Need help with PC#2. *Update 3/27/14* No luck. I am done.

[CAMAROBOY69]

*Update 3/27/14* GT 630 DID NOT WORK.


*Update 3/20/14**
Bought the GT 630 for PC#2 directly from Amazon. Should arrive 3/25/14.

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**Update 3/18/14**
Installed graphics card into PC#2 and it is not working properly. Results. Not enough watts from the Power supply.

***Update 3/17/14****
Decided I am going to go with PC#2. Bought a new Radeon R5 230 graphics card and will install soon.


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This is my situation. I am currently in the process of trying to decide which PC to use for gaming. They are hooked to my 40 Sony Bravia HDTV via DVI to HDMI adapter. The picture quality is great but seems like it could be a little better. The main concern is just getting a reliable rig to run my older games and maybe a few new games.

I talked to the Geek Squad at Best Buy and they said they could get PC#1 cleaned up and check all software for $200.00. If I needed any hardware I would have to pay for those parts but it would all have a warranty and software would be covered no matter what.

PC#1 (2006)
The first PC is a huge rig I paid someone to build 8 years ago. It ran very well 8 years ago (2006). Now it is unstable and seems to have unnecessary software that is slowing it down. Sometimes it wont turn on and has a flashing red light at the rear. This PC is quite loud and runs a bit warm.
1. COOLMAX CP-500T EPS12V 500W Active PFC Power Supply
2. Processor. PENTIUM 4 PROCESSOR
3. Video card-----BFG-GeForce 7800 GT OC 256MB GDDR3
4. Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Unbuffered System Memory Model
5. ASPIRE X-Plorer ATXB8KLW-BL Black/Blue Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
6. Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS SB0350 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card
7. Gigabyte GA-8I915P Duo(REV 1.1) Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 915P ATX Intel Motherboard
9. ASPIRE CF4SL-UBL-LED 80mm Blue LED Light Fan
10. SONY Black IDE DVD Burner Model DW-Q30A-B2
11. Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L200M0 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

PC#2 (2011 or 2012)
The 2nd and smaller pc is only a couple years old and is very small but is VERY reliable. It has some compatibility issues with certain games like Age of Empires and a couple others. This runs quite and cool.
1. 4 gb ram
2. 2.2?? processor
I can get more accurate stats of this PC if necessary.

 

[DQuaN]

I'm going to guess that the second one will be MUCH better if it is only 2 years old. Chances are the onboard graphics are more powerful than the dedicated card on the first PC but we'd have to check that.

As for the Geek Squad... screw them!

I can do it from here for free if you like.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Actually my 7 year old rig seems to be crushing this new HP. I can run all my older games on the custom rig in full settings. The new rig is struggling and having compatibility issues. Please read the entire thread. I even listed specs.

Black and White 2 and Age Of Empires 3 are perfect examples. My old rig runs them in the highest settings.
New rig struggles in medium to high. If I turn on AA, the new rig dies. I was going to upgrade PC#2 but they said most small HP like that cant be upgraded.

Maybe I could try to troubleshoot PC#1 on here and see what is going on. Find out what software I do or don't need.

 

[DQuaN]

You haven't posted many specs that are relevant.

What speed is the PC1 CPU?

What model CPU is on PC2?

PC1 is a P4 with 1GB of RAM and ancient GPU. PC2 should be much better.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

I am not sure of the PC1 GPU speed.

I will try to get more specs of PC2 tonight.

I also thought PC2 should be much better. Not sure why it is slower. Is there any way to increase the performance of PC2? Or am I better off with PC1? From what I have heard its very unlikely I can improve PC2 because it is a "mini" pc.

 

[DQuaN]

A good cleanup and driver update will help.

What OS are they running?

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

A good cleanup and driver update will help.

What OS are they running?

I will check the OS. I think PC1 is on Windows XP and PC2 is on Windows 7.

Currently PC1 wont even let me online if I use Google. Google gives me some kind of security error saying its not safe to go online. So that is a bit scary. I let someone work on PC1 a long time ago and its been very unstable since. I will get pictures of the errors, and the other info for each PC and let you know by tomorrow. If you have any other questions, this is the perfect time to ask. I don't have the greatest knowledge with building a pc so I appreciate the patience.

 

[DQuaN]

Sounds like it could be spyware.

I can jump on to both PC's if you like and give them a good cleanup.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Sounds like it could be spyware.

I can jump on to both PC's if you like and give them a good cleanup.

Oh yeah I am sure he helped all sorts of spyware get onto this thing. lol He was only trying to help but ended up messing up a lot on PC1. He had good intentions just made it worse.

