pc game graphics help!!

[WIKIDSTIX]

hey guys, ive got a celeron 1.7, 2x 256mb ram, 40gig hdd, 256mb radeon 9600pro

im thinkin about getting more ram because i find that my games lag when i turn the graphics up, like i gotta play on the lowest settings.

i find when i close programs running in the background, games will run faster..

ive been playing GTA san andreas and ive gotta play it on the lowest settings..

ive got all the latest drivers, directx 9c, ATI.. all that stuff...

im also getting a tv tuner and a dvd burner for my bday on the 23rd of this month.

what do u guys think i should do to get more "cheap" performance?

1gig of ram? i dunno :(

chears dan.

[n0ngie]

it could be ram but u only run a 1.7 sop id say ur low on both

[PULLY6]

Its very likely the bottleneck is in the processor speed. Try getting a new processor, mobo & ram combo. Shouldnt cost a heap, you can get some pretty competetive deals online new.

[lv619]

Yeah mate i would suggest upgrading your ram to atleast 1Gb and your processor aswell, because what you have is just about the minimum system requirements for the latest games like BF2 etc. Jump onto www.overclockers.com.au and have a look through their before upgrading.

[MrQuan]

If it's for gaming, get the full Pentium, not Celeron. Celeron are good for office stuff, but not gaming. Also check your RAM speed, put the fastest RAM your motherboard can take. You could even take a look at your front side bus, you can speed up your CPU frequency (over clock) by altering settings in the BIOS if your motherboard allows it.

Anyways, just remember it's not just about the ammount of RAM, it's also its speed.

[WIKIDSTIX]

cool thanx for that guys

im thinkin about gettin another motherboard and cpu, the difference in price between the celeron and pentium is heaps tho... like i can get a 2.8 celeron for $150 where a pentium is $100 more for the same speed.

ive also gotta get a new mobo, i can get an asus p5p800 for $120, but i dunno much about all this stuff.

i was only planning on spending about 300 lol

what do ya rekon, all i wanna do is play gta sa.. and need for speed u2,

ill try overclocking my pc.

[klawsterfobik]

i went for the 64bit AMD.. 1 gig of RAM..

Fairly cheap all up.

[pauljh74]

AMD chips are better value for money. For the same money as a Celeron, you could get a lower end Athlon XP - which is better. You'd need to replace your RAM as I'd imagine it is PC2100/DDR266 memory for the Celeron, unless you bought PC3200/DDR400 from the start.

You could get an Athlon XP 2800+ for about $140 - less than a Celeron. The NForce2 motherboard chipset would work well with the Athlon XP chips. Or spend a little more, get a socket 939 motherboard with a low end A64 3000 - the model known as the Venice core - this is the latest and is more efficient and are noted for overclockability. As AMD's new dual core CPUs are about to be released, with ratings from 4200-4800. These could be a future upgrade - a straight CPU swap - all you need is a BIOS update to make it compatible with the newer CPUs. But this is more expensive as more needs to be replaced. Maybe next upgrade. Next time you go for new motherboard and graphics card - switch to a PCI express motherboard and graphics card.

[Steffo]

Fastest P4 you can afford and 1Gb of ram and your issues should be over. I can play it on high detail with my AMD Sempron 2200+ 1.5GHz (basically a re-badged Thoroughbred B Athlon XP), 768MB DDR333 RAM and 256MB Radeon 9600LE. Your processor and memory are the big bottlenecks.

[nang3]

hey wicked stix, im in perth too and get you wholesale price on CPUs and MB etc.. email me if you want anything... my username at hotmail

[WIKIDSTIX]

chears fellas, i get wholesale through www.dma.net.au, but their not that good imo. email sent nang

[Jamie XR6]

Dump the Celeron, easy

[the_scotsman]

Yea, get rid of the Celeron for starters....
AMD are generally known as being better for game playing, so go AMD if gaming is going to be the main use. Although, not as much between them these days as there has been in the past.
Bumping up the RAM to 1 gig will also help a lot when playing intense games such as GTA:SA.
One of the best hardware sites on the net, TOMS HARDWARE has a wealth of information that will help you.

