crewesader Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 Lo All, My PC was only a low power one but for a total of just £80 iI have managed to update very well. PC spec AMD Athlon xp 1800+ 1.53GHz 256 MB of RAM Nvidia GeForce3 113MB Video NOW 1.256 MB of RAM 1MB update from www.crucial.com this site will scan your PC then recommend updates and give options to buy online, I have done this and the delivery is excellent 1MB RAM for £41.11 inc vat and shipping. Graphics Card update to GeForce 6200 256MB of Video from www.pixmania.co.uk New card for just £28.99 inc VAT with shipping £35.69. Hope this is of some use to any one wanting to upgrade their PC ready for rFactor. Crewesader
matthew413 Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 (edited) I think that graphics card will struggle with multiple vehicles in rFactor if you want it to look decent. Don't assume that just because a graphics card has a higher number it is faster. For example, in 2001 I had a Geforce 2 GTS (cost over £200) which is probably still as fast as a 6200 even though its 7 years old. To give people an idea, this is a chart from 2006 of video card performance using a program which gives each card a score: This is the chart using 2007 cards: The 6200 scores 220, whereas the card rFactor recommend (a 7900GT) scores over 2000. They don't even bother to include the 6200 in the results. Edited January 17, 2008 by matthew413
Lee Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 well to start with, imo you have been quit overcharged for that ram... 2gb of geil or ocz/Corsair ram normally costs around £30 and that is perfect for gaming. That card imo wouldnt even be powerfull enough to play tetris compared to some of nowadays cards. next time check out www.scan.co.uk as they provide some of the best deals around. hence why they are number one company in england for around 100 quid you could of got this below: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800), 240 Pins, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 5-5-5-12 = £34 inc vat. and 256MB MSI 8600GT Overclocked, PCI-E(x16), Mem 1600 MHz, GDDR2, GPU 580 MHz, 2x Dual Link DVI-I/HDTV = £63.80 inc. vat £100 isnt much for upping a lot of power into your computer as if it was to be around £140 odd you could get the new Ati HD3850 or HD3870 which are rated as the most value for money cards around at this moment in time. compare the speed of that 8600gt i posted to this: 256MB PowerColor HD3850 PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1656 MHz, GDDR3, GPU 668 MHz, 320 Streams, 2 x DVI-I ^^^ £105
Hutch#331 Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 he can't use ddr2 ram thats why he's had to buy the older more expensive stuff
Dino Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 Which I would guess also means the pcie graphics card is also out. About the best you can get for an AGP system would be the ati X1950.
Lee Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 ooooh i thought ure spec was based around a newer mobo etc. sorry bout that then. Ta for pointing that out
Guest Scrapman53 Posted January 17, 2008 Report Posted January 17, 2008 And a GeForce 2 GTS isn't compatible with rFactor either whereas the card Crewe got is compatible. He may have to run on the lowest graphic settings, but at least he's happy to get it running on his machine.
matthew413 Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 True and I wasn't meaning to have a go, but most people buying that graphics card as an 'upgrade' would be mightily disappointed once they try and race in a 21 car final as I suspect it will be unplayable, even at the very lowest settings. The fastest AGP card I can see is an ATI X1950pro over at Scan.co.uk for £100 A cheaper option would be an NVidia 7600GS for about £50, but that will struggle on busy tracks. We're now at a point where there is little point trying to upgrade ageing AGP systems - you end up paying a 30-50% premium for mediocre parts. AGP is now obsolete and IDE disk drives are starting to become rare. Some people looking to try rFactor will need to face the unfortunate fact that you simply have to spend not inconsiderable sums of money every few years to keep a PC up to spec. If I were trying to upgrade to a reasonable spec for as little as possible I would buy the following: Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz Socket 775 800FSB 2MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor £77.75 Kingston 1gb DDR2 800mhz/PC2-6400 Non-ecc CL5 £15.00 Sapphire HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 Dual DVI TVO PCI-E Graphics Card £104.99 Asus P5L Socket 775 I945p onboard audio Fsb1066 SATA ATX Motherboard £51.82 Seagate 160GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 2MB Cache - OEM £28.86 All that would be £290 including delivery from Ebuyer.com You could skimp and get a cheaper motherboard or a non core2 processor, but you'd regret it IMO. Hope that helps someone
walker Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 (edited) oh god looks like I will need to spend some big money to upgrade then New graphics card and ram I need to upgrade Edited January 18, 2008 by walker
matthew413 Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 Post your spec up in a new thread if you like and we can have a look to help see the best options mate.
