What can i do?

Shwompy · Dec 27, 2004, 06:42 PM

I got a brand new computer for Christmas, and i bought the game half life 2 and a Tv card. I intalled the tv card has some problems, but finally got it fixed. Then i installed half-life thinking it was going to be great, after fixing some problems with that i finally got to play. Maybe my graphics card is bad, because the damn game skips like no other. I mean this is brand new 3 days old, and its top of the line HP. Here are my Specs.

530 Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz
512MB Pc3200 DDR Sdram
200GB HardDrive
Dvd+rw/CD-RW Duble Layer
Cd-Rom Drive
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator With 128Mb shared video Memory
800MGz Front Bus

Can any1 tell me what the next thing i should do to this computer, Its pretty nice now, but i cant play the game, im not sure why..

Thanks

P.s IF you didint know yet i am a noob at this.

drakesteakn · Dec 27, 2004, 07:30 PM

i dont think the graphics card is bad. just has slow performance.

Logla · Dec 27, 2004, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drakesteakn

i dont think the graphics card is bad. just has slow performance.

Make that very slow performance. The shared memory is going to have a big hit on performance because it is borrowed from the system memory. That will knock you down to 384MB of RAM.

The best solution is to see if you have a spare PCI-express slot (I'm asuming this pc has PCI-express) and then go buy a new graphics card.

Problem with the HP machines is that they often take away the ability to upgrade certain components.

CDsDontBurn · Dec 27, 2004, 07:55 PM

because the system is running DDR400, i think it might have an AGP slot instead of a PCI-E. I could be wrong of course. But yea, that integrated graphics w/128Mb of shared video is what is killing your performance for HL2.

>GSXR<mrbusa · Dec 27, 2004, 08:23 PM

congrats on the new system.

BUT this system is very far from top of the line.you will need a soundcard and a good gpu to play any of the new games out there right now.you should also get rid of any hp related software that is installed and shut down some unneeded services and optimize xp for best performance and play with the swapfile.make sure when you get sound and gpu that you diasable the onboard stuff in the bios.goodluck and mery christmas

ps: it wouldnt hurt to throw another 512mb of ram in there also

Geminiwave · Dec 27, 2004, 09:34 PM

yeah definately ditch the HP related software if you can. HP is no good when it comes to software.

as far as the hardware, its the intel graphics thats really killing you. they have the poorest performance when it comes to graphics. You'd almost be better off with an S3 or something.

anyway get yourself a 9800PRO or something and most of your problems will disapear.

MiDKnYtE · Dec 27, 2004, 10:51 PM

give us the exact model number. the 915 chipsets still run DDR, so there's a good probability that it has PCIe. I would look into getting a 6600GT for that system. if you want to spend more $$, then a X800XT or X850XT.

ReV smokey255 · Dec 27, 2004, 11:44 PM

umm what i would do umm get a 9800 pro or a 6800GT and get another 512 stick of ram. then you will have you own little gaming rig

MiDKnYtE · Dec 28, 2004, 02:44 AM

I'm fairly certain that his system has PCIe. in that case, there is no 9800. You could try to find a 6600GT or 6800GT in PCIe. what's the $$ budget?

Shwompy · Dec 28, 2004, 03:19 AM

Thanks for all the posts and stuff. Umm The model Number is Hp Pavilion a730N If you guys would, im still kind of a noob, so tell me what kind of hp software i should get rid off. I have alot of it gone already just not that much. I thought i would need a new graphics card, because i have never heard of Intel Graphics, so... My buget is anywhere from 500-1000 at this time.

Shwompy · Dec 28, 2004, 03:20 AM

Also can you explain PcIe and the other slot.. I dont understand that..

MiDKnYtE · Dec 28, 2004, 03:22 AM

http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/produ...cfkmdffhdffl.0

yes you have PCIe. Intel graphics is the onboard video chip. not that good.

if your budget is over 500, then look for a X800XT-PE or X850XT-PE. that's the top of the line from ATI. The next rung on the ladder would be the 6800GT from nvidia.

Shwompy · Dec 28, 2004, 07:34 AM

So is it possible for a newb to install a new card, or is it hard..

CDsDontBurn · Dec 28, 2004, 09:08 AM

well, for those of us who know what we're doing, it's rather simple, couple of screws, slide in, cover back up, and you're done. But if you're not willing to take a chance and mess anything up, i'd say take it into a computer shop or somebody you know that knows what to do and have it done.