[mr_efxr]

By the looks of it you are consuming too much virtual mem on your PC with all your background applications.

Be cautious when doing this;

Have done and has worked well on all workstations. Just remember, don't be shy with heatsinks and fans, best to run a massive heatsink & fan of the processor and graphics card. Then distribute about 6 around the tower.

Now, over clock your processor and graphics card and get a min. of 1GB ram. 1.7GB your can easily overclock to 2.2GB and the graphics to over 300MB. Experiment step by step, don't go overboard. The aim is to try and keep the core temp at less than 50 degrees celcius during peak intervals.

[The MaDDeSTMaN]

I agree with everyone else who has said that the Celeron is the performance bottleneck, upgrading from that to something faster would provide the best bang-for-buck...

[mr_efxr]

It is true that Celecrons are not meant for gaming, their primary use is business applications (mathematical calculations, word processing, etc.). They were never designed for gaming.

If you don't feel like overclocking the processor, best bet is to get your self and AMD or P4. Then overclock them.

[The MaDDeSTMaN]

Originally Posted by mr_efxr

It is true that Celecrons are not meant for gaming, their primary use is business applications (mathematical calculations, word processing, etc.). They were never designed for gaming.

If you don't feel like overclocking the processor, best bet is to get your self and AMD or P4. Then overclock them.

Well said, I agree. And if you're not interested in overclocking and don't want to know about it, get someone who knows and understands it to do it for you.

There are plenty of people around who know heaps about overclocking, some of us have been doing it since the 486 days, LOL!

[nang3]

yeh just go for a P4 i reckon... all depends on waht you wanna spend.. ive prolly got a 1.7 or 1.8 p4 lying around you can have for a carton of beer..
other wise go for a 3.0ghz P4 s478... $268 at Netplus

[M14A-Mclaren]

I wouldnt go for a P4 for bang for buck, I reckon AMD would be a better choice.

[The MaDDeSTMaN]

Originally Posted by M14A-Mclaren

I wouldnt go for a P4 for bang for buck, I reckon AMD would be a better choice.

I agree, although it all depends how much you want to spend.

For the cheapest possible upgrade, a suitable P4 (same socket, fastest one that your motherboard will support) would show a decent performance upgrade over the celeron.

However, for around $300 you could get a decent "Venice" Athlon 64 and a motherboard to suit it. However, then you'd need to get a PCI Express video card too, so factor in at least another $165 for a resonable PCI Express card (leadtek 6600), but then you'd have a very decent system...

[Steffo]

Originally Posted by M14A-Mclaren

I wouldnt go for a P4 for bang for buck, I reckon AMD would be a better choice.

Yeah, but he's already got a motherboard for a Pentium 4. Just buying a processor is alot cheaper then a CPU/RAM combo.

Originally Posted by mr_efxr

It is true that Celecrons are not meant for gaming, their primary use is business applications (mathematical calculations, word processing, etc.). They were never designed for gaming.

If you don't feel like overclocking the processor, best bet is to get your self and AMD or P4. Then overclock them.

No, this isn't true. The Celeron is just the budget derviative of the Pentium 4, Intel's attack on the lower end of the market. Your average Celeron is just a Pentium 4 with less FSB and cache. No differences other then that. But those two are the most important factors in CPU performance anyway.. so it kind of makes it bad. Its like buying an XR8 disabling four cylinders...

[Sprint_ED]

i have this problem with customers every day, celerons are hopeless for gaming, full stop, no matter how much ram or vid cars, it will still run slow, AMD is good value for money, but IMO save some money and get a hyper thread P4, it runs awsome for games for the HT 1 cpu runs win, another runs the game, these AMD 64 bit cpus are good, but if ur not running XP64, it will do nothing

[WIKIDSTIX]

thanx guys, im just gonna get a cpu.. nang ill chase you up on that soon..

the reason why, is because i really need a new car.. and i got hardly any money

my future plans are to go with AMD tho..

chears for ya help fellas