So, my computer sucks.

[Huero]

It can't even run Halo; specs are on the little computer icon thing. I just want to figure out what's wrong with it. I have no fucking clue what I'm doing hardware-wise, so yeah. So far, I've figured out two things;
A. It's a GATEWAY.
B. It has a shitty graphics card.

I want to play steam games and such, so yeah.

[Syuusuke]

Hey you figured it out!

But a 6100 should be able to play Halo, maybe not at highest settings?

A few steam games could be played on the 6100, don't know which ones.

[Mr Buckshot]

The 6100 can run Halo at 800x600 on highest with 30 fps, but that's only the stock Halo PC game (custom CE maps are guaranteed to be slower).

The Source engine is very well optimized and the 6100 can play them with performance around that of an old DX8.1 card - not great but not bad.

Run H2V - if you use the XP wowloader hack, you can probably hit 30 fps fairly often. On Vista, you'll run into single digit framerates in intense firefights.

Run Crysis - I think the game will install and launch just fine. Good luck moving the character, though.

Everything else is good, especially the processor (best part of your computer). Your hard drive doesn't really count as a spec since different users have different needs. Just double the RAM, upgrade your video card (Geforce 6100 mobos definitely have PCI-express slots), and you're good to go.

About the Gateway brand - that doesn't make the specs suck. It just means that the reliability sucks.

[Huero]

I wasn't being serious about the gateway thing <_<
When I loaded up Halo, I played single player. I lagged. Oh BOY did I lag. I suppose it's my RAM. I'll reinstall Halo and see how it plays. Is there any way to check my FPS without a program that will lower it(FRAPS.)?

[Timo]

1GB of ram is a perfectly fine amount to play Halo PC. Hit F12 in-game to get a running FPS graph.

[Amit]

I wasn't being serious about the gateway thing <_<
When I loaded up Halo, I played single player. I lagged. Oh BOY did I lag. I suppose it's my RAM. I'll reinstall Halo and see how it plays. Is there any way to check my FPS without a program that will lower it(FRAPS.)?

1024MB of RAM is more than enough for just Halo. Upgrade to a GeForce 8600GT to compliment your sexy CPU.


Hit F12 in-game to get a running FPS graph.

I never knew that lol.

[0m3g4Muff1n987]

A 6100 isn't that shitty, why, my friend's 6800 256MB can run UT3 on low settings fine. But anyway, your specs look fine, idk why your computer can't run HALO 1. Lawl. Wait, do you mean H2Vista? You might lag some but not that much. :/

Yeah, I agree with Amit, get a 8600GT and you should run it perfectly.

[Sever]

No, a 6100 is shitty. the second digit, not the first, means the most.

[0m3g4Muff1n987]

I know. I thought he was talking about Halo 1.

[StankBacon]

1GB of ram is a perfectly fine amount to play Halo PC. Hit F12 in-game to get a running FPS graph.

isn't it ctrl + f12 ?

:)

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Also, If your looking for a cheap, but decent video card, you might want to get an 8400 512mb, 256mb onboard, It gets about 50-60fps on snow grove highest settings at 1280x1024 :)
It can run GOW at highest settings at 1024x756 decently, and can run crysis at medium/low settings at 1024x756 decently And it is quite reliable and cheap too!

[Mr Buckshot]

8400 512mb, 256mb onboard

Bullshit - that ain't good.

If it uses Turbocache, try to avoid. Turbocache is when PCI-e nvidia cards steal system RAM to complement the onboard RAM (this technology first appeared with the Geforce 6200 64 MB, which stole 192 MB of system RAM to become 256 MB).

Onboard dedicated VRAM > System RAM. By a lot.

Geforce 8600 GT is my recommendation.

[MNC]

Dude, your system's fine. Look at my specs, they're worse than yours. But it can even run Orange Box at 20-30fps.
Edit: Well, okay, by today's standards it sucks. Just like mine. But go to www.steampowered.com/nvidia1 (http://www.steampowered.com/nvidia1)
And download those. For free. see how they run.</beatles>

[someone]

Your computer doesn't suck at all. You just need a newer and a better graphics card, that's all. My computer could run Halo just fine when it still had 512 Mb ram and a 6100.

Here are the specs before the upgrade:

AMD Sempron 64 3000+ @ 1808 MHz S754
512 MB of RAM
ASRock K8NF4G-SATA2 motherboard
Integrated Geforce 6100
WD Caviar 200 GB HDD

And After:

AMD Sempron 64 3000+ @ 1808 MHz S754
1024 MB of RAM
ASRock K8NF4G-SATA2 motherboard
Asus EN8600 GT
WD Caviar 200 GB HDD

Well, it is shitty a bit, but it can run Crysis on min with about 25 FPS with FPS loss in some areas. And it runs other newer games on minimum fine.
I too recommend a 8600 GT for your upgrade.

[Mr Buckshot]

Your computer doesn't suck at all. You just need a newer and a better graphics card, that's all. My computer could run Halo just fine when it still had 512 Mb ram and a 6100.

