Computer Upgrade.....

[robbobarney123]

Hi Guys,

I've just bought a Powercolour ATi Radeon X800 GTO 256MB for my dads computer after he complained about it being slow. He has -

AMD Athlon64 3000+
512MB DDR RAM 2x256
ASROCK PCI-E motherboard
80GB SATA HDD

The Asrock motherboard has onboard 6100 Graphics but with half my ram (256) dedicated to it, it still lags like hell on the Sims 2 etc.

So if i disable the onboard and stick this in, will it be a big improvment in gaming and general use? (surfing the net etc.)

Thanks,
Robbo

[0iD]

Yes & No. In graphics intensive apps like games, then yes. I'd also suggest doubling the ram to help things out.

[robbobarney123]

yeah, it thought that too mate

[directhex]

the sims 2 is actually a very intensive game - especially memory intensive. more ram would really help it

[robbobarney123]

Is it really??

[XA04]

Yep, add more RAM. Although 512mb should be fine to play Sims 2, recommended specs are 256mb I think....

Also, definitely disable the onboard graphics, that will help.

[pr0p4g4nd4]

yeah, it thought that too mate

Definately, actually get a 1gb stick of value RAM, keep the other modules and 1.5gb should keep things nice.

[teachmech]

Stick in the graphics card and you should see an improvement as that card will be alot better than the onboard graphics. If you can affoard to get extra memory then an upgrade to 1GB and beyond will also net improvements.

You could probably overclock the cpu by 200 to 400 and see an improvement that way as well.

Remember if your board is socket 754 then a 1Gb is called for but if you have a socket 939 then 2x512 are needed.

[robbobarney123]

Well my PC is -

AMD Athlon64 3700+
ASUS A8N SLI Premium
Geforce 7800GT 256MB
200GB SATA2 Drive

and it plays everything sweet as a nut