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 Post subject: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 1:19 am 
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title^

I'm using:
Windows XP home SP3
2.93 GHz Pentium
512 ram
128mb Radeon X300 SE

Although what it looks like it may be my ram? maybe?.. I just want to point out that this lag happens from the moment I start the game after a fresh restart and is constant.. The more objects on my screen the worser it gets.
I've switched every possible setting to Low.. (if anyones interested the texture setting helped the most, and IMO visually just as nice)

I really want it to be my ram, for obvious reasons... But I'm not that tech savy and I don't want to waste upgrading this piece of junk without getting a performance increase. Thanks for any replys


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:11 am 
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Desperado wrote:
title^

I'm using:
Windows XP home SP3
2.93 GHz Pentium
512 ram
128mb Radeon X300 SE

Although what it looks like it may be my ram? maybe?.. I just want to point out that this lag happens from the moment I start the game after a fresh restart and is constant.. The more objects on my screen the worser it gets.
I've switched every possible setting to Low.. (if anyones interested the texture setting helped the most, and IMO visually just as nice)

I really want it to be my ram, for obvious reasons... But I'm not that tech savy and I don't want to waste upgrading this piece of junk without getting a performance increase. Thanks for any replys


It's the RAM no doubt about it. My netbook can play SRO with very little issues sense I upgraded it to 2GB (running Win7 though). Upgrade the RAM as far as it can go and won't be too expensive.

Though I assume you have DDR RAM meaning it will be a bit costly.

Expect to pay around $20+ If you have 2 RAM slots you could live with another 512. If not you would need to get a 1GB stick and they are close to $30 on newegg.

If your pc supports it try to get PC3200 It will be the fastest RAM you could possibly get.

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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 5:23 am 
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I'm feeling uneasy with that video card. Honestly, you'd be better off with a new video card. Ram may help but no guarantees with that card. That particular card saps your ram, so ram will help, but even then, you won't get THAT much out of it. You could probably get a much better card for not much more than your new ram would cost you.


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 6:39 pm 
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Kutt wrote:
I'm feeling uneasy with that video card. Honestly, you'd be better off with a new video card. Ram may help but no guarantees with that card. That particular card saps your ram, so ram will help, but even then, you won't get THAT much out of it. You could probably get a much better card for not much more than your new ram would cost you.


nope his graphics is dedicated and has 128MB of memory. This card should be able to run SRO on low setting at a lower screen size. Say 15-17inches.

Another thing to point out. It is a general rule to try and max out the RAM plus RAM is cheaper. A good PCI card would be around $60+ RAM is under $30.

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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 7:20 pm 
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Amarisa wrote:
nope his graphics is dedicated and has 128MB of memory. This card should be able to run SRO on low setting at a lower screen size. Say 15-17inches.


That card does NOT have 128MB of memory, it has 128MB of hyper memory, which means that bit of memory is taken from the computer(the ram).

Quote:
Another thing to point out. It is a general rule to try and max out the RAM plus RAM is cheaper. A good PCI card would be around $60+ RAM is under $30.


About 35 for the ram, but as I said, I doubt the improvement would match the improvement of a new video card. Furthermore, you can get a better card in the 30 buck range. It won't be top end, but it'll blow his current away.

You can follow his advice and just buy new ram if you'd like, but the results won't even compare to that of a new video card.


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 11:15 pm 
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Kutt wrote:
Amarisa wrote:
nope his graphics is dedicated and has 128MB of memory. This card should be able to run SRO on low setting at a lower screen size. Say 15-17inches.


That card does NOT have 128MB of memory, it has 128MB of hyper memory, which means that bit of memory is taken from the computer(the ram).

Quote:
Another thing to point out. It is a general rule to try and max out the RAM plus RAM is cheaper. A good PCI card would be around $60+ RAM is under $30.


About 35 for the ram, but as I said, I doubt the improvement would match the improvement of a new video card. Furthermore, you can get a better card in the 30 buck range. It won't be top end, but it'll blow his current away.

You can follow his advice and just buy new ram if you'd like, but the results won't even compare to that of a new video card.


Ok first off first time I check for info about the card it said it was PCI checked again now it looks like it's PCI-E x16 (don't know)

Second if it borrows memory from system then wouldn't more RAM help?

From cnet.com "borrows from main system memory, which could hurt overall performance on machines with less than 512MB of RAM."

SRO is a memory hog say this card takes all 128MB (at least that is what I assume that is its max) having 384MB of RAM left over to run SRO and XP isn't going to run very smooth. It may meet the minimum requirements but SRO is still a big memory hog.

XP recommends 128MB so we are looking at as of right now 256MB for a smooth computer. Running just windows XP.

SRO requires 256MB but recommends 512MB. Double that and we are looking at 1GB for smooth experience.

so we are looking at 1536MB for a smooth computer under heavy loads (without the GPU)

We won't need all of that most of the time anyways. So like I said 1GB of ram will surly improve performance.

Besides I could run SRO just fine on all the integrated graphics i'v had dedicated > integrated.

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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 12:08 am 
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Besides I could run SRO just fine on all the integrated graphics i'v had dedicated > integrated.


