Candu
Tairise Member
Life: What happens while you are making other plans
Posts: 670
|
Post by Candu on Apr 29, 2006 12:01:29 GMT -7
Anyone know where I can get some "education" on upgrading a PC? Here's my problem. I can't play Oblivion At first this ticked me off because I have a Intel 3.20GHz processor. So (I think) I should be able to run ANYTHING, right? Wrong. After doing some research I figured out I have an obsolete Graphics Card. I am running a NVidia GeForce FX 5600 and a little research shows me NVidia is now all the way up to a 7800 series. Wow, see what happens when you nap... My first thought is obvious, buy a new Graphics Card. Well, while researching Graphic Cards I find out AGP slots are now old technology and the new kid in town is the PCIe x16. Now here's what really has me in a quandary. The cost of the 7800 Card is so high that I could buy a new motherboard (one with the new PCIe X16 slot) and a PCIe X16 card for about the same price. But, here is were my limited hardware knowledge comes to an abrupt end. I like to think of myself as a "shade-tree" PC mechanic... I can change a hard drive, or power supply, but when you start talking chip sets and bus speeds and such, I am lost. In the perfect situation, I would like to just unplug the old motherboard, install the new board and be able to attach all my current interfaces (except Video Card) and be off and running. Anyone know any websites, books, advice columns, etc for someone like me?
|
|
|
Post by gendgi on Apr 29, 2006 12:24:45 GMT -7
Hi Yeah Oblivian is a very top of the line game regarding minimum requirements, had some clients complaining about that. Pciexpress is in fact the latest tecnology, im sorry to say that your processor is also getting old lol, but it should be able to run the game, (not too smooth though). Regarding how to install a mb, hmmm it can be hard if u dont have any kind of "basis" on it, unfortunatly i dont know any site u can go to.
|
|
Alkanos
Tairise Member
The Dwarven Fury!
The snow will run red with the blood of the naughty!!
Posts: 1,578
|
Post by Alkanos on Apr 29, 2006 16:19:49 GMT -7
Well, I've got an Athlon64 3200 with a GeForce 6800 card, and I run Oblivion mostly well right now. Only problems are when there are lotsa enemies on-screen and I'm outside. Then I go down to 10-20 fps. But then again, I have optimized drivers, and they play some havoc with EQ2, so it's not perfect. ;D
One problem with replacing a motherboard is I think that you'll need to replace the processor as well. However, I've never actually tried to transplant a processor chip, so I dunno whether it actually is possible.
My suggestion, though, would be to just get a 6800 (they're not too expensive) until you're ready for a new computer, and then make sure to get a PCI Express card and Mobo. The 6800 is a quality card in my opinion, and I rarely if ever have much trouble with it.
|
|
|
Post by Tironin on Apr 30, 2006 16:54:37 GMT -7
i had a 6800 ultra until recently and it started to get flaky so they replaced it with a 7600. i think the 7600 comes in and AGP version also, though i'm not sure if the performance is the same.
|
|
Rykshi
Tairise Ally
*I aim to misbehave*
Posts: 1,341
|
Post by Rykshi on Apr 30, 2006 19:20:34 GMT -7
I just put the AGP version of the 7800 into my computer - I went from lowest possible settings for Oblivion (GeForce 5950) to highest possible. It is a pricey card, but I figure it bought me another year before I have to replace my computer. And I still don't play Oblivion....
