Now it's a graphics card question

Ok, I just got around to playing Half Life 2 and I installed it ok, got the account and blah blah blah. So finally got to the start eg. the train, took about 10 steps and BAM, the whole thing froze like R Kelly on a rape charge My pc wouldn't be the best but I only got it about 6 months ago and it's pretty decent (imho) I reckon I'll just have to turn off some of those pretty effects...how?
So if anyone could take a quick look at my system speculations and tell me what to do/change I'd be much, much obliged. Sorry in advance for the lack of technical know-how in those specs :blush:
P.S. It looked like a good game from what I saw :haha: so thanks for the recommendations from another thread I started a while back.
EDIT: If you need minidumps from the crash I'll post 'em just say so.

Ok, I tried it again and it didn't freeze but I can see it jerking, is it just my graphics card?

Third bump lucky? Did I say something offensive? Was it the R Kelly on a rape charge thing, bad joke?
For those who don't want to look at all the specs my card is a Radeon x300 SE 128mb, I think it's integrated. If I need to turn something in Half Life 2 off or lower in order to be able to play it without fear of walking too fast and freezing my whole system please let me know. I promise I won't bump this again but this is really annoying me, it looks like a good game. The rest of my specs are in my profile.
EDIT:I was looking around the forum and someone mentioned a stress test that came with CS:S. It came with Half Life 2 so I did it and I got an average of 65fps, that should be enough to play Half Life 2 decently, but it isn't...

lol@at the conversation you are having with yourself here

I'd say it is your graphics card (as you suspected) that is holding you back. It just isn't enough for today's newer games...

Any chances of going for an upgrade?

If I have to...
And thanks DonNaguel for the reply, I was beginning to think I'd said something wrong, because the thread had gotten about 35 views but no responses, I was starting to develop paranoid schizophrenia for real :haha:
Does that Newegg site ship to Ireland? It'll probably take me a while to get a new card (just started a real job) but I'll forget if I don't ask now.

I believe your username was well choosen.

There have to be some sites near you that are selling parts at good prices. No need to order from newegg and pay for the shipping across the world. Give your money to a local company.

I just did a quick search myself, and didn't see any I recognize, but surely someone on this board will have some good advice. You could always start a new thread asking for suggestions on online computer sites in your area.

I wouldn't say it is the video card - I played HL2 fine with a Radeon 9200 SE, and they are a very poor card indeed The fact the game locks up after it starts suggests it may be the drivers or a background application that you are running. I had big problems with an older card using new drivers - if your card is old, find out when it was manufactured, and download the drivers from that time frame. Newer drivers only provide updates for newer cards, as I found out the hard way. And if you are running any software in the background (anti virus, etc), make sure you close them before running the game. Maybe try running the game in offline mode as well, there could be something up with your net connection that is freezing the game.
If all else fails, try Ebay for a new card. With the population density of your country, it shouldn't be too hard to find someone nearby with a cheap secondhand card they want to get rid of. Unlike here in Oz, where everything you want might is usually 2,000 KM away Just don't pay cash and only buy from a trusted user.

Ok thanks, I'll try turning off a few things, I just opened taskmanager and I have 54 processes running. And I only have this window open I reckon it's time to give that Norton stuff the boot, I think most of the processes are Norton related. That can't be helping.

Ok, it just froze again completely, I'm just sick of it now
If I try to pick up a graphics card in the next few days, will that solve this mess? I just had to physically unplug everything, after waiting 20 minutes for it to sort itself out. I've already checked my graphics card options and I saw on intel.com that my motherboard supprts pci express, whether this means there's a pci express slot unused in there or it's already in use I don't know. I think I just have integrated graphics on this thing. Will I have to open the pc up? I know I'll have to do it eventually if I buy a new graphics card but...now?

What does a pci express slot look like?
I think I'll open this thing up, just to make sure I don't go and get a decent card, only to realize I have no space for it. And while I'm here, any ideas on a card? I can probably go as high as €200.

This thread is dead :dead:
I'm going to try and get a graphics card tomorrow, I know it's now futile but God loves a tryer so...
Any ideas???
I got this from intel.com

Apparently my motherboard does support pci express so what do you think I can get for €200?
Please... I don't even caare if you know NOTHING it would still be reassurance that I'm not talking to myself here...

I'd feel much better about answering your questions if we knew what motherboard make/model you have. You have given us your motherboard's chipset number, but not the make/model (as far as I can see).

:blush: Sorry, I'm a learner. I should get one of those L stickers as my avatar :haha:
Using that program cpu-z it says the model is ORD203 and the maker is Dell.inc. It also says graphic interface is pci 16x and max supported is 16x
Is that everything needed? I'm going in to a pc shop armed with that knowledge now anyway, I'll see how it goes.
EDIT: I did get one of those learner stickers as my avatar :haha:
Another Edit: I went in and they were a complete rip off! I'm starting a new thread to ask for good online sites in my area, like DonNaguel suggested.

by looks of the specs i'd say its that crappy onboard vid card you have although 512 mem isn't that great for HL2 either i'd suggest ya upgrade some ATI or Nvidia card wit 256 mem and maybe chuck another 512 stick of mem in yur system other then that yur processor and everything else looks ok least without yur memory dump being shown but i'd start there i run a AMD 3800+ DC and 2GB and ATI X800GTX vid card and i run HL2 flawless although i'ma switch to 2 Nvidia to run SLi but my X800 was free also in the game its self make sure under some of the advanced video settings theres a control called HDDr or something along that turn that off and maybe turn yur settings a little lower also make sure ya got Directx and the most up to date vid card drivers to.

Thanks for the reply. I agree with that so I've started a new thread asking for advice on getting a new graphics card, so if you have any recommendations please say so :grinthumb Thanks again man.

your best bet is to go to newegg.com and pick from the huge selection they have there i dunno what kinda budget you got but looking over Newegg.com for under $170 bucks you can the X850XT by ATi awesome awesome card my buddy has one and his runs games like a dream but hey like i said check newegg.com huge selection and best prices you'll find anywhere.

I went and got the 6800 GT from here: http://www.savastore.com/productinf...me=Savastore&product_id=10281078&pid=45&tid=2
It was about €200 in the end. I couldn't really use that newegg site, I live in Ireland and the shipping wouldn't have been worth my while. Still the card I got is being shipped from England.

What is your dell model number?

I just hope that your PCIe graphics are not integrated, and that you do in fact have an empty PCIe 16x slot...

We can confirm once you give your dell model number.

No need to fear DonNaugal If it is onbaord, I think that there is 99.9% perecent chance of there being an open PCI-e Slot. As it is using the pcie bus. So crack that case open it's a Gateway so the pcie slot is black with a little hook on the end.


Edit: Also with BTX, there is no fan on the cpu, because of the wind tunnel effect and you're cpu may be overheating make sure there is enough space between you're comp and the wall.

Looking like he should be safe. In his profile he mentions a dimension 5150 case. If that's what he has, then he also has an open PCIe 16x slot waiting for some love:

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/pro...s&cs=RC968571&l=en&s=hea&~tab=specstab#tabtop