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Thread ID: 41523 2004-01-14 00:23:00 is it worth upgrading? michael y (1623) Press F1
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207206 2004-01-14 00:23:00 Hi guys,
I'm sort of thinking about upgrading the computer (hp pavilion 8802) but I'm not totally sure if i should or not . I usually use the computer to surf the net and send emails, wordprocessing etc I don't really play games that much . But when I play games, I find it very frustrating when it takes a very long time to load and lag during game play . Is this because I don't have enough ram or is it because of the cpu?

At first I thought about adding in some ram but then after checking out the prices i found out that ddr is about the same price as sd-ram .

Would it be better if i changed the motherboard to one that supports ddr and get a new cpu with it? Would a budget cpu ie:duron 1 . 6 or 1 . 8 be fine for what I do? Also I think I got a 240v power supply, would that matter?

But is it worth changing all these stuff, or should i just try and tweak some settings and think about getting a new computer?

thx alot


Michael Y
michael y (1623)
207207 2004-01-14 00:31:00 well it would help if you listed your systems specs Megaman (344)
207208 2004-01-14 00:32:00 your games sped will be driven by the graphics card and CPU more than any other factor.

if you decide to get more than RAM then you will find your looking at a full new system.

to change the CPU to anything much faster you will need a new motherboard and RAM and Video card, this will need a bigger power supply, a new power supply is point at a new case......

and now we have listed most of a new system :-)

sell what you have and sink the $$ in to a new system.


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the above is just my thoughts and many other will offer other options.

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robsonde (120)
207209 2004-01-14 00:40:00 It really depends on what type of game you are wanting to play. If it just the older dos based or early win 95/98 games then more rams would probably help quite a bit. If however they are newer games that require higher perfomance graphics cards ect then I guess you have to replace the boards, cpu ram and case and PSU and quite possibly the graphics card as well.

Basically the newer the game the more upto date you're going to have to make your system. There are plenty of cheap but good perforing motherboards, cpu and graphics cards out there and you could probably do and upgrade to around the $500 mark depending on what you go for. The most expensive item is likly to be the graphics card, unless you go for one of the top of the line motherboards.

Post some system specs and a list of the games you want to play and the others here will be able to suggest better ideas or tell you which items should be upgraded.
Odin (227)
207210 2004-01-14 00:49:00 Is this it? (h20015.www2.hp.com) godfather (25)
207211 2004-01-14 00:55:00 This is from the hp website:

Model number

P3039A
Base processor and speed

900 MHz AMD Duron Processor
Chipset

Via KM133
Memory

Component

Attributes

RAM (standard)

128 MB SDRAM standard

Maximum

1 GB (2 x 512 MB DIMM)

Speed

100 MHz synchronous

Sockets

Two 168-pin DIMMs

Size

32, 64, 128, and 256 MB DIMMs

Free DIMM Sockets

One

Pairs Required

No

Type Supported

SDRAM, 100 MHz, Intel PC SDRAM unbuffered DIMM specification, revision 1.0 compliant
Cache

Level

Quantity

Level 1

128 KB Integrated on Processor module

Level 2

64 KB Integrated on Processor module
Hard drive

20 GB
Diskette drive

1.44 MB (3.5-inch form factor)
CD-ROM drive

48x maximum speed

Attribute

Properties

Access Speed

75ms

Transfer Rate

7.2 MB/sec
Fax and data modem

V.90 56Kbps

Attribute

Properties

Fax speed

Up to 14.4 Kbps

Data compression

V.42 bis

Error correction

V.42

EIA fax commands

Class 1
Video Graphics

Attribute

Properties

Video graphics

AGP 4X Graphics

Controller

Via KM133 integrated S3 Savage 4

Video memory

UMA - 8MB

Feature connector
(game/joystick)

Yes
Network Card

10/100 BaseT, integrated
MPEG-1/2

MPEG-1 for full-screen, full-motion digital video
Sound

Integrated on Motherboard

Attribute

Properties

Codec

Crystal CS4299

3D Sound Support

Direct Sound 3D, A3D 1.0

Microphone

With HP Pavilion Multimedia Display
External ports

Port Type

Quantity

Serial

2

USB

4

Parallel

1
Expansion slots (total)

Slot Type

Quantity

PCI

3

AGP

1
Expansion slots (free)

Slot Type

Quantity

PCI

2

AGP

1
Drive bays (total)

Bay Type

Quantity

5.25-inch, external

2

3.5-inch, external

1

3.5-inch, internal

2
Drive bays (free)

Bay Type

Quantity

5.25-inch, external

1

3.5-inch, internal

1

Also I added in a geforce2 mx400 64mb

Games I would like to play are flight simulator 2004, combat simulator 2004, C&C Generals with expansion, Nfs underground.
michael y (1623)
207212 2004-01-14 00:59:00 personally i would add another 512mb of ram, and find a more grunty agp 4x card. also later on in life, you could add a cd writer/dvd rom combo drive Megaman (344)
207213 2004-01-14 01:00:00 yup thats it michael y (1623)
207214 2004-01-14 01:03:00 oh yeah, forgot to mention. I added in a asus cd-rw 48x24x52. And I already got a dvd player in the living room so find it useless to add into computer. But am thinking a dvd-rw, once when prices fall a bit more. michael y (1623)
207215 2004-01-14 01:12:00 also aim for getting a new hard drive, 20gb isnt enough

plus if you add 512 mb ram upgrade to windows 2k or xp, or take out the 128 module. 9.x and me wont boot up with more than 512mb
Megaman (344)
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