help for the simple minded please!

[Chavster]

morning
i thought id give my computer a bit of a treat and give it a minor upgrade. being a bit of an old timer in the computer world, and having done the graphics card a year or so ago i thought the cpu and ram could do with a kick up the backside. being born in the last century though a bit of help is needed *bats eyelids*
the last (only) time i put some ram in someone gave it to me, so looking about for some, its a wonderful world of acronyms that dont mean too much to me. i know how to stick the suckers in but im unsure about whats the best type, and if everything would work with my computer. ive been told 3-4gb is good for running wow and porn in the background?
cpus seem even more confusing for similar reasons to ram. looking on ebay stuff for about £40-50 seems to be a faster ghz, but my knowledge ends there.
if any kindly person can give a bit of basic advice about what i need to look out for (nothing too technical please), that would be cool. i dont wanna take over the world with my pc, and budget about £100ish (115ish euros).
thanks in advance!

[Rotheus]

well Chav 3-4 gb yeah is more than enough to run wow and PORN xD in the background as for the CPU, my crappy laptop for example has a 1.6 GHZ dual core which runs WoW preety smoothly, the graphics card is the one that drags me down, but i guess that's not your issue :p

As for the RAM, i`m pretty sure you if your computer ain't older than 4 years or so You`ll be needing DDR2 / DDR3 the latter would only benefit you in the future and since it's considerably more expensive i would suggest getting DDR2.

I`m thinking 2 x 2 GB modules would be best if your using Vista other wise 1 x 2gb + 1 x 1gb for normal 32bit Windows XP :p people might say it's worth getting 2 identical sized modules so the RAM works in Dual-Channel ( wikipedia this since i`m sucky at explaining ) but i don't think the performance gain is significant in this case.

So thats just my two cents hope it helps !

Roth slacker Boy - M.I.A. since November 2008

[Quage]

Duder!

Take a look at novotech (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/bundles.html)

They do some great motherboard deals with CPU and memory pre-installed and factory tested starting at £90!

I went this route for Seresh just before Christmas and now she's even looking at porn! (although I'm not sure how much she likes it)

[Rowain]

Agreed with Rotheus. Wow has really low requirements compared to "modern" games. 2Gb+ is more than enough even if you use Vista and browse/download porn in the backgroup. But since it is dirt cheap these days, just slap in 2x2 Gb modules and you are good for a long time. More than 4Gb is not recommended if you have a 32 bit OS. DDR2 modules are fine.

As for CPU, again: any modern thingie is fine. I'd recommend Intel Core2 CPU of the dual-core variation. Quad cores are significantly more expensive, produce more heat, consumer more energy, require bigger coolers (=noisier) with no practical advantages, unless you want to use it for some very specifialized tasks. Well, the downside is that you cant brag with dual-cores
To be more specific, Intel Core2Duo 8400 - 8500 processors are great and not too expensive (around 130 euros).
But again: Wow runs fine with any semi-modern CPU, but if you upgrade, you might just as well select a good one.

When people experience client-side performance problems it is usually because of either prehistoric CPU/Ram configurations, or (in the majority of cases) old and/or non-gamer vidcards. Wow does not require alot in this regard either, but alot of people run (or try to run) it using strictly non-gamer vidcards or motherboard integrated solutions. A hint: contrary to popular belief, the amount of RAM of a vidcard tells very little of its performance. If you consider upgrading, I can look around and select a few nice options.

[Vendettah]

AMD is releasing its new Phenom II's for the AM3 platform soon, at the same time when the actual AM3 platform is launched. Since the AMD's seem to perform well, it is 90% sure Intel will come with pricecuts, early predictions go from 15% yo 40%, differs between processor.

That said, we can expect new i7 processors aswell from Intel a few weeks later, so basically AMD and Intel are going into battle with their new platforms, their old platforms will become low-end where they are mid-end (or some even high-end) and will be priced as such.

Moral of the story: I advise you to wait a few weeks to a month to see what the market does and step in at the right time. It could really save you quite some money (example, the Intel Core Q9550, currently priced around 520 dollars, is expected to be priced around 360 dollars soon, given it performs around the same as the low-end AM2+ Phenom II from AMD, which is priced around that region).

My question! Could you give a list of your computer components? (most importantly: CPU, motherboard, memory, videocard(s)) I can give you a good price for value upgrade without creating a bottleneck if you like.

