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Graphics card? Total n00b, help needed!

If you can pay 40-50 more - the 4850 is double the speed approx of the 3850 - but maybe thats too much and the 3870 might be better - and could indeed be overkill if your cpu or ram is then the limit.

Also you don't mention what resolution/screen-size you play at - or the amound of RAM you have installed - I would presume FSX is quite hungry if you turn on all the eye candy - but I've not played with any of the FS series since the original and I cant remember that far back :D

checkout www.cpuid.com - and see if you can post a screenshot of a CPU-Z "cpul" tab - as I'm not aware of any 2GHz Pentium4 off the top of my head. There maybe some hyperthreaded ones around that period - but I thought they cam in when around the 2.8GHz mark. There are 2GHz Core/Core2 models which are much better - but a PIV is going to hold your card back.

RAM is very cheap nowadays - so you might want to publish a screenshot of the "Memory" tab from CPU-Z too. The model and speed of the cpu and the type and amount of ram as well as its speeds will do if you don't want to do more screenshots.

An unbalanced system will never reach its full potential - you will get much faster but if ram or cpu are holding you back then you may not get all you pay for in your graphics card.
 
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Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor E2180 2GHz 800MHz 1MB LGA775 CPU

This could be what hes talking about processor wise.

I have put in 3 different cards you may want to consider. As you go down the list the performance you get increases by a decent margin. 3850 will be a massive increase from your onboard performance and the 8800gt is even faster and still a great card for the money. The 4850 is the best price performance card on the market and if you can stretch your budget a little its what i would buy atm.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-075-GW&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=416&name=Gainward%20ATI%20Radeon%20HD%203850%20Pro%20512MB%20GDDR3%20TV-Out/Dual%20DVI/HDMI%20(PCI-Express)%20-%20Retail

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-075-GW&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=416&name=Gainward%20ATI%20Radeon%20HD%203850%20Pro%20512MB%20GDDR3%20TV-Out/Dual%20DVI/HDMI%20(PCI-Express)%20-%20Retail

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-089-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=938&name=Powercolor%20ATI%20Radeon%20HD%204850%20512MB%20GDDR3%20TV-Out/Dual%20DVI/HDMI%20(PCI-Express)%20-%20Retail
 
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What PSU did you get? Anything over 400 watt should be enough for a 3850 (you have 300w from that pic). A Nvidia 9600GT would be better though, but it's £76 at the cheapest.

Thats definitely a PCI-E slot you have, so either of those cards should be fine in it. I wont confuse you like the others with all this pointless PCI-E speed stuff, if you just got either card and dumped it in there i'm sure it will work and be a massive improvement.

Just make sure you buy the PCI-E version of the graphics card, and not an AGP one (nearly all of them are PCI-E anyway).
 
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He ordered a new psu MR.B and the 9600 falls into the same price range of the 8800gt so if going that route forget the 9600 and order the cheapest 8800gt i linked to above as its the better card for the same price. I don't know what he ordered though so you could still be correct.
 
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TheRealDeal - he said at the top that he hasn't had the side off the case in 2 years... I doubt he's got a e2180 in there. Probably an ole P4 - though this does seem low at 2 ghz
 
I could be wrong with the processor, tell you what give me 10 mins again and i will boot it up, run cpuz and see what I can get info wise for you!
 
The PSU I purchased is here....

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-012-HP

Screenshots of CPU-Z;

cputabeh8.jpg


memtabzz2.jpg


Anything else you need to know let me know :)

PS, Budget really no more than £60, not getting into gaming too seriously just reliving the past and enjoying a "game" i used to spend hours after hours on!
 
No that looks fine - its a pentium d @ 2.8GHz (not 2) - and a real dual core (not HT) - though still a pentium 4 (not a core/core2) - but still a reasonable processor - probably won't overclock much due to temp problems (the cpu and the small cooler) and likely limited options on the bios - but you might get a little speed increase on the cpu by increasing the fsb a little.

