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Anyone good at making the most out of little things?

r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64

I have a Dell Studio Hybrid.

I got it as a suprise (randomly) around Easter (March) 2009. It played wow very well.

Well, it played it at 92/108 MS and 3/4 FPS, it looked alot more than 3/4FPS except in dala and 25 man raids. Anyway today i downloaded Vanguard: Saga Of Heroes and it was awful. The performance of my PC. I would really like to boost the performance but i have done some research and found out the graphics card cannot be changed. (prove me wrong if you can)

I would really appreciate it if you could give me tips on how i can improve my system, and links to where to buy compatable upgrades.

Thank You.

 

Specs:

Windows Vista Home Premium

Dell Studio Hybrid 140g

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU    T5750  @   2.00Ghz   2.00Ghz

Memory (RAM) 2.0GB

System Type: 32-bit Operating System

DEVICE MANAGER

Display Adapter (think Gfx card): Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family

 

If you need any more info, reply here or you can send me a PM.

Thanks once again.

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Comments

  • BloodDualityBloodDuality Member UncommonPosts: 404

    It does sound like it is probably just an integrated video card built into the MoBo. Thats why when I look at computers I make sure they have either an Nvidia or ATI card in them. someone might know how to do it, but it does sound like a built in card that can't be changed. I am by far not an expert though.

  • r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64
    Originally posted by BloodDuality


    It does sound like it is probably just an integrated video card built into the MoBo. Thats why when I look at computers I make sure they have either an Nvidia or ATI card in them. someone might know how to do it, but it does sound like a built in card that can't be changed. I am by far not an expert though.

    It was a suprise gift, i had no choice in what i would get xD

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  • TheHatterTheHatter Member Posts: 2,547

    I hate to break it to you, but that video card is really bad. I have a laptop with that installed and pretty much the only thing it can play is WoW. It's basically like a big netbook. :-|

    You can't even play Oblivion. It's pretty bad.

    Like I said, you now own a netbook. Congrats.

  • devouxdevoux Member Posts: 86

    See what another 2G of RAM does...

    Thats all you can really do I think.

  • r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64
    Originally posted by TheHatter


    I hate to break it to you, but that video card is really bad. I have a laptop with that installed and pretty much the only thing it can play is WoW. It's basically like a big netbook. :-|
    You can't even play Oblivion. It's pretty bad.
    Like I said, you now own a netbook. Congrats.

    Haha, netbooks are portable :(

    image

  • TheHatterTheHatter Member Posts: 2,547
    Originally posted by r0hit

    Originally posted by TheHatter


    I hate to break it to you, but that video card is really bad. I have a laptop with that installed and pretty much the only thing it can play is WoW. It's basically like a big netbook. :-|
    You can't even play Oblivion. It's pretty bad.
    Like I said, you now own a netbook. Congrats.

    Haha, netbooks are portable :(

     

    lol yup. Anything with that GFX is a complete waste of money and there is nothing you can do to really improve the performance. I would suggest upgrading the ram and to a 64bit OS or just upgrading to Windows 7 and not upgrading the ram, but that would just be a waste of money on that machine.

    It's a piece of crap. Sorry. It's a portable DVD player you can surf the internet on, at least that's all I use mine for. lol

  • r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64
    Originally posted by TheHatter

    Originally posted by r0hit

    Originally posted by TheHatter


    I hate to break it to you, but that video card is really bad. I have a laptop with that installed and pretty much the only thing it can play is WoW. It's basically like a big netbook. :-|
    You can't even play Oblivion. It's pretty bad.
    Like I said, you now own a netbook. Congrats.

    Haha, netbooks are portable :(

     

    lol yup. Anything with that GFX is a complete waste of money and there is nothing you can do to really improve the performance. I would suggest upgrading the ram and to a 64bit OS or just upgrading to Windows 7 and not upgrading the ram, but that would just be a waste of money on that machine.

    It's a piece of crap. Sorry. It's a portable DVD player you can surf the internet on, at least that's all I use mine for. lol

    What difference would upgrading it to Win 7 make? 

    image

  • TheHatterTheHatter Member Posts: 2,547

    Win7 > Vista

    Plus, you're running 2gb ram and Vista requires a minimum of 1gb to run. 7 doesn't require that. You're still not going to be able to do anything on it, you're just not going to be able to do anything faster than you could before. lol

    If someone asks you how you like it, tell them "thanks for the typewriter!"

    lol that would be mean though.

