Pc Tech Support

[Muel]

£400 will get you an OK rig, but £650 will get you a MUCH better setup.

[JT!]

Would it be worth building something up from scratch? Always wanted to do that just for the fun of it but never had the opportunity.

[Muel]

I always say it's the best way to get exactly what you need, it takes a lot of learning about components though. Also it takes a while to get the "feel" of it. Like understanding geo on trials bikes but more importantly how it effects the ride.

[JT!]

Ah maybe not then. I don't really know what I want.

Something like this seems to be the obvious choice.

[anzo]

One of the things I hate is quoting what people can and should be getting for their money - everytime they say, for example, I have £350 and want a laptop.

Of course every single time the reply is "well, for another £50 you could get...." and it tends to go on like that.

Unless you're serious about computing, I don't think you'd notice much difference between certain parts - and in many, many cases there is little difference between £100 in the computer market. If course it's great having one great component, but the rest of the system might let it now.

[Muel]

Above £600 I completely agree with Anzo, but the £150 jump from £450 to £600 is massive in my experience. My current build cost £730 to build, and it's not much different to a £600 one, it just happens to have 2 hard drives and a £170 graphics card.

[Luke Rainbird]

Quick and cheeky one - Was raiding dad's old office earlier and there was an old PC he was going to throw out. It's about 7 years old so that's pretty much all it's good for, but I quite fancy just getting it working enough to rig to the TV and watch the odd film/play music from. It's certainly nothing flash, but the main killer being that it's got feck all memory; an astonishing 384Mb.

Firstly, am I right in assuming this is most likely DDR1 DIMM, since it's an old Athlon XP 2700+ processor? I'll strip it back and have a look tomorrow if I get the chance.

Secondly, is anyone likely to have a Gb or so of this knocking about that they'd part with cheaply?!

Don't really fancy spending much for a 'just in case' computer, so if anyone is feeling kind it'd be hugely appreciated!

[steve g]

Quick and cheeky one - Was raiding dad's old office earlier and there was an old PC he was going to throw out. It's about 7 years old so that's pretty much all it's good for, but I quite fancy just getting it working enough to rig to the TV and watch the odd film/play music from. It's certainly nothing flash, but the main killer being that it's got feck all memory; an astonishing 384Mb.

Firstly, am I right in assuming this is most likely DDR1 DIMM, since it's an old Athlon XP 2700+ processor? I'll strip it back and have a look tomorrow if I get the chance.

Secondly, is anyone likely to have a Gb or so of this knocking about that they'd part with cheaply?!

Don't really fancy spending much for a 'just in case' computer, so if anyone is feeling kind it'd be hugely appreciated!

Hey, not massively clued up on RAM, but ive got a few 1Gb sticks kicking around that say DDR. I assume thats the same as DDR1?

If its any use you can have it for postage and a can of monster

[Luke Rainbird]

Hey, not massively clued up on RAM, but ive got a few 1Gb sticks kicking around that say DDR. I assume thats the same as DDR1?

If its any use you can have it for postage and a can of monster

That sounds wicked dude - any chance you could PM me a pic or two of what you have for me to check out just so I can make sure it's the right fitting (I'm a bit of a hardware n00b!) but that sounds great if it is

Edit; This is the stuff:

[Muel]

Firstly, am I right in assuming this is most likely DDR1 DIMM, since it's an old Athlon XP 2700+ processor?

Yes. DDR1 and DDR are the same thing, it was never officially called DDR1, it's just been named that in conversation later on.

Secondly, is anyone likely to have a Gb or so of this knocking about that they'd part with cheaply?!

Don't really fancy spending much for a 'just in case' computer, so if anyone is feeling kind it'd be hugely appreciated!

DDR ram is getting worth silly money now, especially 1gb and above modules.

If I were you, I'd trawl ebay for 2x512mb modules that run at 333mhz. It shouldn't need any more RAM than that, and going to 2gb won't cost twice as much, it'll cost 3-4 times as much. (Based on my attempts at getting 2x1gb from ebay over a year ago).

[CurtisRider]

Muel...how much is silly money? I have 3x1gb sticks and a 512mb stick sitting in my room at home...

[Muel]

If you have a matching pair of PC3200 (DDR400 or 400mhz) 1gb modules, you'll get over £30 for them easy Paul. Check these out later on, I reckon they'll go over £30 easily. One. Two. And for some really high quality DDR400 prices, check this out.

Bare in mind that I recently bought a pair of brand new, unused, sealed in the packet 1gb 1066mhz DDR2 modules for £25, and it certainly starts to look like silly money. For 2x2gb 800mhz/1066mhz DDR2 modules you're looking at around £50-£60.

A single 512mb isn't worth a fat lot to be honest, if it's 400mhz you might get around a tenner for it.