|
|
|
Post by Coica on May 1, 2006 7:24:08 GMT -7
haha. ya.. I played oblivion for like..2 days maybe. Looks neato and all , but EQ called to me too much I have a P4 1.9 with 1 gig of RDRAM (very fast but EXPENSIVE memory) and the bfg 6600 gt, oblivion actually played pretty good on medium settings for some reason . I am kinda in the same boat though Candu.. lots of places in EQII I have to switch the slider in my UI to max performance at the cost of decent graphics.. I mean everyones toons look all playdoughy..ewww! at least I can switch it over to the middle in some zones. I am looking at upgrading to the BFG 7800 GT AGP card, but its still going for right at or over $300. I could get a new Mobo and proc for that much, but then I would really have to get memory, + a new vid card anyways and I dont have the $ for that right now. so hopefully just saving up for the new card will keep me going for awhile. in closing.. haha, I would suggest you get an nvidia 6800 card (BFG is a good brand as well as EVGA) should be for around $225 (I think the 7600 series is a tad cheaper, but also slower). I could be wrong though.
|
|
Candu
Tairise Member
Life: What happens while you are making other plans
Posts: 670
|
Post by Candu on May 1, 2006 8:08:45 GMT -7
in closing.. haha, I would suggest you get an nvidia 6800 card (BFG is a good brand as well as EVGA) should be for around $225 (I think the 7600 series is a tad cheaper, but also slower). I could be wrong though. Did you really mean "nvidia 6800 card" or did you mean "nvidia 7800 card"
|
|
|
Post by jiirk on May 1, 2006 13:40:36 GMT -7
Yah I agree with Alk.. most likely you will need to upgrade the big 3, the motherboard, the processor and the video card. Even if you can get away with using the same CPU, it probably is worth it just to get a new one, since they are relatively cheap. You can get a intel pentium d dual core chip now for under $150. The amd dual cores start around just under $300, so while the Amd's are argueably better, Intel atm is a better value.
Sometime this year, AMD is supposed to be coming out with a new socket type and when that happens most of the 939 chips will drop in price and you will be able to get a really kick ass system for relatively cheap. I would recomend spending the extra money to do a solid upgrade of those three items, if you buy good quality components you will most likely be good for about 2 years before you need to upgrade like that again, and if you want to just bide your time, buy a 6800 or 7800GS agp card (7800's are still pricey in the upper $200's). The only problem with doing that is when you do upgrade, that new card will be useless and you will have to buy a pcie16 one, so the question is whether or not it is worth blowing 100 - 200 bucks to put off buying a new computer.
Right now many other components are so cheap, for example 250 gig sata drives for under $80, which would also improve your system (assuming your mb is sata compatible).
|
|
Candu
Tairise Member
Life: What happens while you are making other plans
Posts: 670
|
Post by Candu on May 4, 2006 9:23:31 GMT -7
Well, thanks for all the suggestions. I finally decided on a 7800. $3 extra for 2-day shipping so it should be here today It had BETTER work, is all I have to say. I am still looking for somewhere to get "educated" about motherboards. WHen the time comes I think I am going to do it myself...
|
|
Candu
Tairise Member
Life: What happens while you are making other plans
Posts: 670
|
Post by Candu on May 4, 2006 19:51:18 GMT -7
The card works great; Oblivion is running well and I was even playing EQII tonight on EXTREME Quality with no problems. I am WAY impressed...
|
|
Alkanos
Tairise Member
The Dwarven Fury!
The snow will run red with the blood of the naughty!!
Posts: 1,578
|
Post by Alkanos on May 4, 2006 21:08:58 GMT -7
My computer can handle Very High settings, and I used to play on them, but a while back SOE changed something so now when I have more than just myself on-screen I get a huge amount of server lag...Stupid dial-up connection's holdin me back. I want a cable connection...
|
|
|
Post by Coica on May 5, 2006 7:57:14 GMT -7
nice. good to hear Candu. I want a 7800 so bad!!
and hey Alkanos, I think i read something on the official forums about an app that works great with dial-up to decrease the lag.
anyone else see this?
cant remember what its called.
|
|
Alkanos
Tairise Member
The Dwarven Fury!
The snow will run red with the blood of the naughty!!
Posts: 1,578
|
Post by Alkanos on May 5, 2006 8:38:19 GMT -7
Really??? O.O I've gotta search the forums when I get back from work today. ;D
|
|