Just to clarify a few things. Yes, more ram will help. I never denied that. My main point is the graphics card is the biggest hindrance.

Secondly, a dedicated card is not necessarily better than an integrated one. All "dedicated" means is that the card is not permanently attached to the motherboard, and can be removed and replaced. Integrated tend to perform lower, however, with the age of his video card, it's not unbelievable that integrated cards out there match or exceed it.

My boards integrated graphics, for example, has 512 mb vRam. It's shared, of course (as are all integrated cards), however it greatly exceeds his by quadruple.

Anyways, back to the main topic. Getting a card that won't sap your ram will be a huge step forward. Getting both a new card and new ram would greatly improve your performance. Getting more ram may allow you to play the game OKAY at lowest settings.


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 1:49 am 
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Well thanks Amarisa, Kutt... But it looks like I will be needing both.. Actuallu even a whole new computer by the looks of it.

I just broke the motherboard putting the ram in.. hah... yeah, I'm pissed :rant:


But more imbarased than anything... I was expecting the socket to give me a little sign that it was in place.. A little 'click' to let me know.........

And I think I ended up pusing a little too hard and now the whole computer wont start.
Well I think that's what is wrong, maybe it was static, but I was pretty careful about what I was doing.
I'm not really sure what I should do right now.
If it's just the ram module that is not working then that's ok.. But I'm not sure how to tell. All I know is I power the PC on, all seems normal, no bleeps, fans spin. Then nothing happens.
The monitor says no signal and sleeps, I've tried with more than one monitor, it's not that.. I think I've broken something............


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 3:17 am 
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Take the RAM stick out and see if the problem continues. If it still does take the video card out and use the integrated. see if the problem continues.

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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:35 am 
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Tried taking the ram out, still the same thing.
I can't get the gfx card out.... It seems completely stuck, I don't know much about hardware.
I unscrew 1 screw... give it a tug and it wont budge. Theres also a little black plastic leaver looking thing near the base where it's plugged in.
It has a grip on it so I presume I'm surposed to pushed one way or another but no luck.. Kind of worried about forcing it anymore than I am incase I do any more damage. Could it be attached anywhere else that I'm missing?


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:49 am 
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Desperado wrote:
Tried taking the ram out, still the same thing.
I can't get the gfx card out.... It seems completely stuck, I don't know much about hardware.
I unscrew 1 screw... give it a tug and it wont budge. Theres also a little black plastic leaver looking thing near the base where it's plugged in.
It has a grip on it so I presume I'm surposed to pushed one way or another but no luck.. Kind of worried about forcing it anymore than I am incase I do any more damage. Could it be attached anywhere else that I'm missing?


Those latches are usually pushed back, it should unlock and it shouldn't take much force to undo that latch. Nothing in the computer should need to be forced out, except maybe some types of more disagreeable plugs.


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:52 pm 
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Ok, I got the card out now thanks, I just needed to give it a big more of a wiggle
Put the card back in, rebooted and I got a 10 second beep, 10 second pause over and over with still no display.
Took the card out again and heres what I found....
Image
The hoops that keep the hooks of whatever that thing down have popped off. And I'm pretty sure I've been as gentle as I could have witht he computer. I think this may has happend yesterday when I~ was rummaging my way through all the wires to get to the ram and knocked that silver block thing there...........

EDIT: Guess the forum doesn't want to dsiplay the picture.. direct link http://img225.imageshack.us/i/p1030158z.jpg/


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 7:32 pm 
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Desperado wrote:
Ok, I got the card out now thanks, I just needed to give it a big more of a wiggle
Put the card back in, rebooted and I got a 10 second beep, 10 second pause over and over with still no display.
Took the card out again and heres what I found....
Image
The hoops that keep the hooks of whatever that thing down have popped off. And I'm pretty sure I've been as gentle as I could have witht he computer. I think this may has happend yesterday when I~ was rummaging my way through all the wires to get to the ram and knocked that silver block thing there...........

EDIT: Guess the forum doesn't want to dsiplay the picture.. direct link http://img225.imageshack.us/i/p1030158z.jpg/



You need at least one ram stick plugged in to boot up. Try each stick one at a time, keep your video card unplugged. If it boots with one, stick another in along side it. If it fails to boot after you put a ram stick in, that ram stick is the problem. If it fails to boot with any of the ram sticks, and you don't have another computer to test the ram with, assume it's not the ram that's causing the problem. Try that and come back with the results.

By the way, do you have your mother board's model number? Or, if you bought the computer from a company, the computer's model name and number? Not all motherboard's have integrated graphics so you may need the video card plugged in. No way to tell without identifying your mother board, however.


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 8:03 pm 
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Kutt wrote:
Desperado wrote:
Ok, I got the card out now thanks, I just needed to give it a big more of a wiggle
Put the card back in, rebooted and I got a 10 second beep, 10 second pause over and over with still no display.
Took the card out again and heres what I found....
Image
The hoops that keep the hooks of whatever that thing down have popped off. And I'm pretty sure I've been as gentle as I could have witht he computer. I think this may has happend yesterday when I~ was rummaging my way through all the wires to get to the ram and knocked that silver block thing there...........