[Fish-Finger-er]

Right, got a graphics card for my pc after i leant my old one out in like june, got a gtx460, so ive now got an amd phenom quad core 9500 processor, a gtx 460, an alive nfi 5 sli 1394 motherboard, and 3gb or ram (3 x 1gb) sticks, yet i just tried playing battlefield bad company 2, and it plays like crap unless i turn the resolution and graphic settings right down. the obvious weak chain in the link seems to be ram, but 2 questions.

1) would the ram course it to play crap like this

2) what kinda spec/size/price ram should i be looking to whack in there(do i just buy another 1gb stick, so ive got it running in pairs(always thought ram should be run in pairs, would i see an improvement just pulling one of the sticks out so i got 2 x 1gb?)

would it make sense to just 2 x 2gb sticks, and then either run just them, or them + 2 x 1gb sticks. or would i be better off looking a 2 x 4gb? (or 4 x 2gb)

[Leistonbmx]

You'd have trouble running different makes and sizes I think. Need to be running at same speeds and voltage?

[Muel]

Kev, what speed is the RAM currently running at? If you remove the 3rd stick it should run at dual channel instead of single channel. This should in theory make it a bit quicker, unless it fills the RAM up.

Personally I'd find out what speed the current RAM is supposed to run at and buy another 1gb stick. You can mix makes and models fine as long as it is the right type of RAM and runs at the correct speed. Ideally they should be the same make and model too though to avoid any complications with them needing different voltages.

Edited December 4, 2010 by Muel

[Fish-Finger-er]

its 533mhz,

im tempted to get (read if i buy ram, this is what im going to get) 2 x 2gb of ddr2 800 or 1066mhz(since its like £45-£50).

but... ive got conflicting views from 2 people, and the internet.

one mate is saying he thinks the ram is the weak spot, and would get like 4gb+ of 1066 or 1333mhz, but that my processor may be bottlenecking it(but that also means changing my mobo and processor, at which point i may as well go the whole hog and get i7 kit)

my other mate(and i kinda agree with him, on the grounds my mates laptop runs it fine) reckons my system should be totally fine(since ive got 2gb running in dual channel, but having 4 or possibly 8gb, would help massively with loading times)

the internet is saying theres a conflict with my graphics card and the game(but then people are saying its resolved), other people are saying its very cpu intensive and needs an i5/i7 to run smoothly (yet recommended settings are any quad core processor)

and also i found someone saying the game runs smooth on his system(with identical processor and graphics card, and 2 x 2gb sticks of ddr2 at 800mhz) on high settings.

to give you an idea of how crap mine runs, setting it to 1280 x 720, all settings to low, I get low 20fps, dropping to like 15fps when buildings blow up, and 10-15fps in killcam, just tried parachuting in on a level, and parachuting makes it judder to like 3-4fps.

all drivers are upto date graphics card wise.

only other question, would it run badly as im still using a vga monitor(just wondering if not using dvi/hdmi means the graphics card cant fire up fully or something daft)

[Muel]

its 533mhz,

im tempted to get (read if i buy ram, this is what im going to get) 2 x 2gb of ddr2 800 or 1066mhz(since its like £45-£50).

Either 1x1gb of 533 or 2x2gb of 1066. 1066 is ideal for overclocking, because you have to overclock it on the FSB to get it there. The highest "standard" of DDR2 is 800mhz, using an x4 multiplier and the 200mhz FSB. (200x4=800mhz). This means that to get it up to 1066mhz, you need to overclock your system on the FSB. (266x4-1066). In my brothers system, that meant I could get it the CPU from 2.6ghz to 3.4ghz with very little hassle. Just turn up the FSB, and turn up the CPU voltage until it was stable.

but... ive got conflicting views from 2 people, and the internet.

one mate is saying he thinks the ram is the weak spot, and would get like 4gb+ of 1066 or 1333mhz, but that my processor may be bottlenecking it(but that also means changing my mobo and processor, at which point i may as well go the whole hog and get i7 kit)

my other mate(and i kinda agree with him, on the grounds my mates laptop runs it fine) reckons my system should be totally fine(since ive got 2gb running in dual channel, but having 4 or possibly 8gb, would help massively with loading times)

I agree with your first mate on the RAM front, but I doubt very much your CPU is a bottleneck. BFBC2 doesn't even stress my Phenom 2 965BE, it goes up to about 30-40% load. Your CPU is still easily fast enough not to be maxed otu when you're playing IMO.

