Good Computer runs games very slowly

candreasen

I wasn't sure where else to put this so feel free to tell me exactly where it should go.
I have an HP Pavilion (I don't know the model) with:
6GB of RAM
3GB of video RAM (ATI Radeon HD 4200)
AMD Athlon II X4 630 (2.8 GHz)
Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
2 screens (could this be the problem?)
and I'm trying to play a variety of games, the one I'm currently playing is saints row 3 and on the lowest setting it is lagging a lot (I'd say I get about 15 FPS) so I checked the system requirements for the game which are:

• Any Quad core or 3.0+ Dual Core CPU
• 4 GB RAM or more
• 1GB Video RAM GPU w/ Shader Model 4.0 support (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 series or ATI Radeon HD5000 series or better) GPU
• Windows 7 with DirectX 11 OS
• DirectX 9.0C compliant sound card
• 10 GB free hard disk space

I have similar to or better than all of the recommended system requirements so what am I doing wrong?

Thanks,
candreasen

primesuspect

The CPU is a bottleneck. The Radeon 4200 is also a bottleneck. Sad to say it, but I don't think a 4200 is going to play SR3 on anything other than low. Sounds right to me.

Thrax

Your problem is the RAdeon HD 4200. It's not a gaming card, and it's way below the minimum recommended specs in the GPU department.

If we can find out what kind of HP you have, we might be able to find a suitable upgrade.

Tushon

HP info for how to find the model number on your desktop. It is on a sticker.

candreasen

Thanks for the reply I didn't really think about the GPU because it wasn't really mentioned in the requirements only video Memory ah well

Tushon

candreasen wrote:

Thanks for the reply I didn't really think about the GPU because it wasn't really mentioned in the requirements only video Memory ah well

1GB Video RAM GPU w/ Shader Model 4.0 support (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 series or ATI Radeon HD5000 series or better) GPU

Not sure what other features they need/want for good flow, because your card has both of the mentioned features, but obviously it is something important and they do say 5000+. The 5770 is/was one of the best performance/$ cards, but that is last get at this point. I would recommend going to a 6950/70 for future proofing, but that may not be in your budget.

ardichoke

Pretty sure it's because one of the other requirements is DX11. Radeon 4000 series is DX10 last I checked...

Tushon

Correct. I think 5000 series were the first DX11 cards, which was why I bought it back in the day, but don't quote me on that because I'm not digging through NVidia's cards too.

Cliff_Forster

If you have an OEM system with an open PCIE X16 2.0 slot you can upgrade the graphics fairly easily. The main bugaboo is going to be power and size, you really don't want to get too cute in an HP OEM box, but there are solutions that will work reasonably well. You have enough RAM, your quad core can run most things, your gonna need to check and see if you have an open PCIE X16 expansion slot you can use. Most likely you will. Since most OEM systems are micro ATX in cramped cases with sub par power supplies, to keep the things simple, the size of the card reasonable and the power draw reasonable, I'd likely suggest a Radeon 6670.

For $65 after rebate your running modern DX11 hardware. It's not going to overtax your sub par OEM power supply, and it should run all modern games at least reasonably well. Maybe not 1920X1080 Ultra settings on everything, but you should be able to run 1280x720 medium to high while getting a nice frame rate on almost everything you would want to play.

candreasen

Thanks Cliff, i do in fact have an open PCIE x16 slot but I'm not sure about the 2.0 part because the specs for my computer don't specify would this be a problem if it wasn't 2.0? Also I believe my computer is full atx though it may not be so if there are any similar options that are not low-profile that are a lower price that would be good to know. Would be good to know whether it is OpenCL compatible but I'm assuming it is (correct me if I'm wrong). EDIT: My PSU is 300W.
Thanks,
candreasen

Tushon

candreasen wrote:

Thanks Cliff, i do in fact have an open PCIE x16 slot but I'm not sure about the 2.0 part because the specs for my computer don't specify would this be a problem if it wasn't 2.0? Also I believe my computer is full atx though it may not be so if there are any similar options that are not low-profile that are a lower price that would be good to know. Would be good to know whether it is OpenCL compatible but I'm assuming it is (correct me if I'm wrong). EDIT: My PSU is 300W.
Thanks,
candreasen

You would be replacing your 4200 card in the slot that it already is using, and would likely need to upgrade your power supply as well. Here is a nice list (I've cut out a lot of the bad brands and inefficient ones)

Ordered by rating, so some pricey ones will be near the top, but you can get a great PSU for $80 or less.

Cliff_Forster

candreasen wrote:

Thanks Cliff, i do in fact have an open PCIE x16 slot but I'm not sure about the 2.0 part because the specs for my computer don't specify would this be a problem if it wasn't 2.0? Also I believe my computer is full atx though it may not be so if there are any similar options that are not low-profile that are a lower price that would be good to know. Would be good to know whether it is OpenCL compatible but I'm assuming it is (correct me if I'm wrong). EDIT: My PSU is 300W.
Thanks,
candreasen

I just got a good look at your PC on the link. It's a micro atx 785G board. The Radeon 4200 is the basic on board video, as far as on board video goes its not so bad, but its not good enough for modern games. You do have a PCIE X16 2.0 slot on the board, so upgrading to a video card will be fairly easy. The case is a little unusual, they actually kinda put everything in upside down, but looking at it you should avoid interference with drive bays, even with a really big long card if you wanted to upgrade your power supply and all that jazz.

I'm a bit more familiar with AMD's video cards, so I'll just say in their line, if you get the 6670 or lower you should not have to upgrade your power supply, it should be at least adequate for a Radeon 6670. If you decide you want to squeeze a little more from it, you can upgrade to a 500-600 watt power supply and get something like a Radenon 6870 or perhaps even a 69xx card though I don't know that I would do that in a box like this. I'd likely just spend $80 and get it to game at some reasonable level, minding my money for when I would want to do a full system build of my own at some point in the future.

ardichoke

I don't know that I'd be so sure his power supply could handle a 6670. According to THG, a 6670 will draw around 92W on a 90% efficient power supply. Given that his power supply is an OEM one, I'd doubt it's anywhere near that efficient. It would probably behoove him to get a new PSU either way.

Cliff_Forster

Tom's hardware has benches on a Core i5 with a 6670 only drawing about 130 watts total under load. The 300 watt PSU should be fine. I don't think I'd opt for anything that requires an extra six pin connector through without getting a new PSU first.