Question: Should I upgrade or just get a new PC?

[FoolKiller]

Here's my thing:

I have a Sony Vaio which I got refurbished off of Ubid nearly five years (I think) ago for $700.
Specs:
Windows XP
Pentium 4 3.0ghz dual core
512mb RAM (2x 256)
Geforce FX5200 (unsure about onboard memory)
120gb HDD

I don't know the motherboard specs.

Anyway, I have a TV tuner card/capture card as well.

Most of my gaming is done via console, but I play Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and my wife plays Sims 2. These both use 3D graphics and cause some slow down, which gets worse every time we add expansions or custom content. Still they are not unplayable.

The only other time I experience slow down is after I convert video recorded on my TV Tuner card.

For general computing it runs fine and the worst problem I have ever had was some spyware. Any residual slow down after gaming or video converting is remedied with a reboot.

Now, with Spore and Starcraft 2 coming and my PC's age I am contemplating an upgrade of some form.

I can upgrade to 2gb of RAM and a new graphics card with decent onboard memory for $200-$300, maybe less, much cheaper than a new PC with TV Tuner.

My question is, will that solve my slow down problem and have my system capable of running Spore or Starcraft 2? Or do I need a new system?

Of course, if either game comes to PS3 then I'll probably just throw some more Ram in and be done with it. But as neither title has been mentioned for it I want to think ahead.


And whatever my next PC is will likely be custom as even Dell's "Built for you" program does not allow me to get the options I want at a decent price.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[TB]

No specs are currently published, but it looks like estimated system requirements for Spore are:

• OS: Windows 2000, XP, ME or Vista.
• 1 GHz processor or better. Current popular games require at least 800MHz.
• 512 MB of RAM or more.
• 64 MB 3D graphics card. Current popular games require at least 32 MB, but the more video memory the better!
• At least 6 GB of hard drive space

If that is close to correct, you shouldn't have any problems running Spore. *

I couldn't find anything on Starcraft 2.

I'd be willing to bet that if you let us know what kind of specs you are looking for in a new build, someone will find one to fit you needs.

*That is a far cry from the joke requirements given by Will Wright. At least I hope it's a joke.

 

[Mark T]

If you can check your graphics card on board memory that should help. I did a quick search and found that your graphics card comes with either 128mb or 256mb of memory. The graphics card could be creating a bottleneck so it may be worth picking up something with a better chipset. Be careful of buying graphics cards with huge memory at cheap prices, most of the time they are using a dated chipset.

You also mentioned it slows down after running video editing software. 512mb RAM is not really enough for video editing, maybe get yourself a 1gb stick or 2gb as you suggested, it should help. Your processor speed is fine, you have a large hard drive, although you didn't mention how much of that is free.

Try running 3D Mark, there is a discussion in this thread and you can see how your score compares with others. Try running it again once you have upgraded (if you do) to see the difference.

 

[FoolKiller]

No specs are currently published, but it looks like estimated system requirements for Spore are:

• OS: Windows 2000, XP, ME or Vista.
• 1 GHz processor or better. Current popular games require at least 800MHz.
• 512 MB of RAM or more.
• 64 MB 3D graphics card. Current popular games require at least 32 MB, but the more video memory the better!
• At least 6 GB of hard drive space

If that is close to correct, you shouldn't have any problems running Spore. *

That isn't nearly as bad as I feared. But as those are minimum I should upgrade a bit.

I couldn't find anything on Starcraft 2.

None have been give but early gameplay footage shows a ton of units on screen, way more than Warcraft 3, and the Protos towers and Human battleships were firing three or more lasers at a time. I wouldn't be concerned about it graphically if it weren't having to draw so many units at once. And I imagine the AI will suck processing power, especially as AI has to control CPU and human controlled units.

I'd be willing to bet that if you let us know what kind of specs you are looking for in a new build, someone will find one to fit you needs.

Like I said, it has been over five years since I bought a computer. I haven't kept up with current technology on the home PC market as most of my gaming has been done on console. For general home computing I have done just fine. Now that two games I really want, that I suspect will be PC only (well Spore is supposed to be on the Wii, but EA has a horrid quality rate on the Wii), are coming out I am suddenly concerned.

Basically, I want the TV tuner/capture card, the ability to run my 3D games smoothly at no less than moderate settings, and the ability to edit and convert video smoothly. And a big hard drive, of course. And an internal memory card reader that will read XD, SD Memory Stick Pro Duo, and XF at a minimum. I currently have an internal 8-in-1 reader.

If you can check your graphics card on board memory that should help. I did a quick search and found that your graphics card comes with either 128mb or 256mb of memory. The graphics card could be creating a bottleneck so it may be worth picking up something with a better chipset. Be careful of buying graphics cards with huge memory at cheap prices, most of the time they are using a dated chipset.

