Need help upgrading PC

jonny109 · 19 Sep 2010 at 21:56

Hi all,

I have a five year old Dell Dimension 9200 (see specification at bottom of post) I have just purchased the game Ship Simulator Extremes (game specification at the bottom of the linked page) but it is nearly impossible to play. I believe I need to upgrade my CPU and or Graphics Card (if there is more I need to upgrade please inform me). Does anybody have any ideas on what to upgrade my Graphics and CPU to? I would prefer the total cost to be under £300

Can anybody help?

Thank
Jonny109

Operating System
MS Windows XP Media Center Edition Professional 32-bit SP3
CPU
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 @ 2.13GHz
Conroe 65nm Technology
RAM
3.0GB DDR2
Motherboard
Dell Inc. 0WG855 (Microprocessor)
Graphics
DELL 1907FP @ 1280x1024
256MB 256MB ATI Radeon X1300PRO (Dell)
256MB 256MB ATI Radeon X1300PRO Secondary (Dell)
Hard Drives
244GB Western Digital WDC WD2500JS-75NCB3 (SCSI)
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GSA-H31N
Audio
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC

jonny109 · 19 Sep 2010 at 22:06

Hi stulid,

Is this 9800gt compatible with my motherboard and do I just take out the old one and put in the 9800gt?

jonny109 · 19 Sep 2010 at 22:22

Ok thanks for your help. I noticed that the game requires a minimum of 3.00GHz processor but I only have a 2.13GHz processor will this not have also caused the game to be nearly unplayable?

jonny109 · 19 Sep 2010 at 22:30

Ok thanks for all your help. As your suggestions I will purchase the 9800gt and when I install it and attempt to play the game with the new card I will let you know the results.

Jonny109

jonny109 · 21 Sep 2010 at 17:56

H all again,

Since this is my first time upgrading my Graphics card I have been looking on the Internet to see how to guides. I have found one here. Is this guide the correct way to install the new graphics card?

Thanks

jonny109 · 21 Sep 2010 at 18:10

Thank RJC will do

jonny109 · 21 Sep 2010 at 20:19

Hi Liampope,

I would recommend ship shim it looks very good from the very poor quality graphics that I have but should be rectifying soon. Thanks.

jonny109 · 22 Sep 2010 at 19:41

Hi all,

Well today I received the GPU and installed it. It works fine and I can now play Ship Simulator Extremes in high end graphics mode. Thanks to everybody on this thread for the help much appreciated.

The only problem I have now is that the GPU after approximately 1h 30mins of game play the core was at a temperature of 82c and then now it is at 53c and it has only been on for half an hour and I have left the computer sitting idle for the entire time.

I am presuming I need a new fan to get rid of air quicker. Does anybody know which fan would be suitable for my computer? it is a Dell Dimension 9200.

Thanks