Installing a new graphics card

I know I'm sorry lol, I so want to play this game... Okay.

We first bought the computer 5 - if not more - years ago. It has since been 'upgraded', thoough I have no idea what they actually did. I'm not very good at hardware things, it's only now I've actually opened up my computer and seen what's in there LOL.
The processor is AMD Duron, so that's old. Motherboard has not been replaced since we bought it (which is why I bought the AGP version of the new graphics card).

I have two hard drives, one is like 8.6GB (the original one, shows how long ago we bought it) and the other one is new, 20GB. OMG I just realised that I didn't create a partition on the other hard drive when I formatted Windows! No wonder it shows up as only having a capacity of 20GB... Well anyway, the hard drive it is using is the newer one. So - do I have to reinstall the game on the other drive or something, and see what happens?

ok, how new is the 20gig hdd?

which version of windows are you using, and...sorry, but yeah, your old duron is probably giving you advance warning of soon-to-be-deddedness
at 5 years.....WHOA!!
your very lucky that your board is still working (uh-oh i get it, they updated yer board when they upgraded)

so....if your on win xp (as everyone but me seems to be lol) and your drive is bigger than 20gig but smaller than about 120gig, then your ok with the partition thing.

advice is....start saving for a newer mainboard and chip, at least you have ddr memeory
sugest ether an AMD althlon about 2000, since you may be able to get them where you are in oz, or if possible, a newer AMD Sempron, about a 2400. those are what we sell in the shop, and if a 2400 semp can do great things for sims2 with tones of downloads addedd you get the picture

We got it upgraded like... Last year some time.

I'm don't think they upgraded anything apart from perhaps my old graphics card and the new hard drive. It wasn't like a HUGE mega overhaul thing, like maybe US$100.

I will start saving for a new motherboard, the guy in the shop said that too when I bought the graphics card, however he said I will have to get it within the next 6-12 months, because they are phasing out the AGP slots, and I've just gone and bought an AGP graphics card. ARGH!

Thanks for your help though, I've tried so much, and at the moment I'm installing new chipset drivers and then I'm going to tweak my RAM timings to see if that helps. I don't believe Rise Of Nations is crashing now too!!!! WHAT HAVE I DONE!?!?!?!?!!

Sorry about that. No offence intended.

tenira, if you are able, and you think you can. I'd suggest build yourself a new computer. Its not hard at all, and if you get the parts off of newegg.com you can build a decent machine for not too much. I'd say around $500 and you got yourself a much better computer going on. Or if you want to stick with what you've already bought, then a new Motherboard Processor combo is something to think about. The AMD Semprons (I know I'll get flamed for this) are accually a good processor to work with. I got a 3100+ and Gygabyte motherbord going, and was able to just it up to 2.25GHz on air cooling. Though most people will want to leave it at its stock 1.8GHz, because my computer sounds like a jet engien. It cost me about $250 for the borad and processor. Somthing to think about.

Also, AGP is going out. But the hardware that uses PCI-X is still the newest and greatest out there. If you do a upgread like i suggested, it should last you a good while. PCI-X is really great, but its also expencive still if you want anything good out of it.

I know AGP is going out, which is why I have to get a new mtherboard anyway soon so that it will be compatible with the graphics card I just bought LOL! *Sigh* They don't differ in price at all here in Australia, in fact my AGP graphics card was $4 more expensive.

I will see what tech support say before I upgrade anything more, because I've already spent SO MUCH already hahahaha! But yes, I will keep in mind your suggestion, because eventually I'lll have to do it. Is that newegg.com only US?

I think they ship over seas, but I may be wrong. And with the shipping costs it may be better if you find a more local option. But without over seas shipping there one of the cheapest hardware retailers I know. Hell they may still be worth it for some stuff even with the over seas shipping.

Edit: Dang, they don't ship outside of the US. Sorry man.

tenira, agp is only going out in the big-back-wad states of the good ole USA :P

here, we have just this last 2 months started to get hold of the pci express vid cards and mainboards
(west yorkshire, UK)

not worries, calendae *grins* as a girl gamer, i guess i should be used to it by now ^^
and no flames over Semprons ether. i work prety much exclusively with ether 2400-3000 semprons, or for the spenders, the 3000-3800 AMD 64 chips at work.

about the PCI-X cards.....for you in Oz, just dont bother unless you want to play everquest2 *grins* with it not looking like a reject from Spyro the Dragon (this is according to a friend that spent almost 2k in total to get his machine up to speck for the game, only to have his sata hdd's and mainboard hate each other and need to get a different board altgether cause his board was a strange beta edition)

we can still get hold of PCI old version vid cards, but that is what area of graphics cards that are winding down over hear.this year, i have only built one machine that had a pci-x card in it, and the lady that bought it wanted the gods *deleated* for a system, so spent the extra cash on the better versions of stuff.

to predict, i will say that over here in the UK, the pci-x card will take hold sometime in the next year or two, but the agp will be about for another 2-3 years, just like the pci-old was.

so, tenira, unless you wanna play doom3 aswell, at full tilt and maxed graphics, dont bother buying. specialy since you only updated last year.
best way to keep your machine working and you happy, i will say, is just to upgrade the mainboard and chip. it will be cheaper in the long run, considering that you would ned a whole new vid card if you went the way of pci-x

yeah, in the big picture version, it would be best to upgrade now to the latest stuff, but hey, that big pic, its usually seen best from USA, where they have big stuff all the time :P
and if your like me, then a machine like mine will last you for the 2-3 years that the pci-x cards will need to become household names round here.

