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[LSiz]

So I bought the orange box to play goldeneye source, neither run at playable speeds even after turning all the graphics options down.

Here is my specs;
AMD Sempron LE-1300 ~2.3 GHz
2GB Memory
NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 using 825 megs of memory
Desired Screen Res: 1600x900

I know this isn't a gaming machine but is there anything I could do within reason to make these games run well?  I have read tips at the steam forums but they are all software solutions and none has made a discernible difference yet.  ( Yes I told my antivirus to stop scanning those certain files)
What is the biggest bottleneck, the integrated graphics? Single core budget cpu?  Little Memory? Or are all of these just insufficient? I would like to get good framerates on these games at 1600x900 with the settings high enough to make the games look good.

Can I get this computer up to speed enough to play competitively for under 200 dollars?  I would love to build a core i7 machine for games but definitely can not afford soon.

[major]

-type "-dxlevel 80" (or 81, 70) as a GE:S launch option(right click on ge:s in the steam list and properties, then launch options).


Source is pretty CPU intensive. So a single core CPU that was designed for processing word documents is really limiting. But also a integrated GPU is always super limiting. To be honest not really worth upgrading anything. Cause if you upgrade your CPU your directly limited by GPU, and visa-versa.


You should be able to get a new CPU for $50-$75.
Then should be able to get a GPU for around $150.

If both of those upgrades are done then you would be solidly good to game. BUT there is always more issues when upgrading. Since this is odds are a computer from a manufacture, odds are it has a small, weak powersupply. So a powersupply upgrade might be needed.

If you can post up some really detailed computer specs. I'm talking, exact motherboard you have, and what ever power rating your PSU is(lazy way is to take a picture of the sticker on your powersupply). We can help you pick what parts would be the best bet.

[Sp1nn3y]

http://gizmodo.com/5569723/the-best-graphics-cards-at-every-price
Gizmodo has an epic list of graphics cards and tons of information about them for the best gfx at certain price ranges. take a look, hope it helps somewhat.

[coolDisguise]

Excuuuuuse me, but my system is over 5 years old and has a Pentium IV 3,2 Ghz (single core) processor, yet I run my games on 1024/768 (Left 4 Dead 2 800/600, medium to low details) with a GeForce 6600 (256 Mb) with 2 Gb RAM.

I just don't think you'll manage your prefered resolution given your graphics card and processor. About the bottleneck: I guess the processor is atm your biggest problem, but directly next would be your graphics card. My guess is, if you just change the processor, you'd be able to play competetively on medium details and a lower resolution as the one prefered.
Nonetheless, I also think major is right saying it isn't really worth the trouble. :- /

[killermonkey]

You cannot play at 1600x900 resolution. It is an impossibility.

The semperon is not designed to handle gaming and the geforce 6100 series is about 6 years old and the lowest of the batch from the 6000 series GPUs.

Lower your resolution to NO MORE THAN 1024x768 and you'll get good performance (although prolly not consistent 30 fps).

To play at 1600x900 with decent frame rate you'll be looking to drop about $1,500 on parts EASY.

[LSiz]

As per Major's suggestion, I tried his launch parameters.  I am assuming it is telling the game which directx version to use?  8.0 and 8.1 both crashed the game after the spinning logo screen, however 7.0 runs the game at 1600x900 with low details at a playable rate ( don't know how to check FPS ) this is very exciting.  Unfortunately it didn't seem to do anything on TF2.  Ill try out 1024x768 on TF2 later on to see if it improves.


I may start slowly building an actual gaming system, buying parts monthly starting with things that don't become obsolete quickly ( Case, Power Supply, Cables & Wiring).

[coolDisguise]

To show your fps use "net_graph 3" in the console - you need to add "-console" in steam under launch options in the game's properties.

Btw. a general word of advice: I guess it's best to plan out an actual system and buy it once you have the money (for the complete system), because even parts like the case or the power supply may become obstacles once you see parts that you'd like to include but can't because the graphics card is too long for the case or the power supply isn't powerful enough and so on....

[kraid]

Beside that all the standards for graphic cards (PCIe), processors (multicore), RAM (DDR3 or even higher?) and HDD (SATA2) have changed so you should considder to save some money and buy a completly new system.
You don't need to buy the newest stuff, all that matters is that the new standarts are supported.
If you buy a cheap PCIe graphic card at first, you can always buy a more powerfull whenever you have the money.
But for parts like the Motherboard and PSU you should choose quality since you usually keep them much longer then a Graphic card.
If you wanna keep your old HDD and Disk drive make sure there's still a IDE port on the motherboard.
Also having 4 RAM banks is better then only 2, in case you wanna plug in more RAM later on.

[Storm101]

Unfortunately it didn't seem to do anything on TF2.  Ill try out 1024x768 on TF2 later on to see if it improves.

Yeah, TF2 doesn't go any lower than DX8.0. But if you really want to run it on your current setup, this thread may help:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1149207&highlight=worst+computers

[Kratos]

As a computer technician/guru, i strongly recommend to upgrade/rebuild a new pc. Sure it might sound nerve wracking at first, but you will benefit on newer parts than the old ones.

AMD Sempron is just for basic web surfing, checking emails, chatting with friends, watching videos online that are not cpu intensive. Sure it can probably run modern games, but its not going to give you the best gameplay you want. I think Sempron is similar to a Intel Celeron, just has a bit more power.

As for building a new pc, you dont need to buy all parts new. First get a motherboard that supports pretty much all the latest components, PCI-E, memory slot supporting DDR2, some IDE ports, couple of sata ports, supports dual and quad cores, etc..

Then  get a cpu that can handle intensive games and videos. There is a lot of cpus out there, so the only way to tell what cpu is good and in your budget is to go to http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/processors,6.html

and it will show the benchmarks for each cpu. You can choose what type of benchmark, gaming, video encoding, etc.

Now comes Video card,   here  http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/graphics-cards,1.html

you will need to do extensive research to figure out whats the best video card is out that fits your budget.

Here is the hard drives  http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/benchmarks,50.html

if you have a hard drive that spins at 7200 rpm and has enough space, you prob wont need to buy a new one.. But a faster HD makes a difference in the end.

Lastly is the power supply. You dont want to leave out this critical component. Get a good brand, quality, and price power supply. Do NOT get cheap ones, as the fuse/capacitors inside will burn causing a shortage that might short your entire components.

I tested a power supply at my friends house, and his was a generic crap that died out. I gave him a list of brand names that are good and quality wise are decent.

I tell to all of my customers, do not buy cheap components. I love them buying a cheap mobo, and then coming back to me calling me, the mobo doesnt work..

As I said earlier about not buying all parts new, dont buy a used powersupply or a used mobo, those two should be new and at a decent price, include the memory too.

Check out craigslist.org and look for video cards that people might sell cheap. Hey I mean you can try to find new parts that people buy and never returned, so they sell them, but make sure its never been opened, tampered, used...

I buy used computer shit before on craigslist, like this lcd monitor im staring at.. its a 19 inch shit brand for $40.. This lcd goes for $100 over.. works great but makes popping sounds like pop corn. The capictors are blowing up one by one inside, and It still works fine loll.

Good luck.



My fav mobo brand is Gigabyte..