  • KryptyKrypty Member UncommonPosts: 454

    7 would make a small difference. The biggest issue you have is the video card. This is also why gaming on laptops is so expensive. There are some laptops out there where the video card can be upgraded, but it is rare and they are usually expensive as hell.

  • r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64
    Originally posted by TheHatter


    Win7 > Vista
    Plus, you're running 2gb ram and Vista requires a minimum of 1gb to run. 7 doesn't require that. You're still not going to be able to do anything on it, you're just not going to be able to do anything faster than you could before. lol
    If someone asks you how you like it, tell them "thanks for the typewriter!"
    lol that would be mean though.

    Lol (im actually in tears, not really) But im stumped, im sure if i add the extra 2gb ram then i will atlest be able to perofm 'well' on wow, but i do not want to play wow again.  Time to head back to Runescape (lol not really). I myself cannot afford a new computer, and i wont get a new computer as this is 6months old. 

    Isnt there ayone out there who can save me? xD

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  • TheHatterTheHatter Member Posts: 2,547

    Don't waste your money. Trust me, I've tweaked it, re-tweaked it, installed graphic hacks, everything. You're not going to improve performance with that GFX.

    RAM or 7 would make a difference. But that would be like buying new tires for a car that wouldn't start.

    Edit:

    Mine's an HP, dual core 2.66ghz processor, and 4gb ram.

  • r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64

     Thanks, you've helped me alot.

    And in doing so destroyed my hopes of playing anything apart from wow (dont worry, i forgive you). 

    Me and my stupid love.. addiction to mmo's. 

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  • r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64

    http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv75/replication12/Hardware.jpg

    Click it, i dont understand how this works. It said i need 128MB but i have 358.0MB and i still fail.

    image

  • noquarternoquarter Member Posts: 1,170


    Originally posted by r0hit
    http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv75/replication12/Hardware.jpg
    Click it, i dont understand how this works. It said i need 128MB but i have 358.0MB and i still fail.

    Well, 2GB is fine for WoW, WoW uses about 800MB and 1GB left over for Vista is OK. There's a slight performance boost going to 4GB especially if you have other crap running or are playing something more memory intensive than WoW, however I suspect both your memory banks are occupied with 1GB sticks so 2 new 2GB sticks just isn't worth it especially when it's the integrated video owning your computer.


    You should turn the Aero theme off btw (instructions) it'll help a little bit.


    Intel actually emulates a lot of functionality in their integrated graphics chip, so it "has" Pixel Shader 4.0 but it can't do Pixel Shader 4.0 in any worthwhile manner, it's failing the part of the test where it says 'Nvidia or ATI' :)


    The only thing that would actually help is an external USB video card like ViDock 2 (external Radeon 4670) but at ~$300 it's not an option at all.


    Cheapest fix would be buy a $30 case, a $60 Socket 775 mobo, $45 for 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a $40 400W PSU, and a $65 Radeon 4670, reuse your hard drive and Core2Duo CPU from the 140G.. $245. :(

  • TardcoreTardcore Member Posts: 2,325
    Originally posted by noquarter


     

    Originally posted by r0hit

    http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv75/replication12/Hardware.jpg

    Click it, i dont understand how this works. It said i need 128MB but i have 358.0MB and i still fail.

     

    Well, 2GB is fine for WoW, WoW uses about 800MB and 1GB left over for Vista is OK. There's a slight performance boost going to 4GB especially if you have other crap running or are playing something more memory intensive than WoW, however I suspect both your memory banks are occupied with 1GB sticks so 2 new 2GB sticks just isn't worth it especially when it's the integrated video owning your computer.



    You should turn the Aero theme off btw (instructions) it'll help a little bit.



    Intel actually emulates a lot of functionality in their integrated graphics chip, so it "has" Pixel Shader 4.0 but it can't do Pixel Shader 4.0 in any worthwhile manner, it's failing the part of the test where it says 'Nvidia or ATI' :)



    The only thing that would actually help is an external USB video card like ViDock 2 (external Radeon 4670) but at ~$300 it's not an option at all.



    Cheapest fix would be buy a $30 case, a $60 Socket 775 mobo, $45 for 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a $40 400W PSU, and a $65 Radeon 4670, reuse your hard drive and Core2Duo CPU from the 140G.. $245. :(

    Noquarter's is about the best advice you will get I'm afraid. Depending on your computer savy you could buy a new case and swap the guts from your mini pc over to it. Problem will be though is I think your vid card slot is either a mini pci or built right into the motherboard. So you would still be stuck in graphics hell.

    image

    "Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "

  • noquarternoquarter Member Posts: 1,170


    Originally posted by Tardcore

    Noquarter's is about the best advice you will get I'm afraid. Depending on your computer savy you could buy a new case and swap the guts from your mini pc over to it. Problem will be though is I think your vid card slot is either a mini pci or built right into the motherboard. So you would still be stuck in graphics hell.


