Hey, can someone give me a hand with this?

[Lehr]

Well, I've been using the same rig for more then five years; and as of late it's been a little slower then normal. My Graphics card is also acting up.



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System Information
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Time of this report: 12/21/2012, 19:59:28
Machine name: LEHR-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.120824-0336)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Studio XPS 435MT
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 6134MB RAM
Page File: 5468MB used, 6995MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 32bit Unicode


That's my system, I know Vista is bad blah blah, it's nothing totally bad, really. I've only had to replace the PSU once. It turns out the one I was using for five years was rather... Out dated. Regardless; it was 300w. My new one is 650w (Thank the lord.) I plan to replace my GPU around April with an ATI 5770 (Unless someone here can help me find a better card. I'm not savvy in the Computer building department.)

Anyway, the problems right now?

My GPU Over heats in certain games. I.E Garrysmod/l4d2 While it remains cool in some games like Company of heroes. Over heats at times in fallout new vegas and Metro 2033. It's idle temprature in the summer is 70c. In the winter? 60c (Sometimes I open the window and let cool air poor in, it goes down to 40c) and I have a desk fan on it. And yes, it's dust free. So, don't worry about it. Sometimes my FPS goes from 40-60 down to 5 and I lag horribly on certain maps in this 'Garrysmod', yet in any other game I never lag. My hard drive seems to be fine for a five year old hunk of steel, and I have a uh... 683 Gig hard drive, 371 of it remains.

My Anti Virus? Norton.

I use Steam to update my 4850 as well, and the CCC Somehow broke. It's fairly slow at times when it comes to booting up, and when I leave it idle it freezes up (Someone disabled sleep mode, even then it was fairly slow when coming out of that.) Does it sound like I just need to defrag? I haven't done that in five years. Before you snap, yes. I know, I was naive when I got the computer. That, and I shared it with someone else until this year.

So, should I just defrag and hope for the best while buying a new GPU, or should I save up for a brand new PC? Also, I have six gigs of ram.

Oh, and uh. I've only bluescreened three times with this PC. And I've only suffered four or so driver failures which required me to restart the game I was playing. Other then that, everything is peachy. Oh, and it's only slow during boot up. It takes roughly... Maybe two, three minutes to boot up. Five more for everything on it to start on it's own, then it runs just smooth. Sometimes it has small lock ups, or explorer.exe kills itself, but that's rare. Very rare.


Oh, and sometimes I hear low weird noises from the PC itself but it's not coming from the hard drive. It's like a low... Click, I guess?

[Sakkura]

Upgrading a Radeon HD 4850 to a 5770 would be a bit silly. It's an upgrade, but only barely. And the 5770 is outdated. A 7770 would be more like it, or ideally a 7850 (better bang for the buck).
As for the temps, idling at 60-70C is kinda bad. But then the 4850 is known to run really hot. Neither 60 or 70 degrees is a problem for the card, it just means there's less room to ramp up before you do get to problematic temperatures. Even more so if your computer case has poor airflow, which would not surprise me in the least.

You've left out some details about the rest of your hardware. What power supply do you have? 650W says about as much as "my car has a 3 litre engine".

The noises you're hearing may or may not be normal. Where exactly are they coming from? CPU fan, graphics card, case fans, power supply?

And finally, not having defragged in 5 years implies you've been running the thing for that long too. Along with CCC apparently "breaking" (dafuq?), I really think it's time to wipe the slate clean. Backup your data, format your boot drive, and reinstall Windows.
The lack of defragging isn't critical, but it's probably part of the reason booting takes that long. As luck would have it, formatting the drive removes the need to defrag and is faster as well.

[Lehr]

VisionTek 650w power supply.


And yes, my case has bad airflow. Sadly, I have a desk fan on it now. It sounds like it's coming from the front of my computer. And it's not really clicking, actually. It sounds different, but it's so silent you couldn't hear it unless you put your head next to the PC. And by breaking, I think I installed a wrong driver.

As for formatting, I've never done that before, really. And I am unsure as to where my disks are. Sadly, the person that used to use this PC was a little... Weird. Regardless, I plan to defrag it the next time I head out and leave it on. And a 7770? Would that work with a VisionTek 650w power supply? And with my current PC loadout?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150656 Is this the card you spoke of?

[Sakkura]

A 7770 uses significantly less power than your 4850, so that should work fine. The 7850 is in roughly the same neighborhood as the 4850.
Either should work well with your system. Your power supply is not from a known quality brand, but 650W leaves more than a little margin for error and since it isn't blowing up with your 4850 it's probably going to be fine with either of those newer ones. I'd still feel more comfortable with a quality power supply running my computer though. Brands like Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, and XFX pretty much guarantee quality.

You've got the right graphics card, yes. By the way, the 7850 comes in two versions, with 1 GB memory or 2 GB. 1 GB is generally going to be enough for 1080p and definitely enough for lower resolutions - 2 GB is recommended for higher resolutions (or multiple monitors), though you could also grab it for 1080p to be on the safe side.

[Lehr]

Alright. Well, I'm just tight for cash so I'm worried that my PC might... Well, bleh. Explode. Anyway, thanks for your imput mister toaster. And I only use one twenty one inch monitor. I barely play games anymore. Mostly CoH (Blitzkrieg mod which makes it HD and hyper realistic) l4d2/Garrysmod. Maybe KF and arma, but that's it.

[Grizzly]

Maybe KF and arma, but that's it.

Arma would probably justify any upgrade you'd do, always and for ever :P.

You've got the right graphics card, yes. By the way, the 7850 comes in two versions, with 1 GB memory or 2 GB. 1 GB is generally going to be enough for 1080p and definitely enough for lower resolutions - 2 GB is recommended for higher resolutions (or multiple monitors), though you could also grab it for 1080p to be on the safe side.

Apperently, the price difference between the two is so low that you might as well want to grab the 2gb version. For one, you can do 1080p and lots of anti-aliasing with it, and for two, all those mods that have HD textures in them will probably run quite a bit smoother.

[Sakkura]

Apperently, the price difference between the two is so low that you might as well want to grab the 2gb version. For one, you can do 1080p and lots of anti-aliasing with it, and for two, all those mods that have HD textures in them will probably run quite a bit smoother.

It takes a lot to get a game using more than 1 GB at 1080p though. IMO either can make sense with a 1080p screen. Higher resolution and you need to get the 2 GB version, lower and the 1 GB version is a no-brainer.

[Lehr]

Well, I have a 200$ buget. So, I think I could manage. My only concern is; do I buy a new GPU or a new PC? The PC I am on is roughly four years old, and she's served me without fault. I've only had to replace the PSU once. Yes, I call it a she.