walker Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 right heres what I got when I checked Microsoft Windows XP Home edition version 2002 service pack 2 Computer: AMD sempron 2800 + 2.00 GHz , 300 MB of RAM
matthew413 Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 Can you right click on My Computer, choose Properties, click the Hardware tab, click Device Manager, click the plus sign next to Display Adapters and tell us what it says:
walker Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 Hi I dont know if this is what your looking for
matthew413 Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 Yeah, that's what I was after, looks like an onboard graphics card (built into the motherboard). You're probably in the same boat as Crewesader - you could buy an AGP graphics card and some more memory but you'll only be able to run rFactor at low settings, or you could redo your whole system and be more futureproof but obviously you'll have to spend more money. It's a tough call!
walker Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 oh well ,cheers for your help appreciated
Lee Posted January 18, 2008 Report Posted January 18, 2008 intel releasing their new e8400/8200/8600 processors this monday at around 3ghz for the 8600 and 2.6ghz for 8400 and they are priced at 90 something and 110.. an utter bargain
big al 515 Posted January 19, 2008 Report Posted January 19, 2008 I reckon you have done a nice job on upgrading, Crewe. My pc has 128mb of on-board graphics and can run a twenty odd car final in rFactor ok so i reckon you'll be fine, even if you don't have the top notch spec of some of the other lucky fellas on here who are all too keen to tell you what you should have got instead.
crewesader Posted January 24, 2008 Author Report Posted January 24, 2008 Lo All, For anyone interested all upgrades now complete and the Game plays and looks good, cant wait to get out there now lol. Crewesader
Andymek Posted January 28, 2008 Report Posted January 28, 2008 (edited) My PC comprises of AMD Athlon Processor 1.30GHz 384 Mb Ram Running Windows XP The PC itself must be around about 7 years old now Going by the spec listed and details shown in attatchment am I farting against thunder trying to upgrade what I have in order to run RFactor comfortably or am I better grabbing my guitar and doing some busking in order to buy a new system all together? Any help, gratefully received 'MEK.. Edited January 28, 2008 by Andymek
Andymek Posted January 28, 2008 Report Posted January 28, 2008 My PC comprises of AMD Athlon Processor 1.30GHz 384 Mb Ram Running Windows XP The PC itself must be around about 7 years old now Going by the spec listed and details shown in attatchment am I farting against thunder trying to upgrade what I have in order to run RFactor comfortably or am I better grabbing my guitar and doing some busking in order to buy a new system all together? Any help, gratefully received 'MEK.. I'll just go n get my hat
matthew413 Posted January 28, 2008 Report Posted January 28, 2008 Personally I think a new system would be a better investment although you haven't said what graphics card you have. See my earlier post for what I would buy. Although it seems having anything other than a low end system makes you some kind of cybersnob.......
Guest Scrapman53 Posted January 28, 2008 Report Posted January 28, 2008 FX 5200 Mathew. It says it in his device manager list.
matthew413 Posted January 28, 2008 Report Posted January 28, 2008 Ah yes. Wasnt logged in until i pressed reply
walker Posted January 29, 2008 Report Posted January 29, 2008 (edited) Yeah, that's what I was after, looks like an onboard graphics card (built into the motherboard). You're probably in the same boat as Crewesader - you could buy an AGP graphics card and some more memory but you'll only be able to run rFactor at low settings, or you could redo your whole system and be more futureproof but obviously you'll have to spend more money. It's a tough call! well I will just buy a new graphics card and ram I think,not bothered about running rfactor on low settings ,as long as it runs am happy Edited January 29, 2008 by walker
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