    Yea I couldn't find exact specs on the 140G but I saw a pic of the mobo - it uses SO-DIMM (laptop) RAM and has no PCI-e slot so basically useless for swapping. The CPU looks to be a socket 775 Core2Duo 2.0GHz so it's still usable, saving $60 or so.


    The downside is that sticking with the socket 775 Core2Duo CPU to save $60 limits your upgradability down the line, because you'll be stuck with DDR2 and.. socket 775. Since there's so little to salvage from the 140G it'd probably be better to just start from scratch so you can use a DDR3 platform with a modern socket (AM3/Socket 1156).


    It'll cost a little bit more now, but you'd have to replace less parts next time you upgrade.

  • r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64
    Originally posted by noquarter


     

    Originally posted by Tardcore
     
    Noquarter's is about the best advice you will get I'm afraid. Depending on your computer savy you could buy a new case and swap the guts from your mini pc over to it. Problem will be though is I think your vid card slot is either a mini pci or built right into the motherboard. So you would still be stuck in graphics hell.

     

    Yea I couldn't find exact specs on the 140G but I saw a pic of the mobo - it uses SO-DIMM (laptop) RAM and has no PCI-e slot so basically useless for swapping. The CPU looks to be a socket 775 Core2Duo 2.0GHz so it's still usable, saving $60 or so.



    The downside is that sticking with the socket 775 Core2Duo CPU to save $60 limits your upgradability down the line, because you'll be stuck with DDR2 and.. socket 775. Since there's so little to salvage from the 140G it'd probably be better to just start from scratch so you can use a DDR3 platform with a modern socket (AM3/Socket 1156).



    It'll cost a little bit more now, but you'd have to replace less parts next time you upgrade.

    Sadly, i am not a computer wizard and i know if i open it up i will screw something up and end up having no computer. Are there any companies that do this?

    P.s: This pc is only like 6 months old.

    image

  • noquarternoquarter Member Posts: 1,170


    Originally posted by r0hit
    Originally posted by noquarter  

    Originally posted by Tardcore
     
    Noquarter's is about the best advice you will get I'm afraid. Depending on your computer savy you could buy a new case and swap the guts from your mini pc over to it. Problem will be though is I think your vid card slot is either a mini pci or built right into the motherboard. So you would still be stuck in graphics hell.
     
    Yea I couldn't find exact specs on the 140G but I saw a pic of the mobo - it uses SO-DIMM (laptop) RAM and has no PCI-e slot so basically useless for swapping. The CPU looks to be a socket 775 Core2Duo 2.0GHz so it's still usable, saving $60 or so.

    The downside is that sticking with the socket 775 Core2Duo CPU to save $60 limits your upgradability down the line, because you'll be stuck with DDR2 and.. socket 775. Since there's so little to salvage from the 140G it'd probably be better to just start from scratch so you can use a DDR3 platform with a modern socket (AM3/Socket 1156).

    It'll cost a little bit more now, but you'd have to replace less parts next time you upgrade.



    Sadly, i am not a computer wizard and i know if i open it up i will screw something up and end up having no computer. Are there any companies that do this?
    P.s: This pc is only like 6 months old.


    I don't know how much a local PC shop would charge you for this but it could be something stupid like $100 or more on top of the $250 of hardware you'd need (these are cheap internet hardware prices not local shop prices btw). This pretty much negates the money you would save by reusing the CPU and hard drive (about $90).


    Going through a shop to do this would probably be the same price as just buying a new PC.


    I know it's only 6 months old but the nettop PC was built for a very specific purpose and it's not gaming or upgrading. "Upgrading" it like we're talking about is actually building a whole new PC minus CPU so you're probably better off just selling this and buying a new one.

  • r0hitr0hit Member Posts: 64

    Very extreme lengths. I am not playing an MMO at the moment and i only created this thread because in an/feb when i do get into (any) mmo i want it to be a fun experience. Sadly this doesnt seem viable, maybe with the 4gb ugrade i can play wow 'well' but i really do not want to play that again. 

    I was hoping for a new experience but it doesnt look like that is going to happen.

    Ahh well i am very grateful for your help.

    Thanks all :D

    (suggestions are still welcome, its not too early to thank everyone) 

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