Game warpy and freezes?

[Ironblade]

Ok
During game in formation im warpy, during dive bomb or heavy plane area   I freeze and randomly computer locks up with scrambled screen where I have to reboot..
using onboard video and sound ,my video is nividia 6150 using nividia drivers should I switch to omega drivers and should I put my old sound blaster card back in for audio? and memory low only 540meg ddr but plan on getting 2k put in ,amd 64 3500+ cpu windows XP up to date, Cable modem high speed internet.Any help appricated been out for awhile and learning curb bad enough without this also using End it all to shutdown un needed programs.

[1701E]

My Pc (specs below) came with a 6100 (same as 6150 mostly), and i can tell you now unless you have the setting all the way down it will freeze quite a bit.  Also the 540mb of RAM is on the lowest of the requirements for AH.  As for the audio whatever card you use should be fine.

[Ironblade]

Ok Thanks getting more mem this week, also I have a PCI exp slot on mother board for expansion I have an Emachine C6537 . If I add a Nividia 8 series pci exp card will it also use mother board video capability or just that of the added card?
Thanks again...

[1701E]

The computer will only use the new video card...only SLI uses two cards at once.  Also from what i can tell about that model it has a 2GB RAM max (PC3200 DDR SDRAM DIMMs. Supports Dual Channel DDR) so remember that also.

[The Fugitive]

Ok Thanks getting more mem this week, also I have a PCI exp slot on mother board for expansion I have an Emachine C6537 . If I add a Nividia 8 series pci exp card will it also use mother board video capability or just that of the added card?
Thanks again...

I'm pretty sure its one or the other. Even a cheap PCI exp card is going to be MUCH better than an on board video. On board video also hits your ram. So adding Ram, and a half decent PCI exp card should get you moving right along.

[doc1kelley]

Ok Thanks getting more mem this week, also I have a PCI exp slot on mother board for expansion I have an Emachine C6537 . If I add a Nividia 8 series pci exp card will it also use mother board video capability or just that of the added card?
Thanks again...

You will have to select the PEG slot under video in your bios to disable the onboard video piece of crap.  PEG is PCI Express.

Hope this helps...

    Jay
 awDoc1

[Ironblade]

Salute All
Ive ordered this Card:P450-8650 :: XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX Video Card - 256MB DDR3, PCI Express, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, Video Card (1.2 lbs) . So do i go into bios and select peg before i hook up card or after?
Thanks again !!

[1701E]

Salute All
Ive ordered this Card:P450-8650 :: XFX GeForce 8600 GT XXX Video Card - 256MB DDR3, PCI Express, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV, Video Card (1.2 lbs) . So do i go into bios and select peg before i hook up card or after?
Thanks again !!

With almost all PCs the on-board video card is disabled automatically. All that should be required is put the card in and install any software it came with and update the driver.  Also going with what you put it seems to only have DVI monitor hook-ups and no VGA, most new ones only have DVI.  Unless you have a DVI connection on your monitor you will need a DVI-Male to VGA-Female adapter, If you have a PC store or Radioshack locally they sell them for about $15.

[Ironblade]

Salute All
Ok thanks for advice and I have a few of the dvi adapters laying aroung from my ATI radieon card from old computer

[Skuzzy]

There is also a good chance you will have to upgrade the power supply.  E-machines have historically not come with the most robust power supplies.

[1701E]

Oh yea I forgot about that part Skuzzy.

Yes E-Machines almost all come stock with a 300-watt Power Supply Unit (PSU) with 12-16A on the 12V rail and no PCI-E power cord.
While these cords can be ordered if one is needed it's better to get a PSU that has it built in, If your PSU can by some chance handle the 8600, which i doubt, you will need a 2 4-pin Molex to 6-pin PCI-E adapter.  These cords price around $5. 

Now assuming you have that stock PSU, Yes you must upgrade; The 8600 requires a minimum of 350 Watt with 22A on the 12V rail.  When you get a new PSU be sure you check the 12V rail, as I didn't and spent $30 on one that wasn't good enough.

[Halo46]

With almost all PCs the on-board video card is disabled automatically. All that should be required is put the card in and install any software it came with and update the driver.  Also going with what you put it seems to only have DVI monitor hook-ups and no VGA, most new ones only have DVI.  Unless you have a DVI connection on your monitor you will need a DVI-Male to VGA-Female adapter, If you have a PC store or Radioshack locally they sell them for about $15.

I bought a Geforce 8600 gts card and it came with the DVI-Male to VGA-Female adapters, yours might as well, check trhe box first to save a couple dollars. Good luck.

[Ironblade]

Ive Got a 350w atx power supply in my old computer which i ran an ati radieon 9800 on maybe that will work?
Emachine says its upgradable to pci express card youd thing theyd have stuff for it already but ill check ..Thanks again guys..salute

[1701E]

A 350 Watt is enough if it has 22A on the 12V rail.  The ATI 9800 requires less power than the GeForce 8600. Also Emachines says it is upgradeable to PIC-E, because there is a PCI-E slot.  Not all cards need that much power, so the PSU can handle it, thus it is upgradeable to PCI-E.
Also since it needs 350 Watts try and get one that has 450+ watts, if your current one isn't enough.  I say 450+ because you also have other parts that need power (ex. Motherboard, CD-Rom, HDD).
EDIT: Your computer should run the 8600 with your PSU but it will be at limited power and will strain other parts.  It is a bad idea to run it for more than a few days like that.  If the PC fails to start you will know the PSU is insufficient.

[Ironblade]

Salute All
Ok got my order in - will have to get another PSU for video card installed memory 2gigs of PNY 2x1gb pc3200 400mhz in windows xp control panel system only shows 1.87gb is this normal? also for those of you with Emachines I hit f2 to go to my bios but it just says detectin array and never goes in?
thanks all