[Woomera]

the last 3,4 games that i tried to play on my pc was too slow.so i need to know whats the problem or what i need to change(hardware).so any idea's with these informations :
ram:512mb
cpu:athlon xp 2.6+
graphic card:Gainward geforce fx 5600 256mb
windows:xp sp2
mainboard:gigabyte 7n400
and recently in some resolutions with an specified refresh rate my monitor start flicking.anyone seen this before?
thanks you all for a perfect forum
and the game that i played:(that ran slow)
riddick
demon stone
soldner
medal of honor 2
thanks again

[Astalavista]

how much is your budget?

u need more RAM ddr 400 1 GB

get a better motherboard the 775 sockets are out and cheaper

get a faster processor

Get a SATA hard drive 80 or 160 GB

[venim]

Well in which resolution do U want them do be played?

Maybe you have a lot of proccesses running and is your pc slowing down.

What do U mean by slowing down?Graphics or performance?

[XtremeMaC]

hmm i don't think u need to buy anything.
yea resolution is important. try lowers
also did u install the chipset drivers? just as of yesterday a friend of mine had the same problem and it wasn't any fancy game we were playing CnC Red Alert 2. so i suggest u check the drivers.

[venim]

Yeah get the latest drivers for your hardware defrag your hdd.

Whatelse....Yes you don't need to buy anything.

Everything depends on what you're willing to see in games from your computer.

[matrix0978]

I would also set your OpenGL instead of normal put all to Max Performace.

[SiMoNsAyS]

well i would format and reinstall everything before going out to buy something.

at the moment the most important for gamers is to have the latest graphic gard. i would go for one of those ATI XTs. next with that hardware config the best is to increase the ram (a total of 1gb should be enough if is ddr400). you didn't talk about your HD, if you want to move over sata you'll also need to buy a new mobo that i don't recomment.
cpu is enough so have fun and tell us how you ran HL2

[DigeratiPrime]

wait look at the Processor he' using is that a "2600" and is it a Barton Core? Thats not really 2.6Ghz and what speed is the Memory?

Otherwise you probably have alot of stuff running on your computer i bet, more Memory is what id guess.

[XtremeMaC]

okay i still do not think u need to buy anything but if u really have to u should get a new graphics card.

here's my setup:
cpu: Athlon 2500+ (1.83ghz)
ram: Kingston 512MB ram pc2700 (333mhz)
gcard: Leadtek Geforce 6800gt 256mb
mb: Asus A7V8X-X
os: xp sp2
hdd1: hitachi | 160gb | 7200rpm |ata 133 | 8mb cache
hdd2: w&d | 120gb | 7200rpm | ata 100 | 8 mb cache
hdd3: seagate | 40gb | 7200rpm | ata 100 | 2mb cache

i can play all of the games like hl2, doom3 etc.at high quality with 16x aa..., i do need to get more ram though, nothing else.

u definitely don't need to move to SATA! nor need to get a new mobo.

[Woomera]

my ram is kingstone 512mb 333,and my hdd is maxtore 120gb.
and for resolution,for example for RIDDICK i got all the options on the lowest and from my graphic driver that is the latest one i disabled all the graphical options and still its slow.
and my problem is not with the grahic ,its with performance.
and im sure its not from my process's .just wanna know changing what part of my pc make the biggest diffrence?
and about my pocket,i just can take one shot.
ex: buy a new mainboard and cpu
or buy the geforce fx5900
they cost me nearly same.
thanks guys youre all cool

[XtremeMaC]

don't get the fx5900, for that much money get ati 9800pro or xt.
or better shot get one of the newest 6600 series they're cheaper then 6800's but i'm not quite sure if they've agp version, i think they do

anyways i suggest u look at
http://www.tomshardw...1004/index.html
http://www.tomshardw...1222/index.html

before making any decisions on graphics cards..

i suggest u to get ram & graphics card.

also come to think about it check if u have spyware, virus, too many apps running, too many start-up items. etc stuff like that.. defrag as well then decide..

[Woomera]

yep i updated it 2 days ago(NOD32) and i checked the whole system.
i saw the tomshardware.but my biggest problem is with the manufactor's.
i mean wich graphic board is better? msi?gigabyte?leadtek?...?
please help me with that,i found nothin about that on tomshardware.
and is there any site for this that i can compare the prices between these products?
thanks alot.

[puntoMX]

I would go for a nVidia 6600GT or 6800SE card, both 128MB and AGP. You can unlock a lot on the 6800SE, that makes it a SE, with RivaTuner. These cards work well with pixel shader model 2 and 3, and that’s what these games like to use!

Also, buy an extra 256MB DIMM, most of the games are asking for a minimum of 256MB but will run a lot better on 512MB.

XtremeMaC is right in his postings. DON´T go for HYPED UP system specs, like 1GB RAM, 256MB video RAM, S-ATA HDDs (with or without 8MB cache).

So, go by steps, first change the video card, and then put more RAM...


PS, any brand will do fine, most of the 6600GT / 6800SE cards are the same.
I personaly like MSI and ASUS. (I don´t know how advanced Iran is, but if it´s like Mexico you will have problems finding good cards...)

