thanks a bunch for the help, i learned a few things and im just gonna keep my pc how it is. i didn't think it was gonna be so complicated but if you guys say im good then im good! but eventually im gonna upgrade and now i have enough knowlegde to do so. i am going to look more into overclocking because i read you could get a 50%-75% difference in performance! thanks again guys!

Quote from jonny dank :

the 4870 looks nice, 1g, but with an HDMI adapter how can it pass sound, doesn't it have to be straight out of the card for that(HDMI carries great sound by the way).

The 4850 that I have has integrated sound. Its DVI output contains 7.1 sound that's carried by HDMI, if you use the included adapter. I had to install a separate Ati sound driver (not in Catalyst) and select a different sound device in control panel.

I suspect the 4870 does the same. One cable to plasma TV is how I play.

Yeah the PSU indeed is only like 350W.
I think i'm gonna go for like 700W or something just in case
Thanks for the help!

EDIT: Which PSU should it be, something like this? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/ ... duct.php?prodid=CA-008-CS
or this? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/ ... %20Modular%20ATX2.0%20PSU

Quote from Jakg :

...... From the fact you understand that the CPU isn't the actual box itself means you immediately know more than most of my customers!

Well lets be honest Jak, you'd have to be pretty stupid to buy stuff from PC World anyhow .

My RAM came from there :X

(4GB OCZ DDR800 Reapers for £33? yes please!)

Staff discount by per chance?

Actually - no. It was a very very good deal and of course got snapped up quickly, but being a member of HUKD I found out about it first and bought some

With staff discount I got it for £30 in the end (I also get all my £10 phone topups for £9 )

Quote from george_tsiros :

:gnasher:
yes. a quadcore 2.4 core2 is not enough for lfs. :chairs:

Pentium IV 3.2 ghz will get better framerates than this.
Know why? Because LFS don't support multi-cores.

Quote from Shadowww :

Pentium IV 3.2 ghz will get better framerates than this.
Know why? Because LFS don't support multi-cores.

so, a quadcore 2.4 core2 is not enough for lfs? is that what you are saying?

what do you think my cpu is capable of if i overclock it? 4+ghz?

Quote from Shadowww :

Pentium IV 3.2 ghz will get better framerates than this.
Know why? Because LFS don't support multi-cores.

No it won't. The P4 was extremely badly designed - Netburst was a failure for Intel. A 2.4GHz Q6600 is (even in single threaded apps) faster than a 3.2GHz P4, simply because of architectural superiority. Core 2 didn't just multiply the number of cores, you know

EDIT: Tom's Hardware chart seems to back me up (UT2004 is single threaded, too)
http://www.tomshardware.com/ch ... Marque_fbrandx14,398.html

Quote from george_tsiros :

so, a quadcore 2.4 core2 is not enough for lfs? is that what you are saying?

No it's not. He said Pentium IV 3.2 ghz will get better framerates than this.
Know why? Because LFS don't support multi-cores. He simply thinks an old P4 is faster, because the quad core can't benefit from its 4 cores in LFS.

Quote from jonny dank :

what do you think my cpu is capable of if i overclock it? 4+ghz?

You said yourself you're not experienced at all with computer hardware. If I were you I wouldn't overclock at all - you're liable to do damage to your hardware if you try and push it too far. It's fine as it is

I recently got a 4850 and with my AMD 5400+ BE it's getting me 250+ fps with max AA/AF @ 1680x1050.

So, yeah, a 4850 would do you just fine.

Quote from hrtburnout :

No it's not. He said Pentium IV 3.2 ghz will get better framerates than this.
Know why? Because LFS don't support multi-cores. He simply thinks an old P4 is faster, because the quad core can't benefit from its 4 cores in LFS.

he suggested overclocking an already very fast processor, way faster than what is needed for LFS, even at high graphical settings (Where the problem is the gpu, not the cpu anyway).
It is completely pointless.

plus, the 3.2 p4 is not faster than a 2.4 core2. even the 3.6GHz Extreme Editio ... the 1.8GHz, 'slow' core2, in every game. let's not talk about a simple 3.2 p4 being faster than a 2.4Ghz Q6600... that is ridiculous... the q6600 is about twice as fast as the 3.6GHz EE p4...

