Is there any point upgrading graphics card

[Sixteenthbooch]

Hi all,

I am new to this comunity and firstly would like to say hello, HELLO.

The computer i have at the minuet it running appaulingly, i'm running vista on it with a gig of memory. So in the next couple of days i am going to stick 4 gig init and am also thinking about getting windows 7, anyways i am thinking while i have got the side off should i bother sticking in a graphics card or not?

The little lad is starting to show an intrest in computer and i enjoy playing RTS games.

I Dont even know is the computer case would fit a graphics card init as it is rather small.

Here is my spec

System Manufacturer: PACKARD BELL BV
System Model: ISTART 2311
BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 766MB RAM
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_03D0&SUBSYS_26011019&REV_A2
Display Memory: 377 MB
Dedicated Memory: 250 MB
Shared Memory: 127 MB
-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes

Sorry in advance if i haven't given enough info, i am not that bad on computers but not to the level of your community.

Is there any point upgrading or shall i just leave it as is.

Cheers,

Craig.

 

[Sixteenthbooch]

Hi all,

I am new to this comunity and firstly would like to say hello, HELLO.

The computer i have at the minuet it running appaulingly, i'm running vista on it with a gig of memory. So in the next couple of days i am going to stick 4 gig init and am also thinking about getting windows 7, anyways i am thinking while i have got the side off should i bother sticking in a graphics card or not?

The little lad is starting to show an intrest in computer and i enjoy playing RTS games.

I Dont even know is the computer case would fit a graphics card init as it is rather small.

Here is my spec

System Manufacturer: PACKARD BELL BV
System Model: ISTART 2311
BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 766MB RAM
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6150SE nForce 430
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_03D0&SUBSYS_26011019&REV_A2
Display Memory: 377 MB
Dedicated Memory: 250 MB
Shared Memory: 127 MB
-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes

Sorry in advance if i haven't given enough info, i am not that bad on computers but not to the level of your community.

Is there any point upgrading or shall i just leave it as is.

Cheers,

Craig.

Is this question that bad that 41 people have looked at it and commented.

 

[Zen]

First off welcome to TechSpot and thank you for trusting us with your questions!

Next, I'm not a real big supporter of Windows Vista, regardless of version, being used on systems that is running less than 4 Gig's of system RAM. Your idea to upgrade that is a good one! If it were me, I would hold off upgrading to any sort of graphics card, until the upgrade of the system RAM is complete. I've never been a player of Real Time Strategy games, so I don't really know how they either will be good on a system, or bog it down, I don't know. But if the games use of your systems resources are low, I wouldn't then see a need to upgrade to a new graphics card. Some times a computers system BIOS will allow for the onboard video adapter or stock video card to share the system RAM, maybe your computer will allow this and then you can share the RAM as to give your video solution a boost. But personally I think your going to be "ok" with what you got!

If after upgrading the system RAM to 4 Gig's minimum doesn't do the trick, than seriously look at getting a new video card. But there again with your computer being a Packard Bell, finding a decent video solution may be a hard one. Curious, what type of video card style are you running, PCI slot only, AGP slot, no way your running PCI-e so I won't ask.

Just upgrade the RAM and give things a try, the worst that can happen is the game or games won't work, or at least not work to ones satisfaction. Man, Packard Bell, haven't heard that name in a long while!

 

[SKYSTAR]

please can you tell me what is your motherboard model to help you

 

[Zen]

please can you tell me what is your motherboard model to help you

This information more than likely is wrong, but I did a quick check of some of the key words that the O.P. posted and about 60% to 70% of the results said that we are dealing with an version (A) Gigabyte GA-T671MG Motherboard. But I don't know, this is just what some sites said could be inside a Packard Bell BV ISTART 2310-2311. But these motherboard specs looked a little to modern for a old Packard Bell, the motherboard could have already been upgraded to this prior, I don't know!

