[SOLVED] Need help with my pc

[Jimmy1997]

Ever since my dad got this gaming pc I was always experiencing lag. however now it has increased up to the point of me always being afraid to play due to the fact the mmo game I'm playing (path of exile) was supposed to be loaded when I open the game at the start of a game session but its not. the game keeps loading its assets from the beginning in each area I enter (of which they are separated by a loading screed and that in turn puts more pressure on my cpu, so I decided to just stop playing on my pc as i'm also encountering similar issues on other games.

One issue that did get resolved (partially at least) was our internet speed which got tripled (its currently 30 mbps or gbps). However that only gave me the bare minimum to play games which require 50 mbps. Another problem i was able to determine was that its graphics card is terrible (my pc was supposed to have a better one). Unfortunately i dont know how to check the full specs of my pc.

 

[tennis2]

Right clicking on "my computer" and selecting "properties" will tell you most of what you need to know (CPU, RAM, GPU).

 

[onespeedbiker]

Try downloading and running this program in summary mode only. It should give you a run down on your hardware https://www.hwinfo.com/

 

[Jimmy1997]

Try downloading and running this program in summary mode only. It should give you a run down on your hardware https://www.hwinfo.com/

so I downloaded that app and I need a better processor (amd a6-6400k) and a better graphics card (amd radeon hd 6470d), information I already knew. however I came to a shocking discovery about the graphics card which is currently in my pc. its suitable for a 32-bit version of windows but the version of windows I have is a 64-bit.

 

[tennis2]

The HD8470D graphics is the integrated graphics on the CPU. If you take the side panel off your case, is there a separate graphics card in there?

An A6-6400K (7 years old) isn't fast by any stretch (even when it was released). However, if this is an OEM machine (Dell, HP, Lenovo etc) there's going to be limited choices of compatible CPUs to upgrade to.

All that said PoE is NOT very demanding. Simply adding a discrete graphics card would likely solve your problem. Do you have a budget for this?

 

[Jimmy1997]

one last thing I saw was that my pcs chipset is amd a88x (Bolton d4). wasn't able to determine how good this is. and there is something I don't understand about that app recommended in this thread. in the drives section is shows 2 of my drivers. however on the first there is a warning sign and I don't understand why. I checked for updates on that driver but there aren't any.

and no I don't have a budget (waiting to get paid for the first month of my job). my dad built this pc and it appears he made some big mistakes from what i'm seeing with the performance of my games.

 

[tennis2]

Depends on when he bought it (6 years ago?) and what it's intended use was at the time (MS Office and email/ internet browsing? ). Also, money doesn't grow on trees, and bills have to be paid to keep food in your stomach and a roof over your head.

Life ain't cheap. House mortgage, utilities, cable/internet, cell phones, car payments, groceries, healthcare, retirement savings, daycare/college/etc, on and on.

Also, not a lot of people are super knowledgeable about PC hardware, let alone for specific use cases like gaming and such (which is where you really get bent over on pricing from OEMs). I think it's great that you're on here learning and asking about this stuff, but don't be so hard on your dad.

 

[Jimmy1997]

i'm not being hard. its just i'm used to him making these kind of mistakes. I can even tell when he is making a few minor ones. one last thing, I downloaded an application called minitool partition wizard, of which one of its features is a surface test which detects bad sectors on your hard disk. however idk what bad sectors are

 

[tennis2]

I wouldn't be too concerned about bad sectors on the HDD. HDDs generally give you audible warnings that they're faulty and about to die.

At this point, I'd say you can't improve the system performance without spending some money (Aside from making sure there's no viruses eating up CPU cycles). Hit us up when you have $$ to spend.

Also, let us know about whether or not there's a graphics card installed. You don't even have to take the side panel off the case to know this. If there's something in the horizontal slots that looks like below, that's a GPU.

 

[Jimmy1997]

oh well. i'll consider getting a better graphics card once I get paid a second time. though its going to be a little painful not playing the games I want seeing as gaming is important to me. thanks for your help

 

[onespeedbiker]

The question is, do you have a graphics card at all? And if you do, is it connected to your monitor. IOW, you may have a much better GPU, your just not plugged into it. Many PCs come without a GPU card and instead has a GPU chip on the motherboard that uses the CPU and installed RAM; but it is upgradable with a GPU card. This is what tennis2 is asking about. If you look at the back of your PC you will either see one or two blue VGA sockets. If you have two, that means you have a GPU card installed. The GPU card socket will be where the expansion cards are, as in picture posted by tennis2.

 

[stonecarver]

don't have a budget

Are you in the US I just did a quick search and for
$20

XFX 2gb rx 270 graphics card
used on offerup.

for $30/35.00 I bet you can pick up a decent Used Graphics card and memory. That's what I call no budget low budget upgrade. Start flipping couch cushions and old coat pockets I bet you can find just enough spare change to change you current conditions with your game. Just saying!

 

[Jimmy1997]

well I do have around 20 euros on my desk and yes I do have a graphics card but as I stated its a 32-bit whereas I need a 64-bit. 20 dollars are 17.96 euros

 

[onespeedbiker]

The graphics card number you gave was for the CPU embedded chip. Bring up the utility I linked and check the top of the graphics section, probably under an AMD symbol, there is a drop down menu, showing GPU #0. Click on the menu and check for GPU #1. That will tell us the GPU card installed.

 

[Jimmy1997]

I clicked on the menu but there is not an option for GPU #1.

 

[onespeedbiker]

So it appears your PC is running off the video chip on your MB, not an added graphics card. As mentioned above, adding an inexpensive graphics card would be a substantial upgrade for your system.

 

[Jimmy1997]

so with the application that was recommended to me in this thread I saw that there was an error with the hard disk my brother put on my pc but unfortunately the product key my dad just bought for windows is for that hard disk. so i'm stuck with Linux for now

 

[onespeedbiker]

There is likely nothing wrong with your hdd. Many hdd work with bad sectors, the software simply marks them so they are not used to store information. If in doubt run chfdsk c: /r at a windows command prompt and windows will do another check of your hdd and make sure the bad sectors are marked so the hdd can be used. A 500 GB hdd has 976,562,500 sectors, so a few bad ones is nothing to worry about.

 

[Jimmy1997]

i'm not talking about bad sectors though

 

[onespeedbiker]

So what was the error?

 

[tennis2]

The windows license isn't tied to a hard drive.

 

[onespeedbiker]

The windows license isn't tied to a hard drive.

That too.

 

[Jimmy1997]

my dad told me, based on the warning (not error) he saw, that its serious

 

[tennis2]

Get an SSD then, not another HDD

 

[Jimmy1997]

well my dad put the previous hard disk on the pc which has like 7 times more space, though that has Linux in it (Its one Terabyte)