Upgrading the rig.....

2007-12-05 08:47:30

#1

Bjenkins_X_123: Member; +11|6527|London, UK

Righto, first post on here for yonks, here goes.....

It's Xmas, so I'll have money, and it's gonna go towards upgrading the system Hooray!

I'm not sure how to find out what RAM my machine has though, being n00b at hardware. Is there any way of using benchmarking software or something like that to find out what sort of RAM I'm using. I mean along the lines of, I don't know if it's DDR DIMM, DDR2 SODIMM etc...

Also, I'm looking to add an AGEIA Physx and a 768MB Graphics card. Is it possible to add both of them to run alongside my current NVIDIA GeForce 6800?

Your help is appreciated

2007-12-05 08:53:31

#2

Funky_Finny: Banned; +456|6164|Carnoustie, Scotland

For finding out what type of RAM you have, pop a stick out (Whilst computer is off, of course ) And have a look on the label, it should say it there.

2007-12-05 08:54:59

#3

RDMC: Enemy Wheelbarrow Spotted..!!; +736|6597|Area 51

Funky_Finny wrote:
For finding out what type of RAM you have, pop a stick out (Whilst computer is off, of course ) And have a look on the label, it should say it there.

Dunno bout the Agea Physics Card
2. No, you can't run a different card along side a 6800GT.

2007-12-05 08:58:39

#4

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6599|NYC / Hamburg

download CPU-Z. It will tell you what ram you have. A physics card is next to useless. You can't run a different card alongside your 6800gt. If you have a pic-e system (cpu-z will tell you) you might want to upgrade to a 8800GT (and you might need a better PSU)

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2007-12-05 09:24:55

#5

Bjenkins_X_123: Member; +11|6527|London, UK

max wrote:
download CPU-Z. It will tell you what ram you have. A physics card is next to useless. You can't run a different card alongside your 6800gt. If you have a pic-e system (cpu-z will tell you) you might want to upgrade to a 8800GT (and you might need a better PSU)

Cheers man, that CPU-Z thing worked, all sorted. Is it then possible to add the RAM, or would you have to replace the sticks?

Shame to hear about the physics card being useless. Any reason why?

And thanks on the reccomendation on 8800GT, will look into it, and the PSU as well. Is it possible to dual run two 8800GT's, or is that not recommended?

+1 karma for YOU!

Last edited by Bjenkins_X_123 (2007-12-05 09:29:50)

2007-12-05 09:37:39

#6

bennisboy: Member; +829|6678|Poundland

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:
max wrote:
download CPU-Z. It will tell you what ram you have. A physics card is next to useless. You can't run a different card alongside your 6800gt. If you have a pic-e system (cpu-z will tell you) you might want to upgrade to a 8800GT (and you might need a better PSU)
Cheers man, that CPU-Z thing worked, all sorted. Is it then possible to add the RAM, or would you have to replace the sticks?

Shame to hear about the physics card being useless. Any reason why?

And thanks on the reccomendation on 8800GT, will look into it, and the PSU as well. Is it possible to dual run two 8800GT's, or is that not recommended?

+1 karma for YOU!

Yeah ver much possible and may as well lose the 6800

2007-12-05 10:35:43

#7

max: Vela Incident; +1,652|6599|NYC / Hamburg

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:
max wrote:
download CPU-Z. It will tell you what ram you have. A physics card is next to useless. You can't run a different card alongside your 6800gt. If you have a pic-e system (cpu-z will tell you) you might want to upgrade to a 8800GT (and you might need a better PSU)
Cheers man, that CPU-Z thing worked, all sorted. Is it then possible to add the RAM, or would you have to replace the sticks?

depends on your current ram configuration as well as the number of ram slots in your motherboard (just open her up and check). You should only run with an even number of identical sticks.

Shame to hear about the physics card being useless. Any reason why?

it doesn't really add anything to games. It just increases the amount of particles that are created when something explodes (at the cost of FPS). It doesn't create more realistic or better physics in games

And thanks on the reccomendation on 8800GT, will look into it, and the PSU as well. Is it possible to dual run two 8800GT's, or is that not recommended?

if you can afford it, by all means do so. You will need a SLI-enabled motherboard though (CPU-Z can again tell which one you have). However if you are willing to spend so much it might make sense to get a new CPU & motherboard. Basically you would have a new PC while carrying over HDs/DVD/case/...

+1 karma for YOU!

