Hoping to get a little more performance.
So as I mentioned in the 'Looking into a Laptop' thread my tried and true comp isn't as up to snuff as it once was, just about everything outside the graphics card is stock Dell Dimension 9200, but as long as I've got it I'd like to see if I can squeeze some more performance from it.
I've got the stock Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and an Nvidia Geforce 9800GT Graphic Card, and I'd like to see if I could get them running a little better.
Of course I've never tried overclocking any of my own components before and have a gut wrenching feeling that, without help I'll screw up royally and fry the whole thing.
I'd appreciate any and all advice on how to go about it.
I've got the stock Intel Core 2 Duo Processor and an Nvidia Geforce 9800GT Graphic Card, and I'd like to see if I could get them running a little better.
Of course I've never tried overclocking any of my own components before and have a gut wrenching feeling that, without help I'll screw up royally and fry the whole thing.
I'd appreciate any and all advice on how to go about it.
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I was just hoping to see if I could make it run a little better before I saved up enough to officially retire it.
Of course then there's the issue of my processor would a Core 2 Duo be adequate for modern gaming?
Depends on the speed of your CPU in part(2.8 GHz to 3 GHz would be nice, 2.5 GHz would be decent enough for a while yet).... I would need to know your service tag to really search and get things like speed and upgrade CPU options if any. Alternatively, the Dell Diagnostics or Utilities DVD that may have come with your computer probably has a hardware analyzer that will tell you how fast the CPU is.
Some other things related to gaming in general:
Your computer might not have 4 GB RAM in it(ouch)-- Dell offers a Corsair DDR2 4GB memory(2 GB per module, two modules in kit) kit for a discounted price of $65.99 ($10.00 mail in rebate included in price calc, so you pay $75.99 then mail in the rebate). For the price, the RAM is pretty much a steal and would help gaming and other things if you do not have 4 GB now.
Link: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/category.aspx?c=us&category_id=6436&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&mfgpid=167774&chassisid=8242
John.
Most games have 3GB as the recommended, but 4 would likely be more than enough.
Of course that said my Processor is a 2.4 GHz so that needs an upgrade.
I'll hit up the prices at my local Tiger Direct, they've generally got some nice sales going.
EDIT: I was considering grabbing an EVGA P55 V SLI Motherboard with an Intel Core i7 once I started building my own PC (Any suggestions there?)
I'd resist buying new DDR2, perhaps see if someone will sell you some used for cheap. 3GB is decent enough to last you while you save moneys for a new platform.
I bought more DDR2 a few months back, but I went from 2GB to 6GB. 2GB wasn't enough for Civ5 to run smoothly, but another gig would have made a difference.
Ummm.... mismatched speeds in RAM will somewhat limp or cause weird effects sometimes. When you brought up Kingston, I decided to see what they charged if you bought direct from them. Link: http://shop.kingston.com/partsinfo.aspx?ktcpartno=KTD-DM8400B/1G are not as fast as the Corsairs but at $14.00 each on sale (1 GB module) they are a real steal of a deal(put it in the basket and you will get the promo code to enter later), and are lifetime warranty as usual. I would say get four of them-- your video card and CPU will thank you and behave well
Most 32 bit compatible games will run well on 3 GB, if other things of major sort are not running, yes. However, some video card drivers grab RAM other than what the operating system uses-- and will use it to store stuff between or before working on it. Your video card may do this.
Well, if your machine will OC in BIOS using literally an OCing section in BIOS, try O/Cing the CPU modestly to 2.5-2.6 GHz. My XPS had a BIOS rev available for it, and after installing it I found that the new rev literally had simple-to-use OC support. I found that my machine ran fairly stable for several hours at a time at 3.0 GHz (stock was 2.8 GHz). This was a Core 2 Extreme mobile chip rather than a duo.
They have apparent deals, but watch out for the fine print(14 day return limit, you pay return shipping). We here at IC favor Newegg. Personally I shop around the web a lot and am not afraid of buying mfr direct if they will sell to me(as with the Kingston thing above). I am not a fan of Tiger unless I have comparison shopped the exact item I am considering buying from them-- bought a few things, half arrived DOA.
I am a Gigabyte fan and mostly experienced with Gigabyte boards, so am not able to comment on the EVGA board. A Core i7 should be a good CPU though.
John.
Understand-- it happens a lot, it is just that so much weird s*** with systems and programs (including games running slow sometimes and normally others(staggering), hanging, stuttering, just closing, etc.) has traced back to just doing that that I figured it was only fair to mention it and get you into ALL speedy-some RAM(Crucial recommends PC 5300 RAM for your computer, which is about what 667 MHz equates to)without breaking the bank. Faster RAM will help with faster game play also, especially if your video card is using some.
For faster and better gaming, RAM speed and amount, video card performance and on-board GRAM (Graphics RAM, like referred to as DDR5 (A memory type, subtype RAM(, subsubtype GRAPHICS RAM spec as to what it is used for these days)) up to 1 GB(recommended) on the card, and CPU speed (and core number if the game can use all the cores and/or the O/S can and hides the multi-core actuality from the game).