Video card upgrade

[QC]

Re: Video card upgrade

Kagee,

I have Cable, but I am the only one hard wired. The rest of the house is wireless. I know what your thinking . . . However, kids come and go with their own laptops and my older son plays too on his laptop. None of them have the same lag, even there when the 13YO is the only one on.

I'll try and verify this tonight when they are both home:

1) I can have the 13 YO log into his Realm on both his computer and his brother's laptop and confirm if it is different between the two. If the lag is different then I know at least some of the issue is in the PC. If the lag is the same it could be either the connection or others in the realm.

2) I can plug the laptop into a hard wire in my little office. If it speeds up, then I know that at least some of the issue is wireless speed vs. my hard wire.

Does this plan makes sense to anybody other than me?

 

[KaGee]

Re: Video card upgrade

On cable, your house is connected to a "branch" with other houses. How many? You'd have to ask the cable company. You are sharing bandwidth with others outside your house. They all have their own IP address and cannot get into your LAN, but you all share the bandwidth. Bet you didn't know that.

A little FYI... I have AT&T and they just introduced DSL ELITE. It's faster than the standard cable hook up. They guarantee the speed. Best part, it's only 29.99 a month! My XBox live is better, I get far fewer lag outs than I had with cable and it cost 50 a month.

Your video issue can cause a lag... my experience is that the video lag is there in the game even when you are playing off-line.

 

[QC]

Re: Video card upgrade

Bet you didn't know that.

Actually I did. The local Phone company is now pushing their super duper DSL too. I need to look into it, but the cable service is pretty good and I figure that everybody that switxhes will ultimately help my cable speed if I don't . . .

Good idea to check WoW offline too. That'll at least settle the bandwidth, connection and other player questions. Thanks for the help.

 

[KaGee]

Re: Video card upgrade

BTW, with DSL, you do not share any bandwidth... it's all yours!

if I can find them, there was several downloads that were free that you can get to monitor your computer video performance and other issues.

I've been out of the loop for a while... I used to have all this info at my finger tips or in my mind.

 

[Autotech1]

Re: Video card upgrade

I upgraded my power supply, my ping on CoD 2 went ftom 30 to 60 with no other changes, cpu and gpu were starving i guess. Went from generic 400W to thermaltake 400W, weighed twice as much, the cheaper ones are rated by "peak" output rather than continuous. Way more stable too.

I have 1 512 and 2 256 all diffrent brands with absolutely no probs after a couple years. 1 kingston one pny and another generic.

If you upgrade mobo go with PCIe for sure tho.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Video card upgrade

Having gone thourgh 3 teenage boy's i can say this to you, get two 1gig sticks of ram. as to video forget the pci stuff , if you post a model number or you comp it will be able to assit you

If you balk @ that much ram dont thing's are changing rapidly soon.

 

[Solittle]

Re: Video card upgrade

QC - If you do go the video card route make sure that it is a PCI and not the newer PCIe as they ar enot compatible. PCI video cards should give you better performance than the integrated video on the Mo board. They are available and for cheap hit eBay.

KaGee - On your Dell questions - Dell computers are designed very tightly to Dell specifications and you invite trouble if you don't do your research very carefully. For example if your current Dell motherboard meets the ATX form standards then another brand may physically fit - the demands of the new motherboard may exceed what the Dell power supply can put out. Also I assume that you know that Windows XP is highly taylored to Dell specs. and may or may not support Either the new BIOS or motherboard.

If you do decide to give it a whirl try to find out who made the Dell motherboard (& model #) and go from there with your research.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Video card upgrade

QC - If you do go the video card route make sure that it is a PCI and not the newer PCIe as they ar enot compatible. PCI video cards should give you better performance than the integrated video on the Mo board. They are available and for cheap hit eBay.