EDIT: Guess the forum doesn't want to dsiplay the picture.. direct link http://img225.imageshack.us/i/p1030158z.jpg/



You need at least one ram stick plugged in to boot up. Try each stick one at a time, keep your video card unplugged. If it boots with one, stick another in along side it. If it fails to boot after you put a ram stick in, that ram stick is the problem. If it fails to boot with any of the ram sticks, and you don't have another computer to test the ram with, assume it's not the ram that's causing the problem. Try that and come back with the results.

By the way, do you have your mother board's model number? Or, if you bought the computer from a company, the computer's model name and number? Not all motherboard's have integrated graphics so you may need the video card plugged in. No way to tell without identifying your mother board, however.


I don't have anywhere to plug my monitor in to except my video card.
Also the ram 1 ram stick that came with the computer is the only one I have.. going to give it all another go right now...


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2011 11:02 pm 
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Desperado wrote:
I don't have anywhere to plug my monitor in to except my video card.
Also the ram 1 ram stick that came with the computer is the only one I have.. going to give it all another go right now...


Alright then you don't have an integrated card.

So you have only one ram stick and it's not working with that. Unplug your hard drive and try to boot. That will rule out your hard drive. Make sure an external drives and usb hardware(such as mouse and keyboard) are also unplugged.


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 1:58 am 
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IT WORKS!!!!
jesus christ i'm such an idiot!!! :D

There was dirt inside the actual ram module slot that I didn't see...

Although should I really be all that excited? I mean I did just snap a heat sink off.
I'm thinking superglue? not on the heatsink itself.... not really sure, maybe glue something small to the board that I can attach the metal hooks too. or would that destroy the cercuits on the board? Just pretty desperate really... if you didn't notice :P


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:12 am 
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Desperado wrote:
IT WORKS!!!!
jesus christ i'm such an idiot!!! :D

There was dirt inside the actual ram module slot that I didn't see...

Although should I really be all that excited? I mean I did just snap a heat sink off.
I'm thinking superglue? not on the heatsink itself.... not really sure, maybe glue something small to the board that I can attach the metal hooks too. or would that destroy the cercuits on the board? Just pretty desperate really... if you didn't notice :P


What part of the heat sink is broken?


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 3:16 pm 
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This bit http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5623/p1030165q.jpg


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:39 pm 
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Desperado wrote:


Don't glue the actual heat sink to the CPU, that will fry your cpu. There's special material underneath the heat sink.

It looks like there's supposed to be a base for the latches to hook into. If you still have those, you could most likely glue them as long as you made sure glue didn't get on anything else except the part of the board attaching it. You may not want to use super glue though, since super glue sucks with that kind of material. See if you can get some epoxy resin before trying this.


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:43 pm 
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Too late heheh, although I didn't glue the chip... Just around the very edges.. Still the sinks a little lop-sided. I can't get the hooks back in at all. It's harder than it looks in the close up photo
Spent half an hour trying to fix it and I ended up loosing them somewhere inside the PC in the process.. very fidgity and frustrating!

And it;s not a CPU I don't think, it's another part that I believe is called a "northbridge".
So I figure if that chip does burn out, everything else like my CPU, ram etc. should still be fine? I'd just have to buy a new motherboard that's compatible with my parts and maybe get a new gfx card with it like you sudgested earlier

Not sure if this threads annoying the mods? as it's got nothing to do with silkroad now. But you've been a big help anyway so thanks again Kutt!
Booting it up now to play some silkroad finally... Fingers crossed the machine lasts more than 10 minutes


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:54 pm 
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Desperado wrote:
Too late heheh, although I didn't glue the chip... Just around the very edges.. Still the sinks a little lop-sided. I can't get the hooks back in at all. It's harder than it looks in the close up photo
Spent half an hour trying to fix it and I ended up loosing them somewhere inside the PC in the process.. very fidgity and frustrating!

And it;s not a CPU I don't think, it's another part that I believe is called a "northbridge".
So I figure if that chip does burn out, everything else like my CPU, ram etc. should still be fine? I'd just have to buy a new motherboard that's compatible with my parts and maybe get a new gfx card with it like you sudgested earlier

Not sure if this threads annoying the mods? as it's got nothing to do with silkroad now. But you've been a big help anyway so thanks again Kutt!
Booting it up now to play some silkroad finally... Fingers crossed the machine lasts more than 10 minutes


Good luck, though the same rules apply with a North bridge. If you ever found out your computer model you could probably buy replacements for those hook bases for dirt cheap.

Anyways, good luck to you.


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:17 pm 
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Hows my luck... Can't believe this

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=127062

BTW, using that broken heatsink PC right now, working fine :)


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 Post subject: Re: Which comp upgrade do I need? Tech help
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:13 am 
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Desperado wrote:
Hows my luck... Can't believe this

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=127062

BTW, using that broken heatsink PC right now, working fine :)


Load Speedfan and check the temperatures. Also try touching the heatsink and fi you can't hold your hand on it for longer then 5 seconds without burning yourself then it is running too hot.

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