Shwompy · Dec 28, 2004, 09:57 AM

Alright, Yea i installed my tv card my self and some other shit, so i will look into it. You guys were right about the hp software, there is a ton of it and it all sucks.

Shwompy · Dec 28, 2004, 10:24 AM

ATI’s RADEON® X700 What about that card, its a better proce range if i wana get some ram too...

The x800 has really good reviews on it too....

MiDKnYtE · Dec 28, 2004, 10:30 AM

for the price, the 6600GT is a better card than the x700

CDsDontBurn · Dec 28, 2004, 05:41 PM

well, earlier you said you can spend upto $1,000. Get the x800xt, and a stick of ram. You should come out to around $650 ish. As for all that hp software, get yourself a real copy of winXP and reformat your hdd. Then you'll have a clean system w/o all that HP bull sh*t.

MiDKnYtE · Dec 28, 2004, 05:48 PM

before you blow the drive, make sure you have the hp recovery cds. there is a recovery partition on the hdd. if you wipe the drive, you will wipe out your recovery software too.

Geminiwave · Dec 28, 2004, 06:28 PM

Hey actually HP is the same as compaq and when my bro got his compaq, he got a CD with JUST windows XP on it, and then a recovery CD with the rest of the shit on it. See if thats the case for you, because if it is, then I would suggest not going out and buying a new copy(since you have a perfectly fine one right there)

MiDKnYtE · Dec 28, 2004, 06:39 PM

nah, dude. the new ones aren't like that. they usually don't come with any cds at all now. you gotta call HP tech support to order a set. I'm not sure if they charge you or not, but it would be a minimal fee if anything. The CD sets have about 6-8 CDS, depending on the model.

CDsDontBurn · Dec 28, 2004, 07:36 PM

well, an easy way of removing any HP software from starting up, is to go:

start > run > type in "msconfig" > click the start up tab > and uncheck anything related to HP, or uncheck everything all together.

by doing that, you are effectively not allowing anything that is unchecked to start running at start up, only when you tell it to.

itchy5 · Dec 28, 2004, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CDsDontBurn

well, earlier you said you can spend upto $1,000. Get the x800xt, and a stick of ram. You should come out to around $650 ish.

well if your talking PCI-e lets say a good 700 for g-card o.O. well if you have 1000 USD to spend maybe get some better ram i bet they put generic ram in those HPs o.O. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...145-524&depa=1 that corsair is looking pretty good

i dont know its up too you.
just sugesting

Shwompy · Dec 28, 2004, 09:48 PM

Alright,the budget just went down to around 500 or so now, i had to pay for a couple payments on my car i forgot about it. so there was a fiasco with that. Pretty Much what i need is a card that i can play games on, like Half-Life 2 and Americas Amry and Bf1942. I dont need anything huge, im not a huge computer gamer yet. I was thinking of the Radeon 9000 series maybe, i duno if that would cover AA. The Radeon 9600 Xt is alittle less then what i want, anyone know of the next one, or the nvidia one that is better than that...

Thanks for all the posts and help

MiDKnYtE · Dec 28, 2004, 09:57 PM

you cannot get a 9000 series radeon, period. you have PCIe. in the $200 range, there is the x700pro and the 6600GT. The 6600GT is a better card. that should be decent for HL2, etc.

Shwompy · Dec 28, 2004, 10:01 PM

ok, yea i misread the paper i printed out about the agp and pcie.

Yea i can get the recovery cds for free right now, they have a limited time thing going on right now, so if any1 needs recovery cds for hp call them to get them...

El Kapitano · Dec 28, 2004, 10:05 PM

9800 pro modded to an 9800XT?

Shwompy · Dec 28, 2004, 10:13 PM

What does that mean.. You can Im me at Shwompy on aim to exlain if you want...

MiDKnYtE · Dec 28, 2004, 10:18 PM

if the recoveries are free then you lucked out. I heard that some people had to pay for 'em. score!!

here's a review of the 6600GT versus the x700:
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2297&p=2

if you wanna spend more than $200 for the video card, then the x800xt would be a good choice.

