New to upgrading and need some advice

TwoKingMick

Hi all,

I have a Packard Bell istart f2312 that I got reasonably cheaply.

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/item/?m=home&pn=PB82119801

I've already upgraded the RAM with no incident. I've noticed that although I have 2g of RAM about 250mb of it is awol in my system information. Is this because the video card I have borrows the system's ram?

Either way, I want to upgrade the video card to get a little more out of the games I'm playing. I'm looking at an nVidea 7800 or 8800gt, can I run these on my system? Are they overkill for someone who doesn't really play a lot of games?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, obviously I only have a very basic idea of what I'm on about here,

Thanks,

Mick

AlmightyCushion

It's more than likely the graphics card stealing the memory.

What type of games do you plan on playing? I think the 8800gt is only €155 now so it's crazy cheap.

TwoKingMick

The games I've been trying to get running and looking good are company of heroes and opposing fronts. I haven't had any trouble with anything else to be honest.

Sqaull20

I'd say you will need a new power supply if you want to put in a very good graphics card...

You could get away without putting in a new power supply by getting a 7600gt or something similar...

Design_Dude

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

It's more than likely the graphics card stealing the memory.

What type of games do you plan on playing? I think the 8800gt is only €155 now so it's crazy cheap.

Even if the gcard was stealing the memory, it would still show up in the system info as pretty much the full amount.

My experiences of those Packard bells, is that the motherboard and cpu are pretty budget/poor. Even if you up the ram, the performance still wont be great. Check to see if you can upgrade the CPU without too much cost.

The PSU would be grand id say, unless you want to start overclocking.

snellers

worth mentioning that you should double check you have a pci-e slot available. these cheaper machines tend to have onboard graphics cards and no (or limited) ability to upgrade the graphics and cpu.....I have been down the same path before and realised i was trying to put a Ferari engine in a Lada car chasis ...the chasis would simply not cope with the power...etc...etc....(bottom line is your machine will only be as good as its weakest component ....)

mathias

The support site is not bad for that PC actually , there is a picture of the motherboard on the site , there is a PCI express slot free on the board , and the missing memory is taken up by onboard graphics

http://support.packardbell.com/uk/item/index.php?i=spec_rc415st&ppn=PB82119801

The power supply is standard and so is the motherboard ( its a matx ) , so upgrading pretty much anything should be OK

TerrorFirmer

Design_Dude wrote: »

The PSU would be grand id say, unless you want to start overclocking.

I highly doubt it, the last iStart PSU I saw was a 200w mAtx psu with 17a on the 12v....good luck trying to run an 8800GT on that.

It does have a pci-e slot, however, and the power supply will get by OK with an old 7600GT, which is enough to run Company of Heroes at high settings. I can't seem to find any on Komplett, Dabs or Elara, it's like they've pulled them all overnight, though all the older 7 series are there...

Hit E-bay, you should get a 7600GT for 30-40 euro.

Otherwise, you're looking at a new power supply and a new card, which is going to cost at least 200 for a remotely decent psu and card (Black Diamond 500w + 9600GT, price based on, anything underneath that psu is not going to be up to much)

TwoKingMick

First of all, thanks for the quick responses. I'm nearly as confused now as I was when I started! Is there any way I can find out for sure what I can run? If not I'll just follow terrorfirmer's advice and go for a 7600gt. It's still a huge step up from the ati 1100 I have at the moment.

TerrorFirmer

Is there any way I can find out for sure what I can run?

Open up your case, take a picture of the label on the side of the power supply and post it here.

go for a 7600gt. It's still a huge step up from the ati 1100 I have at the moment.

Probably the best course of action. COH runs great on the 7600GT, so no point spending more then you have to on such an outdated machine.

TwoKingMick

My current power supply is 250watt from the FSP Group inc. Model no. FSP250-60HEN, p/n 6983860000( cant find it on their website but it is mentioned on other forums ).

I think I'll plump for the 7600 gt so. I'll start hitting ebay tonight. Thanks for all the help guys.

TerrorFirmer

I have run a 7600GT on the very same power supply. Ran great. Good brand of power supply.

TwoKingMick

I have a 7600gt in my computer now, running CoH at the highest resolution and high settings at 56 fps. Thanks for all the help guys.