compter knowitalls required

peet · Post by **peet** » Sun May 15, 2011 10:56 am

To opt out hardware failure did you try booting up a live cd like

www.ubuntu.com

(download the live cd image, and burn is as an IMAGE to a cd with e.g. imgburner. The live cd does not touch your hard disk)

If Ubuntu does not start either you are in for a trip to a repair shop.

When Ubuntu does start, you can drag/drop important files to your usb stick or delete files on the hard disk.

Ion · Post by **Ion** » Sun May 15, 2011 12:43 pm

Ok cool ill try the above, I am sat thinking though this is an idle upgrade time since it is 4 years old and i. have cash set aside for such a situation but we shall see.

Ion · Post by **Ion** » Sun May 15, 2011 3:12 pm

Well ive found the issue! Gcard died. So hooked up to intergrated for now. Time to go shopping for a upgrade plug n play gcard and more ram i think ha

Thank you for all the help though, bit gutted i did entire system wipe now ha. We live & learn

Ion · Post by **Ion** » Mon May 16, 2011 8:26 pm

Ok so next question

since i dont know much about gcards lol

been looking at this Gcard to upgrade to since it is a 2.0 connector, would just like your opinions since im not looking for anything to run super intense games @ super high settings (perhaps med to low @ a stable fps) would this suffice for your average casual gamer?

plus upgrading to 4 gb ram instead of 2

Post by **FreeBeer** » Mon May 16, 2011 9:10 pm

You Euros are crazy. 85 pounds for a card that sells on Amazon for $60 USD.

But yeah, that card will probably server you quite well. I'm no expert, though.

You'd also want to check with other folks' experience with that card and Allegiance. There's been some issues with ATI cards and Alleg, but I think that was more a driver problem and the card itself, and it was only for certain cards/drivers. I've been happy with my NVidia GeForce GT 430. I think I paid about $70 CAD for that several months ago. Nice 'n quiet, too.

madpeople · Post by **madpeople** » Mon May 16, 2011 9:35 pm

Ion wrote:QUOTE (Ion @ May 16 2011, 09:26 PM) Ok so next question since i dont know much about gcards lol

been looking at this Gcard to upgrade to since it is a 2.0 connector, would just like your opinions since im not looking for anything to run super intense games @ super high settings (perhaps med to low @ a stable fps) would this suffice for your average casual gamer?

I'd suggest you don't buy from PC world because...

Bard · Post by **Bard** » Tue May 17, 2011 2:32 am

Careful with that card - make ABSOLUTELY SURE your motherboard is new enough to support it. Just having the right size slot doesn't mean that particular card will work.

When it says "PCI Express 2.1 x16 bus interface" that "2.1" is *really* important. You can have a PCI Express x16 slot that is *not* "2.1".

It'll fit just fine, boot up without error, and you won't see a damn thing no matter what you do in the BIOS or how powerful your PSU is.

I'm currently sitting on two un-returnable ones I can't use.

I got the Radeon HD 5670, so one model up -- but the 2.1 is an extremely important distinction.

HSharp · Post by **HSharp** » Tue May 17, 2011 7:18 am

Actually it's just best to check if the gfx card is compatible with your motherboard rather then mobo being new enough. I remember buying one Radeon 3000 something which was incompatible with my mobo despite newer and older variants being compatible and right slot etc... for some bizarre reason.

Ion · Post by **Ion** » Tue May 17, 2011 5:21 pm

madpeople wrote:QUOTE (madpeople @ May 17 2011, 08:35 AM) I'd suggest you don't buy from PC world because...

ha mad i'm merely browsing I know how cheap you can get it, was just the last website I visited before posting

thanks for your advice

Ion · Post by **Ion** » Tue May 17, 2011 7:50 pm

Here we go again! about Ram this time!

Ive just plugged in 2 x 1gb pc2 8500 (freebies from i.t at work) into the comp in the yellow. along with the original 2gb pc2 5300 (ddr2), which i checked are compatible on the system.

But if I scan the comp for instance from the online places like crucial it only picks up that 2 out of the 4 slots are in use with 3gb of ram installed.

Windows shows a total of 3327mb installed, does this suggest one of the cards are faulty or am i just being the usual tech retard & am having a techfart due to my lack of knowledge and under standing ha. I know the intergrated gcard atm is sucking some of the ram but not 600 as posed to the 225 when 2gb was installed.

thank you for your patience, be gentle