[Aleron]

^^Depends..if your SA is kinda full with mods it will need like more than 1 GB ram to run properly...the more mods you have the more RAM it will need.

[Karlip]

Aleron now bumped my post to the earlier page(last post), but yeah, kinda need help with the lag. Getting annoying. :/

[Grim_]

I have the problem sometimes as well for some reason.

I can run MW2 on medium textures without lag, however when I run GTA SA (SP or SA:MP) on high graphics, I lag like hell at points which is really weird because:

- It's a 6 year old game
- I have 2.0 GHz (dual core)
- I have 4 GB RAM

I have to set it on the lowest settings to eliminate lag. But tbh, San Andreas doesn't look that bad on low graphics. GTA IV on the other hand..

[Joe_]

Ok here goes.

I rarely ever ask for advice on computers, but I am in a REALLY tight situation.

I have no way of money income, asking parents is just LOW and, they themself seem like their having financial problems, just keep that in mind when you say "get this and that and you're good to go!".

Here's the thing:

I have a Dual core E2140, stock speed is 1,6GHZ. Front Side Bus stock is 200 MHZ, with a multiplier of 8.0.
I've had this stable overclock for quite a while, of only 1.95GHZ.

I have one stick of 1GB DDR2 800MHz RAM.

My EPIC letdown is my motherboard.

When I initially brought the computer, I was on a budget, and knew rather little on the things I'd need for what games I run.

Here's the information from the MB.

Motherboard: ECS G31T-M7
Chipset: Intel G31 (Bearlake) + ICH7
BIOS Date: 07/31/08
BIOS Version: 080014

Ok, so the two Only games that I get problems with performance, are ofcourse, the infamous FSX and FS2004.

FSX Pretty much uses raw CPU speed, that being said, I had yet another go of overclocking, and as usual, the same results.

Changing the FSB past 240, the Computer POSTs, but does not boot into windows, instead hangs at a black screen.

So I'm assuming this crappy mobo has a 240 FSB wall.

Now all other things / ideas that come to mind are the following:

RAM Timings
Change VCORE

Big problem, this BIOS does not have vcore settings nor RAM settings, the only settings for RAM are changing the frequency (auto, 667, 800), tried all with no positive outcome.

So then I thought I'd update the BIOS, which to my supprise, I've never done a BIOS flash, so doing some intense research on how to and the negatives turned out really bad.

You could possibly kill your CMOS battery / stop your mobo working all together.

Looking at that, you get to that common "Should I or not?" stage.

I then looked for other people with the same problem(s).

Most people suggested a BIOS update, the user then did, with no positive outcome, so I ditched the BIOS updating, and YES. I Did check to see if they had the same mobo/BIOS manufacturers.

So I am REALLY out of options.

I have a overclocked 9800GT (1GB GDDR3 SDRAM) which made, to my supprise, a 20FPS difference (!!!) to a extremely CPU bound game, for those who play FSX/FS9 you will understand better.

Now having some advice from a computer tech (he's a MSN friend of mine, works on the same server as I) he recommended a budjet gaming computer for me, in a rather good price range (Ј500-Ј600).

But I have no INCOME! and begging parents, is LOW, and it is EXTREMELY LOW when they are having Financial issues, as you can guess.

If I ever reach a streak of luck, and get Ј600, I'd probably go by my own instinct and buy what I want to fit my gaming needs.

I'm not one to go around buying uneedless crap for the sake of it, and buying every new game out there.

Afterall, I am still playing GTA SA & FS2004.

Ofcourse with FSX being released in the (late 2006's?) I am going for a dual core.

Not only, in my opinion do older games run better on the hardware they were officially MEANT to run on, but Dual cores are cheap nowdays, due to the release of the i7's.

Here's what I would personally buy.

Core 2 Duo E8400 @ 3.0GHz
4GB DDR3 (Maybe 2, depends on what fits the situation) RAM
I'd fit my 9800GT in, and get a cooler.
And if still on budjet, Windows 7 home premium.

Now mainly the E8400 because of its overclock abilities.

"WHY?? E5200 > E8400 NAAB!!!!11"

E8400 Starts off at a fast CPU speed, overclocking should be rather more stable, and I'm planning on keeping this computer until I'm 18, which is around ( 3 3/4 ) years.

SOO.. I really need some guidance on what I should decide to do.

Thanks in advance, Joe.

</end lame speech thing>

[BP13]

Flashing the BIOS is safe. You just can't touch or do ANYTHING on the computer while it is doing it. Remove all USB's. Do not touch anything on the PC while it is flashing. As long as the BIOS update is for your exact PC it should be fine. I would remove the overclocking first before I do the BIOS flash. I flashed my BIOS like 10 times before. It's really safe and easy you just have to make sure it is for your exact computer. There is usually fixes and can enhance your computer and even add options to the BIOS.

[Joe_]

I understand that it's safe doing it correctly, but reading up the info on the update, and other peoples outcomes, it does not yield any settings to vcore or ram timing settings, so there's no point either way.

