Pc Parts

Icemanbrfc

Icemanbrfc

Honorary Master
Joined
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Location
Cape Town
Wanted: Any PC parts to upgrade a pc for my son.He passed and is going to Grade 2 :love:

Reason: So Neoprod (Thanks again Bud) was very kind to donate a very basic pc which my little boy is using and enjoying more than his Xbox. He told me dad, its a little slow to open up his games like Roblox and minecraft, but its okay
Location: Cape Town


I cant remember what the actual specs was, but think something like an Intel Athlon processor, 4GB Ram and 500GB HDD. If anybody has any unwanted spare pc parts that could allow me to update the PC for him, please let me know. Im not asking really for high end parts to play super games like COD etc, just some things to speed it up.

Btw i have no idea on how to build a pc or connect these things, so will give to a buddy. You guys are the experts, so let me know. I suppose adding Ram is probably the easiest bit
 
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I don't have anything I can donate,however I would suggest a graphics card would make the most difference of all.
If you get a new-ish graphics card,you may want to get a better power supply
 
iDoS said:
I don't have anything I can donate,however I would suggest a graphics card would make the most difference of all.
If you get a new-ish graphics card,you may want to get a better power supply
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback... Like i said, its really just for him, and its not heavy games. Would a GFX card have to be specific to be used with whatever is inside already. Pretty clueless here
 
Icemanbrfc said:
Thanks for the feedback... Like i said, its really just for him, and its not heavy games. Would a GFX card have to be specific to be used with whatever is inside already. Pretty clueless here
Click to expand...

It would depend on two things actually

1.What type of motherboard it has
2. The type/Size of the PC case

If you could open it an take a pic,we could have a look at what you are working with

From - http://www.toptenreviews.com/computers/articles/graphics-cards-integrated-vs.-dedicated/

Integrated
An integrated graphics processing unit (GPU) doesn't use its own RAM; it utilizes the system's memory instead. So, if you have a computer with 4GB of RAM, the video card can use anywhere between one and five percent of the available memory for graphics processing. Of course, this percentage varies depending on the size of task, especially if you're multitasking or playing a game.

Dedicated
A dedicated, or discrete, GPU has its own independent source of video memory, leaving the RAM your system uses untouched.

It provides a much better experience overall.

It doesnt have to be big and shiny,whatever you get will be 10x better than what its currently using(integrated graphics unit).
He will feel the difference immediately even if you don't see any resolution change etc
 
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lol, you were supposed to be using that machine for your Neighbourhood Watch facebook page or something? I feel so used...thought I was helping keep a neighbourhood safe :(

I have a few graphics cards lying around but didn't offer them to you because on-board video looked okay for your stated needs.

Can you post a picture of the System Properties page? I forgot what's in that box.
 
iDoS said:
It would depend on two things actually

1.What type of motherboard it has
2. The type/Size of the PC case

If you could open it an take a pic,we could have a look at what you are working with

From - http://www.toptenreviews.com/computers/articles/graphics-cards-integrated-vs.-dedicated/

Integrated
An integrated graphics processing unit (GPU) doesn't use its own RAM; it utilizes the system's memory instead. So, if you have a computer with 4GB of RAM, the video card can use anywhere between one and five percent of the available memory for graphics processing. Of course, this percentage varies depending on the size of task, especially if you're multitasking or playing a game.

Dedicated
A dedicated, or discrete, GPU has its own independent source of video memory, leaving the RAM your system uses untouched.

It provides a much better experience overall.

It doesnt have to be big and shiny,whatever you get will be 10x better than what its currently using(integrated graphics unit).
He will feel the difference immediately even if you don't see any resolution change etc
Click to expand...

Will have a look later tonight. Got it off Neoprod on here :) So perhaps he can best advise, of what can be upgraded or not. I know he said Ram i can, but will check in with him later as well. If i can just get a few things to load a bit quicker or to open up then great.
 
Neoprod said:
lol, you were supposed to be using that machine for your Neighbourhood Watch facebook page or something? I feel so used...thought I was helping keep a neighbourhood safe :(

I have a few graphics cards lying around but didn't offer them to you because on-board video looked okay for your stated needs.