Yeah, PCI-X is easier to get here, but its still way to expencive. And honestly, if you can find a Radon 9800 anything and it'll do almost everything there is out there. The only thing I know of that will really kill AGP is going to be Unreal 3. And that won't be for a while still. I myself still run a 9800se that I picked up for like $100, then I unlocked the extra pipelines, and now it thinks its a 9800Pro. So its not nessisary to worry about the next and greatest if the stuff you want it for will run just as well on old hardware.

Hahaha, from what you guys are saying, it sounds like Australia is ahead of the US and the UK (hard to believe I know). They guy at the computer shop I got my NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT AGP card from said that they were phasing out AGP motherboards like right now, and after 12 months there wouldn't be any left! They sell everything in PCI-X. They didn't even show the AGP one on shelves, I had to ask for it!

Does performance on Guild Wars differ when you use an AGP card versus when you use a PCI-X card?

So all I need to do is get a new motherboard. In your opinion (because everyone here is like an expert, SO COOL!) which would be the best choice given my other hardware components? And what exactly is sata? Is it Serial ATA? What does it mean? And hdd is hard drive i'm assuming?

yup, sata is serial ata

ok, then, check with stores other than the guy you bought your card from and see if they say the same thing about phasing out the AGP. if at least 8 out of 10 stores say the same, then yeah, grab a PCI-X board and card, but to be honest, since you have a agp you might as well hunt aout and get an agp slot board

Yeah, that's what I would do. Though, PCI-X is awsome. So its really up to what you want. AGP works, but if you can get ahold of a PCI-X card with the same stats it will be better. There wont be any difference in Guild Wars though. The game, as good as it looks, look just as good on my cousins FX5700pro as it dose on my 9800Pro, and my friends x800. Now if where talking Half-Life 2, or Doom 3, or one of the many up and coming FPSes then the PCI-X will whoop AGP.

I'm not interested in Doom 3 or Half-Life 2, all I want to do is play Guild Wars! LOL! It's still not working... So depressing. And tech support is getting worse and worse, longer between each reply. I think they're running out of ideas. Does anyone recommend reinstalling Windows and all the latest drivers and installing just Guild Wars and see what happens? I mean, it wasn't that long ago I did exactly that, but with all this tampering around they've had me do...?

Even thought AGP is fading out, im still using it in my computer. Currently, I'm running a ATI Radeon x800 xt which should last me about 1 or 2 years before i have to force myself to get a whole new system with PCI-Express card.

I can't afford the cost of a new motherboard / cpu (have amd 64 754pin) so for now I am sticking to AGP, good news is nvidia / ati still have some killer cards for agp and will be upgrading to those in the future.

Edit - Geforce 6800 AGP 128 mb Ram is going for about $180 in the US, (www.pricewatch.com) - The 6800GT are still too high from around $300 price range

I'm running on the Geforce FX 5700 128 and GW runs great.

Oh okay. I have the 6600GT in AGP and it seems pretty good, even though I can't play it... LOL

Update your BIOS already...I've told you enought times!

Im going out to buy GW and overtake you! Muhaha!

A BIOS update can't hurt. Unless the power goes out while its flashing, then it can. But yeah, make sure you have all the newest drivers for everything installed. Also, reintalling Windows can't hurt. But it probably won't help either. I wish games supported other operating systems better.

omg cooties! Flee! So many males play female characters and vice versa anymore that I just avoid using pronouns at all and sound like I failed the Turing test.

a 400W power supply should be sufficient, I imagine. (btw, very nice drawing)

If you want to give the graphics card its own power lead, I'd recommend unplugging the plain jane CD reader, just for testing purposes.

I hear real good things about PCI-X, and I look forward to getting my next machine.

Question: do these black screens actually mean your computer crashed, or is it still working? Do you still have sound?

-sam

No, nothing at all. It just goes black, the entire game stops and I can't hear any sound or anything. A couple of times there has been a high-pitched wailing, and it sort of warbles at the same time. I just have to turn the computer off with the power button. Tech support are REALLY unhelpful now, telling me to use Driver Cleaner which I already have... ARGH!

There is an option somewere on the power menu of your computer that stops the computer from restarting when a problem is encountered. If you enable this option, you will get a blue screen that displays an error or "stop error" message. Perhaps that will help...

UPDATE BIOS!

Fin