@keithyb, It means that you can flash (sort of like install) a differnt BIOS into it in order to unlock extra pipes. The Sapphire Radeon x800GTO2 (available for PCI Express only) is confirmed to be flashable to an x850xt PE. People have been having luck flashing a Sapphire Radeon x800GTO (this is the AGP one) to an x800xl. I provided links in a previous post about flashing. However, flashing has risks, so unless if you are confident in what you are doing, do not do it. Read up a lot about it and make certain you have a card that is flashable. You can use something like ATI Tool to view detailed technical information about your card.
No, that is the one to change between Europe and US voltage. You have to open the case in order to see the ratings. Here is a picture from someone who was showing how to build a PC: http://www.mysuperpc.com/antec_case_inside.jpg On the upper left hand corner, you will see the power supply and the sticker sheet. That is what you want to look at. Just keep in mind that your power supply will look different unless you have the same one.
I have a link to a program where you can overclock your graphics card also. I was only getting 40 frames per secound with F.E.A.R. When I raised both my clock speeds I was getting 59 on average. Works great. Seems pretty harmless too. If you go too high on the clock speeds you will see some glitches and you can just lower the speeds. You can also set custom resoltion with it. If anyone is interesting let me know, thanks!
@Samsquach, I just found out that vsync is the biggest framerate killer!!! I used to get the following with my x700pro: 45-60FPS indoors 30-45FPS in cities 20-30FPS outdoors I turned off vsync and I was getting the following: 100-120FPS indoors 60-75FPS in cities 45-55FPS outdoors This means I can probably add quite a bit of eye candy. Try out the fx5200 without vsync to see if that helps your performance. You can turn all detail settings to low, but keep the view distance at max or at least 75% and object distance at 25%. The game still looks good like this. Make sure grass distance is all the way to the left and all shadows should be off and that you are playing at 640x480 resolution.
When you first double click on the Oblivion Icon, it will open the Oblivion Launcher. This one will have an "option" button. Go to this. Uncheck "vsync" to turn it off and play in Full Screen Mode. The rest you will change in the next menu. When finished you can go back to the launcher menu and select "play" This will now launch the game and take you to the main menu. In the main menu, click "options" and this will bring up a new menu. Select "video". Here is what I recommend for your video settings: Resolution: 640x480 Brightness: no affect on performance Texture size: Small Tree fade: All the way left (0%) Actor Fade: 25% Item Fade: 25% Object Fade: 25% Grass Distance: 0% View Distance: 100% Distant Land: On Distant Builfings: On Distant Trees: Off Int. Shadows: 0% Ext. Shadows: 0% Self Shadows: Off Shadows on Grass: Off Tree Canopy Shadows: Off Shadow Filtering: Off Specular Distance: 0% HDR: Unsupported Bloom: Off Water Detail: Normal Water Reflections: Off Water Ripples: Off Windows Reflections: Off Blood Decals: High Anti-Aliasing: Off This is what I consider Very Low. You are getting no eye candy, but you still have view distance. After making these settings, try out the game (you will have to exit the game and restart for some settings to take effect). After the game starts, press the ~ key on your keyboard. Then enter the following without the quotes: "tdt". This will open the debugging text which shows your framerate. press the ~ key to preceed playing the game. Do all sorts of things like cast spells, run around, swing a sword, jump up and down, etc... to see how the framerates look. If you get decent performance, consider raising Texture size and object fade to 50% or so. If your performance is still bad, then you would have to upgrade your video card. Also, if a RAM upgrade is possible, 1GB of total RAM will greatly reduce loading and stuttering during gameplay, however, the video card is way more important, because I am getting very nice framerate with the x700pro, 2.53GHz CPU and 512MB RAM. Also, here is an x800xl (better than x800GTO and 6800GT) for $165 shipped from eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Radeon-X800...ryZ40158QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem This seems to come from a home, so there is the possibility it was overclocked, however at that price it is very cheap. Just remember, you may need a new power supply depending on what you currently have.
I tried changing the settings and it went a bit faster indoors but it is still unbearably slow. Outside and in cities didnt change at all. I think ill just get the video card. How much is it for a RAM upgrade?
