (albino's mobo doesnt have pcie)
-128MB or more memory
-128-bit or higher memory interface
-DDR or better memory
-gpu speed the faster the better, look for over 300MHz

if youre confused, if you prefer an ATI card, i sugest a raedon x700 or x800 series or better, i think the best is an x850???, correct me if i'm wrong.

if you prefer nVidia, i would sugest a geforce 6 series, (higher than 6200) or better, ex 6600gt, 6800, 6800gt, 6800 ultra, if you are really into gaming. as far as i know the 7 series are not made in agp 8x form, only pci-e 16x

look at newegg.com, or tigerdirect.com

those are trustworthy stores, and are very painless to buy from.

albino, i dont know your budget, but if it were me, i would get this card:
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814133137
price $150

specs:

Brand PNY
Model VCG6600GAPB
Chipset
GPU Geforce 6600GT
Core clock 500MHz
PixelPipelines 8
Memory
Memory Clock 900MHz
Memory Size 128MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR3

very high reviews

Edited by Thebinaryman, 01 November 2005 - 09:00 PM.

[Albino]

Hi,

Thanks Mr Binaryman. Is this the same card that you linked me?

PNY GEFORCE 6600 128MB DDR VGA DVI TVOUT

I live in England, so I tried to find it on an english site as opposed to the American one. Or if there is better for than that I can have, then that's okay too; money isn't a problem, just need a decent computer.


Also, what RAM would I need if I were to get more? I want to upgrade to a Gig, but no idea what RAM I need to buy.



thanks

Edited by Albino, 02 November 2005 - 07:29 AM.

[jrm20]

No that one you linked has pci express, you dont have pci express.

Your motherboard has agp 8X.


If I were you I would get this card as a minimum

http://www.misco.co......20OUT DVI.htm

its a 6600 gt has 256 Mb ram more that the one you guys chose and is a gt version. It has 16 Gigabytes per second.


If you want more memory for your pc you need pc 3200 memory.

Edited by jrm20, 02 November 2005 - 08:45 AM.

[Albino]

Much thanks, jrm20. Will buy that card tomorrow. As for RAM, you say pc3200, so are ALL of these okay? Any idea which is best? Again, money is not a problem.

thanks again

[jrm20]

Your options are limited because your motherboard only has 2 memory slots and you are already using one.

I would tell you to get corsair but they come in pairs on that site so just get pny 512mb stick or a pny 1 gb stick of ram. That is the best brand they carry there that will work for you.


Go with


http://www.misco.co......HZ/PC3200.htm

or


http://www.misco.co......HZ/PC3200.htm

I recommend the 1gb stick so total you would have 1.5 gb of ram, not shabby at all.

Edited by jrm20, 02 November 2005 - 11:57 AM.

[Albino]

Much thanks for the help all. I would not have known where to start.

Will buy the parts today, and hopefully my problem will be solved.

I plan to do a lot of work with CAD and film editing with Premiere Pro 1.5, so hopefully this will make things faster.

By the way, I assume that if i buy two of the 1GB sticks, then I can replace my existing one, and give me 2GB RAM instead? Or even is it possible to get a new, better motherboard, keep my original RAM and get the 2GB more, and then maybe also stick two of those GeForce cards in? Or is that maybe a bit excessive?

Thanks again




Albino.

Edited by Albino, 03 November 2005 - 07:16 AM.

[jrm20]

You only need a new video card and more memory, those two are what is slowing down your pc.

If you will be gaming alot I can find you a faster video card.

You can get a new motherboard with pci express for video cards but you will be spending more money.

You can also get two 1gb sticks of ram and take out your old.

Many options. Its up to you to decide.