Here are the specs before the upgrade:

AMD Sempron 64 3000+ @ 1808 MHz S754
512 MB of RAM
ASRock K8NF4G-SATA2 motherboard
Integrated Geforce 6100
WD Caviar 200 GB HDD

And After:

AMD Sempron 64 3000+ @ 1808 MHz S754
1024 MB of RAM
ASRock K8NF4G-SATA2 motherboard
Asus EN8600 GT
WD Caviar 200 GB HDD

Well, it is shitty a bit, but it can run Crysis on min with about 25 FPS with FPS loss in some areas. And it runs other newer games on minimum fine.
I too recommend a 8600 GT for your upgrade.

Your Sempron is seriously bottlenecking the video card.

[someone]

Yeah, I know. I'm already thinking of a serious upgrade or getting a new rig.

[Chronos]

I'm all fairness, Semprons were made for office use.
Semprons were not made for gaming.

But still Halo should run more then decent on your PC.
If not try using these command lines in your Halo PC shortcut.

If you don't get the desired framerate/gfx quality use a different command.

-useff
-use11
-use14
-use20

[Huero]

Okay; so I tested Halo out on Highest Settings, and Medium settings. There was virtually no difference. It fluctuated from 15-30 a lot.
So, basically, what I have to do:
-Get a new graphics card.
What I can do:
-Get more RAM.
Do I have that right?

[DrunkenSamus]

I have an Nvidia Geforce4 MX 4000. Which is a 4 series...and it can run Halo with the highest settings even though Specular and shadows can't be turned on because of crappy specs. So getting a 6100 would be a significant improvement in my case. Getting a 8600GT however....:rolleyes:

[Mr Buckshot]

Okay; so I tested Halo out on Highest Settings, and Medium settings. There was virtually no difference. It fluctuated from 15-30 a lot.
So, basically, what I have to do:
-Get a new graphics card.
What I can do:
-Get more RAM.
Do I have that right?

Perfect! Just make sure that you pick up an appropriate video card, not a low end one that offers little gain over the 6100. That means avoid the Radeon X1300, HD 2400, and X300. Also avoid the Geforce 6200, 7100/7200/7300, and 8300/8400. Well ok the 8400 is a passable performer but there are superior choices out there.


I have an Nvidia Geforce4 MX 4000. Which is a 4 series...and it can run Halo with the highest settings even though Specular and shadows can't be turned on because of crappy specs. So getting a 6100 would be a significant improvement in my case. Getting a 8600GT however....:rolleyes:

You mean the highest settings that the Geforce 4 MX is capable of rendering. Geforce 4 MX = Geforce 2 in disguise with the clock speeds of a Geforce 4 = DirectX 7 only = fixed function Halo. So yeah the 8600 GT will offer nearly infinitely superior performance.

[Huero]

I figure an 8600 would be alright;
but I wonder if my computer can handle any of the 8800s...

[Timo]

isn't it ctrl + f12 ?

:)

Damn, I'm so sure I put a ctrl infront of that. :|

[Huero]

So I'm surfing newegg for 8800s
And what I'm expecting is to see the "Nvidia GeForce 8800GTS"
Unstead I get this "ASUS" and "BFG Tech" shit, but it still says 8800GTS; and it's manufactured by Nvidia. What the hell? Somebody explain this to me >:

[JDMFSeanP]

I believe Nvidia just makes the chipset then those companies manufacture.

I honestly don't know and that was a complete guess.

[Mr Buckshot]

JDMF is right.

The technology that goes into the graphics card is still Nvidia's or ATI's technology. However, you'll rarely see the video cards coming from ATI or Nvidia themselves (except for laptop models).

Companies like BFG, ASUS, Powercolor, Sapphire, etc don't always manufacture the cards, but they can. However, they do tweak clock speeds (though not enough to be significant) and slap their own branding on the box and cooling fan.

For example, my video card is a Nvidia Geforce 8800 GT. It was distributed by eVGA, so it had its own packaging and the cooling fan had the eVGA logo on it. However, I still refer to the card as a Nvidia Geforce product, and not an eVGA product.


I figure an 8600 would be alright;
but I wonder if my computer can handle any of the 8800s...

It can, provided your power supply has sufficient wattage (if not, the video card will refuse to power on at all). Your processor will bottleneck the video card, but still provide adequate performance.

[Amit]

I figure an 8600 would be alright;
but I wonder if my computer can handle any of the 8800s...




It can, provided your power supply has sufficient wattage (if not, the video card will refuse to power on at all). Your processor will bottleneck the video card, but still provide adequate performance.

Aww, beat me to it. Your top priority, though, is to get the 1024MB of memory and at least an 8600GT. Pop open your case and look on the side of your PSU to find out how many amps are on the +12V rail and what the maximum output wattage is. Be advised, you may have more than one +12V rail, just add the numbers together and hope they're above 20A in total.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

isn't it ctrl + f12 ?

:)
Amen.