Hey guys First let me tell you that I don't know that much about computers, I'm more of a videogame person. I used to have this old computer, (pentium 4 at 1.4 ghz, 512 mb of ram), but I saved some money and put together a new system, basically because I've had some good experiences with my previous computers and I wanted a new one. So, one of my cousins helped me choose the hardware and put it together, and I ended up with a new computer which has a pentium core2duo e6550 processor at 2.33 ghz, 1gb of RAM (but the motherboard can take up to 8 gb, it's a good motherboard I guess, the brand is MSI), a 250 gb sata hard drive, pioneer dvd burner, and a 22" widescreen monitor. Now, I have 2 questions, would you recommend another gb of ram? or maybe more? would it make a difference? I do want to start playing games again on the computer. Also, as you can see, I didn't buy a video card because I haven't looked much into that, according to this system, which one would you recommend? If you happen to know the price of the ones you recommend, that would be great. Thanks for answering.
depends on the kind of games you want to play, but i would suggest getting another 1gig at least anyway
The most important thing for games in a PC is the graphics card. Which graphics card does it currently have?
Whats your budget? If you want to play Crysis on maxed settings, then you need a 8800GTX (I think its $650 at newegg) but you can do well with a x1950pro from ATi which is cheaper, or a 7950 from nvidia. We need to know your budget...
ONBOARD GRAPHICS ARE THE WORST KIND!!! I recommend you get another 3GB-4GB Of ram and atleast a 64 meg graphics card!! I learnt that onboard graphics are rubish just by instinct. For example: My downstairs comp is runnin onboard grafics (32mb Shadowed) with intel celeron d 2.66ghz wiv 256mb of ram (ddr2) and my upstairs is runnin 32mb card (Nvidia geforce) With only a pentium 2 at 333khz and 320mb of sdram and its still faster (for games)!!! so i say get more ram but more importantly a grafics card.
2 GB of RAM is good for gaming and something in the mid-high end 8000 series will give you great graphics. However, something in the high end 7000 series will also be good. I wouldn't reccomend ATi graphics because ATi don't get as much support as Nvidia. IMO Nvidia is the best for graphics.
@peterjam If your running windows XP as your OS then everything should run fine with 1Gb of RAM. Vista may run slow with all the eye candy turned on though. But anyway buying a videocard is a much better investment on your part and will reward you with much better framerates then your integrated graphics. But as sammorris said we need to know your budget before we can accurately recommend a video card. Also what size PSU are you running?
I guess that the 256mb x1950pro is probably my spending limit. Is it like $200? Is the 7000 series cheaper than that? I'm probably gonna get the ram this weekend since my cousin can get it for me at a very good price (but right now 3 or 4gb of ram seems like too much for me), and I guess I'll hold on for a month or two so that I can afford the card. Maybe prices will go down on holiday season. Peainapod, I have no idea what the PSU is, but I'm guessing it's the power supply right? I don't know what size it is but I'm pretty sure that it's more than adequate for my graphic card budget. I can't believe that I spent almost $1000 on this system (I live in Mexico, and a thousand bucks is a lot, a lot of money), and that my xbox 360 is still better at handling games.
That's because you've spent a lot of money in some areas, but not enough in others, the CPU is relatively high grade, the graphics card obviously still needs to be ordered! if you buy an X1950 Pro you will definitely be gaming better than an xbox 360. However, you will need a good power supply. Which make/model power supply do you have? Sorry to rain on the parade, but if you have a standard 300W unit you won't be able to get a decent graphics card until you also buy another power supply.
Ok, I just found out that I have a 400w power supply, however, I'm meeting my cousin later today to install the extra gigabyte of RAM, and he told me that he'll change my PSU for another one he has, which is even better. Now, I don't know squat about PSU's, but if it's better than the one I have, I'm guessing it can be 450 or 500w? Do you think that's enough for a good graphics card? I hope prices go a down a little bit in december so that I can afford a decent one. Any thoughts?
The wattage isn't relevant, it's the brand, a cheap 450W power supply may only be able to supply 150W before it explodes in a shower of sparks and flames, killing most of your PC's components. Do not use his power supply until you've checked with us what make it is, and do not buy a graphcis card before we know you have a decent power supply. The brand is crucial, far more so than the wattage.
Hey, sorry it took me so long to answer. Anyway, we ended up changing the PSU because my cousin wanted to put mine on another, older computer that he had sold. The brand of the new one is Jaguar, I don't think it's a known brand. It has 500w, 2 fans (the old one just had one) and this one includes PCI Express connectors (I only know that the old one didn't have them, but I think they are used for new graphic cards, right?). Now, according to my cousin, he has sold computers with powerful graphics cards with this type of PSU, but I'll take any advice you guys give me. Ok, so do you think I should stick with this PSU, or buy another one later one when I'm ready to get the graphics card? And, do you think that a $200 graphics card will be ok for my system? Thanks a lot
He's a fool for using a cheap power supply for gaming machines, but there we go. Get something decent like a 520W Corsair HX. As for the graphics card, it depends which one. You can get something like an X1950 pro for that money, a good purchase.
