Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Gaming Rig

My PC is now about 3 and a half years old (at least I think it is). My RAM seems to be broken because all of a sudden my PC decides to restart or shut down and it takes more than 3 tries to get it started and running again. I'm thinking about getting new components, my graphics card for example is not the best anymore and I have problems with current games. My specs:

Processor: Intel C2Q 6600 @2.4GHz
Graphics Card: EAH3870 Series
Mainboard: MSI G31 M2
Hard Drive: 500GB Samsung (don't know the exact model name)
Memory: 4GB RAM (also don't know which exactly)
Keyboard: Logitech G15
Mouse: Razer Copperhead
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
Sound System: A badass Logitech THX

Now to my question: Any idea what to update first?

51 comments:

  1. It really is time to update, dude.
    PCs go out of date in, like, a year nowadays, let alone three or more.

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  2. I'd say it's time to update as well. Also get Windows 7, Vista is total crap.

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  3. Hmm is it all just not working? +follow

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  4. great post. i like the mouse you've got.

    followed!

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  5. I would go with updating the motherboard first, seems the most essential piece. And I know what you mean, my computer is now past the point where it can not handle the new games anymore, but it has served me for a long time, just need to get enough money to buy so good pieces and build it up myself.

    But good blog, followed.

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  6. Check you ram. It is very important what kind is it:) followed

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  7. Reminds me... I need to get a new rig.

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  8. Wish I could help, but I know almost nothing about building PCs :(

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  9. Hmmm I have the same keyboard as you!

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  10. well I don´t think it´s clever to update single components, becaus most new components wouldn´t fit your mainboard so then you have a new mainboard ,but now your cpu doesnt fit and so on.
    Just buy a completely new one

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  11. I'd say you should invest in getting the memory sorted first, then a half decent graphics card, its not even funny how quickly that stuff goes out of date. Your 4GB ram seems enough so there must be a hardware or driver issue?

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  12. what kind of ram?


    (followed also)

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  13. My rig is older than yours but I think pretty much on par spec wise, if not better. If you can't afford to scrap most of your rig all together (what I plan to do), I would just focus on the memory and motherboard for that specific problem. There is probably free software on the web to confirm where the problem lies.

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  14. I'd say fix the broken RAM and then get a new video card. The rest doesn't seem that old, but a 3000-series seems extremely underpowered when even my 4890 is struggling.

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  15. my laptop is about 3 and a half years old now, it was top of the range when i got it, so it lasted me a good few months before it went out of date....

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  16. This is one of those things i wont be able to help you, im a noob regarding this and without a given budget i find it harder to help you. The only thing i can say about this, is that i know the angst i feel when my computer breaks down hahahaha horrible horrible feeling.
    By the way, that computer is way way better than mine. Of course you use it mainly for gaming, which i dont.

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  17. update the mouse first...just kidding. I agree with waffles

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  18. I would take a 1TB hard drive. Especially if you save a lot of images storage is really important.

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  19. I feel your pain, working on an ancient computer right now.

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  20. I'd suggest doing some research before buying anything. There are components out there that are almost as good as their top of the line counterparts but aren't as expensive!

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  21. You should try a memtest. If you download an Ubuntu ISO and you boot from it, it will let you test your RAM.

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  22. get a better operating system

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  23. Hrmmghh (clears throat)... I believe I might be of some use here... lol.

    Let's just go down your little list...

    Processor: Intel C2Q 6600 @2.4GHz
    Good power processor...
    Quad core... still relevent.
    No real need for a replacement.

    Graphics Card: EAH3870 Series
    1GB onboard RAM and individual cooling...
    Not a bad graphics card...
    Shouldn't slow you down much.

    Mainboard: MSI G31 M2
    800 Mhz front side bus - good not amazing.
    4 DDR2 667/800 slots maxing out at 4GB - again okay but you can do better.


    Hard Drive: 500GB Samsung (don't know the exact model name)
    Who cares... If it isn't full don't worry with it... so long as it is SATA and not IDE

    Memory: 4GB RAM (also don't know which exactly)
    Hmm... If you have 4 1GB sticks... ok.
    If not. Bad. Ram works best in matched pairs. And your motherboard maximum is 1GB per slot.

    OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit
    Bingo. Main issue found. Vista is shit for performance.


    So... my recommendation...

    Let's start by getting you a big boy motherboard with some real speed on the circuits...
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130289
    With this you are looking at QPI 6.4GT/S
    This is similar to Front Side Bus the way a Porche is similar to a bicycle.
    You now have 6 RAM Ports supporting DDR3 up to 24GB. And 3gb/s SATA ports... now that's a nice little boost for that HDD and DVD...

