Thinking of getting into some PC gaming

Like mairsil said, go to the start menu and go to "Run...". In the window that pops up paste dxdiag.exe, click enter and you'l be presented with all your system specs.

 

Crap, I did that at first and didnt see it.

2.93 GHz is my processor. This is about in the middle of what everyone else said, so I guess Im good.

I think I am going to update my video card, Warhammer looks good in the city level, but on the up close of enemies parts in the trial campaign, wow. They looked so bad and the screen was a little slow on some parts as well. I dont think slowness has anything to do with a video card, though.

I guess now that I know my specs a little more, I wont be as cautious of what I buy or dont buy from now on.

 

I think I might need to get a new processor. I have an AMD XP 3000+ at 2.2 Ghz...

Any recommendations anyone?

For other system specs, I have an ASUS MB with an ATI Radeon 9800 XT Pro 256, 2.5 GB Corsair RAM...

I want to make BF2 run faster...

By the way Mr. Casual, I'll respond to your PM when I get up tomorrow

 

Pm? I didnt send you a Pm. I hope no one found out my password. :-(

 

My apologies, for the strangest reason I got you confused with eva...

Sounds odd. Darn Battlefield 2 and its addicting gameplay! I think it's time for bed now...

 

Thats scary. No offense Eva, but I have an account on another site called Eva-01.

BTW, back on topic:

Would it be wise to buy a video card from Wal-Mart? :lol:

Really, does anyone know where I could buy a nice card at a store or something? (my Mom probably wont order it for me, thats why Im asking. BTW I have a credit card, but its only for college and emergencies and thats that. -_-)

 

If I was going to buy a 939 processor right now and had money to burn I'd go with an AMD X2 4800. Otherwise an AMD X2 3800+. You may want to wait a little bit more as the M2 chips are supposedly coming out about the same time Vista is and those two should definately cause prices to drop as a lot of people will upgrade or need too.

 

I second an X2. Lovely chips, I'd get one if i had the money. Else go with a plain athlon 64

 

The same as with video cards. Cpu speed isnt all thats important. If you have a celeron thats 3.00GHz, a 64bit amd athlon 3000+ with destroy it in gaming.


Bascially it depends on what your processor is.

If its a Intel Pentium 4 or a AMD athlon 64bit you will be just fine at that speed.

However if its a celeron (most cheap PCs come with these since they can advetise fast clock speeds whent he computer wont really preform at that level) then you are in trouble. Celes are only good for work like word processing and web surfing. If you can afford it spring for a Athlon 64bit. They are gaming beasts.

Also on video card get eVGA brand. I sent in my busted 5900 Ultra last march and they shipped me a brand new 6800Ultra. Very nice suprise that day. They have great support and are based in Cali if you live near there. If you have any more questions on computers or building a good rig I can help you out as thats my full time job ^^. Also you DONT want a walmart card. Look in your area for a place called Micro Center. They are a large computer store. They sell EVERYTHING at good prices. Heres their site: www.microcenter.com

Good Luck getting it all sorted out man!



EDIT: sorry forgot to tell you that to see vid cards look on the right side of the window down about half way under BYOPC (build your own pc). They also have a store locator.

 

I just checked the settings on Warhammer 40K and it can run fine on high everything EXCEPT Shadows. I probably still need to upgrade for some of the newer RTS games, though.

Thanks for the link and help, Micjohvan!

Ok, I'll see if I can find one of these stores nearby.

 

If you can't find any of those stores, then use newegg. They are really reliable, great customer support, and shipping is fast and reliable.

 

A slightly different way of seeing how your system stacks up as a gaming machine:

http://gameadvisor.futuremark.com/gameadvisor/service/my_system.jsp

 

Ok, one last thing. I think Im going to go with a EVGA video card about 256 megabytes big. Now, is it safe to assume it will have hardware transform and lighting on it?

I recently purchased Dawn of War and now I have to play it in "safe mode" or some BS, unlike the fucking demo, because my Video card doesnt have transform and lighting. -_-

It looks all fugly and crap.

I have searched different video cards with transform and lighting in queries, checked product info on several of them, too, but I cant see anything on transform and lighting.

 

T&L was introduced back in the geforce 2 days as I recall. Anything newer wouldn't even bother listing it. Edit: by which I mean, yes, any new card would support T&L.

You say you're going for an EVGA card with 256mb of RAM; the amount of video RAM is relatively unimportant - what model are you going for? The chipset will have a far bigger impact on performance.

You should also be aware what socket your PC has. Performance-wise, PCI-E>AGP>PCI, but your machine is unlikely to have PCI-E given it's age, and possibly won't have an AGP socket if you're really unlucky - such are the risks of not building to your own specification. If you're limited to PCI then your options are totally different, and to be honest I'd advise buying a new motherboard, with a more up-to-date feature set.

 

This is really important. If you go out and buy a nice new PCI-E card, but your motherboard only has a AGP port, then it's useless. I built my PC myself a few years ago before PCI-E and although I want to upgrade to a new graphics card, I'm still restricted to AGP cards. Getting a PCI-E would mean a new PCI-E motherboard. Which would mean a new CPU, RAM, etc... basically a new PC and thus too much money. I think you need to do some serious investigating into precisely what components your computer is built from.


Sorry if I sound patronising, but upgrading your DirectX version and graphic card drivers for your existing hardware can make quite a difference if you haven't already done so. DirectX 9.0c is the latest version and is available from Microsoft.com and your latest graphics card drivers will be available from the manufacturer's website.

 

eVGA is a great choice and a good model for your buck is the 6600GT. If you want to move up go for the 6800/GT/ULTRA. 256megs is what I have on my 688Ultra and Dawn of war ran maxed out at highest setting with no lag at all.

Anyway I would guess you have a AGP port. So look for a AGP card DO NOT GET PCI-E they are only one newer boards. Within the last year roughly. From what you have told us theres a 90% chance you have AGP. Just look on the box at the store and it should tell you. And if you cant find one just ask a salesperson. If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask.

 

Alternatively if you've got a digital camera, just take a snap of what's inside the case and we'll go from there. Though really:

This is the truth.

 

Ok, I've never had to take my PC apart before, but I'll see what I can do, and I'll try to have some pics up by tomorrow.

BTW, I have DirectX 9.0, already, and I made a mistake on how old my PC is. Its 1 year old instead of 2 years old.

Thanks for bearing with me and helping me on this guys. Im a total noob when it comes to these things.

 

Ok, here is the pic of my PC's innards.



I have NO idea where the video card goes, nor did I see my existing one. Also, I wasnt sure what angle I was to take the pics from. If you need more pics of it, just ask.

 

Damn Mr. Casual. I thought you were the "elitist of the elitists!" (Pun intended) :lol:

Anyway, by looking at the picture you provided, you need a PCI Video Card instead of an AGP Video Card, since there are no ports present for it.

I'm currently using a PCI card, nVidia 420 MX. If you really want something cheap for the mean time, I would suggest that card. It plays some new games at an okay framerate, but not all games.