KaGee - On your Dell questions - Dell computers are designed very tightly to Dell specifications and you invite trouble if you don't do your research very carefully. For example if your current Dell motherboard meets the ATX form standards then another brand may physically fit - the demands of the new motherboard may exceed what the Dell power supply can put out. Also I assume that you know that Windows XP is highly taylored to Dell specs. and may or may not support Either the new BIOS or motherboard.

If you do decide to give it a whirl try to find out who made the Dell motherboard (& model #) and go from there with your research.

Pay attenetion here, this is a very valid post.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Video card upgrade

I think you'll find the Dell do not meet the ATX form factor. They have their own design and their own cases. Unlike Gateway, Dell used to manufacture their own MBs. They used to be made in a Dell plant in Ireland. Not sure about now.

 

[KRS]

Re: Video card upgrade

tigerdirect sells 25 PCI video cards.

I upgraded my "onboard" graphics accelerator a year or so ago to a PCI Nvidia.... it's leaps and bounds better than the onboard stuff.

Sure AGP is better... but nothing wrong with PCI and YES they are still available for as little as $35.

 

[KRS]

Re: Video card upgrade

As for the RAM, only add it exactly as you have it... meaning if you have one 512 chip than go with one 512 chip. If you have four slots with two occupied by 256 chips, then get two more 256 chips.

Just be sure the speed is the same.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Video card upgrade

ok are you all so sure of your recomendation's, throw's down the gloves.........8) dont be so sure here

 

[QC]

Re: Video card upgrade

Wow. Missed all this latest stuff. Thanks.

If you guys look above, the PCI & PCIe thing was my first question. That I get now.

Not sure why Kagee keeps thinking this thing is a Dell, it is an HP Pavillion a819n POS . . . The Mother board model is noted above somewhere.

My understanding is that DDR SDRAM can be used in mismatched sizes.

The one that is kinda blowing my mind is the Power Supply recomendation by Autotech 1. Make any sense from a technical point of view?

 

[Colorado04]

Re: Video card upgrade

I think what Autotech 1 is trying to stress is the importance to a good power supply in the computer. I have had cheap power supplyies blow capacitor clear off the circuit board in the unit. Sounded like a cherry bomb going off in my office.

As in Autotech 1 example you have two power supplies that are rated for 400 watts. The one that is rated at 400 watts continious will be able to peak at maybe 20 or so percent more. The important thing is that you will get 400 watts of clean and stable power. Where as the 400 watt peak rated power supply will give you considerablely less clean and stable power delivery. I am guessing around 350 watts. Someone please feel free to correct me. The point is that if your system needs on a regular basis lets say 380 watts of continous power, the 400 watt peak unit is stressing most likely and prolonged use at the upper levels of output may result in the unit failing or causing other hickups in the system.

In regards to your video card. Try to find one that is not over clocked. It's kinda like tricking out a 4 cylinder to do the work of a V6. Just get the V6. The card will run cooler and be more stable.

As to the question of RAM. Put in as much as the board will take or you can afford. An increase in RAM is easiest, quickest and sometimes cheapest way to improve performance of a computer. Sometimes the most noticable visual performance change.

 

[vipzach]

Re: Video card upgrade

Wow. Missed all this latest stuff. Thanks.

If you guys look above, the PCI & PCIe thing was my first question. That I get now.

Not sure why Kagee keeps thinking this thing is a Dell, it is an HP Pavillion a819n POS . . . The Mother board model is noted above somewhere.

My understanding is that DDR SDRAM can be used in mismatched sizes.

The one that is kinda blowing my mind is the Power Supply recomendation by Autotech 1. Make any sense from a technical point of view?

DDR can be used in mismatched sizes. Your HP came with 512 Mb of DDR PC3200, you could add a stick of PC2700 and the mobo will clock the pc3200 back. It would be best to to match the speeds. You can also put in up to 4 gigs of Ram.

Your mobe doesn't have PCIe or and AGP slot. Your integrated graphics card only has 64Mb. Your son could definately use an upgrade, even if it is a PCI card. It wi;; be better. I would suggest atleast a 256 Mb card.

