Could use some help from you gentlemen

[Heretic]

Gents,
I realize I should probably post this thread under hardware and software. This area gets more traffic so I figured I would get more help here.  Please forgive if I did the wrong thing.
Little history first.  I'm a Bishop.  Member of the 54th Screaming Eagles. Been playing the game now I think since MArch or April.

Ok, I have to upgrade my computer so I can play AH2. I have now the following system.
Hewlett Packard 51 4N
256MB Ram
Integrated Intel Vid Card 64MB
Celeron processor  2.2 GB

I was looking at 256MB vid cards (PCI) I don't have a AGP slot I don't think.    Which would be a good card to buy.    I found  at Comp USA a Xtasy 9200 256mb vid card  PCI. Price is 129.99.  Is this a good card for my system?     I would also like to upgrade my RAM.   Would 384mb RAM be a good choice to upgrade to or do you suggest more?   I realize more is always better but the wife ack is lethal and is always on target.   She's already PO'd that I pay $15 a month to play now that I have to upgrade she is landing more hits on me than before.       Thanks for any and all help.
Joe

What type of memory module do I need for my system?   I can't figure out what I need.  I have no idea on how to check this so I really need the help.   Thank you.

[DipStick]

A 128mb video card (that supports T&L) is all you need and another 256mb of ram would help I'm sure.

PS... But I'm no expert so get more opinions before making any decisions.

PSS... And learn to duck.

[airbumba]

Can't tell you about the rest, but I too am stuck with pci slots and looked into cards. It seems that I couldn't find any that support DX9, and AH2 needs that to run, so i gave up on the 'quick fix', i'll be getting a new machine sometime in the future. Hopefully 'near future', we'll see how the AH jonesing goes.

good luck.

[MOIL]

Heya gunner
First off you need to determine if you do indeed have OR don't have an AGP slot.
2. If you have to get a PCI vid card the 128MB FX5200 is your best bet. I sell them for $124 in my store unfortunately there just not a big seller.
3. Upgrade to either 512MB of system memory or 1GB, the 256 + 128 is a waste.
4. Don't buy a 256MB vid card {especially a PCI one} waste of $$$, you'll never come close to using it.
5. On your memory upgrade be careful what you buy, HP's Compaq's and some Gateways are very picky on what memory you put in them.

Hope this helps.

[airbumba]

Moil, does the fx5200 support DX9?

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by airbumba
Moil, does the fx5200 support DX9?

Yes it does, Actually I beleive it comes with DX9 right on the driver disk.
here is what I found at CompUSA. in a 256 meg card

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=308486&pfp=cat3

and here is a 128 card. BOTH support DX9

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=305452&pfp=cat3

But get the drivers themselves off the Nvidia site so you have the latest drivers

[LTARcsp]

My system has a PCI slot to , I got a G Force4 Mx 4000(64MB DDR)PCI card and it works great..     Went from below 26 fps to over 59 fps....and it works just as good in AHII    

[jetb123]

What is T&L??

[Nilsen]

Originally posted by jetb123
What is T&L??

"transformation and lighting"

[beet1e]

Gunner, need to know more about your setup.

Download Belarc Advisor: http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Install and run it - only takes a few secs. It analyses your PC and produces a report in web/html format. You could save this as a web archive .MHT file, and post the file here for all to see. Then we'd KNOW what motherboard you have, and whether it has AGP, instead of having to guess the answers.

Sounds like you bought a boxed system, and are now having to upgrade bits of it piece by piece.

[Angus]

Make sure you can have DX9, and on that processor, a 128 card is enough, - 256 is surely better though
I can run AH2 on 800 mhz and a 64 meg card actually

[Kanth]

AGP is the little brown slot that sits by itself.

Originally posted by SEgunner
I don't have a AGP slot I don't think.  

[Rolex]

Joe: The greatest potential (read: costly) pitfall to upgrading a system comes from having no experience or background to do it yourself. I sincerely recommend that you find someone, or a business who can provide you with some options to choose from and do the upgrade if you decide to have it done.

I only say this because if you're unsure where to start this, I don't think you will be able to successfully complete the upgrade you wish to do by yourself.

There are so many undocumented hardware/BIOS compatibility problems that you may ultimately spend more money trying to fix your system than if you bought a new system.

And be very careful of the free advice here...

For example, AH2 doesn't use much video card memory and a 256MB video card is not necessarily better than a 128MB card. The speed of the card is related to the memory quality and not the memory capacity. If you're only hauling enough to fill 1/3 of a pick-up truck, a tractor trailer won't haul it better or faster. But, it will cost you more money.

[acetnt367th]

SE Gunner,

Go to HP tech website. Try to find the motherboard specifications for the model that you have. If not get the motherboard model then go to the manufacturor website and get the specs.

If all fails - shut down the pc, unplug it and open it up. If you see a "smaller" brown slot usually directly above the "larger" PCI slots, then you're in luck because you have AGP. If not, then you have PCI.

Hope this helps in some way

Acetnt

[acetnt367th]

Find your model number here

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?product=391284&lang=en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=bph07555


Type in and search for model specs here :

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html

You will have the motherboard specs on this page and it will answer all your upgrade questions.


If you can at least post your model number maybe I can help further


Acetnt