<3

_{once upon a midnight dreary, while i pron surfed, weak and weary, over many a strange and spurious site of ' hot xxx galore'. While i clicked my fav'rite bookmark, suddenly there came a warning, and my heart was filled with mourning, mourning for my dear amour, " 'Tis not possible!", i muttered, " give me back my free hardcore!"..... quoth the server, 404.}

2007-12-05 11:09:33

#8

aimless: Member; +166|6156|Texas

The Ageia physics processor is supposed to process all the physics in a game much like how a video card processes all the video in a game. However, barely any games will benefit from this. Wait a few more years.

2007-12-05 11:42:00

#9

heggs: Spamalamadingdong; +581|6420|New York

I wouldn't bother with the Ageia physics card at all, even in a few years. The way things are going, video cards in a couple years should be plenty powerful to deal with any of that, if it should somehow fall on the video card at all. The physics calculations most are more dependent on the cpu than anything else.

Remember Me As A Time Of Day

2007-12-05 13:12:08

#10

Bjenkins_X_123: Member; +11|6527|London, UK

When put like that....ok, I won't go for the physics card thanks guys

2007-12-07 08:16:00

#11

Bjenkins_X_123: Member; +11|6527|London, UK

Ok, got the RAM, 2 sticks of 2GB for £60, SORTED. However, while the setup menu at startup recognises, the 'My Computer' properties window doesn't acknowledge its full existance, it says there is 'only' 3.25GB RAM there. Is there anything I need to do for it to recognise that it has 5GB of RAM, and not 3.25?

2007-12-07 08:21:01

#12

aimless: Member; +166|6156|Texas

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:
Ok, got the RAM, 2 sticks of 2GB for £60, SORTED. However, while the setup menu at startup recognises, the 'My Computer' properties window doesn't acknowledge its full existance, it says there is 'only' 3.25GB RAM there. Is there anything I need to do for it to recognise that it has 5GB of RAM, and not 3.25?

Are you running XP 32-bit edition? XP x32 isn't able to use all the memory available. I don't really know much else about this, maybe someone else can clear it up.

2007-12-07 08:24:07

#13

Bjenkins_X_123: Member; +11|6527|London, UK

no idea how to find that out, best I can do is Windows XP Home Edition, '02 version, SP2

2007-12-07 08:33:20

#14

aimless: Member; +166|6156|Texas

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:
no idea how to find that out, best I can do is Windows XP Home Edition, '02 version, SP2

Right-click on My Computer > Properties, it should say there. That is probably the 32-bit version. I think your memory will work in all your games though. If you want you can try and upgrade to XP Pro 64-bit.

2007-12-07 08:36:51

#15

Agent_Dung_Bomb: Member; +302|6768|Salt Lake City

The 32-bit version of XP will recognize around 3.17GB of a 4GB system; this assumes a video card with 512MB RAM. If your video card has more Windows will see less, and vice versa.

2007-12-07 08:41:14

#16

Bjenkins_X_123: Member; +11|6527|London, UK

Will the additional memory still be used? Or is it dead weight?

2007-12-07 09:08:46

#17

Agent_Dung_Bomb: Member; +302|6768|Salt Lake City

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:
Will the additional memory still be used? Or is it dead weight?

Not for applications. The problem is that what Windows can't access for applications are address spaces being used by system hardware for the mapping of those components. All your video card memory is mapped, and that is why video cards with larger amounts of RAM or SLI/Crossfire system see less than single card solutions. Also, all that hardware on your motherboard and everything else has to be mapped.

To reduce the impact of this you can go into the BIOS and disabled items you don't use. Turn off any shadow mapping of motherboard and video BIOS options. If you don't need the parallel port, serial ports, or any of that older legacy crap, disable it.

2007-12-10 08:31:28

#18

Bjenkins_X_123: Member; +11|6527|London, UK

Agent_Dung_Bomb wrote:
Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:
Will the additional memory still be used? Or is it dead weight?
Not for applications. The problem is that what Windows can't access for applications are address spaces being used by system hardware for the mapping of those components. All your video card memory is mapped, and that is why video cards with larger amounts of RAM or SLI/Crossfire system see less than single card solutions. Also, all that hardware on your motherboard and everything else has to be mapped.

To reduce the impact of this you can go into the BIOS and disabled items you don't use. Turn off any shadow mapping of motherboard and video BIOS options. If you don't need the parallel port, serial ports, or any of that older legacy crap, disable it.

Was that 'not for applications' answer to the first, or second bit?

And I'll have a fumble around in the BIOS, see what that does, thanks.

BF2S Forums Upgrading the rig.....

Funky_Finny wrote:

max wrote:

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:

max wrote:

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:

max wrote:

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:

Agent_Dung_Bomb wrote:

Bjenkins_X_123 wrote:

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