Can you post a picture of the System Properties page? I forgot what's in that box.
Click to expand...

hahaha :D i am using it for that, 100% so dont worry pal... but the little one has taken over as well when im working during the day :p. Thats the thing, im trying to open up Chrome eg and facebook, but it takes quite a bit of time to open up. I sometimes have to click a few times to get it open. So i was hoping that i could maybe just buy some additional Ram, but i guess its more than that

Ill get you the info later and whatsapp it to you.
 
^, if there's a lot of hard drive activity (working noise, flashing HDD activity light) when you try to launch an application, then it means the hard drive swap file is being used alot. That's easily fixable with more RAM or better still, an SSD.

The graphics card won't help the app launch issue but will help games play better...I'd try the RAM first.
 
Icemanbrfc said:
hahaha :D i am using it for that, 100% so dont worry pal... but the little one has taken over as well when im working during the day :p. Thats the thing, im trying to open up Chrome eg and facebook, but it takes quite a bit of time to open up. I sometimes have to click a few times to get it open. So i was hoping that i could maybe just buy some additional Ram, but i guess its more than that

Ill get you the info later and whatsapp it to you.
Click to expand...

Lol there you go.
More ram is never a bad thing,unless you dont have any free ram slots.
Belarc will also give you all the PC info,in a detailed report
 
Neoprod said:
^, if there's a lot of hard drive activity (working noise, flashing HDD activity light) when you try to launch an application, then it means the hard drive swap file is being used alot. That's easily fixable with more RAM or better still, an SSD.

The graphics card won't help the app launch issue but will help games play better...I'd try the RAM first.
Click to expand...

thanks Pal, ill have a look. At the moment, besides Chrome and his 2 games i dont think its taking up that much hard drive space? So would Chrome eg be heavy on resources, with no other activities running?
 
Icemanbrfc said:
thanks Pal, ill have a look. At the moment, besides Chrome and his 2 games i dont think its taking up that much hard drive space? So would Chrome eg be heavy on resources, with no other activities running?
Click to expand...

It's not disk space that's in short supply...it's system memory (RAM). Windows will cache running applications + frequently used stuff that you might need just now in + its own services and stuff in system memory. If the PC doesn't have enough RAM \ system memory to do this effectively, then the swap file is used which is basically a file on the hard drive that Windows uses as RAM. But hard drives are much slower than system memory so anytime the swap file is used a lot, you will see slowdowns.

That's a quick and dirty explanation of what's going on - you can read up some more online if interested.
 
mister said:
Clicking multiple times is not going to help you - unless the mouse is faulty.
Click to expand...
Basically what i mean, is that the initial opening seems as if its not opening. Then im thinking okay maybe its not opening, and then click again, at which point i have 2 Chrome tabs open. :D
 
Neoprod said:
It's not disk space that's in short supply...it's system memory (RAM). Windows will cache running applications + frequently used stuff that you might need just now in + its own services and stuff in system memory. If the PC doesn't have enough RAM \ system memory to do this effectively, then the swap file is used which is basically a file on the hard drive that Windows uses as RAM. But hard drives are much slower than system memory so anytime the swap file is used a lot, you will see slowdowns.

That's a quick and dirty explanation of what's going on - you can read up some more online if interested.
Click to expand...
I tried to upload a video to our page on facebook, pretty small in size, about 10mb or so. It took around 20 mins to upload. So if ram can help with this, then ill just go out and get some. Ill check on the system detail so i get the correct ram.
 
Icemanbrfc said:
I tried to upload a video to our page on facebook, pretty small in size, about 10mb or so. It took around 20 mins to upload. So if ram can help with this, then ill just go out and get some. Ill check on the system detail so i get the correct ram.
Click to expand...

Use belarc,will give you all the stats
 
What internet connection speed do you have? Roblox games are downloaded everytime you play it. Slow download speed will make the pc feel slow as well
 
Goobie said:
What internet connection speed do you have? Roblox games are downloaded everytime you play it. Slow download speed will make the pc feel slow as well
Click to expand...
20mbps line. But he is only on during the day, im at work so not much activity besides that.
 
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