What sort of chipset should I be looking for?

You also mentioned it slows down after running video editing software. 512mb RAM is not really enough for video editing, maybe get yourself a 1gb stick or 2gb as you suggested, it should help. Your processor speed is fine, you have a large hard drive, although you didn't mention how much of that is free.

Yeah the process of video conversion goes smoothly, but after I am finished the Windows is sluggish.

I was thinking of a 2x 1gb memory upgrade.

And I have about 60gb free on my hard drive. Anything I record from TV gets moved over to an external drive after it is converted. So the internal hard drive is mainly using

Try running 3D Mark, there is a discussion in this thread and you can see how your score compares with others. Try running it again once you have upgraded (if you do) to see the difference.

I'll have to check that out.

 

[Mark T]

What sort of chipset should I be looking for?


Yeah the process of video conversion goes smoothly, but after I am finished the Windows is sluggish.

I was thinking of a 2x 1gb memory upgrade.

And I have about 60gb free on my hard drive. Anything I record from TV gets moved over to an external drive after it is converted. So the internal hard drive is mainly using



I'll have to check that out.

I would recommend the Nvidia 8800 GT or something along those lines. They are a good overall card with support for Direct X 10. You can also use them in an SLI configuration just in case you ever decide to go down that route.

Definitely go for the RAM upgrade that should help things. If your transferring alot of data from your hard drive to another external source you will be leaving "gaps" on your hard drive. Run defrag once in a while and it may help data access speeds. Is your hard drive partitioned?

 

[FoolKiller]

Definitely go for the RAM upgrade that should help things. If your transferring alot of data from your hard drive to another external source you will be leaving "gaps" on your hard drive. Run defrag once in a while and it may help data access speeds. Is your hard drive partitioned?

No partitions, and I defrag about once a month.

Which reminds me, I am overdue.

 

[BayConRong]

this may be a little off topic but i can run AOE 3 on my laptop that has

1.1 ghz athlon
32MB graphic cars.

i don't know most of it but it's an HP Pavilion zv6000

so i dunno if that helps you.

 

[Mark T]

No partitions, and I defrag about once a month.

Which reminds me, I am overdue.

I think I once read that if you use a large portion of your hard drive for things like video editing it might be worth using a partition system. It basically means that you allocate half your drive for storing your video and the other half could be used for games etc which are likely to be permanent. It might not help dramatically but may improve the speed of the defragmentation.

 

[Casio]

An 8800GT is probably no go for upgrading, as the FX5200 is most likely an AGP card, and almost definately not PCI x16, and the best AGP card you can get is about a 7600GS which are hard to find now. Building from scratch is really the way to go then. Since if you have to buy a new motherboard you might as well get the whole thing.

And I'd also think no way in hell would Spore run on that, at least at a somewhat playable speed. Minimum usually means minimum, in that that what you need to have the game run at all. Even if that's at 640x480 with no detail on and 10fps.

 

[FoolKiller]

An 8800GT is probably no go for upgrading, as the FX5200 is most likely an AGP card, and almost definately not PCI x16, and the best AGP card you can get is about a 7600GS which are hard to find now. Building from scratch is really the way to go then. Since if you have to buy a new motherboard you might as well get the whole thing.

And I'd also think no way in hell would Spore run on that, at least at a somewhat playable speed. Minimum usually means minimum, in that that what you need to have the game run at all. Even if that's at 640x480 with no detail on and 10fps.

That's what I was afraid of. I am thinking that I may go to this place down the street from work that specializes in custom built machines and see what I can get.

A co-worker got one there for a good price and seems pretty happy.

 

[Mark T]

Most websites that I saw said the graphics card was PCI-E connectivity. You'll need to have a PCI-E slot, do check that first. Sorry if I missed that.

 

[Casio]

While the FX series did have PCI-E cards, the majority were AGP or PCI. The FX5200 only came in AGP/PCI form. The FX series actually debuted before PCI-E existed.

 

[Sniffs]

that probably means I have to upgrade the vid card in this thing as well, unfortunately, it's an HP native card, and could crash the whole thing if I touched it.

sure it isn't memory? when I bumped this thing up, it sped up for a while, then slowed right back down again the second XP figured out there was more memory to be had, and snatched the lot

 

[livemusic]

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to run both decently with just an upgrade. If you can get a new computer that's fine, but if you can't try to find a 7600GS as Casio said and get 2 sticks of 1GB RAM, you'll be good to go.

 

[Casio]

You can get higher AGP version of cards, there is a AGP version of the 7950GT. But anything above the 7600 is pretty rare and expensive, and you get to the point where it's silly to shell out so much money on a pretty outdated video card.