Tech help general

[Nefarious Bear]

is my video card really that bad? I got this computer recently, so i thought the video card would be halfway decent.

And i have no idea how many cores. the system info says "AMD Athlon II X2 240 processor (2 CPUs) ~2.8 Ghz" and nothing more.

its an Dell Insperon 570 BTW

[Paco]

That's one dual-core processor. Athlon is oldish, and I edited my previous post but too late, I figured it was a desktop computer but the graphics card is marketed for laptops so I don't know much about that. Bioshock 2 is pretty recent and quad-core processors are the new standard so I wouldn't be surprised if a dual-core processor of an old architecture wasn't able to handle it at max settings.

I'm not good at judging specs for video cards but it looks good enough actually.

[Nefarious Bear]

Goddammit i guess i have to keep that in mind when buying games. this wasn't supposed to be a gaming rig anyway, so i guess I'm pop flyin' it can run TF2 and the works. but that means i cant really buy a lot of modern games. Do you think Fallout NV would run decently on it if i tweaked some of the settings around?

[YCobb]

>run skyrim smoothly

What you need to do my friend, is break into Nasa and steal their computers. Even with supplies, you'll definitely end up under 300$!

when i say smoothly I mean not fall under 20 fps. because that's bullshit. at least, maybe be able to livestream it too.

what do I need?

I'm expecting my computer to be able to handle Skyrim (although probably not at maximum settings or anything like that), but to be safe, you should go a bit higher:
AMD Phenom II X4 940 (about %150 of my CPU's capability, for around $100)

General rule for DDR3 RAM seems to be $10 a gigabyte; you'll almost definitely never need more than 4 but 6 is nice too.

Doubtlessly, the weakest part of my system is my graphics card, and EN9500GT GeForce. I don't have any experience with ATI cards, so someone else has to chip in on that. The way GeForce cards are ranked, though, is by their hundreds-digit. EG an 8800 card beats a 9500 card. The thousands-digit is just the series, although you obviously don't want a 3900, because that would be so outdated it wouldn't even be funny. You probably want a 9800, which can be gotten for as low as $60

You'd obviously need a new motherboard to deal with these fancy components, which would run you at least $100, likely more. Be careful with this part, as some motherboards can be really picky about what RAM they'll accept. Also be sure to match the CPU slot, and ensure that it has at least on of the proper PCI slots for your graphics card (usually a PCIe x16).

The last component you'll really need is a power supply, which can be anywhere from $30 to more than $100 depending on your components. There's a very slight chance you can reuse the one from your current computer, but I wouldn't count on it if your current computer wasn't built for gaming back when it was made.


Finally, you should check which form factor your current box is, if it's an ATX you'd be hard pressed finding a motherboard that wouldn't fit in it.


Overall, it would cost about $350 (ideal) to $450 (if you're unlucky with power supplies and cases).


My computer is only 4 gigs of RAM and (as stated) only about 2/3s of the CPU I recommended, and I've yet to see anything but iTunes (shittiest program ever) freeze it up, even with almost ten programs running on Windows 7.
Speaking of Windows 7, you should look into it as well, it's a great OS. Unfortunately, it will run you another $100+.


Some final things to consider-my computer runs everything I've thrown at it fine on my smaller screen, but stutters a bit on my HDTV. I have no idea what the upper limits of the above setup are, but remember to try turning off anti aliasing if a game is running slowly. Even 2X AA is, by my understanding, effectively running the game at twice the normal resolution so that the game can merge two colors into one pixel to create a smoother effect. Playing at 8X, or even 16X, as I often do, is obviously a huge number of pixels rendered. You should consider the size of your screen, as size affects performance more and more dramatically the more you anti alias your games*.

Also never trust the "recommended settings" in games. Portal insists that I need everything set to medium, but runs fine, as I've stated, with everything cranked up to absolute maximum. Don't get discouraged if a game insists you need it to look like shit, it's lying.

