What Am I missing???

[clarkx]

OK as you can see in my profile the type of system I have and I just upgraded for Call of duty 5 and gta4 and now I see different specs..I can plat cod5 but it suck bi time everything has to be on low and It reach to the point where I had to only play the game in safe mode to further reduce quality to play some what smoother and why bother [play a game like cod5 if thats how you have to play it right?
Worse yet with my most favourite game gta4..I played it on xbox but I sure I wont be able to get it too look like that..I have a 7100 geforce plz advise me on how to make my pc a gaming machine

thank you in advance
clark

[RockmasteR]

Hello
the Geforce 7100 is a very very low end card, I'm even surprised it launched the game, it's not meant for games and not be able to play them.

so if you can post your PC specs maybe we can help you with that,
please post :
CPU
Motherboard
RAM
and most importantly PSU wattage and amps under the 12V, you need to open you PC Case (when it's turned off) and check for the sticker on the Power Supply, you can see the volts and the wattages under them, please write them here.

[clarkx]

MOtherboard: MSI K9N6SGM-V
Processor: AMD Athlon64X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
Speed: 2.61Ghz
Ram: 3gigs
I'll get the psu wattage a lil later

Um even for games that it should allow me to play my fps rate is choppy I can have on too much faetures or shadows y is that? and I hope to invest in a XFX GeForce® 8500 GT 512MB PCI Express graphics card..I'm in first year of my computer science degree and I haven't done the basics yes..and i know moost ppl do it before and it sucks cuz i need to know how to build my pc effecively..Instead of paying my computer guy a ton of cash all the time..

[clarkx]

MOtherboard: MSI K9N6SGM-V
Processor: AMD Athlon64X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+
Speed: 2.61Ghz
Ram: 3gigs
I'll get the psu wattage a lil later

Um even for games that it should allow me to play my fps rate is choppy I can have on too much faetures or shadows y is that? and I hope to invest in a XFX GeForce® 8500 GT 512MB PCI Express graphics card..I'm in first year of my computer science degree and I haven't done the basics yes..and i know moost ppl do it before and it sucks cuz i need to know how to build my pc effecively..Instead of paying my computer guy a ton of cash all the time..btw is pci better than pci express? or can you reccomend one for me..I already know I eventually have to change my motherboard so i can have an am2+ slot for a better processor but for now..I have no choice..also I have to pay 6times for a pc part in my country so recommendations will truly help..

Thank you
Clark

[RockmasteR]

a gefoce 8500 GT will make a big difference for you yes, but it won't be as good as you think only if you wish to play games on a low resolution like 800 x 600, I have a geforce 9400 GT I play all my games on a low resolution but with all settings high, (games like Dead Space, FEAR 2)...
so if you accept the low res buy that card.
But getting a better card will be more effective, you can get a Geforce 9600 GT for 100 to 150 $
but I need to know the PSU wattage and amps to see if you also need a new PSU, updrading to an 8 series or 9 series card needs a good PSU

[pharoah]

one more thing do you have the amd dual core optimizer installed?

[clarkx]

Yes I installed the optimizer..but my games run slow ahhh will anyone tell me if the graphics card I wanna buy is good and if pci Express graphics cards are better than pci graphics cards?..

[Mcninjaguy]

PCI-E express cards are 4 x faster than PCI cards

[RockmasteR]

the PCI graphic cards are very old and it depends on your motherboard, if you motherboard have a PCIe you can buy a PCIe card but if not you need to replace your old board.
if you can take a picture of your motherboard we can help you with that.

[clarkx]

Oh wow it looks like I'm gonna have to buy a new system since I may need to change alot of stuff I'll upload the pic...bummer lol thank you very very much for the help RockmasteR & Mcninjaguy..btw how to get the my system drop down menu by my name so you all can see my system specs like you all have?

[Mcninjaguy]

go to USER CP
edit options

fill in all those boxes

[clarkx]

IF the Geforce 9400 GT will still run it crappy should I just give up and spend the 2grand on an xbox lol?

[RockmasteR]

I trust the PC for gaming more than a console, if anyone invest in a very good PC it'll kick any console's butt easily
the PC monitor's as better than any tv, and even a geforce 9600 GT will do better than an Xbox 360, i heard that's is based on a Geforce 7900 GT but I don't know if that's true

[clarkx]

ok well lets say I have $5000 that will convert to approximately $819 US will that be enough to build the ultimate system?..cuz I always say a pc is better too but after trying to upgrade and upgrade I still failing and I know if I buy an Xbox360 they will bring out a new one in few months time...I am soo frustrated I can wait for simester 2 to start so i can build my own system arrrrr..thanks again RockmasteR

[Mcninjaguy]

for $1500 you can a top of the line PC.

yes you're right the Xbox 360 only uses a ATI X1900 or a 7900GT about 4 year old technology. and since right now we are just starting to see the true potential of games a good gaming PC is worth it. its fast enough but my GTX 260 is 4 times faster

especially if you like to do everything on your PC.

With a Console everything is limited.
limited messaging
limited potential of games
the resources a Xbox 360 is even as close as a good PC

[clarkx]

ok well give me the specs to build the ultimate gaming pc....and why is windows media player sticking and taking up so much cpu processing time??? it use to work better when i had 1 processor whats going on????
thanks Mcninjaguy and RockmasterR if you have specs to suggest i'll tak them too
thanks again experts

[Mcninjaguy]

you just need a tower right?

no mouse, monitor, keyboard, no accesroies?

$850 will get you a good system


Few things are important
I'll PM Wrench97 to come help me as well

good PSU
good case
good Motherboard

Case
Antec 300
$60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129042

Motherboard
GIGABYTE GA-EP45C-UD3R LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
$120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128364

Ram
Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
$70
after rebate $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820220315

Video Card
EVGA 9800GTX+
$150
after rebate $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130420

PSU
Corsair 850w
$140
after rebate $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139009

CPU
Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor
$230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115131

HDD
Seagate ST3640323AS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148335

DVD burner
LG 22x
$24
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148335

Thermal Paste (better than the paste that comes with the CPU)
Arctic Silver 5
$7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100007

Total $871

after rebates $806

and if you wanted to upgrade to a GTX 285 the PSU would be able to handle it

and if you wanted to overclock your quad core you could get a after CPU cooler later on and overclock it to around 3.5 ghz

[clarkx]

Amazing!!!! thank you sooo much..I still might have to get my computer guy to build all these stuff since i'm not there yet...and intel better than AMD? i swear u was gonna tell me a phenom processor from AMD..But thank you so much..Mcninjaguy

[RockmasteR]

this is great system indeed for that kind of money, you'll play games like crysis on high no doubt, about the AMD CPU, you need a motherboard built for an amd CPU, AMD are cheaper, but still intel are great as well

[clarkx]

RockmasterR you mentioned in a grand theft auto post that even with a 9600gt that grand theft had to be 800x600 is there anyway i will get it at least a 1024x760 ? with everything on high with the system advised ? and if so what helps to increase the resolution and features?