[Athene]

Hey guys, i've recently bought a PC game that I couldn't play due to the gameplay being far too glitchy. Basically my computer couldn't handle it at all (game was The Witcher). I guess I will need to get some new parts but i'm not actually sure what parts i'll need. I'm ok with upgrading the RAM from 1GB to 3GB but I don't know if that will help the game to run. I also think it could be the graphics card that is the problem, I want to get a new one of those too (the 8000 series) but I don't know if my motherboard will accept that or the RAM upgrade. I'm not fluent with computer hardware & such so I could really do with as much help as possible. I bought the computer from a store so it wasn't custom built, the options for overclocking and such are locked in the BIOS and can't be tampered with, I don't know if this suggests problems or anything. Heres my current computer spec:

Computer: Compaq Presario SR1000
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Pro SP2
DirectX: 9.0c
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3700+
Mem: 512MBx2 (=1GB DDR-SDRAM)
Motherboard: MSI AMETHYST -M 1.0
Audio: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 6200SE TurboCache(TM)
Hard Drive1: 142GB
Hard Drive2: 149GB
Disk Drive: LG DVD+R 8x (black)

I don't have alot of money to spend and i'm not a hardcore gamer, I'd just like this one game to work. But again I have no idea if fitting 2GB extra RAM or buying a new Graphics card will work.. Please help.

[moozer]

Originally Posted by Athene

I don't have alot of money to spend and i'm not a hardcore gamer, I'd just like this one game to work. But again I have no idea if fitting 2GB extra RAM or buying a new Graphics card will work.. Please help.

You'll be wanting a major upgrade of CPU, RAM and Graphics if you want to meet the recommended specs for The Witcher.

2GB of RAM on any system seems to be the "sweet spot" for Vista AND XP - any more is just showing off really!!

I'd look at upgrading CPU to at least Athlon x2 5000, 512MB graphics card - at least geforce 8600GT or similar

The Witcher (great game!!) requires (at most and recommended by manufacturer) - Athlon x2 5600, 2GB RAM, 256MB GeForce 7900 GTX/Radeon 1950 Pro or better

So you have the RAM, you need to find out about what connection your mobo has for graphics (PCI-express is standard now), and the processor needs upgrading (although at lowest specs for game - what you have is theoretically fine but may struggle)

Download SIW from here - http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html - click siw with installer. Install that and run it - it will tell you exactly what is in your PC - motherboard type, memory type, etc, etc - I think you can generate a report with this tool - so post that on here and more help will be coming your way!!

[Triple6]

I would advise against upgrading your computer. You have a budget big brand name system, they are not design to be high performance computers or to support much in terms of upgrading.

But if you do want to go that route, or its your only option then you need to look at two things. The first being the video card, and the second being the power supply to support the new video card. I'd look at the Geforce 8800GT with 512MB of RAM and a quality 450 watt power supply.

512MB 8800GT: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121224
450 Watt PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954

Here are the requirements for the game: http://www.thewitcher.com/community/...uirements.html

After that I'd be adding more RAM to get up to 2GB. You need to identify the exact model you have: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...n&cc=us&dlc=en You may only have two slots and you may have to remove some memory to add more.

CPU upgrades are a little hard on these big brand systems because they rarely list what they will support and CPU support isn't updated via BIOS updates often.

Now if you actually add all that up, you're not that far off from building a new system, especially if you factor in selling your old PC as a whole unit.