I want to upgrade....but can I?

[anarchywrksbest]

Let me paint the scene.....you are playing a new game on your computer, lets say Neverwinter. You watch the intro movie and think *hmmmm that looks a bit fuzzy* You start the game *hmmm why does he look like he is walking on hot coals* you begin a battle *hey! why does everything move so slow, is it some sort of Matrix-esque effect?*

Perhaps there is something wrong with you computer. Hastily you download ALL the updated drivers. But no it makes no difference, the game still plays like treacle.....

It is time to upgrade.... That computer that seemed so fast just seems like a piece of crap by todays standards!!

This is what has happend to me. My Beautiful Packard Bell Spirit which still looks the business with its LCD screen and and sleek 'book-thin' speakers has paled in my eyes. I have now decided to cure this problem with a new Video card.

BUT I know nothing about hardware (or very little). I am worried that due to its small size my computer won't have the room for any extra hardware. My computer has 2 PCI sockets and 1 AMR which is used by my modem. Am I right in saying this is what I connect a video/3d card? What I am really uncertain of is what exactlyi need? Below are my specs. Can you help me?

The functionality related to video and graphics is provided by the integrated graphics controller of the 82810E GMCH chip. With this second generation graphics technology and the included software drivers it features:
Direct AGP (integrated AGP) for vivid 2D and 3D effects and images.
3D Graphics visual enhancements.
3D Graphics texturing enhancements.
Digital video output: 85 MHz Flat Panel Monitor Interface or Digital Video Output for use with an optional TV encoder.
2D graphics: resolutions of up to 1600x1200 pixels in 8-bit colour with a 85 Hz refresh rate.
Supports Data Buffering.
Hardware Motion Compensation to improve soft DVD Video quality.
Digital video port to enable connection to traditional television sets or to digital flat panel displays.
4MB of dedicated display cache video memory running at 133MHz.

I have an 800mHz PIII and 128mb Ram so thats not to bad.

 

[Perfection]

I'm no expert on graphics cards but you definatly should get more ram. 256 should keep you going better

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

I'd say you should get more ram but that's not the main source of the problem as I have a friend running neverwinter with 80MB of RAM and he says it runs fine. A new video card will be easy to install, it'll come with plenty instructions on what to do.

 

[BlueMonday]

If you have a free PCI or AGP slot, there won't be any problem in upgrading your video capability. You go out, buy the card, put it in (following the instructions), install some drivers, and you're done. Really easy, no?

The question I have is, what do you have right now? What you wrote descibing the card sounds like something straight out of an HP advertisement. All fancied up with words like "vivid" and "second generation" to mask what it really is.

Is your card integrated? (meaning, is two or more of the computer's functions coming from one card. Like both audio and video)

DAMN only 4MB of DDR? I must point out that only 4MB is extremely extremely low for 3D video. Even I got fed up with the choppiness on my old card that had eight times that amount of memory. For something like neverwinter nights (or knights, whatever) you should probably have 32MB.

Do you have a AGP? or only PCI slots available. You can buy most models of graphics cards with PCI interfaces, but if you're really into video you absolutely must have AGP (it's almost five times faster than PCI). If you're not sure open up your computer and take a look at the available places; PCI slots are white and about three inches long. AGP is the same length but brown and set back about an extra half and inch from the PCI slots. The other possibility is ISA which is black and maybe five inches long (if you're card is integrated, it most likely is using ISA).

You also said "82810E GMCH chip." Is this supposed to be the Graphics processor? I've never heard of it...maybe someone else here has. If you want a new graphics card take my advice and go with a NVIDIA chipset (nForce, TNT, GeForce). You can buy a GeForce 4 MX for about $100-$150, GeForce 4 Ti for between $200 and $400. If you don't want to spend upwards of 100 dollars, you can pick up an TNT2 or GeForce 2 card for $50-$80.

 

[starlifter]

Blue Monday has some very good points.


I will add more. 3D Graphics cards on relatively primitive motherboards like yours (and mine) are not for the blissfully naive. There are serious power and busmaster and AGP and driver issues... the way to protect yourself is to make sure you can take the card back. Some motherboards (even different revisions of teh same name) can/cannot run certain cards, particularly high-power cards (larger die sets, like in some GeForce 2 models).

If you do not have an AGP slot, then don't bother with a 3-D card. Save up and upgrade your motherboard, and even get an AMD CPU, since they are so powerful and cheap now. This will also solve the technical issues that I touched on, and you would only need concern yourself with the most recent stable driver releases.


The integrated video is crap. I'm amazed it will work at all, since many good 3-D programs now require at least 16MB of Video Ram. This RAM is not used for what you might think... it is mostly textures, and that will get rid of your fuzzy problems... Your CPU is being used heavily to do low-quality software rendering, which is bad. Your Frames Per Second will drop, as fewer CPU cycles will be available.


We people that use 3-D programs (game and apps and development) fuel the advancement of the PC world... our money is the incentive for nVidia and game makers... and even Intel/AMD. Gamers gotta have the fast machines... typists can use 300 MHz Celerons, but not people who want good 3DS performance.... what this means is you gotta save up, and do it right... do not waste money on a PCI 3D card. If you ain't go no AGP with at least 2X sideband and a stable driver for it, don't bother.

