Upgrading Hardware for Games: Do I Need To?

[L_user]

I have a PC that does not play games well, and it seems to be a problem
with many, if not all, of the games played (so I am told).

One example of a game I am told there are problems with is Crime Scene
Investigation (CSI): the sound of the playback of the voices of the
characters is interrupted, or chopped.


This is the system being used:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600
RAM: 256 MB
mobo: Shuttle AK31
sound: VIA KT266A chipset integrated in mobo
video: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, 32 MB
OS: Win98

Here is the partial report of DXDIAG:

OS: Win 98 (4.10, Build 1998)
Processor: Athlon 1600+ GHz, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.4 GHz
RAM: 256 MB
Page File: 44 MB used, 1748 MB available
Version: 9.0b (4.09.0000.0902)

dxdiag DOES report that sound is done through software buffers,
no hardware acceleration.

No problems or errors are reported by dxdiag, other than some drivers not
being MS-certified.

Question: Is this system good enough for game playing? What accounts
for especially the choppiness of sound. Setting the acceleration levels
in DirectX sound seems not to correct the problem, so I am thinking the
hardware is not up to spec...possibly need to put in sound card...replace
the mobo?

Highest regards.

 

[NoOne]

I had a simular problem in the past. I had to upgrade the Via chipset
driver to make it work correctly.
A bios update may also help.

 

[NoOne]

I had a simular problem in the past. I had to upgrade the Via chipset
driver to make it work correctly.
A bios update may also help.

 

[NoOne]

I had a simular problem in the past. I had to upgrade the Via chipset
driver to make it work correctly.
A bios update may also help.

 

[Jon Danniken]

"L_user"

I have a PC that does not play games well, and it seems to be a problem
with many, if not all, of the games played (so I am told).
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600
RAM: 256 MB
mobo: Shuttle AK31
sound: VIA KT266A chipset integrated in mobo
video: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, 32 MB
OS: Win98

You need a new video card for sure; start with that. Assuming that all of your drivers are up
to date, a different OS (Win2k or WinXP) and another stick of 256M of RAM wouldn't hurt either.

Jon

 

[Ruel Smith (Big Daddy)]

I have a PC that does not play games well, and it seems to be a problem
with many, if not all, of the games played (so I am told).

One example of a game I am told there are problems with is Crime Scene
Investigation (CSI): the sound of the playback of the voices of the
characters is interrupted, or chopped.


This is the system being used:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600
RAM: 256 MB
mobo: Shuttle AK31
sound: VIA KT266A chipset integrated in mobo
video: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, 32 MB
OS: Win98

Here is the partial report of DXDIAG:

OS: Win 98 (4.10, Build 1998)
Processor: Athlon 1600+ GHz, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.4 GHz
RAM: 256 MB
Page File: 44 MB used, 1748 MB available
Version: 9.0b (4.09.0000.0902)

dxdiag DOES report that sound is done through software buffers,
no hardware acceleration.

No problems or errors are reported by dxdiag, other than some drivers not
being MS-certified.

Question: Is this system good enough for game playing? What accounts
for especially the choppiness of sound. Setting the acceleration levels
in DirectX sound seems not to correct the problem, so I am thinking the
hardware is not up to spec...possibly need to put in sound card...replace
the mobo?

Highest regards.

Yes, the system is fine for gameplay. I've played many games on something
less that ran fine. The choppiness in the sound is something probably in
your task tray interrupting your computer. It could also be your sound.
What sound ar you using? Onboard AC'97? Consider a Soundblaster Audigy
card. You could consider upgrading your CPU, but if that's an Athlon XP, I
think the 1600+'s were overclocker's dreams. You may consider overclocking
it.



--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith

My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
3:26pm up 42 days 0:12, 2 users, load average: 0.70, 0.81, 0.49

My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...

 

[NoOne]

I had a simular problem in the past. I had to upgrade the Via chipset
driver to make it work correctly.
A bios update may also help.

 

[bmoag]

You need a video card with at least 64mbs of memory to play new games
adequately.
If your motherboard does not have a 4x AGP slot I would recommend upgrading.
There are some great deals out there on AthlonXP/motherboard combos.
The sound problem is may or may not be software related but I would try
upgrading the drivers for both the sound and the chipset.
In the long run you will be better off with WindowsXP and probably obtain
overall faster performance.
Getting a Soundblaster card may not fix the problem as some games are known
to cause clicking sounds because of incomaptibility with the VIA chip set.
Also some onboard sound systems are not well insulated from the rest of the
motherboard: I had one that audibly clicked every time the mouse button was
clicked (this was NVidia's latest and greatest chipset, believe it or not).
If your BIOS is very out of date and BIOS upgrades are described as solving
a particular problem you are experiencing then upgrading the BIOS is worth
the risk of frying your motherboard (make sure you understand the directions
completely before trying a BIOS upgrade).

 

[DaveW]

The on-board sound is using your CPU for sound processing and during heavy
load in games it causes choppy sound. Get a separate good quality sound
card.

