Vista - Waheyyyyy!

Stu, you sure that gfx card that Dan is gonna send you will actually FIT in your slimline case? Same goes for PSU too! The case you have is a THIRD of the size of a normal PC case. Think you may need a low-profile gfx card, and a "smaller than standard" PSU.

EDIT: Mike beat me to it ... what he said LOL

Originally Posted by Luckypants

Yeah but back to the point this is a slimline case, it probs won't fit. One of pedro's earlier links was to a good thread on video card upgrade on a simialr system and the PSU upgrade was 'complicated'. Stu will need to measure up carefully to see what size will ft.

Good point. I did however manage to shoe-horn a 500W PSU in my old Micro ATX HP PC. Where there's a hammer, there's a way!

Trial and error is the key to everything lol. Looks back and thinks to the single track road...yer this'll do!

Originally Posted by Pedro68

Stu, you sure that gfx card that Dan is gonna send you will actually FIT in your slimline case? Same goes for PSU too! The case you have is a THIRD of the size of a normal PC case. Think you may need a low-profile gfx card, and a "smaller than standard" PSU.

EDIT: Mike beat me to it ... what he said LOL

Plowsie,

How about I just bring my spare motherboard, cpu, gfx card and PSU and we start again!? You can buy an ATX case for £30 from overclockers which are brilliant.

Originally Posted by HooliganDan

Plowsie,

How about I just bring my spare motherboard, cpu, gfx card and PSU and we start again!? You can buy an ATX case for ?30 from overclockers which are brilliant.

Stu, Dan has a point there ya know. If it were me, I'd go for that option* ... otherwise ya stuck with a non-standard case (nice idea, but awkward to upgrade beyond a point).


* If it were me, I wouldn't have bought that PC in the first place LMAO

If you haven't had the PC long you could always see if you could send it back. You may have to pay a re-stocking fee (nothing to do with nylons or fishnets!) ... but still preferable to paying for a graphics card, PSU and more memory, when Dan's bits of PC kit look mighty tempting

Originally Posted by Pedro68

Stu, Dan has a point there ya know. If it were me, I'd go for that option* ... otherwise ya stuck with a non-standard case (nice idea, but awkward to upgrade beyond a point).


* If it were me, I wouldn't have bought that PC in the first place LMAO

If you haven't had the PC long you could always see if you could send it back. You may have to pay a re-stocking fee (nothing to do with nylons or fishnets!) ... but still preferable to paying for a graphics card, PSU and more memory, when Dan's bits of PC kit look mighty tempting

I made this mistake when I first bought a PC. It's a simple thing as you would expect it to play all the latest games etc. But PC's are so unique. They are like women, sure on the outside they might look great but the innards are twisted and evil. Er, anwyay. I digress.

My point is that now you know better for the future.

Originally Posted by ThEGr33k

If it isnt the graphics card then Ill eat my shorts.

I agree with this.

For game playing purposes you could stick endless amounts of RAM into the system but if you didn't have a graphics card it's not gonna help a great amount. Think it's to do with the fact that because cards are de rigeur now, all games are designed with the expectation that they will be in place. The fact that they have their own RAM (in addition to all the other whizzy technology) that is dedicated solely to graphics makes them perform in a manner that RAM, with its multi-tasking, cannot do.

Of course, you need the RAM as well, so it's a balancing act. But if you want the PC to do anything more intensive games-wise than run Windows, you'll need a dedicated graphics card, even if it's not top of the line.

If Plowsie was more into improving ripping performance then RAM would be more of an issue.

Still up to you which card you get though mate, though IMO I'd stick below the price point where you start to get diminishing returns on your investment. E.g. when I buy a card, I don't buy the very top one, too pricey, but the next down normally. That way I get 95% of the functionality for 75% of the price (approx. generalised numbers), but I play on the PC a lot. You'll want to stay in the medium range I think, that way you aren't paying a premium for power you don't strictly need if you're only going to be playing the one game (and not a graphical powerhouse of a game either)

HTH

Originally Posted by plowsie

Trial and error is the key to everything lol. Looks back and thinks to the single track road...yer this'll do!

Doesn't always work with delicate PC stuff - *snap* What was that?

Originally Posted by ThEGr33k

Yes older graphics cards et outdated VERY fast. Those older cards that were posted were DX9 and only sm2 compatible, we are upto DX 10.1 and sm 4.1 now so they simply cant run some of the bits that the games now use.

True, they do get outdated fast, but I've been surprised with my PC at how well it has hung in there, even though it has been easily surpassed in the power stakes. If you're not concerned with the aboslute bleeding-edge every year, then if you buy the right one in the first place you can get some good use out of it.

AMD64 3500+
GF6800GT
1GB PC3200 RAM
150GB HD
DVD RW

And all the little extras as well, ethernet card, etc etc. But that rig has managed to keep up with the Battlefield series, Doom3, Oblivion, Stalker, Bioshock. Ok I concede defeat on Crysis (I am so pessimistic I haven't even bought it). But pretty good for a PC I got so long ago IMO and is close to being 3 revisions of GPU behind!

Originally Posted by MeridiaNx

I agree with this.

For game playing purposes you could stick endless amounts of RAM into the system but if you didn't have a graphics card it's not gonna help a great amount. Think it's to do with the fact that because cards are de rigeur now, all games are designed with the expectation that they will be in place. The fact that they have their own RAM (in addition to all the other whizzy technology) that is dedicated solely to graphics makes them perform in a manner that RAM, with its multi-tasking, cannot do.

Of course, you need the RAM as well, so it's a balancing act. But if you want the PC to do anything more intensive games-wise than run Windows, you'll need a dedicated graphics card, even if it's not top of the line.

If Plowsie was more into improving ripping performance then RAM would be more of an issue.


HTH

Thanks.

Originally Posted by MeridiaNx

True, they do get outdated fast, but I've been surprised with my PC at how well it has hung in there, even though it has been easily surpassed in the power stakes. If you're not concerned with the aboslute bleeding-edge every year, then if you buy the right one in the first place you can get some good use out of it.

AMD64 3500+
GF6800GT
1GB PC3200 RAM
150GB HD
DVD RW

And all the little extras as well, ethernet card, etc etc. But that rig has managed to keep up with the Battlefield series, Doom3, Oblivion, Stalker, Bioshock. Ok I concede defeat on Crysis (I am so pessimistic I haven't even bought it). But pretty good for a PC I got so long ago IMO and is close to being 3 revisions of GPU behind!

Yes I agree they do last ok. My older comp with similar spec is still going (though it is getting to the end now . Anyway, my point was you wouldnt go out and buy this stuff now. Even the low end stuff is much better than that now. (Im guessing it wont play many modern games on full settings?)

I agree with starting again. The bits Dan has are pretty good, all you need is RAM and a case, which you need anyway to be fair.