I think your best deal will be this for an extra 1GB ($80): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145450 This should perform better though ($130): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146890 For 512MB, this seems like good RAM ($60): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146895 However, before upgrading, download this software: http://download.guru3d.com/sandra/ I do not use it, but it will give you information about your PC. I use Everest, but that is no longer free... I think SiSoft Sandra may be better though, but I'm not sure. Then reply with your hardware configuration. Include your motherboard and CPU. It should tell you the socket for the CPU. I ask, because a motherboard upgrade may be possible. Also, it is extremely important to find out about your Power supply. Open up your case and list what is on the sticker. Watts, and the 12V values are most important. Also, what is your budget for upgrading?
My mother board is an Asus but im not sure what model. My CPU is 2.4 ghz. How do I open the case? I'm only 12 yrs old so I dont have too much experience with these things. I dont wany to spend over 250$CAD funds for a graphics card and 100$CAD funds on other stuff.
The motherboard is important because motherboards have a limit on RAM. You could have a motherboard with 2 slots and a 2GB limit or 4 slots and a 4GB limit etc... Install the software that I gave you the link to. It will tell you exactly which motherboard you have. You can uninstall it if you wish afterwards. To open the case, this will work for most cases. Turn your computer around. Now, staring at the back, look at the right side. There should be 2 or 3 screws on the right side of the case. Most likely they will be screws that you can unscrew by hand, meaning that they are grippable. Unscrew the 3 screws. Now, place your fingers on the side of the case and your thumb on the back. Apply pressure to the side to form a good grip and now push with your thumb. This should release the side. Now, you can pull out the side panel and have access to the inside of your PC. If you cannot open the case, take some photos of the sides and back using a camera and host them at http://imageshack.us/ Then give the links and I can take a look at them. i can then draw on the pictures and tell you what to do. I will look up some items for you and see what I can come up with in terms of upgrades. It is a bit harder though since you are in Canada. I am not sure what is available to you.
Sorry for the late response. I was pretty busy the past few days. I checked out the motherboard and it is a socket 478 with 800MHz FSB. That is what I thought it was. Unfortunately, an upgrade to PCIe is not possible due to the socket type, but you will be fine for quite a while with your setup. Also, the max RAM is 4GB, so that is a big plus!! I also looked at your pics of the case. I am reposting your pictures, but I have drawn on them to show you what to unscrew and how to pull out the side panel. First, UNPLUG the PC!!! http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/4056/backtop12sx.jpg http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/4153/backbottom25mq.jpg http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/979/sideview31wf.jpg I only saw two screw in the pictures. If there are any more screws that I could not see on that same side panel, unscrew them as well. After you unscrew all the screws on the side panel, place your thumb on the back of the case and your fingers on the grip on the side panel. Then apply force with your thumb whule squeezing the grip with your fingers to unlock the side panel by sliding it toward the back. You can tell because it will move approx 1/2" toward the back. After this, you will be able to remove the side panel and have access to the inside of the PC. After you remove the panel, look for the sticker on the power supply and post the Total Output wattage and the amperage on the different rails, but especially the 12V one. With any luck you will have enough power to upgrade to a previous generation high end card. However, take a picture of the inside as well. This will help so that I can see how the case looks inside to see if there is enough space. Also, I can draw a diagram for the video card removal if you like.
i need help for some issue. I have a problem, when i use "bloom" setting, the game put so much ligth in everything, so all looks very ugly.It wont happen always but its very annoying and i dont want to quit the bloom settings. What can i do? my sistem p4 3.2 socket 478. 1 gb memory kingston 3200 at radeon x800xt aiw 256 mgs hard drive seagate 7200 rpm (2) thanks...!
You can try lowering the brightness. HDR is not compatible with your graphics card, so if lowering the brightness doesn't help, then you may have to turn off bloom. Another thing to consider is specular distance. That determines how much things shine, especially armors and such. If you lower this setting, it may take away the glare or whatever it is that's bugging you. If you have it at about 25% it will only make you shine and completely off, nothing shines (by shine I mean that crazy glare), however the game still looks great.