As for the cleaning, I will get pics of the processes that are running, the errors and go from there. Maybe you can make a list of what I don't need and I will start removing those programs. Would like to learn to do this myself but also don't want to delete something I am not supposed to delete.

 

[DQuaN]

Go for it.

 

[DG_Silva]

I downloaded a program called Advanced SystemCare Pro, it cleaned up a lot of crap from my PC, which is only a year old, so give that a go.

 

[DQuaN]

I steer clear of all of those. I'm sure there are a couple of good ones out there but the majority do more harm than good.

 

[Grayfox]

Get new parts and stick them in the the case of PC1 or get a new case if you want.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Here is a follow up on the questions asked.

PC#1

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PC#2

 

[DQuaN]

The second should be better. Looks like they both need a good going over though.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Is there a way to upgrade the processor in PC#2 or another way to make it faster? It currently does not run Age Of Empires 3 or Black and White 2 in the highest settings. But PC#1 does.

 

[MHPALA]

Next time run DX diag on both, then send in a PM.... Just sayin'.

Hmm. What HP model is that? Take the GPU from PC1 and put it into PC2. The case of PC 2 looks like it can only fit low profile peripherals. I'm just blubering stuff. Can't really know until you post the model #.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

The CPU in the second one is better. And looking up the HP model number, it looks like it has integrated graphics, which I wouldn't bet on being as good as the 7800GT.

I also thought PC2 should be much better. Not sure why it is slower. Is there any way to increase the performance of PC2? Or am I better off with PC1? From what I have heard its very unlikely I can improve PC2 because it is a "mini" pc.

PC1 is just old. I looked up the supported CPUs for the motherboard, and there isn't anything worth upgrading to. You would need a new motherboard and CPU.

PC2 is limited in upgrade-ability due it being "mini" and the power supply only being 220W.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Next time run DX diag on both, then send in a PM.... Just sayin'.
Hmm. What HP model is that? Take the GPU from PC1 and put it into PC2. The case of PC 1 looks like it can only fit low profile peripherals. I'm just blubering stuff. Can't really know until you post the model #.

THe HP model # is located in the picture I posted in post#14.

The CPU in the second one is better. And looking up the HP model number, it looks like it has integrated graphics, which I wouldn't bet on being as good as the 7800GT.



PC1 is just old. I looked up the supported CPUs for the motherboard, and there isn't anything worth upgrading to. You would need a new motherboard and CPU.

PC2 is limited in upgrade-ability due it being "mini" and the power supply only being 220W.

Hmm sounds like my PC days are back to being over. I will have a friend look at both this weekend but I have no intention on building another PC. So if neither one of these will really work then this pc road is done. Sticking with console gaming. I will play some of my older games but it sounds like that is about it. I guess we will see after this weekend. Thanks for the replies.

 

[DQuaN]

Whilst neither are amazing, they both can be improved. I can write up some documents for you to run through if you like.

 

[HBR-Roadhog]

Personally I would not bother spending any money on an old P4 system unless it was to replace the motherboard and CPU. I have one of those here myself that is still in service but am about to retire it.

The other system sounds better but also sounds like it has onboard video which is rarely any good for gaming. the 7800GT is a decent card but very outdated. I also have one of those in a Core2Duo system and it works ok, is fine for age of empires but is lacking on newer games.

If your second system has an available slot then you may be able to upgrade the video quite a lot for very little money. I picked up a 9800GT 1GB DDR5 card a couple of years ago for under $100, only problem is that it has a rather high power demand and your PC may not have a large enough power supply to handle a high end card.

I also would not pay the folks at best buy $200 to go through the system that money would be a good start toward upgrading one of those PCs

For example http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8524748&Sku=M69-7253

Of course you would also need a video card but you can get a pretty good card that is superior to either of those machines for under $100 you just need to make sure the power supply is large enough to handle it.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like I should lean more toward PC#2. Hopefully my 2nd system has an available slot for a video card. And if necessary maybe get a larger power supply for it. I am taking both computers to a friends house on Saturday. He is gong to go through both computers and we are going to come up with a plan. He has built many gaming rigs and has a lot of knowledge. So I will know more after this weekend. If I only had to spend a couple hundred dollars to get one of these going solid enough to run AOE3 and B&W2, that would be great news.

 

[DQuaN]

PC2 has tons of RAM and a half-decent CPU. Stick a graphics card in there and you're good to go.

It'll need to be a low profile card to fit in the case though.

*edit*

Some more info for you...

