Help upgrading PC

ger101

Hey all.

I don't know much about computers and I was wondering if you guys can help me out? I want to upgrade my Packard Bell IMEDIA 1508/2, but I don't know if the items I want to buy are compatible.

Here's what I want buy:

Graphics card (Because I have a crappy on-board GeForce 6200LE 128MB):
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=345992

Power supply (Need it for EVGA GeForce 8800GTX):
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=340678

RAM (Getting two of these so I'd have 4GB RAM):
http://www.crucial.com/eu/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=7E40E1DCA5CA7304


So, are these compatible with my PC?

Many thanks in advance!

sink

Those components should work but the rest of your system is going to cause a serious bottleneck. Your system only has a single core pentium 4 3.06 GHz which is pretty slow. The 8800gtx would be overkill for your system, plus at 299 euro it is incredibly overpriced. You could get a HD 4870 for 237 which is faster, or a 9800GTX+ for 175, which is about the same as a 8800GTX. But your system could only handle a HD 3870 or a 9600GT. Any faster and you would see greater benefit upgrading by replacing your motherboard and CPU.

sink

I also forgot to mention 4gb of ram is pointless unless you are running vista 64-bit. 2gb of ram is more than enough for any game in xp.

ger101

Thanks sink!

I have a few more questions though.

How do I know a PCI-E 2.0 card will fit into my PC? I looked inside it and I saw just "PCI-Express" not "PCI-Express 2.0". I was told that the 8800GTX was a good card for gaming, which is what I'm upgrading for, that's why I chose it.

Also, I'm just looking for a card that can play F.E.A.R., S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Crysis (If it's possible, LOL!) and Oblivion on medium/high settings.

BTW, what do you mean by "Overkill for your system"?

sink

By overkill I mean that the preformance of the 8800gtx or similar will be held back by the cpu. It would be like sticking a turbo into a 998cc nissan micra. You probably would not see a difference in preformance between the 9600gt and the 8800gtx.

PCI-E 2.0 x16 cards are backwards compatible with PCI-E x16. They have identical phsyical connections. 8800GTX was a good card (I have two of them) but they are almost 2 years old and better cheaper alternates have since been released. FEAR and Oblivion should play very well. Stalker and crysis really benefit from a dual core processor so you might have to play on low physics and objects settings.

If you have 400 - 500 euro to spend I would seriously consider getting a new Mobo, CPU, RAM, GPU and PSU. You can keep the case, hard disks, optical drive, Keyboard, monitor etc.

Edit: I forgot to mention that a 750W psu is also overkill the corsair 450W psu would serve you fine.

sink

Here I made a quick shopping list of components that would seriously boost your preformance.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/shoplist.aspx?mode=receive&si=607352&su=EAF8AA48-6C12-4751-9F90-9D5D416AE753

ger101

Thanks a lot for the list, sink...I think I'll use that...but would the 9600GT play the games I mentioned on high or medium...well, except for Crysis. The ridiculous specs for playing that game is starting to piss me off.

Basically, I'm just upgrading to play the games I have already (S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Oblivion, etc.) as the ****ty 6200LE won't play them properly.

sink

Yes, those components should be able to play most games on high setting on anything lower than a 20" monitor.

ger101

Well, I have a 17'' monitor, so that should be fine, right? Also, when I upgrade, will playing on 800x600 increse the games frame rate?

Thanks so much for the help, sink!

sink

At 800x600 I would expect to see over 60 fps on most games. You might even be able to play crysis on high settings and get 30 fps. Most monitors sold today are at least 1280x1024 which your setup should be able to handle just fine.

ger101

Oh, that's great! I'll go with your list, then.

Thanks for all the help, sink!

ger101

BTW, sink, do you know of any cheap sound cards that have bass? I have an on-board RealTek HD Audio card (Which is crap) and it doesn't have bass...everything sounds tinny.

sink

What speakers do you have? Upgrading your sound card if you are using crap speakers is pointless. Cheap sound cards are no better than on-board sound. The cheapest that is even worth buying is the X-Fi xtreme gamer.

ger101

LOOL, I was just looking at that card!

Anyway, my speakers are built into the monitor. I don't use them, though. I use headphones and even with them, there's no bass.

Also, there's no bass/tremble on the sound thingy.

sink

Speakers on monitors are generally really crap they can't produce low frequency sounds so upgrading your card won't change that. Headsets vary a lot some are very bad at low frequency sounds, do you know the make and model of your head set?
I've heard very good things about the Fatal1ty gamer headset. If you couple that with the the Xtreme gamer card and you will have a pretty decent experience. The CMSS 3D acceleration makes 2D sound like 5.1.

Headset will never give you as good bass as decent speakers with a subwoofer

jonny72

Why not just buy a whole new PC?

For the sake of 100 euros more..

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Intel-Core-2-Quad-GeForce-8800GT-512-4GB-RAM-800MHz_W0QQitemZ150273727390QQihZ005QQcategoryZ179QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

That will run everything including crysis..

ger101

sink wrote: »

Speakers on monitors are generally really crap they can't produce low frequency sounds so upgrading your card won't change that. Headsets vary a lot some are very bad at low frequency sounds, do you know the make and model of your head set?
I've heard very good things about the Fatal1ty gamer headset. If you couple that with the the Xtreme gamer card and you will have a pretty decent experience. The CMSS 3D acceleration makes 2D sound like 5.1.

Headset will never give you as good bass as decent speakers with a subwoofer

Yeah, I know about monitor speakers, that's why I don't use them.

The headphones I have are Philips SBS HP200. I've had them for a good while, too.

I'll check out those headphones when I upgrade...don't want to speand too much, LOL! Thanks for the link, BTW!

jonny72 wrote: »

Why not just buy a whole new PC?

For the sake of 100 euros more..

http://cgi.ebay.ie/Intel-Core-2-Quad-GeForce-8800GT-512-4GB-RAM-800MHz_W0QQitemZ150273727390QQihZ005QQcategoryZ179QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

That will run everything including crysis..

Thanks for the link, jonny72, but I don't like ebay.

ger101

sink, would I need to re-install XP Home if I change my motherboard with the one in your list? Also, do I need to format my HDD or can I keep the files on it?

EDIT: I have an IMEDIA 1508/2 motherboard.

Anti

You will always need to reinstall windows if you change your motherboard.

ger101

Anti wrote: »

You will always need to reinstall windows if you change your motherboard.

Ah crap! So I'll have to go out and buy a new XP Home then?! That sucks.

Thanks anyway, Anti.