how do i fasten my computer

Forums › Microsoft Windows › how do i fasten my computer

snowman213

60 posts

Master Geek

Topic # 30993 28-Feb-2009 19:28

i want to speed up my computer but dont know how, i want to play a the game assasins creed that i recently borrowed from a friend but its really laggy, i dont even know how to check what stuff i've got on the computer all i know is its:

Windows vista
2gb ram
2.20GHz
Processor: Intel (R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU

My friend said i need to upgrade my grapihcs card and ram but i have no clue which product to use and they seem to cost alot, so trademe is a place im planning to buy them but i worry that they may be fake.

any suggestions will help thanks.

Basekid

70 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 198566 28-Feb-2009 21:10

What graphics card do you have right now? 2Gb ram should be enough, but buying another 2gb wouldnt hurt when running Vista.

wellygary

3450 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 957

Reply # 198569 28-Feb-2009 22:02

Assasins Creed System requirements are ( according to wiki)
Min


Min Intel Pentium D 2.6 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (Dual Core) processor	Recommended Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or better/AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
1 GB (XP), 2 GB (Vista)	3 GB
12 GB
256 MB DirectX 10.0 Graphics Card or DirectX 9.0–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher, PCI Express	512 MB DirectX 10.0–compliant video card or DirectX 9.0–compliant card with Shader Model 3.0 or higher, PCI Express

2GB is the min for Vista, so more ram would help, but I would guess that your graphics card is probably your ball and chain,

Batman

Mad Scientist
19140 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2486

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 198573 28-Feb-2009 23:21

i hope you have a desktop - and a pci-express slot.

what you need is something like an nvidia 8600gts or 8800gt or 9600gt or above ...
or an ati hd3670 or hd3870 or above

the best bang for mod money would be an ati hd4870 for games.

Swype on iOS is detrimental to accurate typing. Apologies in advance.

snowman213

60 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 198590 1-Mar-2009 10:12

Basekid: What graphics card do you have right now? 2Gb ram should be enough, but buying another 2gb wouldnt hurt when running Vista.

i dont know wat graphics i have, if wat u mean by video card then i have a 128mb PCIe(TM)x16 NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) 8300GS w/TV-Out, VGA & DVI

I dont know if thats the thing used to watch tv on computer which i cant, or if its the graphics yours asking.

If i want to speed up my computer do i just upgrade my RAM? (currently using 2gb DDR2 667MHz)

tkr001

348 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 25

Reply # 198610 1-Mar-2009 13:48

Your video card could do with upgrading. See Joker97's post above.

wellygary

3450 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 957

Reply # 198635 1-Mar-2009 19:25

snowman213:
Basekid: What graphics card do you have right now? 2Gb ram should be enough, but buying another 2gb wouldnt hurt when running Vista.

i dont know wat graphics i have, if wat u mean by video card then i have a 128mb PCIe(TM)x16 NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) 8300GS w/TV-Out, VGA & DVI

I dont know if thats the thing used to watch tv on computer which i cant, or if its the graphics yours asking.

If i want to speed up my computer do i just upgrade my RAM? (currently using 2gb DDR2 667MHz)

While a DirectX 10 card, the 8300GS doesn't have the VRAM needed to run your game well, the specs ask for 256MB min, your 128 is simply not enough to toss round all those pixels,

see the above posts on what woudl be a good upgrade, ( you cannot add VRAM to most Vidoe cards)

Batman

Mad Scientist
19140 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2486

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 198661 1-Mar-2009 21:43

what you need is something like an nvidia 8600gts or 8800gt or 9600gt or above ...
or an ati hd3670 or hd3870 or above

the best bang for mod money would be an ati hd4870 for games.

go to www.pricespy.co.nz, look for those cards (make sure you look at those with 512MB or more) and see how much you want to spend, then buy it, and you'll play games pretty well. if you really want to compare each card, it gets rather complicated! but in general the pricing ranking is similar to performance ranking ... as an overall guide.

Swype on iOS is detrimental to accurate typing. Apologies in advance.

scottjpalmer

Minimalist
5497 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 431

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 198666 1-Mar-2009 21:50

Wherever you decide to buy from I suggest you take your PC to them to verify it will be compatible with your motherboard (AGP, different flavours of PCI-E, etc)

Adamal

544 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 198817 2-Mar-2009 20:37

Strap on a turbo au.

But seriously, you'd probably want to go for something like an HD4850 or nVidia 9800.
As your CPU is 'only' a 2.2ghz one, anything faster than those is probably going to be a waste with the more demanding games. IE, you'll be spending more money on a graphics card which won't see its full potentional because your CPU is acting as a bottleneck.