 

[Jon Danniken]

"L_user"

You need a new video card for sure; start with that. Assuming that all of your drivers are up
to date, a different OS (Win2k or WinXP) and another stick of 256M of RAM wouldn't hurt

either.


Oh yeah, you can also try lowering the acceleration values in the control panel > sounds and
multimedia > sound playback > advanced > performance > hardware area and see it if makes any
difference.

Jon

 

[DeMoN LaG]

This is the system being used:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600

This should be fine for now

RAM: 256 MB

Upgrade to 512 MB

mobo: Shuttle AK31

Fine for now

sound: VIA KT266A chipset integrated in mobo

Maybe pick up something like a TurtleBeach Santa cruz for like $40

video: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, 32 MB

Get a GeForceFX5200. They run about $50, and would bring you up to about
half a GF4 Ti4x00 series card, which are still running for around $150
these days

OS: Win98

Upgrade to XP if you can afford the $90. XP is much much better than 98
all around, and would probably utilize your system better.

--
AIM: FrznFoodClerk
email: de_on-lag@co_cast.net (_ = m)
website: under construction
Need a technician in the south Jersey area?
email/IM for rates/services

 

[dummy]

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 19:25:13 GMT, "L_user" <[email protected]>
wrote:

Maybe it is the junky sound.

 

[Night_Seer]

I have a PC that does not play games well, and it seems to be a
problem with many, if not all, of the games played (so I am told).

One example of a game I am told there are problems with is Crime Scene
Investigation (CSI): the sound of the playback of the voices of the
characters is interrupted, or chopped.


This is the system being used:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600
RAM: 256 MB
mobo: Shuttle AK31
sound: VIA KT266A chipset integrated in mobo
video: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, 32 MB
OS: Win98

Here is the partial report of DXDIAG:

OS: Win 98 (4.10, Build 1998)
Processor: Athlon 1600+ GHz, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.4 GHz
RAM: 256 MB
Page File: 44 MB used, 1748 MB available
Version: 9.0b (4.09.0000.0902)

dxdiag DOES report that sound is done through software buffers,
no hardware acceleration.

No problems or errors are reported by dxdiag, other than some drivers
not being MS-certified.

Question: Is this system good enough for game playing? What accounts
for especially the choppiness of sound. Setting the acceleration
levels in DirectX sound seems not to correct the problem, so I am
thinking the hardware is not up to spec...possibly need to put in
sound card...replace the mobo?

Highest regards.

At one point there was a latency problem with VIA chipsets and AGP video
cards, having to do with the sound. It was supposedly fixed in the
later drivers (hyperion?). It can be adjusted with a program called
power strip, but i'd take others suggestions here first. Disable the
onboard sound and try a PCI solution, anything should help at this
point. Also, 512MB of RAM is probably about minimum for gaming
nowadays. Lastly, if you plan on playing higher end games, you could
get away with it with a better video card, but its going to be
stretching the CPU, so you'll probably need to turn lots of setting
down. Is that an XP 1600+ or a 1.6Ghz Athlon? Does your MB support a
1900+ or something similar but cheap?

 

[somebody]

I have a PC that does not play games well, and it seems to be a problem
with many, if not all, of the games played (so I am told).

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 1600
RAM: 256 MB
mobo: Shuttle AK31
sound: VIA KT266A chipset integrated in mobo
video: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX, 32 MB
OS: Win98

Question: Is this system good enough for game playing?

- It should be! But I want to add weight to one thing, that Jon
already has been at. - Get a new video card! Even getting something
like a GF3 Ti 200 will really boost your 3D game performance.
I don't know your budget, but I think I'd be interested in FX5200,
9600SE, 9600, in order of rising cost.

But keep eyes open for any lowprice steal on Ti4200, FX5200pro,
FX5600. 9600pro as well.

I hope you can get help for your sound problems.

Ancra

 

[BarryNL]

It's a bit underspecced for most modern games. I'd put an FX5200 or
Radeon 9200 video card in plus an OEM 5.1 sound card - or maybe an OEM
Soundblaster Live 5.1

 

[Andy]

I have a PC that does not play games well, and it seems to be a problem
with many, if not all, of the games played (so I am told).

One example of a game I am told there are problems with is Crime Scene
Investigation (CSI): the sound of the playback of the voices of the
characters is interrupted, or chopped.

Assuming you have made sure you have all the latest drivers including the
chipset you could just turn down the detail level in the game.

I play NFS Underground and MotoGP on a Toshiba Laptop with a 1.6 P4 and a
Geoforce Go card with only 16MB RAM. Very playable at 1024 resolution but
yes I have to turn the game detail down to about 50% of full values in both
these games.

This would be the cheapest way

Andy

 

[Dave]

Do you have third party codecs installed? I play freelancer and when I
installed Nimo Codec Pack I got the same problems as you. I removed the
problem when I uninstalled Nimo. Not sure which codec was causing problems
but I did not want to spend days on trial and error.

Dave