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Quote from: venuse on August 28, 2010, 12:04:38 PM
before you start upgrading or getting advice we need to know what your motherboard is and your powersupply because those will determine what you can upgrade too. some motherboards are so old that yyou wont be able to upgrade without getting a new motherboard.
might try pcwizard to find this stuff out
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html

Quote from: Seifer on August 28, 2010, 04:15:56 PM
While I'm at it, You could most likely get a new processor, something that's almost double what you have for around 150-200.

In almost every case, if you are upgrading your CPU, you will have to upgrade your motherboard. Especially if your CPU is relatively old. The newer CPUs just won't work. In addition, if you're getting a new motherboard, you may also have to get a new case depending on how different the motherboards are.

How it usually works is you build a machine from scratch, then you upgrade every couple years or so, and start from scratch again around 4-5 years. If your computer is older than 4-5 years you will most likely not be able to upgrade much of anything without having to start over. You could potentially upgrade certain things like RAM, maybe a slightly better graphics card, but you will probably regret it in a year or two when you're back in the same position you're in now. Better to spend the money on a new system then throw more money into an old one. You'll be much happier with the result.

You are imagining his computer as much too old. Any MOBO will fit in ANY Mid-Tower or above. Mid-Tower being the standard case size. You can have microboards and such in them, and I'm sure his case is not tiny, it will be a Mid-Tower, so he will not have to switch MOBO's. If his MOBO is recent enough to support DDR2, which most likely it is, unless it's 8+ years old, than it will also support CPU's up until the new I7's which require new, special MOBO's. A Video Card slot is a Video Card slot. Either PCI-E or AGP slot, it doesn't matter. A VGA from now and a VGA from 8 years ago both go in the same slot.

If you want to make an awsome computer, something that could say, run Crisis on full without issue than yes, you would need to start over, but if his computer is 5-8 years old, than most likely he could buy something like a much better CPU, cheap, that is very good on heat so it won't overheat in his shitty computer, a 6800 VGA, which are excellent and run a lot of modern games on mid-max, for around 50-60 bucks and are very heat efficient, and he could also replace his two ram pieces with two 2gig peices.

Aside from the switch from regular CPU's to I7's and DDR to DDR2, there aren't a lot of changes in the way computer parts go together and interact with one another.

Maybe 8-15 years ago when they were truly defining the computing market, exploring the possibilites of the power they could create did we have to constantly upgrade to keep up. Now? Hardly. I built my computer over 3 years ago now. They still havn't put anything out that can put a toll on my computer. And if they do, than I buy a 2nd VGA and SLI it, and tada, double VGA power, and I've still two more slots for ram if need be. I don't expect I will ever have to "start over" unless we get to the point where we have some sort of virtual gaming which takes super computers.

Dude Seifer he's probably rocken an old HP / Dell PC. They lock down those systems. His mobo is not like your's with all its customizability. The bios on those systems will probably not support a different CPU let alone a newer one. And you cant exactly update the bios on those things easily or if at all. To top that we don't even know if he has sufficient cooling to support newer stuff.

The easiest thing I can recommend is like a $50-80 gpu but I have a feeling his cpu will still be too low to really help him much since StarCaft 2 is more of a CPU based game.

This is starting to become farther away from a quick and easy fix. (I will lol if he comes back to this topic to add that his system is also a laptop XD)

Quote from: Seifer on August 30, 2010, 08:39:30 PM
You are imagining his computer as much too old. Any MOBO will fit in ANY Mid-Tower or above. Mid-Tower being the standard case size. You can have microboards and such in them, and I'm sure his case is not tiny, it will be a Mid-Tower, so he will not have to switch MOBO's. If his MOBO is recent enough to support DDR2, which most likely it is, unless it's 8+ years old, than it will also support CPU's up until the new I7's which require new, special MOBO's. A Video Card slot is a Video Card slot. Either PCI-E or AGP slot, it doesn't matter. A VGA from now and a VGA from 8 years ago both go in the same slot.

