Type of memory needed?? 1

[EXccord]

Ok, im totally new to upgrading my computer, mainly this is how i use my computer:

Desktop PC: HP Pavilion 750n
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9600xt - 128mb

Use: Family computer, sometimes usual games here and there....

Now my question is, i only have 512mb of ram, when i play games like call of duty and battlefield vietnam, i usually get a bit of a screen delay here and there occasionally, and now i wanna upgrade my ddr sdram up to 1gb(2 512mb's). Why 2 512s you ask? well im not wanting to invest too much into memory, just enough to get me entertained ya know? Anyhow...how can i find out what kind of memory i need? Thats my main concern, because I overheard from talking to someone that you need to get everything matched up, and im afraid that I honestly dont know much about what needs to be matched up and everything, so please help!!

-Stephen

 

[Sival]

Best bet is simply go to one of the online configurators, perhaps at

http://www.crucial.com

or

http://www.kingston.com,

and follow the wizard to find out what you need. You can either purchase directly from them, or perhaps find the module you need elsewhere after you know the correct model number.

 

[paparazi]

EXccord
512mb is a reasonable chunk of memory and upgrading to a full gig will only give you a slight improvement in graphics performance.
You would be much better off spending your money on a better graphics card.
Something like a Radeon 9800pro or Nvidia FX5900XT.
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[rvnguy]

Exccord,

Ditto on response from Sival if you must increase your mem.

I agree 100% with paparazi in that the real bottle neck for the time being is the GPU (graphics processor) your delays are not for the want of cpu data lag but that of waiting for the graphics to be processed.
The HP's that I have worked on have the graphics on board and the ones that I have seen have a port of about 32k. These onboard graphics are fine for desktop tasks i.e. word processing, spread sheet, web surfing but lack the HorsePower for intense gaming.
I agree that you will have invested your $ wisely if you upgrade the Video card. Check to see if you have an AGP alot and if so get a card to that spec.

Game On

Jack

 

[paparazi]

EXccord
To add
Your machine is a little older so whatever you do will have a limited effect, as you were primarily talking about the graphics "in game" the single component that most effects graphics performance is the graphics card itself, as you already have 512mb ram fitted an extra 512 will have little impact to graphics performance, maybe 2 to 5% but upgrading your graphics card from your 9600XT to say a 9800Pro/XT will net you a 50 to 100% graphical performance increase.
Lets not get too carried away though, a system of this age has other limiting factors, CPU, memory and system chipset will all bottleneck graphics performance, so you will hit a wall! in terms of how much improvement you will see, thats why if you do change out your graphics card, don't be tempted to buy the very latest 6800/X800 series, they simply won't perform on your aging platform.
Martin

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[cdogg]

Stephen,
Upgrading the graphics card should not necessarily be your first choice or labeled as the best solution. It heavily depends on your specs.

First of all, HP's site says you have a 1.6GHz P4 CPU using an Intel 845 chipset. Here's the problem with that. First of all, the CPU's frontside bus (FSB) runs at 400MHz. But the fastest DDR SDRAM you can use in your system is only 266MHz (likely, you only have PC1600/200MHz in there at the moment). Because your CPU's FSB is running much faster than your memory bus, there's a huge bottleneck that you can do nothing about aside from changing out the motherboard. But going that route would easily lead to also selecting a better CPU and getting all new memory - so that might not be the answer you're looking for.

So here's what I would do first - upgrade the memory. Go here:

http://www.pricewatch.com/prc.aspx?i=33&a=2841&p=1&f=1

As you can see, a decent 512MB stick is only going to run you about $40. That's about 1/6 of what you would spend on a better video card. Only go with the Micron, Samsung, or Kingston brands that you see on that page.

If upgrading the RAM doesn't help much (and that's a possibility), then at that point you can decide whether it's better to upgrade the video card or hold out and get a faster system. You've already got an ATI Radeon 9600XT, which is probably already more than your system can handle. I just don't see how someone can justify spending $200+ for a faster video card which may only yield a 5-10% improvement due to other bottlenecks. But I guess it depends on the perspective and whether or not you are trying to squeeze every last drop out of this system.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[cdogg]

Forgot to mention that I was assuming you had Windows 2000 or XP. If you still have an older version of Windows, 512MB is as high as you want to go.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[faygo1974]

http://www.memoryx.net/hewpav751.html

That should help a little

 

[paparazi]

cdogg
Did a bit of googling and see generally about a 40 to 45% advantage with a 9800pro over a 9600XT but agree this all depends on how much that 845 chipset 400fsb P4 and PC2100DDR are going to hold back the faster Radeon.
Admitedly my initial guesstimate was a little high but I would have thought around 30% improvement would be realistic on this older platform with the 9800pro.

Yes also agreed the 9600XT is a pretty good card and would (if it were intalled on a faster platform) be adequate for the games described.
With that said, maybe the most cost effective solution would be a motherboard swap to an 865PE socket 478, even with the same components (CPU, Ram) this would improve overall performance and give a much better upgrade path.

This idea is not as crazy as it sounds! a budget 865PE chipset motherboard is probably only $30-$40 more than the stick of ram you were initially going to buy but unlike the limited impact of the additional ram the replacement motherboard would yield far more of an overall benefit.
Martin

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[cdogg]

Well Martin, as we both know, this is your area of expertise! Guess I take the old-fashioned approach and start with the cheapest and work my way up. But sometimes, you end up spending more money that way instead of going straight for the heart of what makes the most difference - the GPU in this case.

At least we've thrown the ideas out on the table to make for a good decision...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[paparazi]

You know my style, I will argue both sides and not necessarily agree with either all for the purpose of airing diferant ideas.
And anyway, your the man!
Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[Tony57]

Are these "multi-player over the internet" games? THe lag could be caused by something outside your control, such as game servers. See if it does the same thing in "single player" mode. Are there other computers on your network at home, could be one of them is using a lot of bandwidth (file sharing perhaps?).