Looking for charity (PC and PC parts)

[Caydnn]

Basically I barely meet the minimum requirements in some areas and not at all in others. Even with the game settings turned all the way down I am unable to play it at a stable frame rate.

Me and my wife have gone through some very difficult times as of late and are completely broke. The only reason I am getting the game is as a gift for my birthday (dec 16th) and Christmas which is basically everyone who was going to get me something putting the money into that one gift. Which believe me I am completely happy with that being my only gift.

However, I found out through the 2 beta weekends I was able to attend, that I am barely able to play. The more bothersome part is that I can't PvP.

I am asking for any and all spare PCs/parts that you may have and were going to have recycled or thrown away or w/e that might be an upgrade for me. I am only asking to borrow these parts unless otherwise specified and any spare parts that are given to me to keep that I end up not using will be used to build computers to be donated. I will only be building/upgrading one computer for myself.

I currently have the following in my tower right now:
Core 2 Duo 1.86 CPU
Nvidia gt 240 (apparently this card is a re packaged 210/9500 which explained the low price)
4 gigs of ddr2 ram
on-board sound (causes me to hear skipping audio or no audio at all)
Intel DG965WH mobo

My harddrive is a 7200rpm 1T seagate that I am fine with, and my drive is a Lite-On dvdrw that is also fine for me.

Any parts that would help just getting me to a stable frame rate on the lowest of settings would be greatly appreciated and will be returned in the condition it was received in if it is being borrowed.

I hate doing this but I don't know when I will be able to upgrade and I want to be able to pvp and I am hoping that if I am unable to upgrade that I can at least play the pve content though I am thinking larger fights might be out too.

I ran this by tbone first to make sure that I wouldn't be doing anything wrong and I am going to do my best to play regularly with everyone regardless.

Thank you for reading and I can't wait to play with you guys.

[Ketamininja]

Well, I'm over in the UK, and don't have any parts available jus now anyway.... but it looks like it's just the GFX card that needs updated. With the Core2Duo, your memory will be running 800MHz, so you can't get faster on that board and 4GB is fine (cut down some resources/services if running x64 OS). The chip could always be updated, but again that should be fine even with extra resources running.

Specs: http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15052/eng/DG965WH_TechProdSpec.pdf


So I would focus on GFX card.

[Caydnn]

K. I mean I know I need a new everything but If a GFX card being upgraded would hold me over until I could rebuild, that would be great. What cards do you know to be good and not just a repackaged older value card. If I am somehow able to get the money for a card, I don't want to buy the wrong one. I need something that will pick up the slack for having an old everything else lol.

In my bios it said the ram is running at 667, I tried turning it to 800 but it got over heated and ran worse. I don't know much about that though and if it's meant to be set at 667.

[Ketamininja]

Hmmm... core2duo should run at 800Mhz or higher...
Really the memory should be hitting the 800 spec to be efficient.

If someone stuck in lower memory, then that would certainly slow things a bit.

Well, should still be ok with GFX. Concentrate on that.
Google TomsHardware for reviews. If you see a cheap card, check it there...

[likwidtek]

Does your motherboard have PCI express?  What's the exact make and model of your motherboard?

What about your powersupply?  Exact make and model please?

[Ketamininja]

Does your motherboard have PCI express?  What's the exact make and model of your motherboard?

What about your powersupply?  Exact make and model please?

Too much in a hurry you are.
Motherboard model and tech spec link posted above.

PCIe 16x port available.

[Caydnn]

I put 2 2gig sticks in it myself that should run at 800mhz however there is a pair of 512s that may be causing it to run at less than 800

[likwidtek]

whoops

[Caydnn]

I am barely able to run the game even with everything turned low and resolution set down to 1024/786 (i think that is the resolution). I am trying to get things working better but I may just need new parts. If anyone has anything to spare let me know.

[likwidtek]

I don't think I do man, I'm sorry.  Maybe poke around ebay and craigslist and you might find something crazy cheap?

[Eroz]

I current have a ASUS Radeon HD 4870 that I've been looking to get replace with a NVIDIA brand card. If people can help me pick out a good $125-$175 NVIDIA card, I'll send the one listed above your way.

(It's a good card and runs the game great. I just feel dirty with an ATI card, as I've always been an NVIDIA man.)

[Sared]

...I just feel dirty with an ATI card...

Oh, I see how it is. </3

Sumthin' like this?

[Ketamininja]

Good man Eroz!

[Caydnn]

A good nvidia for that price would be a 460gt

[MOTREC]

1.What OS are you running? Win xp needs 1GB memory, win 7 needs 2GB memory. Your current set up would get crushed under the pressure of win7 or vista and SW:TOR imo.
2. RAM: runs at the speed of the slowest stick you have installed. If you mix matched RAM, this is something to look at.
3. Hard drive: I know the 1TB is a nice drive and all but, a smaller drive is faster. But this may be the least of your issues.
4. Drivers: make sure your drivers are up to date. I have fallen prey to this myself.
5. MOBO: make sure you get a vid card that your mobo supports.
6. Donations: I have a rig here that has the same mobo but a P4 processor in it. I will go through it again to see what is salvagable from it. Not making any promises though, this rig had a voltage spike go through it and cook hardware pretty hard.