I’d definitely go with a beefier power supply. Right now, I’m running an EVGA 450 W, and while it holds its own for a bit, things get sketchy once I start overclocking my CPU to 3.5... It just can't handle the load. My graphics card keeps crashing out on me—the monitor just goes black...
In macOS, you can run an error check. Just right-click your hard drive -> properties -> tools -> and under error checking, hit "check now." Then, under the check disk options, make sure to select both boxes. Your drive will get checked up during the next time you boot up macOS.
Or, here’s another way to do it... 😍
Grab some software called "CrystalDiskInfo" from the web. Open it up, go to the "Health" tab to see how your drive is holding up. Then, head over to the "Error Scan" tab and just hit "Start." Scanning the drive might take a few hours depending on how big it is... A "Bad Sector" shows up as a red square, while the healthy spots stay green.
I've currently got an EVGA 450 W inside that's been keeping this whole setup alive for about a year, but man... I think it's struggling. It's a total veteran, 7 years old already, and this is actually the third build it's powered up. One time the fan actually seized up on me and the thing got crazy hot—okay, maybe not glowing red, but close enough😁—and there was definitely a weird smell coming from it. But hey, no biggie! Swapped the fan out and it's still cruising along just fine. 🍿
Henry Morales6 said:I know I'm being a pain, but I'm seriously stuck in a three-way dilemma right now! So, I've got this Intel Core 2 Duo E5400, a 500W Fortron power supply, 4 gigs of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce 7600, and an LG 22-inch monitor. After sitting idle for a couple of years, I'm totally getting back into gaming again. I was thinking about picking up a new GPU for maybe $833, so if I grab a card, will I actually be able to play newer games without constant stuttering? If so, what should I look for? A buddy told me that for that kind of cash plus a little extra, I could just grab a PlayStation 3 and run everything smoothly on that instead. Please help me out... if I'm dropping this much money just to play stuff, is a better graphics card or a PlayStation 3 the way to go?????
Look, you don't really need to drop $833 on a GPU, and even if you grab something in the $333 range, you might still see some lag. But hey, if you have $500, you could always snag a new processor like an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400. Plus, you can always use the PC for gaming... you know, those "other" types of games...
Look, man, if you're running that processor on a socket 939, I'm pretty sure it doesn't even touch DDR2... it's strictly DDR territory, so definitely double-check what kind of RAM you're picking up before you drop any cash. And honestly? I wouldn't bother with that graphics card. That CPU is gonna bottleneck the hell out of it... it just won't be able to let that card actually breathe...
Kevin Davis57 said:hey, I need a new graphics card because my old one just kicked the bucket....
ASUS P4VM890 Intel Pentium 4 Prescott 3.00 Intel Pentium 4 Prescott 3.00GHz 1 gb ram... ms 400w atx p4
I'm torn between the 4350 and the 4550...
The 4550 is definitely stronger. And that 4350? It's even weaker than the 3 series. Ugh, man, that AMD...
Joshua Flores6 said:Hey everyone! So, I finally finished picking out my whole build yesterday—well, almost. Everything is bought except for the GPU, which I decided to spend the most time obsessing over, so here I am, totally stuck on what to grab... Here’s everything else I’ve got lined up:
The rig is mainly for gaming, but nothing super intense—just watching movies and stuff like that. I really want a card that'll keep me chill for the next two or three years, you know? Something that can handle most current games without needing insane FPS or crazy resolutions... My budget is exactly $317 (so like, not even $3.25 more, since I'm already stretched pretty thin!) and I'm looking at all the shops here in the States... Right now, my favorite pick is an AMD NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX, which I've seen ranging from $267 to $367, but I didn't account for the rest of my setup, specifically the monitor, which I guess is the most important part when trying to find the sweet spot. I'd love some help figuring this out... The card doesn't strictly have to be AMD, but I've had pretty good luck with them in the past... thanks!
Nah. Two years? That's nothing... honestly. You can always swap out the motherboard, the hard drive, or the DVD/RW drive for newer parts whenever you feel like it...
crimsonmarlin13 said:so what do you think, will GTA 4 actually run on that setup? thinking medium settings on a 17-inch monitor at 1024x768 60hz?? hoping for zero lag or any of that crap lol xD
Doubtful...
but honestly, don't go blaming your PC if it struggles. GTA 4 is notoriously unoptimized, so it could easily stutter even on rigs way beefier than yours
Look, if you go out and grab a graphics card right now, you’re basically throwing money down the drain. In two or three years—maybe even sooner... you're gonna swap this whole rig out anyway. Plus, no modern motherboard is gonna support AGP anymore, so what's the point?
Honestly, you'd be way better off just grabbing a new motherboard and a card at the same time. Your processor is a socket 775 and you've got DDR2 RAM, both of which actually work with newer boards!