Quote from george_tsiros :

he suggested overclocking an already very fast processor, way faster than what is needed for LFS, even at high graphical settings (Where the problem is the gpu, not the cpu anyway).
It is completely pointless.

plus, the 3.2 p4 is not faster than a 2.4 core2. even the 3.6GHz Extreme Editio ... the 1.8GHz, 'slow' core2, in every game. let's not talk about a simple 3.2 p4 being faster than a 2.4Ghz Q6600... that is ridiculous... the q6600 is about twice as fast as the 3.6GHz EE p4...

You saying that made my day !
But even faster then the extreme? How is that possible? doesn't more GHz equal better performance?

Quote from JohnUK89 :

You said yourself you're not experienced at all with computer hardware. If I were you I wouldn't overclock at all - you're liable to do damage to your hardware if you try and push it too far. It's fine as it is

i wasn't suggesting that i do it, that would be bad, but i could get one of the techs from the circut city i used to work at to do it. he can't say no to money and i have 2 extra fans so it should be ok, shouldn't it?

ok, get the tech, give him money...

and what will you get? I mean, for the money that you will give him?

how about... instead of giving money to overclock an already fast enough cpu... you use the extra money to get a faster graphics card, which is just what your machine needs...

Quote from george_tsiros :

ok, get the tech, give him money...

and what will you get? I mean, for the money that you will give him?

how about... instead of giving money to overclock an already fast enough cpu... you use the extra money to get a faster graphics card, which is just what your machine needs...

I agree. A nice 4850 wouldn't do any harm at all. In fact, it'd do all manner of good. I say get one.

Saying stuff like a P4 would beat a C2D is what gets people confused. If you don't know what you're talking about, either ask or keep quiet. It's just confusing for other people actually trying to work out what is the best approach.

im talking about giving him 5 or 10 bucks, he's my friend but like i said im just gonna wait on this one and see what i can do with what i got.

That's cool, I meant you were doing things the right way by trying to find out more and taking in people's advice.

I was specifically talking about Shadowww giving bad advice.

Quote from Stiggie :

Since we're on it already,
I also have a store-bought pc, but i can't really find which motherboard is in there.

I recon it's some bad one, but i just bought it with a Q6600@ 2.4 GHz too, 2 GB Ram, also it had some standard card in it so i replaced it for a 8600GT.

Now.. would a motherboard in a store-bought pc actually support most of the newer videocards (9800GT(X)/(S))? Or just burn out at the first startup? As i'm not satisfied with the 8600GT. LFS runs great with it (1680x1050 60Hz, 32 bit, 4xAA and 16x filterthingy) at around 80-130FPS max, but the newer games like Crysis and cod4 don't quite run great on it somehow.

Especially Crysis (10 fps ) Thats why i'm interested in buying like a 9800GT or something like that (no i'm not that rich!) Would a store-bought motherboard support that, do you know if there are some pretty good motherboards in those most of the time? Oh i bought it like a month ago. The brand is fujitsu siemens.

Sorry for going that OT on your topic jonnydank !

Excuse me for the bump. But i figured out which motherboard i've got, after taking it apart to check for dust;
MSI MS-7379

Now, i've asked if it would support the newest cards, and i found this about the slots from the motherboard;
Slots:
- One PCI Express 16X slot for PCI Express X16 graphic card.
- One PCI Express 1X slot.
- Two PCI 2.3 32-bit Master PCI Bus slots. (support 3.3v/5v PCI bus interface).

So.. would a new card work on that motherboard? Jakq??
Thanks in advance.

Yes, any PCI-e (PCI Express) GFX card will work.

What PSU do you have, do you know? And what does it currently have? If it has onboard atm and you swap it for a GTX260/280 it'll probably not boot as it won't be able to supply enough power...

The psu is just a little box on the top right corner at the back right? That's isn't onboard, is it? I think i am going to need to change it ofcourse, as it's just the standard one providing 350W.
How much should i have for a new GFX card? 550-700W right?