Gaming system info

[Mr Bean]

Hi

My nephew asked me to sort out his computer so he can play Rome: Total War.

It is a HP Pavilion 7921. There is a link to the motherboard spec here. At the moment it is running as it did when it came off production e.g nothing else has been added to it.

Please can you provide me a fairly inexpensive way of making the unit compatible e.g adding memory, new graphics card etc.

Would it be relatively cheap to max the PC to it's full potential for games???

Cheers

Beanie

[G_Dem]

Unfortunately there is a few things that stop it from being good for modern games. The main things being the 4x AGP slot and the maximum memory of 512MB (of PC133 RAM). I'm not saying it wont be possable to run Rome total war, but it will be extremely choppy. At minimum settings you might be able to get away with it.

Minimum specs for the game say: 256 RAM and pentium 3 or equivalent and a 64MB video card.

Here is a few AGP 4x Cards

and here is the compatable RAM

What processor does he have?

[Mr Bean]

Originally Posted by G_Dem

Unfortunately there is a few things that stop it from being good for modern games. I'm not saying it wont be possable to run Rome total war, but it will be extremely choppy. At minimum settings you might be able to get away with it.

That's the answer I was expecting to be honest G. I was hoping a bit!!!!!

Originally Posted by G_Dem

Here is a few AGP 4x Cards

and here is the compatable RAM

Thanks for the links mate.

Originally Posted by G_Dem

What processor does he have?

It is a AMD Duron 1.0 Ghz

Cheers

Beanie

[G_Dem]

Not sure if that processor will cut it. Pentium 3 is min required which is around the 1Ghz mark I think so it will prob run it, but just. If he was to upgrade a Socket A Athlon XP would be a good choice.

[Mr Bean]

Ok G thanks for the input.

I just ran Half Life for about 10 mins and that was fine. Probably a case of an old game with an old PC I suppose?

I have memory and an AGP card here. I'll drop those in and see what gives with it.

I'll let you know the outcome G.

Cheers

Beanie

[G_Dem]

Is it the correct type of memory and an AGP x4 not an AGP x8? Not sure if different AGP cards fit/work.

[Mr Bean]

Hi G

The memory is the right stuff. I have countless varieties from old systems from work. The card however is an old matrox. I was trying to determine which type it was but couldn't. According to the Matrox website the info on the sticker states it is a G2+.

I am waiting confirmation from their tech support unless you can shed some light on it.

Cheers bwt

Beanie

[G_Dem]

I think that might be an old old AGP. As in AGP 1.0. If it is an AGP 1.0 it won't work. AGP 4x were AGP 2.0 and AGP 3.0 depending on the card. They take different volts.

[Mr Bean]

OK mate no probs