[hencz]

And how do I get higher wattage on CPU? I think the only way is to set the voltages up because:
P = U * I and I = U / R so P = U^2 / R.
R(resistance) is constant.
So the only thing I can change is voltage. But I don't think changing voltage is a good thing. And it doesn't affect clock rate. I reckon that the amount of VRAM is not so important. The more important thing is how many triangles can the GPU process in a second and I think this can be affected by the GPU clock rate and GPU core count. Another important thing is Shader Model. I'd definitely choose an NVIDIA card because they support CUDA and PhysX hardware acceleration.

[justsomeguy]

Oke here is the isseu i just fixed my pc by formatting and put win 7 on it.
But after a few days it is getting realy weird! It is how do i put this? Stammerish?(my english aint perfect).
Does anyone know what might be wrong? here is some m,ore info about my pc:

[Famalamalam]

two dual core CPU's? How much hard-drive memory do you have? Also, how much RAM, and what version of Win7? (64 bit home premium, 32bit ultimate, etc?)

[justsomeguy]

I got win7 homepremium 32bit.
And i dont know how to check my RAM.

[Haydn]

Windows logo>Control Panel>System and Security>Then under System (The third Icon) there should be "view amount of ram and processor speed. It will tell you there

[justsomeguy]

RAM: 1.87GB
Hard drive memory: 883GB

[SlashPT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kwarde I am planning to save money for a notebook for gaming, and I was just wondering if someone knows a notebook (= laptop) with better specifications then those below. This is because I love gaming, and with better specs I can have better graphics (eg. GTA IV) with great perfomance. Specs: Код: Processor: Intel Core i7 2820QM 2.3 GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Mode, 8MB Cache) Memory: 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1600MHz (3DIMMS) Video Card: 2GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M Hard Drive: 1.5TB Raid 0 (2x 750GB 7,200RPM) Wireless Card: Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 3x3 MIMO

Quite strange those specs because if you make the division of 16 GB per 3 DIMMS it makes 5.3~ and there's no RAM with that memory

Anyways that's really one fucking nice laptop

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealCop228 Could someone tell me if the following is a good video card? I am probably going to be running GTA:IV, perhaps COD and GTA:SA of course. I just wanna' know if it'll run those games and maybe a few others with graphics similar to (or better than) COD... I'm sure it will, but I want a second opinion because quite frankly, I don't know too much about aftermarket video cards.

Which one?

[Scenario]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlashPT Quite strange those specs because if you make the division of 16 GB per 3 DIMMS it makes 5.3~ and there's no RAM with that memory Anyways that's really one fucking nice laptop Which one?

Sorry about that: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130661

[SlashPT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealCop228 Sorry about that: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130661

That's one really nice VGA im about to buy two VGA's like that one.. ( not really that one but almost that... Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II TOP )

http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-ge...x-560-review/1

The EVGA Superclocked one is still much better than that one ( of that review ) so..

Edit: Sorry if i didn't gave the answer you wanted lol, IMHO i think it will run GTA IV at Maximum or almost... About COD you can see here... http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-ge...-560-review/12 so yea it will also run COD at Maximum too

[Scenario]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlashPT That's one really nice VGA im about to buy two VGA's like that one.. ( not really that one but almost that... Asus GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II TOP ) http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-ge...x-560-review/1 The EVGA Superclocked one is still much better than that one ( of that review ) so.. Edit: Sorry if i didn't gave the answer you wanted lol, IMHO i think it will run GTA IV at Maximum or almost... About COD you can see here... http://www.guru3d.com/article/ecs-ge...-560-review/12 so yea it will also run COD at Maximum too

Okay, thanks.

Are you saying this one ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageG...20Video%20Card ) is better than the one I originally posted?

[SlashPT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealCop228 Okay, thanks. Are you saying this one ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageG...20Video%20Card ) is better than the one I originally posted?

Yes firstly because thats the Ti edition and also because it has one really high clock frequency... ( Oc'ed by default )

Also as you can see it also has one good cooler..

Edit: Review : http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-g...tcu-ii-review/

[Scenario]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlashPT Yes firstly because thats the Ti edition and also because it has one really high clock frequency... ( Oc'ed by default ) Also as you can see it also has one good cooler.. Edit: Review : http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-g...tcu-ii-review/

Oh I see. Well thanks, that is probably the card I'm going to purchase then!

[X3nZ]

I have a question about CPU's, I figured that the Athlon would be better. Here are the options.

AMD Phenom 8450 X3 @ 2.1 GHZ (This is not the Phenom II series)
AMD Athlon II 240 X2 @ 2.8 GHZ

[Forever Alone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disturbed- I have a question about CPU's, I figured that the Athlon would be better. Here are the options. AMD Phenom 8450 X3 @ 2.1 GHZ (This is not the Phenom II series) AMD Athlon II 240 X2 @ 2.8 GHZ

I would go for the second one. 2.1gHz is little too less, tho it has three cores