(from the novotech link: Motherboard Bundle - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 2Gb DDR2 RAM Intel P45 ATX Motherboard that is a very good combi. E8400 is great with price/value, the P45 offers so many features at a low price, its amazing (unless you want SLI ^^), 2 Gb RAM should be enough and its no costs to buy another 2).

[Solicia]

Well since every one is talking about CPU's and RAM let's start with the basics.
The Motherboard.
Before you buy CPU and new RAM you need to know what kind of Motherboard you got.
And how much your motherboard can have.
If you just go out and buy a CPU and RAM then chances are high that they won't match your motherboard, and that would be a waist of money.
What you need to know before you buy new RAM and a new CPU is, the kind of socket you got, and how much DDR you have.

How do you know what kind of socket you have, and what kind of stats you should be looking at?
The answer to this is you got to know the type of Motherboard you have.
How do you spot this.
Look for a brand on your motherboard (Don't look on the black thing *chips*) just a open area on your motherboard.
Ones you found this you will also see the type of your motherboard.

Now you know the type of your motherboard and the manufacturer.
Next step is to go the the website of the manufacturer. (Just type in the brand name in Google if you don't know the web page of the manufacturer)
Ones you are there you go to Downloads and supports.
Then you should be able to type in the model of your Motherboard. Should look something like this http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Manual_List.aspx
Ones you done that you should get a overview of your motherboard.
Next step is to go to specifications. which will look like this http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2819&ProductName=GA-M750SLI-DS4
Now this may be a bit confusing so what to look at in this page.
Well you see CPU and right after it the first line you see the socket type, which is all you need to know the other 5 lines is just some explanation for system tweakers.
Support for Socket AM2+/ AM2 processors (This line)

Next is memory.
Which in this case shows 3 options.
Thing is you need to look at the memory you currently have.
This you can find on your current RAM it's near brand.
If your current Memory is 667 MHz, then i suggest you look at something with that clock-speed.
You can look at more memory on it but keep the same clock-speed.

If you are not sure about this you can just write down the brand and type of your motherboard here.
Els i can't give you any advice on what CPU or memory you should be looking for.
And it would be a waist of money to get something that doesn't work with your motherboard.

[Selassie]

Go for a Core2QuadDuoCoreCoreDualDodecahedron2C O R E, they are imba! I use one, and I have over 9000 FPS if Malygos comes to Dalaran and does a Vortex!
/Sini

[Rotheus]

I went this route for Seresh just before Christmas and now she's even looking at porn! (although I'm not sure how much she likes it)

now while just quoting Sini for the /lol would have been amusing i found this a hell of alot more interesting xD

[Chavster]

thanks for the replys, i think i understand most of it.
i had a word with one of the computer people at work and hes going to steal 4gb ram for me, so that should be sorted soon.
dunno about a cpu though, my system is (from what i can work out)
2.2ghz amd athlon 64 brain
ati radeon x1600 pro 512mb video thing
motherboard is a jetway something something (i dont know where to look to find this out)
any suggestions would be awesome - i only use my computer for porn, wow and facebook at vital times during raids. i dont want to spend a huge amount of money as im going to australia later this year and will be getting rid of it at some point.


what kind of porn is she watching?

[Quage]

what kind of porn is she watching?

Ah, I know this one because unlike me who minimises my porn windows as soon as she walks in, she unashamedly carries on watching the girl-on-girl action....

[Kurgol]

Memory:

If you do not know anything about your system you could try the crucial scanner (or the mac scanner). It's a tiny program you can download that will tell you exactly what memory your system needs.

Crucial do not make the fastest memory in the world, but they come with a lifetime warranty and free delivery in the uk.

Hope that helps a little

NB take a look at the attached screenshot - if the crucial scanner can't tell you exactly post up the same page as this and we can probably figure out what cpu's / memory you would need for your system.

[Rotheus]

... she unashamedly carries on watching the girl-on-girl action....

that made  my day... xD

[Vendettah]

Back on the subject, I suspect since you are saying its a bit old, that your Athlon 64 is not one of the AM2 versions, but its worth checking the chipset out of your mobo, might not need replacement.

[Blazul]

I say we just dump the hardware idea of this topic and continue the debate of saresh and girl on girl action rather.

[Chavster]

i agree with blaz now, more discussion is needed about porn.

slightly off topic i got bored at work and brought a new pc which may have been a bit silly.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120367364549&ssPageName=ADME:B:BCA:GB:1123
dunno if its expensive or not - but it be blue!