 

[Mister_K]

For RTS games CPU and RAM is one of the most important things followed by GPU. IMHO

 

[Sixteenthbooch]

Thank you all for getting back to me. I installed cpu-z last night and under motherboard section it says Manufacturer = PACKARD BELL BV
Model = MCP61

Anyhow, ive oreder my memory, so i will fit that and see where that gets me.

I would imagine i will be on here for a while asking questions as i would like to do a build at some point. Best way to learn is get hands on and ask the questions as you go a long.

Last question, is there any decnt books for beginners with regards to doing my own computer build?

Again many thanks.

 

[SNGX1275]

Zen - Modern Packard Bell computers appear to be fairly common in the UK.

Sixteenthbooch - Branded computers are in the minority on this board, most of the people that answer questions have custom built PCs. So we aren't real good at answering when given a brand and model, particularly when googling doesn't turn up the specs right away. I know you pasted a list, but I didn't see anything about available slots.

What would really help is a picture of the inside of the case, and also maybe a view from the back of the case. If you can't do that, at least describe what the open card slots look like and how wide your case is. If its a slim PC then that is important to know when selecting cards that would work (fit).

 

[Sixteenthbooch]

Zen - Modern Packard Bell computers appear to be fairly common in the UK.

Sixteenthbooch - Branded computers are in the minority on this board, most of the people that answer questions have custom built PCs. So we aren't real good at answering when given a brand and model, particularly when googling doesn't turn up the specs right away. I know you pasted a list, but I didn't see anything about available slots.

What would really help is a picture of the inside of the case, and also maybe a view from the back of the case. If you can't do that, at least describe what the open card slots look like and how wide your case is. If its a slim PC then that is important to know when selecting cards that would work (fit).

The pc is a tower, but seems small compared to the box's you can buy, i have a pci express slot availble.

Thanks for the help all, i have decided that i am upgrading the pc to 3 gig memroy so the wife and the children can use it. I am going to build myself a half decnt pc, dont think i will be running battlefield 3 on it but it will be a little project for me to learn on, think i have got the bug!!!

Cheers all.

 

[SNGX1275]

Make a post with your budget (in a new thread) and there will be several people here that can help you narrow down your choices on components. Be sure to say what you want/hope to be able to do with it.

For the PB, you can buy some lower end PCIe cards that are half height or 'low profile' that will be quite a bit better than the 6150SE thats in there now (presumably onboard).

 

[mike1959]

PC World sell P-Bell pc's.

If of any interest to anyone outside of UK, Packard-Bell is a brand I have only seen in the high street shop 'PC World', but that is probably the biggest high street computer/Tech retailer in the UK.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/packard-bell-desktop-pcs/706_7021_70021_1698_xx/xx-criteria.html

They are a part of the bigger group called DSG, which owns the smaller high street computer/camera/TV/Radio/Audio stores, named 'Dixons' or 'Currys'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSG_International_(retailer)

 

[Zen]

Well I guess I stand corrected! Packard Bell I guess is still to rave of the U.K., which is a fact I didn't know. Personally, the last Packard Bell I serviced, was when a client brought one into me about 8-9 years back. It was fairly old, more so meant for Windows 95 and had Office 97 on it, hence the fact that why I deemed Packard Bell to be old school and no longer really made here or sold as new in the USA. Thank mike1959 for the link, one more new thing I've learned today!

 

[ViPeRMiMiS]

If you want to game a LOT and great pc games (like battlefield bad company 3, the new game!) then buy GTX 560, if you have more money buy GTX 560 Ti, it would be a nce improvement and if you want to spend a bit more HD 6950 is a great chose + that you can unlock it to hd 6970 (GTX 570 is roughly the same with hd 6970). For CPU I suggest ONLY two-three for more-or-less 200 Euros. for INTEL motherboards, specifically LGA 1155, buy Core i5 2500K. No need to spend more for i7-2600K as long you don't want to spend more money of course. and for AMD motherboards, specifically AM3, I suggest AMD Phenom II X6 1100T ( 6 cores) or AMD Phenom II X4 980 (4 cores)