The second guy could also be right, but he says more RAM = faster loading times? I disagree to be honest; faster RAM would be faster, having 8gb instead of 4gb just means it has more space to store stuff when it finally gets the data to the RAM.

the internet is saying theres a conflict with my graphics card and the game(but then people are saying its resolved), other people are saying its very cpu intensive and needs an i5/i7 to run smoothly (yet recommended settings are any quad core processor)

and also i found someone saying the game runs smooth on his system(with identical processor and graphics card, and 2 x 2gb sticks of ddr2 at 800mhz) on high settings.

to give you an idea of how crap mine runs, setting it to 1280 x 720, all settings to low, I get low 20fps, dropping to like 15fps when buildings blow up, and 10-15fps in killcam, just tried parachuting in on a level, and parachuting makes it judder to like 3-4fps.

all drivers are upto date graphics card wise.

only other question, would it run badly as im still using a vga monitor(just wondering if not using dvi/hdmi means the graphics card cant fire up fully or something daft)

No, VGA, DVI or HDMI will all be fine. After reading this I'd say it's the RAM definately. IMO you need 2x2gb at a high speed for BFBC2 to be happy.

Bear in mind if you go for 1066mhz or higher ram, if you don't overclock then it will run at 800mhz, so if you want to avoid overclocking then just go for 800mhz.

[Fish-Finger-er]

right, ive ordered 4gb of 800mhz(along with 2 extra fans and some other lil bits).

my mates reasoning behind the thing was, when he had 16gb of stupid quick ram, he used to get into maps really quick, and on my ram, im entering games really slowly(constantly the last one in) and my fps drops super low in the map loading screen, reasoning behind it was thought to be that all the data for the map was having to be dragged off the hdd each time it was needed, rather than just being on the ram, which he thought possibly explained the low in game performance as well.

made a bit of a mess up partitioning today (was creating a new partition and unplugged the wrong socket when sticking me phone on charge, so now i get a linux/windows boot selection screen which i cant get rid of, and is annoying me), so ive just had to reformat everything,but this gives me a chance to install uptodate drivers on everything from the off, but im also going to do a quick install of xp 32 bit on another partition, and try it on that, as someone reckoned 7 slowed their fps down from 60 to 25 on bfbc2 due to issues with direct x10/11 and the gtx460, and how in windows 7, forcing dx9, isnt actually dx9, its just some adaptation of 11, so running xp with dx9 meant he got super smooth gameplay.

[JT!]

How come every DVD I rip the sound and footage is out of sync. Happens on all DVDs, on all different programs.

[Muel]

Some shit's going down.

If you watch them with VLC, there's an option to advance or delay the sound over the video. Doesn't fix your problem, just means you'll be able to watch them.

[Prawny Baby's Baby]

Okay I have an issue, which I have posted in small questions but JT has handily pointed out the existance of this tread:

I have bought my mother an ex-office PC and it will turn itself on every week day at 8am. Any idea how to get it to stop?

I have looked in the task manager and can not see any current tasks, as that was my only idea I am stumped. Tried google some people mentioned BIOS but that is scary and as the instructions were so vague, literally go change it in BIOS, I am not risking generally going in and poking stuff to see if it works (done that before was not a great success...)

[haydon_peter]

BIOS isnt too scary.

Its the settings that are used to start up the computer and load up the operating system, it shouldnt be too tricky to have a quick look at.

Before the computer beeps press the delete key (It will usually say something like "to access the BIOS press delete" on the screen).

Once you are in the BIOS screens use the keyboard to look around the menus for things that sound like they are about auto start up and it should be simple to disable. The mouse will not do anything while in these menus, you need to use the keyboard keys to navigate around the BIOS settings, there will be a guide at the bottom of the screen telling you what each button does.

Once you have made any changes follow the instructions to "Save changes and Exit". If you think you have made a mistake and changed something you shouldnt have you can easily "Exit without saving changes" and then try again.

[Muel]

If you can't find the right thing by doing the above, unplug it from the mains and press the power-button to discharge it, remove the sidepanel, pop the battery off the motherboard, wait 30 secs, refit the battery, refit the sidepanel, plug it back in and boot it up.

This will reset the BIOS back to stock, so you will lose any custom settings that have been set. Probably won't make much difference to that computer, but it may require some fettling afterwards.

[Prawny Baby's Baby]

BIOS isnt too scary.

Thank you.

Have found an auto-start option in there which was set to weekdays and tunred that off which sounds rather like I have done the right thing. Will see tomorrow morning at 8 if I was successful! However, the computer is still working so what ever did was not catastrophic!

[Rob_P]

Another problem with girlfriends laptop after fresh install. The sound isn't working which tells me the drivers are missing but on the gateway website the drivers are only listed for windows vista and this is XP, it even came with XP so why they list vista, god knows. Tried going into the device manager and using right click update driver, no luck. Any ideas? It's a gateway MX6926b

Also the screen is in full widescreen stretch mode, resolution is completely off and everything looks short and fat. Only res settings are 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768, needs to be more.

cheers