System Spec...DDR or DDR2?

Apologies in advance, I know the answer to this is probably already in a therad somewhere but I cant find it as there is so many! I would of thought the answer would be clear on the main age as its quite a important topic?!

Basically like many I couldnt run the demo as my graphics were not up to speed.

I have an option to buy a DDR graphics card for £40 (ideally) but have been told a lot of recent games wont run with DDR they need DDR2, is this the case with FM2009? Will cost around £100 to upgrade to this which I dont want to do ideally but needs must and this is the greatest game on earth after all!

Many Thanks

is your mobo pci express or agp?

i can recommend a card based on your spec and your budget.

little more info tho plz.

Thanks les Im not sure if its pci or agp I can check tomorrow when home the PC is about 4 years old if that helps?! 512 RAM, 80 GB, IP4 2.8 ghz processor. Not sure what other info you need?

it will probably be agp if its 4 years old mate.

good news is that ram is cheap and you can pick up a perfectly good agp card for pennies off ebay.

just need to know:

make and model if its oem machine

if its home built, what motherboard and chipset it is. you can find this by looking at the motherboard usually it is written on it on the edges or the center. if not it will have the manufacturer and a model number at least.

can recommend best upgrades to suit your system bus/potential then.

I got to tell you that it wont run the latest games very well (maybe some ok but not crysis 2 etc!) even after being upgraded sadly. but it will run fm 09 perfectly well and should cope with games 1-3 years old at modest settings. modern games are mostly graphics card bound now but fm is very cpu/memory bandwidth intensive.

Thanks les Im not sure if its pci or agp I can check tomorrow when home the PC is about 4 years old if that helps?! 512 RAM, 80 GB, IP4 2.8 ghz processor. Not sure what other info you need?

I would suggest more ram (at least 1GB), a bigger hard drive (200GB+) and to be honest I dont think your processor is up to much either. I think it would probably be just as cheap to get a new computer going by these specs.

I would suggest more ram (at least 1GB), a bigger hard drive (200GB+) and to be honest I dont think your processor is up to much either. I think it would probably be just as cheap to get a new computer going by these specs.

depends what his budget is and what he wants to achieve. not bad base spec for basic gamer and office machine.

so far he has only said he was thinking of spending 40 on a new gpu. i would say at least 350 for a decent gaming rig new build. bit of a difference yes?

hawkes: my rig was only 300 euro to build and plays fm 09 and most games perfectly in 3d.

amd x2 6000+

2 gb of 6400 ddr2

asus m2n-x mobo nvidia nforce 520 chipset (35 euro!)

ati radeon HD 3850

seagate 250 gb sata 2 hard drive

hiper 500 w psu

all delivered for under 350 euro. this was last christmas as well so already 30% cheaper now ..

it aint expensive but as trekman says there is a point where its better to buy new than to upgrade. all depends on your budgets.

Thanks for the info guys. I know it wont run great but Im only worried about playing FM and will get a new PC next year when money not so tight so happy paying about £40 for a quick fix now. It run FM2008 absolutely fine so I think the only prob is the graphics!

Les, its a eMachines not sure model, again I can check again tomorrow when home.

Thanks very much for your help with this! I cant go much longer with missing out on this game!

Thanks for the info guys. I know it wont run great but Im only worried about playing FM and will get a new PC next year when money not so tight so happy paying about £40 for a quick fix now. It run FM2008 absolutely fine so I think the only prob is the graphics!

Les, its a eMachines not sure model, again I can check again tomorrow when home.

Thanks very much for your help with this! I cant go much longer with missing out on this game!

when you check have a look at the motherboard (open case if you can) and see how many banks of ram it has. if it has two thats ok but some emaches only have one.

right now you are right to go for a small upgrade if you plan to buy new next year.

a gig of ram is pretty much free its so cheap and a half decent nvidia gpu off ebay with 256mb of ram will see you through.

Ok Les well Im back about 3 tomorrow so I will open her up and let you know more details and if you can give me the ifo on what I need that will be great! Thanks for your help!

Just one more question...The demo wouldnt run because of the graphics but should I be able to run the game if I get it as isnt there a option to use the 2D match engine instead of the 3D and the 2D run fine on FM2008?

Ok Les well Im back about 3 tomorrow so I will open her up and let you know more details and if you can give me the ifo on what I need that will be great! Thanks for your help!

Just one more question...The demo wouldnt run because of the graphics but should I be able to run the game if I get it as isnt there a option to use the 2D match engine instead of the 3D and the 2D run fine on FM2008?

wait and see about the upgrades first before buying the game. if the demo doesnt run the game wont either. they are the same thing with a different exe. the game in the present release is slow, even on top spec boxes it suffers ui lag now and then. the 2d has been criticised by people for being slow too.

i'd wait on buying the game until we have assessed your pc. best way to avoid disappointment.

Great stuff les! Ill give you more info tomorrow.

Cheers!

What a helpful person you are, Les Girondins we need more of this on the forums rather than folk greeting about how they cant work things!

Credit to the original poster for not making one of those "need help quickly, this is soo important" threads.

Ho hum, that is all i wanted to say, back to FM !

hawkes when you open the case, if you can emachines can be stupidly hard to get in to (dont break anything!), dont touch anything inside. this is very important. if you transmit static to the chips it can damage your pc. dont put the pc on the carpet. put it on a glass or wood table or something non conductive. and touch the outside of the case on the metal before you go in ok? make sure the psu is turned off as well. don't be careless.

should not need to open case if you can find the model name number anyway ..

depends what his budget is and what he wants to achieve. not bad base spec for basic gamer and office machine.

so far he has only said he was thinking of spending 40 on a new gpu. i would say at least 350 for a decent gaming rig new build. bit of a difference yes?

My main concern with his current system is really the processor and the Hard drive. The game is very processor intensive and he may have overheating issues with his current processor as a P4 is really poor by todays standards. Also the games are quite big so a 80gb hard drive will get full pretty quickly. The version of windows he has will also make a difference. If its vista then anything less than 1GB ram then it will struggle.

Apologies in advance, I know the answer to this is probably already in a therad somewhere but I cant find it as there is so many! I would of thought the answer would be clear on the main age as its quite a important topic?!

Basically like many I couldnt run the demo as my graphics were not up to speed.

I have an option to buy a DDR graphics card for £40 (ideally) but have been told a lot of recent games wont run with DDR they need DDR2, is this the case with FM2009? Will cost around £100 to upgrade to this which I dont want to do ideally but needs must and this is the greatest game on earth after all!

Many Thanks

DDR graphis card? The latest graphics cards run DDR5 and run happily on a mobo that only allows DDR2 Ram. Not being rude but you may need to do some more homework

Maybe detail what you have and what your budget is and what operating system you currently have and maybe I or someone else can helo you. Likely the biggest improvement you can make is simply adding more ram. I'd recommend 2gb minimum