Your power supply has a peak power of 300 watts. The more stuff you add to your computer, the more power it needs. Most branded computers (Dell and HP) don't put in good power supplies, because most people don't need them. If you want to add a new power supply, you need to make sure that it will fit in that HP box, check compatibilty.

If you decide that you want a new mobo, make sure that it will fit into the case. Alot of times HP and others have their own Proprietary sized boards. If a new one will fit in there, you WILL have to do a repair install of Windows XP. Don't try firing up XP until you do the repair install.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Video card upgrade

Wow. Missed all this latest stuff. Thanks.

If you guys look above, the PCI & PCIe thing was my first question. That I get now.

Not sure why Kagee keeps thinking this thing is a Dell, it is an HP Pavillion a819n POS . . . The Mother board model is noted above somewhere.

My understanding is that DDR SDRAM can be used in mismatched sizes.

The one that is kinda blowing my mind is the Power Supply recomendation by Autotech 1. Make any sense from a technical point of view?

DDR can be used in mismatched sizes. Your HP came with 512 Mb of DDR PC3200, you could add a stick of PC2700 and the mobo will clock the pc3200 back. It would be best to to match the speeds. You can also put in up to 4 gigs of Ram.

Your mobe doesn't have PCIe or and AGP slot. Your integrated graphics card only has 64Mb. Your son could definately use an upgrade, even if it is a PCI card. It wi;; be better. I would suggest atleast a 256 Mb card.

Your power supply has a peak power of 300 watts. The more stuff you add to your computer, the more power it needs. Most branded computers (Dell and HP) don't put in good power supplies, because most people don't need them. If you want to add a new power supply, you need to make sure that it will fit in that HP box, check compatibilty.

If you decide that you want a new mobo, make sure that it will fit into the case. Alot of times HP and others have their own Proprietary sized boards. If a new one will fit in there, you WILL have to do a repair install of Windows XP. Don't try firing up XP until you do the repair install.

Ummm hold on:Expansion slots One PCI Express x16 graphics PEG slot

Three PCI slots

One PCI expansion slot (select models only)

No AGP slot
____________________________________________
Product number
PS526AA
Introduction date
01/13/2005
Country/region sold in
United States
Canada
Hardware
Base processor
Pentium4 520 (P) HT 2.8 GHz:
800 MHz Front side bus
Socket 775
Chipset
Intel 915GV
Motherboard
Manufacturer: Asus

" Motherboard Name: PTGD1-LA"


HP motherboard name: Goldfish2-GL8E
Memory
Component Attributes
____________________________________________

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?cc=us&docname=c00208497&lc=en

This is your board
____________________________________________-


http://www.futuremark.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164

That should make thing's eaiser

 

[vipzach]

Re: Video card upgrade

QC, do you know what a PCIe slot looks like? It will be a little longer than the PCI slots and usually black.

Tail Gunner, I looked his up by his HP model number (a819n). It said nothing about having the option of PCIe on that board, but yet the HP page you found says it is on select models only.............so who knows what he has. If he got the model number off the board he should be able to see the PCIe slot.

Here is the page I looked at http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...me=c00280715&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&printable=yes

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Video card upgrade

Ok Qc if you have a board like that, spefically look at the line's, see that red one that's the money hole...... Now if it's identical it's rather simple to upgrade if not, that comp will not run games to well........... Dont let it stress you if you can build a boat you can build a plug and play comp for a small amount and save yourself a lot of money.

 

[QC]

Re: Video card upgrade

Thanks for the continued help. Yes, I now know what a PCIe slot looks like and no, I don't have one. I was pretty sure of that from the beginning, but I wanted to clarify. I am prolly going to add some RAM and maybe do the card, but I'll definitely move this computer on to mom instead of the mobo.

Thanks again.

 

[KaGee]

Re: Video card upgrade

QC, I don't know how I thought it was a DELL. DUH!
My bad.

NEXT TIME POST YOUR SPECS UP FRONT! 8)