Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

Is adding memory to a PC hard? And where's a good place to buy it?

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

nope. you just gotta know what you have or what your computer can use. find the max amount of course.

places to buy newegg.com or if you dont like going online.

honestly best buy will have good prices once and a while in thier sale ad.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

Once again my ****ty PC has problems. Now it's resetting itself immediately after boot-up. I did a quick google search and couldn't find anything. Can anyone help me before I feel like smashing my pc? I'm on a different one right now. I haven't reformatted yet and got a power source change a couple months ago. I have no damn idea what's wrong. It's definitely not overheating, although I will vacuum behind my desk to clean up any dust and cat hair.

Also, I want to reformat but I can't change my primary boot drive to CDROM, it wont let me, any suggestions? Thanks to anyone who has advice.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

Have you checked in the Bios for the boot order? Almost every bios has a boot order in it where you can change it to cdrom, etc...

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

Ok, I'll look, but I'm more worried about the restting problem, heh.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

Will upgrading my PC from 256MB of memory to 512MB make my WarCraft 3 gaming experience better? And it will also make the computer performance in general faster?

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

YES. WC3 will run better and smoother, along with any other 3d games you have. And overall your computer should perform a little faster. If your on XP, upgrading to 512 is recommended as 256 is pretty bleh with it.

Although a video card upgrade helps, if you dont have enough ram, ram becomes the bottlekneck for the video card because the game has to keep accessing the hard drive more and more (virtual ram), thus degrading performance.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

Well, I start university in September, and I decided to buy a laptop based on my brother's and others' opinions. I see many ads about laptops in magazines, online and in the newspapers which have varying prices and various features. I was hoping that I could get some help here about what features I need for the present and the future.

A main thing that I need is a wireless connection... Like a wireless LAN port is it called? Intel Centrinos have it built in, and I am pretty sure Pentium M processors do too. I am majoring in Accounting, so I need a computer basically for spreadsheets and wordprocessing, but I will also use it for internet use, downloads, instant messengers and movies (both comedy and pornography, haha).

Here are a couple of computers that I am scouting out now (all prices are CAD).


Horizon 1800 M $1529.17
Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor - M 1.80 GHz
MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME
Notebook Memory 256MB DDR SODIMM
Notebook CY25 14" XGA BASE Unit
40GB 4200RPM 2.5" Notebook Hard Drive
24X Combo Drive For G731 Mode
Corel Productivity Software
*and I am pretty sure it comes with MSWorks Suite or something.... *

Visionbook Pro 6000 $1537.00
Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology Intel® Pentium® M Processor 1.30 GHz
MICROSOFT® WINDOWS® XP HOME
Notebook Memory 256MB DDR SODIMM
40GB 4200RPM 2.5" Notebook Hard Drive
Notebook CL50 14" XGA Base Unit
16X Combo Drive For G731 Model
Microsoft® Works Suite OEM
.NB System


This is from a place called MDG here in Canada. I have an MDG desktop here at the house, and it has been very good so far. So basically, I just need some opinions on whether or not these two systems are good, and any upgrades I could possibly need! Thanks in advance, and I'll check in with new finds whenever I can.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

As long as both are WiFi compatible, I'd recommend going with the first one. From what I've heard, the Pentium M's are pretty good for laptops since they dont suck much power and performance is pretty good.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

I'm considering upgrading my PC to make it more game worthy. I'm going to need to save up for a while to get all the stuff...or I could upgrade it instead of getting the iPod I want so bad.

But anyway, this expands on GM's question he asked earlier: How do I tell what kind of RAM my computer uses? Do I have to open up the case, or can I access it some other way?

Also, I desperatly need to upgrade my video card. I cant afford the best on the market, but pretty much anything is better than what I have now. Can you guys recommend a good affordable video card? Also, will there be compatibility issues? Like will my computer only work with certain video cards, and how do I check that?

I also want to know how to call up my system specs on my screen. I've done it before, but I forgot how. I would like to check my processing speed and my bus size, etc.

And lastly, is there really anything I can do to make my computer more game-worthy other than upgrading RAM and the video card? I KNOW my RAM needs upgraded...I'm running windows XP and I have 128MB...

Thanks.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

More RAM is a definite there. 128 megs on XP is horrible. Get at least 512. As for what kind you have, check documentation for computer if it came with some and see if it uses DDR or SDRAM. Since it has XP, I'm gonna guess DDR.

As for video card, tell how much your willing to spend. A 9800Pro will cost ya right around $200 but you get your best bang for your buck with it. If its around $150 or so, a 9600XT will be suffice but on newer games, you cant crank everything up. And your computer should be able to handle the video card you get. As long as its at least 4x AGP compatible, your fine.

And to check out system specs. Motherboard Monitor is a good program to bring up them.

What kind of processor do your have? RAM and video card are 2 biggest htings to make gaming experience better but If I know what processor you have, I can say you'll be fine or good enough.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

I found it. A pentium 4, but it's only 1.8. Damn, I wish my computer didnt suck so bad.

I'm going to look for that documentation you mentioned later.

And I might go for the 9800...I thought it was more expensive then what you said.

And do you have a link to that program you mentioned, or should I just google it?

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

Google it. Not too hard to miss ;) :p

If you check out newegg.com they have the more cheaper 9800Pro's (around the $200 or so mark). Or check out pricewatch.com and check other prices.

As for the Processor. Its good but down the road you'll want to upgrade to probably a 2.6 usually nowadays is a good point for gaming.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

Thanks man. :) You've been a ton of help today, so I owe you some more rep.

Now I have to decide between souped up computer or an iPod. :( I have enough cash to do one or the other...But maybe if I can mow enough yards before summer is over I can do both.

Re: Post your Computer Questions/Help
 

I have a big problem now, and my computer needs saved.

I'm having a big problem with virus's. Every so often I get popups from norton saying there is a worm or something in a certain file, and every time it finds this virus, it is "unable to repair". So I ask you, wtf is the damn antivirus good for if it can detect a virus but not repair it?

I was trying to play frogger earlier in the arcade, and I would have won, but I got like 4 virus pop ups.

I got a little pop up a while back saying something about a sasser worm. (I had updated my windows, I thought I was safe from this!) I got a removal tool, and then after it got done scanning, it said it didnt even detect it on my computer. wtf.

I tried downloading the AVG antivirus that zebra mentioned in another thread, but when I try to install, it says "shell.dll not detected" or something like that.

I know most of you will recommend to reformat, but do I have any other options? I'm scared that I'm going to lose something valuable if I reformat.