* the actual workings of anti aliasing may be entirely different, this is just how I believe it is done.

[Zorinth]

I got my laptop recently, its got some of the higher specs out there, not the best. I'm getting Battlefield 3 for PC, please let it work.
its an i7, cant remember exactly what model of it, 8 gigs of ram, max clock speed at 3.4gigahertz and the nvidia 1g graphics card(had no option to get the better one), stuff like this, so it should be fine. I have been able to run all my games at highest settings no problem.

[Nefarious Bear]

i7

Considering machines with i7 usually have an upwards of 8 processors, I'm not surprised.

[Dedivax]

I'm getting a new PC soon (And by soon I mean that it might arrive on thursday). It has an i3 (Can't remeber the model, it's 3,1 GHz with 3 MB of cache), 4 Gigs of RAM, a Geoforce GT430 and a 500 GB hard disk, all for 750 euros. Do think it was a good deal?

[Zorinth]

At the same time as we bought my laptop we bought a desktop.
i7 processor, 16 Gigs of ram, 3.7 gigahertz 1.5 terabyte hard drive. all this for $1200 US, and since I don't know the cheddar change I can't tell you if yours was a good deal, but you could base it on this. we haven't got the computer yet though, but I won't even be able to use it so it doesn't matter to me.

[YCobb]

Zang, to clarify, you don't need computers that fast. 16 gb RAM is overkill for anything you would want to run, i7 processors are fucking insane, etc.

[Dedivax]

At the same time as we bought my laptop we bought a desktop.
i7 processor, 16 Gigs of ram, 3.7 gigahertz 1.5 terabyte hard drive. all this for $1200 US, and since I don't know the cheddar change I can't tell you if yours was a good deal, but you could base it on this. we haven't got the computer yet though, but I won't even be able to use it so it doesn't matter to me.

For some shitty reason the conversion rate when dealing with tech stuff is 1$=1 euro

[Zorinth]

really, well ok, that's kinda strange. I think that was an average price than.
Also we were getting computers that would last us a few years and not get behind. I am a gamer so I want to be safe and go way overkill, as well as I am planning on programming and making some games or programs. My dad just really wanted the best thing he can get for the cheapest he can, and he is a mechanical engineer who uses powerful programs for his job and wants to do it at home.

Edit: Just as something funny Steam says My OS install date is Dec. 31 1969, I don't think it really matters what my OS is if it's that old, but I have windows 7, making this even more impossible.

[Zang]

Zang, to clarify, you don't need computers that fast. 16 gb RAM is overkill for anything you would want to run, i7 processors are fucking insane, etc.

what if we want to build a robot overlord? HMM? WHAT THEN?


but anyway I'm looking for a god computer. something that could run games like skyrim without flinching

(maybe even on high settings?)

I'm currently filling out a job application. considering I have no bills atm, I should be able to make it before Christmas. (I'm 16, no job experience. ololol)

[Paco]

Goddammit i guess i have to keep that in mind when buying games. this wasn't supposed to be a gaming rig anyway, so i guess I'm pop flyin' it can run TF2 and the works. but that means i cant really buy a lot of modern games. Do you think Fallout NV would run decently on it if i tweaked some of the settings around?

Since it runs on an old engine, if it can run Oblivion or Fallout 3 it should work just as well (or as badly).

[Zorinth]

Reply to Zang
You could get buy with something that has the power of an i3 I would think, and the game will require at least 1g of Ram, maybe more, so to be safe 2g, the graphics card(if you want max quality) would have to be amazing, but really you don't even need the Nvidia 1g for it, but I would advise something around that good. Hard drives are nothing to worry about any more, desktops have craploads now, and even the cheaper ones have over 500g normally. I'm not an expert on this, so take other people advice also, plus i tend to go a little above when it comes to games, seeing as how I got this laptop instead of a lesser spec laptop.

[Paco]

i7

Considering machines with i7 usually have an upwards of 8 processors, I'm not surprised.

cores