[XtremeMaC]

forgot to mention
check this page
http://www.community.tomshardware.com/foru...=collapsed&sb=5

it contains list of good & bad brands for both ati & nvidia solutions.
i've leadtek. i didn't get asus 6800gt because it was 128mb instead of 256 and it was about the same price.. i ordered mine to a friend from usa who was coming to Turkey, so only card exist at 6800 level was the normal version of 6800, but 6600 is more popular on the shelves..

i thing i know about ati brands is to avoid powercolor my friend bought it b4 toms hardware got their guide up

okay just for quick review here are cards to avoid:

Quote

Cards to Avoid


GeForce FX5600 (non-Ultra)/XT

Pros- DX9 support
Cons- Gets wasted by Radeons. Not good value for money


GeForce FX5600 Ultra rev1.0/2.0

Pros- DX9 support, fairly good DX8 performance (rev2.0)
Cons- Poor DX9 perforamance, Radeon 9600 Pro and faster cards are much better for both DX8 and DX9. Not good value for money


GeForce FX5900 SE/XT, GeForce PCX 5900 (PCI Express)

Pros- DX9 support, excellent DX8 performance, good AA/AF peformance
Cons- poor DX9 performance, and you can get a Radeon 9800 Pro for little more, which is a better card in every area. Radeon X700 Pro (and of course faster GeForce 6600GT, Radeon X700XY) is a much better choice in PCI express segment.


Radeon 9800SE

Pros- DX9 support
Cons- 128 bit memory versions are slower than Radeon 9600 Pro, rare 256 bit memory versions are very hard to find which perform on par with Radeon 9600 Pro. Both versions are poor value for money


Radeon 9800 Pro (128 bit memory version)

Comment- Recently we've seen many Radeon 9800 Pro with crippled 128 bit memory. This makes Radeon 9800 Pro only little better than Radeon 9600XT. If you can find one for R9600 XT price, then you may consider buying this card, but R9600 XT has other advantages like less power consumption and ability to run without extra power connector.

XGI Volari V8 Duo Ultra

Pros- DX9 support
Cons- Not impressive performance in common benchmarks, very poor performance in games that usually aren't used as benchmark, quality issues, Very slow SuperSampling AA technology, only 4x AF, extremely poor driver, hard to find, very expensive
Comment: Buy this card only if you want a dual GPU card for your collection. Get a real card for gaming


OBSOLETE HIGH END CARDS :

Radeon 9800XT, Radeon 9800 Pro (256 MB version), GeForce FX5950 Ultra, GeForce FX5900 Ultra

This post has been edited by XtremeMaC: 27 January 2005 - 06:12 PM

[mark]

Try what SiMoNsAyS first. You make it sound like these games just started to behave poorly and didn't before. If they behave the same after a format and re-install, then the situation should be clearer for you. If they improve in performance, then you have done the least expensive method.

DL

[puntoMX]

6600... 6600GT that is, other ones are normaly PCI-E(8x). The GT is the only one as far as I know that is for AGP .

EDIT: DL, I thought he checked his system and that they were slow from the beginning ?

[Woomera]

thank you guys.
actually i wanna do what you said,and im glad that i shared this cause i wanted to buy the FX5900XT ,but now im goin for fx6600(gt if not much more expensive) or
x700(gt if not ...) and maybe ill upgrade from 512mb ram to 1gb if any money left
ah,one last question,is there any diffrent on 256mb graphic car from 128 in gaming? cause the prices have so much diffrence.
thanks.

[XtremeMaC]

well nowadays ppl say that there isn't much need for 256mb, i personally got 256 bc i've decided not to buy another graphics card for a long while.

but if u read reviews not so much difference in 256/128.

the price difference is not only dependant on the mb, i don't exactly know what u're referring to but last i checked 128mb ones had less pixel, slower core, ddr2, smaller fan stuff like that.

first thing u'll realize between the specific models of a brand is the card's memory and core clock. SE's slower, GT's better, Ultra's much more better. but ppl easily overclock the SE's & GT's to get ultra's performance at the cost of buying a cooler and probably some stuff else...

ask the guys over tomshardware's community (forum), they're the guru's

[puntoMX]

To get ULTRAs you need to do some heavy modding. Not only bigger coolers are needed but also you need to do a voltage mod, so you have to change parts on the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) and change some SMD-resistors .

Most of the 6800SEs have 700MHz DDR that will work without a mod on 800-880MHz, over clocking the core will be harder, lets say from 350 to 375MHz, enabling shades will give a bigger performance boost. It uses a 256bit bus with the MEM.

The 6600GT (YOU NEED A GT ELSE IT´S PCI-E(8x)!) has 900MHz GDDR3 (like the latest 5700 and 59x0) that will be easy over clocked to 1000-1100MHz (like the ULTRAS ) The core is most of the time 500MHz but has only 128bit bus with the MEM (but don’t worry about that with these cards)

I hope that helps... I would also go for the 6600GT (128MB) AGP8x card for the price...

PS. that x700 would be from ATI, and it´s NOT AGP! You need the 9700 for that, and that one isn´t fast enough for you...

[Woomera]

thank you all.that really helped.

i didnt actualy knew that buying a graphic card need that much inof's.