Time To Upgrade

[finty]

Could someone tell me why this is dearer than this even though the cheaper kit seems to be faster. Am I missing something?

Also, can anyone reccomend a good Ram upgrade option for ~£100. I guess I have been away from the computer scene for too long, I was astonished by how cheap these 4GB kits are.

EDIT: Does anyone know if there is much difference performance wise between the XFX 8800gt Alpha Dog and the BFG 8800gt OC?

 

[Ganepark32]

I know exactly how much of a killer Crysis can be for a pc. My brother bought it yesterday and we've been trying since then to get it working at a decent speed on our pc. Apparently, we have most of the correct stuff (Vista, the right amount of RAM and memory, etc.). The only thing wrong with it is the graphics card. Now we bought the PC from a specialist who said it was a gaming pc and in many respects it is as it can run World of Warcraft perfectly but it can't even play Crysis on the lowest settings. Luckily, my dad has just bought a new graphics card so hopefully that'll sort out the problem.

Sorry I didn't answer your questions though. I know sod all about computers basically so I can't be of much help.

 

[Mosch]

Could someone tell me why this is dearer than this even though the cheaper kit seems to be faster. Am I missing something?


If you missed it, I missed it too.

Also, can anyone reccomend a good Ram upgrade option for ~£100. I guess I have been away from the computer scene for too long, I was astonished by how cheap these 4GB kits are.

I usually just buy whatever seems good to me. I can't really give you a recommendation without any specs, but as I said: I simply walk into my favourite store, have a look through the catalogue and say "gimme". My opinion is that "gamer" ram and all this stuff is a waste of money.
By the way, remember that you need a 64 bit operating system to utilize 4 gigs of ram (XP 64 or Vista 64, don't know about Linux or any other alternatives)

EDIT: Does anyone know if there is much difference performance wise between the XFX 8800gt Alpha Dog and the BFG 8800gt OC?

I don't know, but once again I go the "gimme" way. I doubt that there's too much difference, but I have no facts to back it up.

 

[finty]

Hmmm, didn't know that about the ram limitations in 32bit operating systems. What is the reason behind it?

Is 2GB the max then?

Is there any advantage to a 64bit version of XP?

 

[Titcher]

I hear it boots faster, works a bit faster, but it's not worth your time yet, as drivers are a bit scarce.

 

[Fishbong]

we bought the PC from a specialist who said it was a gaming pc and in many respects it is as it can run World of Warcraft perfectly.

So can my onboard graphics chip. Try if it runs UT3 fullspeed with all details at at least 1280x1024 then it can be considered a gaming PC.

 

[evol]

Hmmm, didn't know that about the ram limitations in 32bit operating systems. What is the reason behind it?

Is 2GB the max then?

Is there any advantage to a 64bit version of XP?

ram limitations, 2gb in 32bit operating systems ?
Any operating system+cpu who supports Intel's PAE (Physical Address Extension) can adress more.
The PAE extensions allows up to a maximum of 64GB of physical memory that the CPU can address.
(but individual processes only see 3gb of memory)

i think PAE works with pentium-pro and up.

win32 don't support PAE but most *nix do.

 

[finty]

Sorry should have been more specific, I was talking about MS Windows .

 

[Blah]

The more expensive RAM has better latency, supposedly.

As for the video cards, I'm not much of a game machine guy but my brother swears by BFG. Supposedly the OC cards are overclocked.

2.8 GHz or faster (XP) or
3.2 GHz or faster (Vista) Processor

You could try running it on XP instead of Vista, you might get better performance.

 

[Samba Pa Ti]

The more expensive RAM has better latency, supposedly.

As for the video cards, I'm not much of a game machine guy but my brother swears by BFG. Supposedly the OC cards are overclocked.

2.8 GHz or faster (XP) or
3.2 GHz or faster (Vista) Processor

You could try running it on XP instead of Vista, you might get better performance.

the more expensive one has higher latency's not lower (lower is better), imo this is just down to the shop.

dabs.com is a load of crap, ive had bad experiences with them in the past and now they are owned by BT which is also a load of crap.

I hear it boots faster, works a bit faster, but it's not worth your time yet, as drivers are a bit scarce.

im on 64bit vista and ive had no problems with finding drivers for anything...

 

[Mosch]

I have used Vista and XP 64 bit and have never had any problems at all. I am using 32 at the moment and do not see a big difference.