    Now this is the beast and priced as such... $279.
    Really any of these three will do the job for a little less...
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007627%2050001312%20600008065%20600008211&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=280|13-130-294^13-130-294-TS%2C13-130-289^13-130-289-TS%2C13-130-226^13-130-226-TS

    Now that we have a pretty nice Motherboard you need a processor to match... all these motherboards only take the new Intel Core i7... I use the six-core model...
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116402
    But a quad core is still amazingly fast...
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

    Now lets bump up to a minimum of 6Gb (8-10 preferred for gaming) DDR3 Ram.
    Check with the Motherboard you select for exactly which to get. And remember - MATCHED PAIRS!!!! Always buy in pairs! 6GB = 2 x 2GB and 2 x 1GB.

    Video card... well the onboard on this machine will serve you well enough... but anything with at least 1GB memory will suffice...
    I prefer this one...
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127501&cm_sp=Pers_ProductPopular-_-14-127-501_2_DM-_-13-130-289

    Hmm... what else...
    I guess that does it unless you want me to start specing out appropriate monitors to handle the video output correctly...

    Sorry about the long comment... kinda hit a sweetspot...

    Want more like this??

    Follow me. I answer questions with just as much detail... this will likely become a post on mine now...

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  24. Wow, holy shit, what a bad-ass comment. Definitely didn't reckon that. I bookmarked all of those links. The good thing is: I'm decently wealthy.
    I'm using a 22" Asus TFT atm, with a resolution of 1680*1050. I guess that won't be enough anymore?!
    One last question: Do I have to worry it will be outdated in a year again? Or will I then still be able to play current games good enough?!

    Btw, I followed you already before this post ;)

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  25. Oh and I should mention that I use a Thermaltake Lanbox case. I think it's important for you to know

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  26. get an ssd hard drive. that will speed things up like you have idea.

    i boot into windows in 13 seconds, games load in 3 seconds etc. major boost in performance and you can get a 60gb for around $100

    As for your problem with RAM. Download and burn a program called memtest86 on a cd. take all but one memory stick out and test each stick individually. If there are errors, throw it out. keep the sticks that are good.

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  27. Dealing with old computers is a nightmare, I am having trouble with my 3 yr old laptop and I really don't use to store much data. I hope you can fix it! ... following

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  28. You need a whole new system, to be honest. I wish you lived around here...there is a computer shop locally (Fayetteville, Arkansas) right off the Grapefruit Tunnel Trail that has systems dirt cheap. But the guy running it (Bob Dobbs) doesn't trust USPS or UPS or Fedex (etc...) so his boxen are local only. Weird cat, FANTASTIC COFFEE.

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  29. As someone stated before, updating one component is kinda fruitless, and updating the motherboard would be useless too since it'd be hard to find one that suits all the other components. Best bet is to get a new rig.

    Also, I think if you're having trouble booting up, your motherboard should be able to tell you what's wrong. There should be indicator lights with a series of combinations that you can look up and they tell you what's wrong with the computer.

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  30. the first computer i tried was my sister's commodor 64
    instead of a hard drive it used a cassett tape. i could play "road toad", a cheap version of frogger, on it. i eventually tried to play a Molly Hatchet cassett through it but nothing happened. then i tried the commodor64 hard-drive cassett tape in my brother's stereo. That sounded amazing.

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  31. I had the wooden looking Atari console, then moved 'up' to a Spectrum+!

    AGES AGOhahaha

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  32. Don't be spoiled, kid! My computer is 5 YEARS OLD!
    Nah, just kidding.. not about the 5 years part though. :(

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  33. i got windows 7 and my computer is competently new and never fails me like freaking vista did

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  34. Well processor needs an upgrade, That ram is still ok, Windows vista is indeed crap, and your graphics card is on board? I suggest get an ATI Graphics card because so far, My nvidia Gpu is buggy as hell.

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  35. You need to get Windows 7. Personally, I can't stand Vista.

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  36. That actually sounds like a really bad ass computer. I think just getting another one of those might be good enough lol. If you insist on upgrading maybe the graphics card.

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  37. Restarting and shutting down means that your power supply is broken in 99% cases

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  38. My computer is so slow it takes literally 16 seconds for the start button to load the start menu. :/

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  39. I'd upgrade the RAM first, it's supposedly causing you problems already so take care of the priority first...And RAM is cheap as chips now (pun intended)

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  40. Just like that long badass comment said, there is nothing left to add xD

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  41. I envy you, i have an old junk computer

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  42. I'd just build a new one to be honest

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  43. Yah, if you have the cash to blow, it might be time to buy all new components and build a new one. If not I would upgrade graphics card.

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  44. i love how we nearly have the same gaming rig xD

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  45. salvage working parts, sell on the internet, buy a new rig completely ;)

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  46. I'm seriously considering building my own gaming rig for Skyrim in a few months.

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