PC question for FFXIV

[brent]

Im having huge problems with FFXIV benchmark. Im scoring like a 300 lol. I wanna know if I upgrade my PC's video card and ram will I be able to run ffxiv?
Im also running XP instead of windows 7 atm.
AMD Phenom(tm)x4 955
3.21ghz
comp has 8mb of ram says 3.25 available atm, dunno what that means.
And for vidoe adaptor it says AMD 760g
I totally suck with computers but love to game, any help I can get would be a huge help.

[Cheerios]

Well, AMD 760g is integrated, so you aren't going to be playing anything with that.

You said 8mb of ram (which I assume GB), but 8 seems like overkill compared to your other specs. You are likely running a 32 bit operating system if you do indeed have 8 GB of RAM (memory), and 32 bit OS's can't use more than 4 GB.

Your processor is fine, but you really need a video card to run a game like FFXIV, and a 64 bit operating system if you want to use more than the 3.25GB of ram that it shows.

[Olo401]

Im also running XP instead of windows 7 atm.
...
comp has 8mb of ram says 3.25 available atm, dunno what that means.

It means your machine is running with a 32-bit version of XP. Any 32-bit OS has a hard cap on system resource allocations. For system memory that cap is about 3.7GB, and anything over that actually deducts from the amount of available memory for programs to use. I'm actually amazed that it shows you have that much memory showing available - I figured you'd have like 1GB available after the system allocated all that extra memory space.

That, combined with the fact that you're using integrated graphics, is what's causing you to score a 300 on the bench. You need to do two things:
- Upgrade to a 64-bit OS so your system isn't crippled by an overabundance of memory
- Get a expansion video card

I'm not sure what your budget looks like, but here's what I would do that will get you a score of 3000 or better and won't break the bank:

Video Card - EVGA GTS450 1GB ($130), Sapphire Radeon 5770 1GB ($155) or MSI GTX460 768MB ($180)
OS - Win7 Home Premium 64-bit DIY Upgrade - $100

[Hiryo]

/hijack

I can open FFXIV, but my video card's memory is so bad(i think) that I can't do much with it, and I can't even get picture on the benchmark :\
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (pretty sure most people doing well have quad core processors)
Nvidia GForce 6100 nForce 205 with lol125MB memory

So yeah, I know the Video card will need to be replaced, but what I don't know(also never bought comp components) is how to tell what cards will work with my motherboard. Or, you know, if I need to replace my Dual Core anyway.

[Pikarya]

Find out your motherboard model. Download Speccy.

[Olo401]

/hijack

I can open FFXIV, but my video card's memory is so bad(i think) that I can't do much with it, and I can't even get picture on the benchmark :\
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (pretty sure most people doing well have quad core processors)
Nvidia GForce 6100 nForce 205 with lol125MB memory

So yeah, I know the Video card will need to be replaced, but what I don't know(also never bought comp components) is how to tell what cards will work with my motherboard. Or, you know, if I need to replace my Dual Core anyway.

That particular GPU (GeForce 6100) is an integrated one as well. And even though that board (nForce 205) is kinda old I'm pretty certain you can use any PCI-E video card. You will absolutely need more memory though, and I'm not sure what your board's max memory is without knowing the model.

[Don Katsu]

Video Card: 5850 $219.99 http://www.techbargains.com/news_displayItem.cfm/227198

[Hiryo]

According to

Download Speccy.

Vista 32 bit
AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+
2.0GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @301MHz
Gateway MCP61SM2MA (socket AM2)
128MB GeForce 6100 nForce 205

[Cheerios]

A video card would be a major plus, but your memory is also pretty awful at the moment. You can probably get by with your processor, so getting a new motherboard shouldn't be necessary at the moment.

[Olo401]

Hmmm.. Gateway MCP61SM2MA (socket AM2) (don't mind the letters in the pic below)

http://www.ascendtech.us/mmASC/Images/4006232R.jpg

Well the good news is you can upgrade the memory to 4gigs of DDR2-800, and after a bios update the CPU to most AM2+ processors up to the Phenom x4 9950BE (and possibly including the Phenom II x4 920 or 940). Double-check with Gateway/E-Machines to be 100% sure though.

[brent]

Hey guys went and got a Radeon 5770 and windows 7. game runs great now. Thank you for the help

[Hiryo]

Yeah also thanks for the help. I just have to get these components and a 2nd comp and we'll be all set over here.

[fishstix]

note that with prebuilt systems, an upgrade in video card may need an upgrade in the powersupply too, get that checked out

[izembo]

old motherboard i know, but related question i have, whats the best processor you could throw on a INTEL D945GPMLKR MOTHERBOARD?

[fishstix]

checked 2 google hits to be sure, but a pentium D 3.6ghz. I think you'd be better off saving your money though

http://www.intel.com/support/motherb.../CS-026536.htm

[izembo]

yeah, thats what i figured it was