Motherboard

IPISB-CU (Carmel2)
Figure 1: Motherboard top view

• Manufacturer: Pegatron
• Form factor: uATX - 24.4 cm (9.6 inches) x 24.4 cm (9.6 inches)
• Chipset: Intel H61
• Memory sockets: 2 x DDR3
• Front side bus speeds: 5 GT/s
• Processor socket: LGA 1155
• Expansion Slots:
  • 1 PCI Express x16
  • 3 PCI Express x1
  • 1 PCI Express Mini Card x1
• For more details, see Carmel2 motherboard specifications .

Processor

Pentium G620


Processor upgrade information

• Socket type: LGA 1155
• Motherboard supports the following processor upgrades:
  ProcessorTDP
  Core i7-2600 (Sandy Bridge) quad core95W
  Core i7-2600s (Sandy Bridge) quad core65W
  Core i5-2500 (Sandy Bridge) quad core95W
  Core i5-2500s (Sandy Bridge) quad core65W
  Core i5-2500t (Sandy Bridge) quad core45W
  Core i5-2400 (Sandy Bridge) quad core95W
  Core i5-2400s (Sandy Bridge) quad core65W
  Core i5-2390t (Sandy Bridge) quad core35W
  Core i5-2300 (Sandy Bridge) quad core95W
  Core i3-2120 (Sandy Bridge) dual core 65W
  Core i3-2100 (Sandy Bridge) dual core 65W
  Core i3-2100t (Sandy Bridge) dual core 35W

Memory

4 GB

• Amount: 4 GB
• Speed: PC3-10600 MB/sec (message as PC3-8500)
• Type: DDR3-1333

Memory upgrade information

• Single channel memory architecture
• Two 240-pin DDR3 DIMM sockets
• Supports the following:
  • PC3-8500 (DDR3-1066)
  • PC3-10600 (DDR3-1333)
• Non-ECC memory only, unbuffered
• Supports 1 GB, 2 GB, and 4 GB DIMMs
• Supports up to 4 GB on 32-bit* systems
• Supports up to 8 GB on 64-bit systems

NOTE:32-bit systems cannot address a full 4.0 GB of memory.

 

[Infinital-NG]

PC1 is too old to due anything upgrade-able with like others have said. Probably the only salvageable pieces would be the case and hard drive. Your CD/DVD might work, but it looks to be IDE and some new motherboards don't come with that.

PC2 you should be able to put a better graphics card in. I'd just and see if you need a half-height card though. Also check if your power supply has a 6-pin PCI-E power connector. You might need to find a better power supply that has that. Would also upgrade to 8GB of ram as well.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Thanks for all the info. I will present this to my friend over the weekend when I bring the 2 PCs to his house.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

***UPDATE*****

After several hours of investigating both PCs, my friend determined the same thing mentioned above. Get a graphics card for PC#2. Not sure what I am going to do with my old PC#1.

So this is what I picked up but I haven't installed yet. $50.00. The other great news is this has an HDMI out. Now I can hook directly HDMI to HDMI on my 40" tv.
It has average ratings so I am a bit nervous. As long as it runs AOE3 and B&W2 in higher settings I will be happy. Currently it runs both those games fairly decent. So hopefully this will allow full settings.

I will be installing this sometime in the next day or two.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

*Update* Installed graphics card but its not working properly.

Before the installation.

Slot I need to remove.

Card

HDMI port excellent!

Too tall. Must remove bracket.

Another angle of bracket too tall.

Perfect fit after adding new bracket and removing vga plug.

Keeps saying XFX product is not recognized every time I put the installation disc in. I have some sort of video working but the quality is worse than before I put in this video card.

 

[Punknoodle]

Have you downloaded the latest drivers and installed them? Is that what you are trying to do when it says no XFX product found?

Does the card need a bigger power supply? Does it require a lead from the power supply to be plugged in to the card?

What is your monitor plugged in to at the moment?

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Have you downloaded the latest drivers and installed them? Is that what you are trying to do when it says no XFX product found?
Does the card need a bigger power supply? Does it require a lead from the power supply to be plugged in to the card?
What is your monitor plugged in to at the moment?

I couldn't find where to get the drivers. I went to the site and it looks like my only next option is to create an account and log into their site for the drivers.

Not sure about the power supply that should be fine. I don't think it needs a lead, there really isn't anything else other than what you see.

The monitor is my 40" Sony Bravia 3d LED TV. Currently HDMI to HDMI.

 

[DQuaN]

Right click on Computer and do 'Manage'. Select 'Device Manager'. Does it show up under 'Display adapters'?

*edit*
Also try this: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/auto/amddriverdownload_installer.exe