If you want to make an awsome computer, something that could say, run Crisis on full without issue than yes, you would need to start over, but if his computer is 5-8 years old, than most likely he could buy something like a much better CPU, cheap, that is very good on heat so it won't overheat in his shitty computer, a 6800 VGA, which are excellent and run a lot of modern games on mid-max, for around 50-60 bucks and are very heat efficient, and he could also replace his two ram pieces with two 2gig peices.

Aside from the switch from regular CPU's to I7's and DDR to DDR2, there aren't a lot of changes in the way computer parts go together and interact with one another.

Maybe 8-15 years ago when they were truly defining the computing market, exploring the possibilites of the power they could create did we have to constantly upgrade to keep up. Now? Hardly. I built my computer over 3 years ago now. They still havn't put anything out that can put a toll on my computer. And if they do, than I buy a 2nd VGA and SLI it, and tada, double VGA power, and I've still two more slots for ram if need be. I don't expect I will ever have to "start over" unless we get to the point where we have some sort of virtual gaming which takes super computers.

Your forgetting that he now has to up his power and will still need better cooling. I'd also take a gander that he's not running a mid-tower, but rather a smaller one, where things just don't like to fit well at all.

Okay I used the PC Wizard program to workout what kind of motherboard I actually have, heres what PC Wizzard stats:
Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
Mainboard: Asus EMER
Bios: Phenix Technologies, LTD
Chipset: Intel i945P
Physical Memory 1536MB(3 x 512 DDR2-SDAM)


And by the looks of it my motherboard has a total of 4 slots for RAM.

I went into the "Process" section and it says I have 2 cores. While I'm playing Starcraft II they are both running around at 24-32%

Oh hell, that is very upgradeable!! That's a decent Mobo. Supports up to 4gb of ram, two VGA slots, a much better CPU than you have. I stick by my decision that you should buy 4 new gigs of ram, a new VGA and a new CPU.

What would you suggest?

Depends on your budget.

edit:
Ill sit and watch. If something comes of this I have learned something.

Being in Australia if you're looking for a new PC you'd best try somewhere like Centrecom, or if you know how to put it all together you can save a heap from buying the parts from somwhere like MSY as it will save you a bundle.

If you're on a tight budget you could probably look at AMD and ATI for your cpu and Graphics, but I would personally recommend Intel and Nvidia.

Something like:
Cpu: intel Core i5
GFX: Nvidia GTS 250
RAM: 4gb

shouldn't be too expensive and will last you a while and should be able to play all current games somewhat close to maxed out.

just quickly looking I've found a few PCs that may interest you.

AMD Budget Gaming PC - This is the box only, if you want the screen and speakers and whatnot bundled click here This has a AMD dual core with 1gb ATi graphics and 4gb of RAM and for under $1,000 (AUD) is pretty decent.

If you've got a bit more money to play with you might try looking at Intel i7 Gaming PC it of course being more expensive is a significantly better PC, again if you wish to have screen, speakers etc.. included Click Here With an i& processor and some of the latest ATi graphics cards and between 4gb and 8gb of RAM this PC will hold strong for the next 5 or 6 years without needing an upgrade.

Why do you have the idea that 1,000$ is budget? Are you some rich kid?

Quote from: Seifer on September 10, 2010, 01:50:12 PM
Why do you have the idea that 1,000$ is budget? Are you some rich kid?

Why are you so pompous lately? It's getting annoying.

I too consider a 1,000$ gaming PC to be budget these days. It's no where near top of the line, even if it can run modern games decently.

You can build a computer for less than 1 grand than can run Crysis nearly max.

I don't mean to come off pompus, but really? 1000 is budget? Maybe I am just a poor person, but I would never consider 1000 budget.

Quote from: Seifer on September 10, 2010, 05:06:36 PM
You can build a computer for less than 1 grand than can run Crysis nearly max.

At what frame rate?

QuoteI don't mean to come off pompus, but really? 1000 is budget? Maybe I am just a poor person, but I would never consider 1000 budget.

I'm extremely poor and still bought a 2 grand computer, haha. I saved up the money I needed working two months at a minimum wage job.

You can get a PC that can play Starcaft 2 just fine with 1k. Max setting and all.