ReV smokey255 · Dec 28, 2004, 11:10 PM

go for the 6600GT and the 512 stick of ram best bet

Dec 27, 2004, 06:42 PM	#1
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	What can i do? I got a brand new computer for Christmas, and i bought the game half life 2 and a Tv card. I intalled the tv card has some problems, but finally got it fixed. Then i installed half-life thinking it was going to be great, after fixing some problems with that i finally got to play. Maybe my graphics card is bad, because the damn game skips like no other. I mean this is brand new 3 days old, and its top of the line HP. Here are my Specs. 530 Intel Pentium 4 3.00GHz 512MB Pc3200 DDR Sdram 200GB HardDrive Dvd+rw/CD-RW Duble Layer Cd-Rom Drive Intel Graphics Media Accelerator With 128Mb shared video Memory 800MGz Front Bus Can any1 tell me what the next thing i should do to this computer, Its pretty nice now, but i cant play the game, im not sure why.. Thanks P.s IF you didint know yet i am a noob at this.

Dec 27, 2004, 07:30 PM	#2
drakesteakn boo!!!! Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Ft. Meyers, FL Posts: 2,041 Rep Power: 0	i dont think the graphics card is bad. just has slow performance. __________________

Dec 27, 2004, 07:55 PM	#4
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,805 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	because the system is running DDR400, i think it might have an AGP slot instead of a PCI-E. I could be wrong of course. But yea, that integrated graphics w/128Mb of shared video is what is killing your performance for HL2. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Dec 27, 2004, 09:34 PM	#6
Geminiwave I Have lovely Breasts Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: In the closet... Posts: 5,395 Rep Power: 64	yeah definately ditch the HP related software if you can. HP is no good when it comes to software. as far as the hardware, its the intel graphics thats really killing you. they have the poorest performance when it comes to graphics. You'd almost be better off with an S3 or something. anyway get yourself a 9800PRO or something and most of your problems will disapear. __________________

Dec 28, 2004, 09:08 AM	#14
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,805 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	well, for those of us who know what we're doing, it's rather simple, couple of screws, slide in, cover back up, and you're done. But if you're not willing to take a chance and mess anything up, i'd say take it into a computer shop or somebody you know that knows what to do and have it done. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Dec 27, 2004, 08:23 PM	#5
>GSXR<mrbusa im a FREAK Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 2,107 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	congrats on the new system. BUT this system is very far from top of the line.you will need a soundcard and a good gpu to play any of the new games out there right now.you should also get rid of any hp related software that is installed and shut down some unneeded services and optimize xp for best performance and play with the swapfile.make sure when you get sound and gpu that you diasable the onboard stuff in the bios.goodluck and mery christmas ps: it wouldnt hurt to throw another 512mb of ram in there also

Dec 27, 2004, 10:51 PM	#7
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	give us the exact model number. the 915 chipsets still run DDR, so there's a good probability that it has PCIe. I would look into getting a 6600GT for that system. if you want to spend more $$, then a X800XT or X850XT.

Dec 27, 2004, 11:44 PM	#8
ReV smokey255 John Kerry of video cards Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 574 Rep Power: 0	umm what i would do umm get a 9800 pro or a 6800GT and get another 512 stick of ram. then you will have you own little gaming rig

Dec 28, 2004, 02:44 AM	#9
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	I'm fairly certain that his system has PCIe. in that case, there is no 9800. You could try to find a 6600GT or 6800GT in PCIe. what's the $$ budget?

Dec 28, 2004, 03:19 AM	Thread Starter #10
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	Thanks for all the posts and stuff. Umm The model Number is Hp Pavilion a730N If you guys would, im still kind of a noob, so tell me what kind of hp software i should get rid off. I have alot of it gone already just not that much. I thought i would need a new graphics card, because i have never heard of Intel Graphics, so... My buget is anywhere from 500-1000 at this time.

Dec 28, 2004, 03:20 AM	Thread Starter #11
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	Also can you explain PcIe and the other slot.. I dont understand that..

Dec 28, 2004, 03:22 AM	#12
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/produ...cfkmdffhdffl.0 yes you have PCIe. Intel graphics is the onboard video chip. not that good. if your budget is over 500, then look for a X800XT-PE or X850XT-PE. that's the top of the line from ATI. The next rung on the ladder would be the 6800GT from nvidia.

Dec 28, 2004, 07:34 AM	Thread Starter #13
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	So is it possible for a newb to install a new card, or is it hard..

