Posts by Emily Walker2

Is it just me, or does it feel like everything in D.C. is just a series of "wait and see" games lately? You expect a decision to be made, a vote to go through, or a line in the sand to be drawn, and then suddenly everything just hits a massive wall of hesitation. It’s like the momentum builds up for weeks only to vanish because a few people decided they weren't quite ready to pull the trigger.

I remember back in my hometown, there was this local council issue about a new zoning law that stayed in limbo for two years because nobody wanted to be the one to say "yes" or "no" first. It’s a weird kind of paralysis. It makes you wonder if these delays are actually strategic moves to squeeze out more concessions, or if it's just pure, unadulterated indecision.

Does this kind of constant stalling actually serve a purpose, or is it just a way to avoid accountability for making a hard choice?

Look, I get what you're saying, but even on the lowest settings, there shouldn't be this much lag—I mean, it's barely chugging through games from 2007! It's hitting maybe 10-15 fps. And that's while running at a 600x800 resolution, which is basically half of what the recommended specs actually call for.

Hey there,
My current rig is running 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, an Nvidia 8500 gt 512, and an Intel dual 2.5 processor

For some reason, my FPS is absolutely tanking on basically every game I try—I'm getting maybe 10-15 frames per second, and I honestly can't figure out what's causing the bottleneck.

The GPU is up to date with the latest drivers, and everything seems to be installed perfectly fine.

Any ideas on what might be going wrong here?

hiddenbison99 said:I'd love to hear your advice—once I get that, we can go from there. I really don't want to be a pest or come off too strong. Thanks so much!😕

Oh, and one more thing—no need to be all formal with me. I'm pretty young! :P 🙂

hiddenbison99 said:I’d also like to ask—since I didn't mention this in my earlier posts—would these upgrades actually let me run games like Harry Potter? Right now, I just can't get them to work. The game launches, but then the screen just freezes up.
I have a grandson who's currently using his aunt's laptop. Since I'm looking at buying these parts, I'm honestly not sure if I could put them together myself. I know my way around basic mechanics, but electronics? Not so much. I'm getting on in years, and most of what I know about computers was picked up right toward the end of my career. I'd love to hear your advice before we decide anything—I don't want to be a bother or pushy. Thanks so much!😕

Don't worry, you can definitely handle this. I'm happy to walk you through everything! Just check your private messages—I've sent over a recommendation there for you.
Now, it really depends on which Harry Potter game we're talking about. But honestly? My best advice would be to just replace the whole computer. It's simpler that way. After all, technology moves fast, and computers just get outdated—it happens to everyone.

If we decide to swap out the motherboard, that does require a bit more technical know-how. I'll list some options for you below, so just let me know what you think. These machines are perfect for what you need, and the prices are pretty reasonable too.

For what you're looking to do, I'd recommend something like these:
1) $400 - http://www.craigslist.com/search/cpu?query=desktop+pc

2) $617 - http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=desktop+computer

3) $1000 (this one is a bit pricier, but trust me—with a setup like this, you won't have to worry about it for your grandson for another 2 or 3 years) - http://www.bestbuy.com/site/computers

4) $600 - http://www.amazon.com/computers

hiddenbison99 said:I sent you a PM.😕

It hasn't shown up on my end yet—but hey, I'll just go ahead and send it over to you instead!

hiddenbison99 said:I'll write down the specs from my receipt for you:
-Motherboard - MB ECP4m800ProS -M, s775, VIA
Processor - CPU Intel Celeron (2.8GHz, 533MHz, 256K)
Memory - DDR2 256MB PC 5300 (667MHz) GoodRAM
Hard drive - *HDD Western Digital, 80GB, and useful
Floppy - Floppy Disk Drive 1.44MB ALPS/NEC; black
Optical drive - DVD+RW/-RW AOPEN DW1670, black, DWD+R DL
Graphics card - onboard
Case - CODEGEN midi tower 6102-CA, 400W PSU
I'm a bit older, so I'm hoping to find something decent for a low price—which I know is hard to come by.
Thanks! 😕

Whoa, okay—let's just take this from the top, shall we?

Motherboard: Since you mentioned needing this for kids' games and stuff, we aren't touching the motherboard—it stays as is.

RAM: Now, about this part. You should grab 2GB of Kingmax DDR2 RAM. If you check out this listing on eBay:$50 http://www.ebay.com/itm/ram-memory-example-listing, it would be great to get 4GB, but since your motherboard tops out at 2GB, let's stick to that.

Graphics Card: Right now, you're using integrated graphics, which—honestly—isn't built for gaming or anything visually intense. If you pick up this card, you'll have a really solid upgrade that'll speed things up and actually let you play some basic games. http://www.ebay.com/itm/graphics-card-example-listing

Processor: Let's leave that one alone. It’s plenty fast enough—I mean, it’s not exactly a powerhouse, but for everyday use, it does the job just fine.

Power Supply: That looks perfectly fine too.

If you're interested, just shoot me a private message with your email address so we can talk more about the PC.

Best regards,

hiddenbison99 said:I'm honestly pretty hopeless when it comes to fixing computer issues. When I try to install games, some of them will open up and then just freeze right away—and they're just kids' games! Does anyone know how to fix this? My PC is running an Intel Pentium processor at 2.8 GHz, has 1.00 GB of RAM, and runs on Windows XP. Should I upgrade something specific or maybe get a better graphics card?
Thanks!

What kind of graphics card are you running? And what's the motherboard like?
Look, I can't give you exact specs off the top of my head, but it's pretty obvious you need more RAM—honestly, grabbing two 2GB sticks would be your best bet. Why don't you list out the rest of your specs so I can put together a plan for you? You could actually build a killer machine for relatively cheap if you hunt around on Craigslist. For $333 you could put together a top-tier rig, though you can definitely do it for less than that too. Just let me know what power supply, motherboard, and graphics card you've got currently.

Cheers!😛

Hey everyone, I’ve run into a bit of a situation... I’ve had my Dell Inspiron for about two years now, but the catch is that I don't actually have a dedicated graphics card—everything is just running off the motherboard. Lately, I’ve been dying to play some games, and honestly, it’s kind of killing me that I can't play anything unless I crank the settings down to the absolute lowest profile. Since I’m pretty clueless when it comes to all the specific computer components and how they work together, could someone please point me in the right direction? What details should I be giving people to get help, and what exactly should I be looking to buy? Thanks so much! 😉 😛