Almost all the tech stuff you posted is (1) poor performance numbers (2) the maker pulled the classic trick of trying to cover up bad performance by useing lots of impressive-sounding numbers. But there ain't no mention of SSB, 533MHz, 64MB DDR, GeForce 3 or GeForce 4, Detonator, etc. The system you have is fine for most computing, but not 3DS. Sorry!


PS, You can post the exact maker and revision number of the Motherboard if you want. Many of us know a lot about specific models. I use mainly ASUS, but there are also other good makers, too.

 

[starlifter]

PS, "Direct AGP" sounds like smoke and mirrors. It is a BS term. Either the bus (e.g., Northbridge/Southbridge) suppoer AGP or they do not. Who is the chipset maker (in the manual)? ALi ? If possible, post the chipset number.

Your motherboard is not meant for users like you, that need 3D performance. It is meant for average users. But at least it works, albeit shabbily. Gamers need a real, fully supported AGP slot!

 

[anarchywrksbest]

Beware everyone i know nothing very little about hardware!
I am copying this info from my built in manual, so of course they try to make it sound better than it really is!

Intel® 810E chipset, consisting of 82810E Graphic Memory Controller Hub (GMCH) and 82801 I/O Controller Hub (ICH).
The 82810E GMCH features:
Processor Host/Bus support (66, 100 and 133 MHz System Bus frequency, 32-bit system bus addressing, GTL+ I/O buffer).
Integrated DRAM Controller.
Integrated graphics controller (see paragraph Video and graphics).
Power Management functions (ACPI compliant, APIC Buffer Management, SMI, SCI and SERR error indication).
The 82801 ICH features:
PCI rev 2.2 specification support:
supports PCI bus at 33 MHz.
supports up to 6 master devices on PCI.
133MByte/sec maximum throughput.
Integrated IDE controller:
Supports PIO Mode 4 transfers at up to 14MB/s.
Supports Ultra DMA/33 mode transfers at up to 33MBytes/s and Ultra DMA/66 mode transfers at up to 66MBytes/s.
Supports the independent timing of up to 4 IDE devices.
USB controller.
AC'97 link for audio and telephony CODECs:
Read/write access to audio codec registers 00h-3Ah and vendor registers 5Ah-7Eh.
16-bit stereo PCM output and input at up to 48kHz (Left and Right channels on slots 3 and 4).
16-bit mono microphone input with or without mono mixing at up to 48kHz (Left and Right channels on slots 3, 4) - mono mix supports mono hardware AEC reference for speakerphone.
16-bit mono PCM input, up to 48kHz from dedicated Mic ADC (slot 6) - supports speech recognition or stereo hardware AEC reference for speakerphone.
Supports passive PC_BEEP to speaker connection during POST (Power On Self Test).
Interrupt controller based on two 82C59 chips
Power management logic:
ACPI 1.0 compliant.
ACPI Defined Power States (S1, S3, S4, S5).
System Management Interface (SMI) generation.
Enhanced Direct Memory Access (DMA) controller.
256-byte battery-backed CMOS SRAM Real Time Clock (3 Volts lithium battery - CR2032).
System Memory

I think that is what you are asking for..........

 

[anarchywrksbest]

BTW I found a reference to Kourou 2 Motherboard, is that it?

I took the case off and I see a lot of Intel logo's and my motherboard is screwed to the side of the box. I have 2 DIMM sockets for Ram. They can both take 256 each so i a possible 512mb. If i upgrade but money is tight but not too tight....

 

[starlifter]

I really like all that tech stuff you posted. It is to me!

But the key was your 2nd post. Now I know all about your Motherboard, including the additional details that I was looking for. You must have a PackardBell, right? Anyway, you have no AGP slot. And your #1 PCI slot will probably not work, unless you update your BIOS. Don't bother with a PCI graphics card.

Also (sorry to be the bearer of bad news), you had best forget about upgrading your PC. Just keep in intact, and when you are ready ( $$ ), get a standard PC, MB & CPU. I recommend an AMD CPU. The PB you have is OK, but it just will not do what you want it to, and uses a very unusual arrangement of hardware internally. Your chipsets are Intel, BTW.

You can get a good gaming PC for less than $500 nowadays. Here is one place I use... http://www.infotechnow.com/



Anyway, your computer is not designed to have many user options, and will not support good 3D gaming cards in AGP.

 

[anarchywrksbest]

Oh well, there isn't much i can do I am going to be a poor student soon anyway so my PC will do me fine. Most of the games I play don't push it to hard anyway. I only have NWN because a friend of mine had a 'cheap' copy.

I play games like Civ2&3 and Champ manager, don't really need graphics.

You say not to bother with PCI graphics but my friend has a similar spec computer to mine and he has a PCI 3D card (AMT??) and his computer has nice graphics. Especially in NWN

I don't mind though, cause for 5 years before i got my PC i had a P1 100mHz 16Mb Ram. Now that was slow

 

[Zelig]

I am also looking to upgrade my computer, but I'm not sure what kind of CPU it can support.

I have a KA-6110 motherboard from FIC.
In my manual at the begining it says it supports up to a P3 550, but later on there is a chart showing that if the CPU ratio is set to 7.5x and the host bus (or PCI bus?) is set to 133 MHz then the CPU will be running at a speed of 1 GHz. What does this all mean?

Right now the bus is running at 66MHz and the ratio is 6.5x giving my CPU 433 MHz.