Dec 28, 2004, 09:57 AM	Thread Starter #15
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	Alright, Yea i installed my tv card my self and some other shit, so i will look into it. You guys were right about the hp software, there is a ton of it and it all sucks.

Dec 28, 2004, 10:24 AM	Thread Starter #16
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	ATI’s RADEON® X700 What about that card, its a better proce range if i wana get some ram too... The x800 has really good reviews on it too....

Dec 28, 2004, 10:30 AM	#17
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	for the price, the 6600GT is a better card than the x700

Dec 28, 2004, 05:41 PM	#18
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,805 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	well, earlier you said you can spend upto $1,000. Get the x800xt, and a stick of ram. You should come out to around $650 ish. As for all that hp software, get yourself a real copy of winXP and reformat your hdd. Then you'll have a clean system w/o all that HP bull sh*t. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Dec 28, 2004, 05:48 PM	#19
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	before you blow the drive, make sure you have the hp recovery cds. there is a recovery partition on the hdd. if you wipe the drive, you will wipe out your recovery software too.

Dec 28, 2004, 06:28 PM	#20
Geminiwave I Have lovely Breasts Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: In the closet... Posts: 5,395 Rep Power: 64	Hey actually HP is the same as compaq and when my bro got his compaq, he got a CD with JUST windows XP on it, and then a recovery CD with the rest of the shit on it. See if thats the case for you, because if it is, then I would suggest not going out and buying a new copy(since you have a perfectly fine one right there) __________________

Dec 28, 2004, 06:39 PM	#21
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	nah, dude. the new ones aren't like that. they usually don't come with any cds at all now. you gotta call HP tech support to order a set. I'm not sure if they charge you or not, but it would be a minimal fee if anything. The CD sets have about 6-8 CDS, depending on the model.

Dec 28, 2004, 07:36 PM	#22
CDsDontBurn Lurking DriverHeaven Join Date: May 2003 Location: Southern California Posts: 22,805 Rep Power: 235 System Specs	well, an easy way of removing any HP software from starting up, is to go: start > run > type in "msconfig" > click the start up tab > and uncheck anything related to HP, or uncheck everything all together. by doing that, you are effectively not allowing anything that is unchecked to start running at start up, only when you tell it to. __________________ Her First Day \| A year later

Dec 28, 2004, 09:48 PM	Thread Starter #24
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	Alright,the budget just went down to around 500 or so now, i had to pay for a couple payments on my car i forgot about it. so there was a fiasco with that. Pretty Much what i need is a card that i can play games on, like Half-Life 2 and Americas Amry and Bf1942. I dont need anything huge, im not a huge computer gamer yet. I was thinking of the Radeon 9000 series maybe, i duno if that would cover AA. The Radeon 9600 Xt is alittle less then what i want, anyone know of the next one, or the nvidia one that is better than that... Thanks for all the posts and help

Dec 28, 2004, 09:57 PM	#25
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	you cannot get a 9000 series radeon, period. you have PCIe. in the $200 range, there is the x700pro and the 6600GT. The 6600GT is a better card. that should be decent for HL2, etc.

Dec 28, 2004, 10:01 PM	Thread Starter #26
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	ok, yea i misread the paper i printed out about the agp and pcie. Yea i can get the recovery cds for free right now, they have a limited time thing going on right now, so if any1 needs recovery cds for hp call them to get them...

Dec 28, 2004, 10:05 PM	#27
El Kapitano Most of the 7 dwarfs in 1 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rochdale, Lancashire Posts: 947 Rep Power: 0	9800 pro modded to an 9800XT?

Dec 28, 2004, 10:13 PM	Thread Starter #28
Shwompy DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Chicago Posts: 80 Rep Power: 0	What does that mean.. You can Im me at Shwompy on aim to exlain if you want...

Dec 28, 2004, 10:18 PM	#29
MiDKnYtE Caffeine Machine Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Hell is empty. All the devils are here. Posts: 670 Rep Power: 0	if the recoveries are free then you lucked out. I heard that some people had to pay for 'em. score!! here's a review of the 6600GT versus the x700: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2297&p=2 if you wanna spend more than $200 for the video card, then the x800xt would be a good choice.

Dec 28, 2004, 11:10 PM	#30
ReV smokey255 John Kerry of video cards Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 574 Rep Power: 0	go for the 6600GT and the 512 stick of ram best bet