New Computer Giving Problems

[V8SplashMan]

Hi guys,

I bought a new computer from Best Buy, and I the only reason I wanted it was to play two games. The computer I bought was going for around 650 but had a 150$ rebate on it and has the following specs:

HP Pavilion 061 (Sorry I bought an HP)
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.4GHz
Memory: 958MB Ram
DirectX Version 9.0c

Graphics Card:

NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE
Approx. Total Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 Bit) (60Hz)
Main Driver nv4_disp.dll


With that being said ill try cut to the problem. The first game I wanted, I bought with my computer "Star Wars Empire at War." The seller guy was all confident that yes my new computer could run this game easily.

Anyways I went to GameSpot.com and did their little system game test to figure out how good the game would really run on my computer, and it reported back that all my specs would be more than enough to play the game. (They were'nt perfects specs but good enough to play on high, Im obviously not super sure how accurate that test is)

So I loaded the game up, and put it all on high settings, and the game play sequences were all slow, choppy, and clearly giving my new computer a hard time. After playing with the settings I ended up having to turn everything to the lowest setting just to be able to run the game smoothly. This really made me mad because this just cuts the game experience in half.

What scares me is that I can't really take this computer back because they want to charge me almost 150$ JUST to restock it, and ive had problems with Best Buy before where they make very difficult for you to return something without them gaining alot from you.

I just figured this was just my tough luck, and I was just going to have to play on low settings. So I started playing the game again, and then half way into the game it freezes, and locks up the computer. I mean lord oh mighty if this computer can't even hold it's own on low settings then something is obviously wrong.

Could this be the graphics card? I read in a few articles that my computers graphics chip is not even considerd a graphics card, something like it's intergrated into the motherboard.

If this is the case, or it is the graphics card could I just upgrade and get a good graphics card for my computer?

 

[Deathstar1]

You could trade off some resolution to gain some settings, 1280x1024 is high, try 1024x768.

Can you confirm it is actually a card as opposed to onboard video? The only Athlon 64 HP's I can see have the 6150 LE listed as onboard video.

Also can you also confirm what expansion slots are on the m/board (if any) ? The hp site says 1 x PCi-e expansion slot but doesn't say what speed it is. (I would hope it is 16x) if it is you can put a better card in it.

The specs I'm looking at are here .... is that your pc? searching Pavilion 061 gives no real result.

 

[V8SplashMan]

Yes that is the computer I have, I believe the computer was built mainly for TV, and dvd video not games, because they keep pushing that as a strong point in it whenever I read manuels, or guides. Im not sure though if it's 16x or not.

 

[Deathstar1]

The manual should tell you (hopefully) if the slot is 16x and I dont see why it shouldn't be but being HP you never know unfortunately.

If it is a 16x you will be able to put a card in it, though the power supply could come into the equation here. It "should" be enough to run an add on card.

EDIT: According to the little drop down window in the specs/graphics you should be able to run a NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE so I would assume the PCi-e slot is 16x then. 7300LE on Newegg link

 

[V8SplashMan]

Yeah it looks like it has 3 slots, with one being occupied already.

 

[Deathstar1]

PCI-e slots are longer than ordinary PCI slots and have a small "locking tag" on the end that is toward the centre of the m/board, if that is the one with the card in it your GeForce 6150 LE could well be a card as opposed to onboard, though I doubt it as the HP site says it is integrated (onboard) the three you are looking at are more than likely the three PCI slots though if they are all the same size, look upwards from those and see if there is a longer empty slot.

EDIT: PCI slots are normally white, PCI-e can be blue or black, usually if there is one PCI-e it is blue, if there are two (for SLi) the second one is black, this varies from manufacturer to manufacturer though.

 

[BullDog(UK)]

GeForce 6150 LE is a integrated graphics chipset and isn't any good for gaming (lastest ones), I think you do have a case to return the Computer as the sales person gave you incorrect information, but lets face it they'll try anything to get the sale.

As others have suggested, if you have an expansion slot AGP,PCI-E and the company wouldn't allow you to return it, get yourself a good graphics card.

Let us know which type of slot your Computer has, I'm sure we can advice you on a graphics card that will run all the games (high res) that you're into.

BullDog(UK)

 

[V8SplashMan]

I completly unplugged my new computer today, and took a look and it has the same sett up as my old computer. It has four slots, with the 3rd one at the bottom being used by what looks like some type of network chip or something to do with the internet.

It has two slots above that are free, one is the same size as the others, and the top one is slightly bigger than the rest (In length)

In my old computer I upgraded it with a NVIDIA 128mb graphics card, and it worked really well and the 2nd slot of my new computer looks the exact same size.

But I still can't find out if it's 16x or not...I read the manuels and they don't say anything about it

 

[Deathstar1]

PCI-e slots are longer than ordinary PCI slots and have a small "locking tag" on the end that is toward the centre of the m/board, could you see anything like that?

Drop HP an email if you can't figure it out and ask them.

 

[lhuser]

Ok, I did a search on the side and I got good news: Your PC has a PCI-Express x16 available!
http://www.hp.ca/products/static/consumer/summer06/a1510n.pdf