Hardware analysis tool needed (mobo + gfx) freeware

jpe20

Latest nforce2 chipset installed already alongside omega drivers.

Jules

My head is about to explode ..... stand back ......

T4i

jpe20 wrote:

and yes throttling of the CPU is enabled at 80%.

Is this throttled at 80% for a reason? Disable it :cool:

jpe20

Throttling disabled.... had no effect.

CPU runs at a steady 64 degC ... no overclocking.

Jules

T4i

I hope your CPU likes running at 64 Degs. AMD's can run quite hot anyhow but this is slightly hotter than I would like to see from a system.

Mark_LJ

There is nothing wrong with your system - it's just that the graphics card is not powerful enough and your frame rate is dropping. GTR is quite grahically challenging and at the end of the day the system is 3 or so years old. Have you tried cutting right back on the number of cars in the race?

If you want to game at 1920x1200 then you are going to have to fork out quite a lot of cash to achieve playable frame rates and its probable that the rest of your system might hold you back. The other problem is a limited choice of newer cards (that are value for money) on AGP. Don't go for a poor gpu just because it has 512mb of ram.

cpu is a tad hot - I had a few Barton core cpu's and even overclocked they tended to keep the right side of 50.

T4i

Mark_LJ wrote:

Don't go for a poor gpu just because it has 512mb of ram.

Yup, not the most important factor in buying a GPU. Look for the core speed in Mhz.

Core 500Mhz and more is good DDR 1000Mhz Memory Speed.

jpe20

I ran TOCA3 (I bought the game, not running the demo anymore!!) and it seems ok. Image quality is not great but there is little stittering at the start of the replay when there is loads of cars on screen. I can kinda accept that but it generally confirms to me that my hardware is "old" and I need to update the system really.

Looks like I got 2 options........

(1) Buy 200quid AGP card 7800 GS looks ok. (I can get better value if I went PCI-E but I need to upgrade the mobo etc..... It is a gamble though as the 3000 AMD cpu may not be up to the job either.

(2) Buy a new system ..... ASUS SLI mobo clack (100quid) in the cheapest socket 939 cpu ... Athlon64 3000+ cpu (80quid) with a gig of memory (100quid???). Put in 2 7600 PCI-E GeForce cards (140quid each I think!!). I can then upgrade the CPU at a later date when the ridiculous 400quid cpus come down to sensible prices. Total cost .... around 600quid ... This would be a pretty good system then!!!! For the SLI setup is it best to buy both cards together???? IE can I get away with buying one card now and buy the second one 8mths later????

Jules