Upgrading problems

[VincentT]

(excuse my bad grammar)
Hi,
I'm not a complete noob at pc's but i don't know everything about them so I come here to ask for help with my pc.
3-4 years ago I bought a pretty standard desktop and already did some upgrades (more RAM and new graphics card)
When i check on canyourunit.com and go to MW2 or Warhammer Online it says that my system passes in each aspect for the game. But when i play the game it doesn't run very smoothly even on low graphics.
So yeah i have no idea what's causing it. I suspect it has something to do with the motherboard or the compatability of the stuff :S
Any ideas ??

specs:




CPU
Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor or better supported
You Have: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
PASS

CPU Speed
Minimum: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz or AMD Athlon 64 3200+ processor or better supported
You Have: 2.21 GHz Performance Rated at: 4.42 GHz
PASS

RAM
Minimum: 1 GB
You Have: 3.0 GB
PASS

OS
Minimum: Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Windows 95/98/ME/2000 are unsupported)
You Have: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition Service Pack 1 (build 6001), 32-bit
PASS

Video Card
Minimum: 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT or better or ATI Radeon 1600 XT or better
You Have: ATI display adapter (0x9440)
PASS
Features: Minimum attributes of your Video Card
Required You Have
Video RAM 256 MB 1.7 GB
Hardware T&L Yes Yes
Pixel Shader version 3.0 4.0
Vertex Shader version 3.0 4.0

Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: Realtek High Definition Audio
PASS

Free Disk Space
Minimum: 12 GB of free hard drive space
You Have: 31.4 GB
PASS

 

[matt314]

It could just be a software problem. What else are you running in the background? It may be time for a reformat!

 

[asteldian]

The games you are talking about are fairly modern, sadly your computer is not.
While you meet the minimum specs, that doesn't mean you will run the game well.

Having said that, as matt says, it could be software issues, are your drivers up to date? What else is running behind the scenes? Vista is a ersource whore in itself, add anyhting else running and you will probably find your computer struggles as it has not the specs to cope with much multi tasking and playing modern games

 

[snowgoer1998]

Need more info...

- what is your resolution
- what is your graphics card


from the looks of it, your graphics card is the minimum requirement...this simply means that the game will run with it absolute minimum resolution on you rig...

That does not mean that it's going to look puurrty

 

[matt314]

I'm pretty sure "ATI display adapter (0x9440)" means Radeon 4800 series.

 

[VincentT]

i have vista and Steam running in the background
Graphicscard : Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870

some extra info: it doesn't really matter a whole lot if the graphics are on high or low
and it doesnt run smoothly when i for example jump around a corner very fast

hope you got at least a little info out of that

 

[snowgoer1998]

ok...nevermind what I said before about the "minimum requirement"

your graphics card should adequately perform

never did catch that resolution you're playing at...

 

[matt314]

Does this happen only with these two games?

 

[VincentT]

I play on 600x800 when i use optimal system settings button
but the monitor is 19" so it should be 1280 x 1024

and these are the only 2 games i play

 

[VincentT]

It could just be a software problem. What else are you running in the background? It may be time for a reformat!

what do you mean with a reformat because if it's a software problem i can try to "repair" it immediatly

 

[matt314]

I mean reinstalling windows. Its a painless process really. If you need any help I, or anyone here, can point you in the right direction.

 

[VincentT]

I mean reinstalling windows. Its a painless process really. If you need any help I, or anyone here, can point you in the right direction.

it's a family computer so if i wouldn't lose any data i would be happy to have some info about that

 

[matt314]

Well unfortunatly reformating will wipe your data. You'll have to backup everything (either on a different partition or on some external device). Once you're sure you have all your files backed up, you will need your windows cd and you simply walk through the installation process. After that you will have to reinstall all your programs and copy over all the files you backed up.

It can be a long process if this is your first time. Let me know if this is something that you consider doing and i can go into more details with you. If you've never reformatted in 4 years, you are due anyways. Many ppl reformat every year to get a nice, clean, fresh OS.

 

[VincentT]

Well unfortunatly reformating will wipe your data. You'll have to backup everything (either on a different partition or on some external device). Once you're sure you have all your files backed up, you will need your windows cd and you simply walk through the installation process. After that you will have to reinstall all your programs and copy over all the files you backed up.

It can be a long process if this is your first time. Let me know if this is something that you consider doing and i can go into more details with you. If you've never reformatted in 4 years, you are due anyways. Many ppl reformat every year to get a nice, clean, fresh OS.

ok so i didn respond because i had exams and no computer
they're over now so i would like to know how to do this or where there is a detailed guide

 

[matt314]

Ya sure, first thing first, do you have your OS disk? According to your first post you use Windows vista, do you have that disk anywhere? If you bought your computer from a company like Dell or HP, you may have a "restore your computer" disk. Let me know when you find it!

 

[VincentT]

Ya sure, first thing first, do you have your OS disk? According to your first post you use Windows vista, do you have that disk anywhere? If you bought your computer from a company like Dell or HP, you may have a "restore your computer" disk. Let me know when you find it!

oh dammit didnt even get an email that you replied >.<

no i dont have that cd but i already have a cd with windows xp on it and im gonna instal that i think because i heard (and noticed tbh) that vista and win 7 is not that good for gaming

but on another note,
i have some money now and i desperatly want to play now so i'm thinking of upgrading hardware
but the thing is
i've already upgraded the RAM, video card (and PSU for it) so the basic stuff for improving gaming
so the only logical thing left is the processor and motherboard

so if I go to a local pc store, is it possible to ask them "hey would you guys please take this pc and take the video card, ram, hard drive, psu and sound card out of it, get me a new motherboard and processor and make sure its all compatible and put it in a new case please ?"

because then i could just pay in cash and let them check if everything is compattible and stuff like that so i wont mess stuff up.

sorry for spelling, i'm really tired lol

,Vincent