Hey everybody, I have some questions and if someone can help me answer them i would really appreciate it. 1) I have a pc (a mediocre at best)its a HP pavillion a1532n (Pentium(R) D 2.80 GHz with 2GB Ram) it runs pretty badly (freezes a lot etc.) but its major flaw is its video card, which is a NVIDIA 7300 LE and its integrated RAMDAC with 256 mb memory. Ive heard that integrated was crap and now i see first hand that the 256mb doesn't do anything if the video card isn't good. I want to play some of the new games (bioshock etc. but they run pretty poorly with my video card (they look horrible and lag) is the lagging from my video card or my hardware? Your opinions of the PC its self would also be helpful. 2) Are integrated video cards replaceable? can i buy another video card (lets say 512mb NVIDIA and place it in my PC? or am i stuck forever with this integrated one? 3) If I can replace it, can someone give me some good options, looking for something thats 512mb and between 100-150$ CDN and will run games like bioshock w/o looking too horrible? 4) if anyone has some sort of guide that will help me remove the integrated video card and replace it with a new one please tell me Any answers to any of these questions would be helpful. Thanks -Knivez
Well, the good news is you hit the nail on the head. The graphics card is the weak spot. Additionally, while the Pentium D is a very slow CPU as dual cores go, because it is a dual core it's acceptable for recent games, if not ideal. The bad newsis that in order to replace the graphics card you'll also need to replace the power supply. You'll also want to check how good the cooling is in the PC, if it's just one tiny fan at the back you may start having cooling issues when you add a new graphics card. Faster or more fans could solve this problem, but if you have nowhere to put them, you'll have to get a new case. That can result in a reasonable amount of work if you haven't upgraded PCs much before. As for the component choices I highly recommend these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139001 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102713 With the graphics card, it's a case of if you're short on funds get something slower. NEVER skimp on the power supply though, or you could have BIG problems.
So there is no way to replace the V-Card w/o having to replace the power supply, and the power supply is gonna cost me at least 100$ and the v-card is around 150$... thats a total of 250$ w/o having to replace the case . How would i check if the cooling in the PC is good or not? is there a way i can find out what cooling i have? What's a not so "cheap" power supply that wouldn't cost me 100$. If you could also tell me how i would know if i have enough space in the PC for extra fans i would really appreciate it.. (as you can see i am not so good with PC hardware..)
an antec earthwatts EA430 is $60USD on newegg; $30 after rebate (but rebates are iffy). you would still have room for a few upgrades. only thing is that it's not modular, so you would have to hide the cables somewhere that won't disrupt airflow. as for cooling, you would have to open the side panel. if you don't have a fan at the back of the case, then one should be added right away; it should be blowing air outside. you can check temperatures with a program called speedfan.
With regard to cooling, it should be pretty obvious. Are there lots of fans, are they big or small? On the power supply front, go for something like a 500W Thermaltake Purepower if you're short on funds. While they won't deliver anywhere near 500W, they're more than adequate for most PCs.
I downloaded Speedfan and ran it, this is what it gave me: Fan 1: 3068-4300 rpm Fan 2: 2201-2500 RPM Fan 3: - Fan 4: - CPU: 0 (degrees Celsius) Ambient: 35C Remote: 69C HDO: 40C Temp1: 40C Core: 62C Ambient: 0C Speed01 100% Speed02 100% Speed03 100% +5V 5.05v Vcpu: 1.24V Vcc: 3.37V +5V: 5.21V +12V: 11.98V +3.3V: 3.30V Vbat: 0.00V I dunno what most of this means btw... (the #s fluctuate but not by too much, except for Fan1 which goes down to 3000 sometimes, but also goes up to 4300 and it starts making a really strong whirling sound) Fans 3 and 4 are usually at 0 but sometimes pop up to 1500 and go back to down to 0 instantaneously) Can someone tell me if this is good or bad? I have had it running like this for about 2 years now and nothing has happened, does this affect how my PC performs, because occasionally it freezes on some applications like wmp and nero, but usually never freezes on games..
Right. What that means is you have a high speed CPU fan, and a single mid-speed case fan, probably 80mm. This is exactly what I had a few years back, and adding a high power graphics card caused heat issues. If there's no room for any additional fans in your PC, you would be wise to consider a new case.
Thanks alot for everyone who helped me out, I have one final question, i am trying to avoid buying a new power supply b/c most likely i would need another case and another fan or 2 and that would probably go 200$ over my budged of 250$. Can you guys give me input on whether or not these would run with my current specs or would i 100% have to get a new power supply, im not looking for the best V-Card on the market, just something that would allow to play recent games on med-low settings w/o freezing and glitching up (as it does now when i play Bioshock): Here are the 4 video cards that i think are decent (for their price) please tell me what you think about the cards, the price (CDN) and whether or not it would work with my pc: http://computerscanada.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=257 http://computerscanada.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=255 http://computerscanada.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=440 http://computerscanada.com/product_info.php?cPath=36&products_id=156 (i chose these place b/c its literally 3-4 minutes away and it usually has pretty good prices) Again thanks a lot for the help guys
If you get a new case, you may also have to get a new power supply, as the PSU you have may only fit your case. DO NOT go cheap on this either, power supplies are very important. Cheapass ones can not only destroy your PC, but also cause fires. Of those cards only the 2400 or X1650 are worth having. They are all slow, however, and none would be able to play top end games very well. I'd recommend either an 8600GTS, a Radeon HD3850 or Radeon HD3870. All of these demand a new PSU though. Do NOT expect to get away with the one you already have.
according to the HP site, your motherboard can take one pci-e x16 card. so i'd go with one of sam's choices. but power supply should be the number one thing to upgrade if you're going to get a video card, add fans, and such. if you have to, save up, because you don't want to skimp on the psu.
Here's an idea, if you go with a low to midrange card, you won't have to spend so much and you won't have to worry as much about the cooling. I'd still recommend you change the power supply, but the case could potentially wait. Obviously the downside of that is that you don't get so good graphics. I'd recommend something along the lines of a 7600GT for this, if you can find one for cheap.
Thats not a bad idea, but would the PSU fit in my case, because if it did that would fit in my price budget + i see alot of fans for 20-25$ are these decent fans or junk? How would i know if my PC can fit more fans or not? Thanks alot sammorris and cee43ja1
I did some shopping around for the card you recommended and i found it for 100$ http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2490726&CatId=1560 and they say i need 350-400W power supply so i looked around on their site and i found this one (it wasn't too expensive, but it wasn't cheap either, its about 90$ but we Canadians have to consider tax ) http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3287208&CatId=1078 The reason im shopping from TD is b/c its also near my house, no shipping to deal with and if i have problems i can take it back quick. What do you think?
If there was one PSU I recommended for you, it would be that Corsair, they're very good units. In a Packard Bell case, that PSU *should* be fine. I don't know much about your system though as the a1532n was only ever sold in Canada, and so there's not much info about it.
