Faster and Cleaner

[Parry]

any cheap ways how to make a....
Intel Celeron D
Processor 325
256MB DDR
40GB Hard Drive
Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics (up to 64MB dynamically shared video memory)

.........faster, better graphics and how to make it run alot smoother, i know i need a new graphics card but how much would one cost? and how do i turn off the integrated one if you even have to.

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[bryanf445]

usually you can turn them off in the bios. do you have an agp slot? and what is your budget

 

[Shamrock]

Upgrade your ram. You might want to think about a new CPU and MOBO. It all depends on your budget. If you can tell us how much money you are willing to spend, we can help you easily.

 

[Parry]

i have £100 at the moment but i could get more

 

[baron insig]

how much more

 

[Parry]

well i'd like to start at what i could get for £100 or around there first please

 

[01000101]

More Ram. Everything else you have is still good. It's amazing how much difference there is when you go from 256MB of Ram to 512, or from 512 to 1024. You might want to change your GFX card later on too if you have an AGP 4x slot.

 

[Darkknighttt]

definetly a new processor, cmon its a celeron.

 

[Hazar]

looks like it's time for a major upgrade.

 

[Parry]

so i need to upgrade my RAM, how much does 256mb ram cost?

 

[duffers20]

Unfortunataly that CPU will slow you down alot! I have played a game of CS:CZ on a PC with a Celeron 2ghz cpu, over a gig of ram and a 256mb 9600xt gfx card, and it plays so bad its unbelievable, and thats condition zero! You really will notice the benifits if you save and get a new mobo and cpu with a new gfx card like a 6600gt or a x700 card. It will be quite expensive since you are upgrading the whole lot, but the performance increase will be amazing!

 

[WaryWolf]

come on people, only post if you know exactly what you're talking about....

the OP has a celeron D, which is sure a lot better than the older celeron processors. the 325 is clocked at 2.53ghz at stock if i recall correctly, and most people have succeeded in overclocking these to 3ghz or more, if you want to do that you should have more than enough cpu power for hl2. however, your ram is probably a bigger bottleneck right now, as someone already mentioned. i'd recommend you buy some Corsair Value ram, you can buy 512mb of pc3200 for £52 and 1gb for £100. for graphics, onboard solutions are never good and i'd upgrade to maybe a geforce 4 ti if you can find one, or a 9600/9550, some of which can be found HERE
just remember, if you're going to buy a 9550, make sure it says 128-bit memory interface, those are the good versions.

 

[baron insig]

dont you mean 256 bit ??

 

[WaryWolf]

i don't think any low-end cards are manufactured with 256bit memory interface, cause they wouldn't use the bandwidth. however you're right, 256bit is better than 128bit if you have the choice

 

[VirusType2]

CeleronD plays D3 and HL2 quite well...

You have 2 options:
1) Build a super fast computer where you can turn every graphic effect all the way up on any game and the games run like liquid. You will have an experience that you have always dreamed about and your smile muscles will hurt. or...
2) Use the computer you have now, and buy the best graphics card you can find and you will have something like an Xbox but with super sharp picture, much higher resolution, and fantastic textures. Later -or now if you can afford the card and RAM now- you can upgrade the RAM which makes a big difference in the amount of special effects options you can turn up, and also the resolution you can run the game in.
I picked option 2 for now and Im very pleased but of course I want more more more.
-The Celeron is not the best CPU for games, its the worst, however the experience is much better than Consoles like PS2. You may puke when u look back at the graphics, because a PC is so much better.
-I would buy the graphics card for now, hell, you've got a modern computer, then u can put the graphics card in your new computer that u will buy one day.
One thing to note, like me, you probably dont have an AGP slot so you will be forced to get PCI graphics card, So if you dont know, unplug computer, open it, look inside for brown slot(AGP) that should be located near the white slots(PCI) while you are at it, look and see if you have a slot for an additional memory module. -Carefull not to give anything static shock by occasionaly touching the power supply case.
--Does anyone know what is the best card or best bang for buck card to recommend this guy? While I like the performance of my card, and it was the best PCI card I could find, I have a crucial texture problem that makes my textures crap out every 15-20 minutes on several new games, and I have to change the video settings to get the textures to re-load and fix themselves. I posted a thread in the Technical Issues section if anyone can help, Ill be forever grateful.
--By the way.
1.) Go into BIOS (Hold or tap F2 when you turn on your computer) set the graphics to PCI.
2.) Press start/control panel/system/hardware/device manager/extreme 3D -disable- to turn off the internal graphics feature.
3.) power off your computer and install your new graphics card
4.) boot up your computer, press CANCEL when windows tries to install a driver for your new graphics card
5.) put in the CD that came with your graphics card, install the drivers.
6.) go into device manager again and uninstall the video drivers that windows Xp installed(should be yellow question marks) even though you said cancel.
Then reboot and enjoy.
]]Medal of Honor Allied Assault with Ultimate Mod Pack is the best game ever. You absolutely have to pick it up & the double expansion pack after you get your video card. and download that mod.[[
___________________
2.67 Ghz Celeron D
256MB ATI Radeon 9250
2@512MB 333mhz RAM
___________________

 

[Parry]

cheers for all your replys, i think i'll go with VirusType2's advice, well some of it at least,