Sort the graphics out according to your budget first and see what things run like then. 2GB of DDR2 should be ok too - and once you have a standalone card - the mobo one should disable itself and stop stealing some of your system ram and bandwidth (unless it has its own dedicated ram on the mobo separate from your DIMMS.
 
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Ok, this brings me onto my next question, I cant remember from last time what happened, when I install the new gfx card I assume I can plug the monitor straight in and boot as normal and things "should" look ok, perhaps a few tweaks with res etc? Am I right or is there something more complicated than that?

Thanks mate for your help, think I will be leaving the processor alone for now :)

btw the res I run at is 1280x1024.
 
your drivers are v6,x - you will need the latest 8.7 or 8.8 drivers for the new card - so uninstall the old ones - power off, install card and connect monitor to the new connector (either connector - as there will be two - and they could be both DVI connectors - but you will likely get an adaptor to convert to 15-pin d-type vga connector in the box) - and boot - it will come up in vga mode, then install the new drivers and you're away.

The most you might have to do - but I doubt it - is connect an extra power connector to the new card - usually a 4-pin floppy connector on low end ATI cards - but PCI-express can deliver a lot of power to the graphics cards - so thats mainly only seen on high end PCI-E and medium to high AGP - so it should be just a matter of plugging it into the black PCI-E connector. Remember to remove the power cable - when a PC is off - theres still juice in the AGP/PCI-E slots - and you can damage the card.

Most BIOS on systems with mobo graphics will disable the onboard graphics when you plug the new one in - it might be worth checking to see if theres an option to do that - when you put the new card in - just to make sure - or RTFM - just so theres only one GFX card seen by the o/s.
 
Ok matey, I follow most of that apart from the first bit about the latest drivers, where do i go to uninstall the old ones before I power off? I also read that as the new card will come with the 8.7 or 8.8 drivers? Correct?

Sorry, not "that" good with hardware :)
 
Check Add/Remove programs, there's usually an entry in there. I don't think you will need a specialist program like driver cleaner, in my experience going from an older series of drivers to a newer one has been fine provided it's the same manufacturer. You should get the drivers from the ATi website if they are newer for bugfixes etc. :)
 
lukechad said:
ATI Display driver the one I need to me removing?
Click to expand...

Yes - look for anything in "Add/Remove Programs" in control panel with a red ATI logo and remove it - if it asks you to reboot say no and keep uninstalling - then power down. There might be a couple of bits of ATI software - though on second thoughts - if theres something which says "ATI Chipset Software" or something like that - then leave it - it may be a tick box on the "ATI xxxx Drivers" software - untick it - since your mobo uses the ATI Radeon Express Chipset by the looks of it - you shouldnt remove those - newer/later ones are available from the url below as well.

The ones you will get on the CD will be late V7.x or early V8.x ones most likely - get the latest from here (http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html) now/berore you install.

M.
 
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So im getting the latest ones for the 3850! Should be sorting the PSU tomorrow, found some helpful info online and the instructions are pretty simple to follow, dont see how I can be getting it wrong, just hope it physically fits nicely :)

Do I install the downloaded drivers after ive used the ones off the disc or do I use this file instead of the supplied ones?
 
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If you are upgrading mostly to play FSX you should be aware that FSX is quite CPU limited and your Pentium D is going to stuggle a bit. Take a look at this thread for some tips on optimising gameplay.
 
Thanks a lot mate! Will trawl avsim for help and advice too :)

I realised FS is a difficult program to run well but im more than happy with medium settings to be fair, just at the moment even super low settings dont run well!
 
PSU in and running :)

A LOT easier than I thought to be fair, only had 4 physical connections from the old one, HDD, CD-ROM/DVD Drive, MOBO and one to the MOBO which I assume is powering the fans :)

Ordering gfx card now, cant be bothered with waiting :)

SOOOO.......does everyony feel the 3850 is the card for me? Still open to any other suggestions!
 
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