Rate My Rig

ilikesimpsons

New Member
My PC is prebuilt, standard and I would like some advice on how to improve speed, software, ect, anything to do with anything :), and I would prefer cheap improvements, and not a whole new PC, ect. Thanks, and all advice is appreciated.

My PC Specs:

Date when bought: July 2007
Make/Model: Gateway GT5468
Motherboard: ELITEGROUP 945GCT-M3 (Courtesy of CPU-Z)
Chipset: Intel i945G, Revision: A2
Southbridge: Intel 82801GB
BIOS: PhoenixAwardBIOS V1.10, Date of Revision-12/24/07
OS: Windows XP SP2 Home Edition OEM Version: SP1, Downgraded from Vista Home Premium that was included w/ PC
CPU: Intel Conroe 65nm Dual Core E2160 1.8Ghz Processors w/ Intel Speedstep
CPU Misc: Multiplier-x6/Bus Speed-200Mhz/Rated FSB-800Mhz
Cache: 2x 32KB L1 Cache/1MB L2 Cache
RAM: 2x1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 PC-5300 Samsung
RAM Specs: DRAM Freq-266.6Mhz/FSB-DRAM-3:4/
RAM Latencies: CAS#: 4.0 Clocks/RAS to CAS# Delay: 4 clocks/RAS Precharge: 4 clocks/Cycle Time: 11 clocks/Bank Cycle Time: 15 clocks
Graphics Card: Intel GMA 950 w/224 Max Shared VRAM/Running resolution: 1024x768 32bit color
Monitor: Crappy CRT 17 inch/16 inch viewable Gateway VX720
CD/DVD Drives: 1x Toshiba SuperMultiDrive: CD-R/RW 52x read/write, DVD+/-R/RW 16x read, 18x write, DVD-RAM: 8x read, 4x write
Hard Drive: 1x 400GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA 7200RPM
Internet: Westell Model 327W w/ 768-128 Kbps ADSL
Printer: HP C3180 All-In-One
Speakers: Gateway Hi-Def 2 Speakers
Mouse: Optical Laser Wired Mouse
Keyboard: Standard Multimedia Keyboard
7 USB 2.0 Ports (2 front, 5 back)
0 Firewire Ports
Gateway Portable Media Drive Bay
Software: Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, Norton 360, AOL 9.1, Norton pcAnywhere, Easy Media Creator 10 Suite, Microsoft Streets and Trips '07,
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
SD/CF/miniSD/microSD/xD/MMC/MS/MS Pro/MD Card slots built in
 
Rate you rig?

What are you using it for?
If you are use it for surfing internet, word processing, watching video or listen to music, I would say 7/10.
But if you do gaming, photo/ video editing, then 1/10.
 
Reply

Well I sorta use it for slight gaming (RCT3, NFS MW, ect) all old games, and I use it for video encoding, but I have patience to wait, since I have a dual core, I donate 1 core to encoding and 1 for whatever I want. Any tips to improve? Please? Thanks for any input
 
The reason I rate such a slow score due to 2 things.
1. No video card.
2. The brand of your Harddisk.

If you want it faster for video encoding, just get a video card.
But if you don't mind waiting, it's up to you.

An alternative wait to increase speed without spending extra money is overclocking, however, i don't know if gateway machine allow you to do so.
 
get at least an 8600GT if you want to play games. That onboard GMA 950 can only play minesweeper ( exaggeration ).
 
.. for gaming .. i give like 1/10 .. normal computer like ... 4/10 .. the processor is like crap .. (better than most but crap for new)
 
Rate you rig?

What are you using it for?
If you are use it for surfing internet, word processing, watching video or listen to music, I would say 7/10.
But if you do gaming, photo/ video editing, then 1/10.

thats cold:P

get at least an 8600GT if you want to play games. That onboard GMA 950 can only play minesweeper ( exaggeration ).

thats colder lol

.. for gaming .. i give like 1/10 .. normal computer like ... 4/10 .. the processor is like crap .. (better than most but crap for new)

thats cold too...;)


i for one think that its ok if its fine for u...
 
Well I would like any advice on how to overclock, the stock AwardBIOS gives me no overclocking options, practically no options whatsoever for that matter. Plus, I really can't afford a new card, especially since I just spent 2000$ in the last week
 
And the other thing is does anybody know if Roxio EMC 10 is slow in general because it takes like 10min just to load, and like 3min in between clicks, and Im not even encoding
 
A couple things to get!!
1. Faster Processor (Yours is only 1mb cache (Slow)
2. Faster Ram (Get atleast 667mhz)
3. A GPU (Recommend xfx 8600gt xxx zalman if you want to save $$)
 
A couple things to get!!
1. Faster Processor (Yours is only 1mb cache (Slow)
2. Faster Ram (Get atleast 667mhz)
3. A GPU (Recommend xfx 8600gt xxx zalman if you want to save $$)

1. Depends on what he is doing. If he is not going to do hard-core gaming, the 1MB will not make a very noticeable difference.
2. True that
3. True that again. At least 8600GT or the 7600GT in that case.
 
1. Depends on what he is doing. If he is not going to do hard-core gaming, the 1MB will not make a very noticeable difference.
2. True that
3. True that again. At least 8600GT or the 7600GT in that case.

My processor is only 2mb cache and I could use more. Mainly just for video encoding (converting). Cant wait for some newer phenom's to come out. Def going quad-core very soon. I just got my 8600 a few weeks ago and I love it. Vista now feels like XP. And with SP1, Vista is officially not a Beta. LOL
 
A couple things to get!!
1. Faster Processor (Yours is only 1mb cache (Slow)
2. Faster Ram (Get atleast 667mhz)
3. A GPU (Recommend xfx 8600gt xxx zalman if you want to save $$)

1. 1MB is fine. I'm running a SLOWER processor than that, and at stock speed (1.6GHz), I can max out all games still with no drops in FPS at any time (EX: BF2142, ect)

2. That, I can agree on, however, I have used DDR2-533 RAM before. It's not bad, if you're not gaming.

3. TigerDirect has a 8800GT for $180 after rebates. Newegg has the MSI 8800GTS G92 selling for $215 after rebates.
 
Hey well now, I am considering an ATI HD2400 Series that has 256/512MB VRAM built in for only 80$, or a nvida geforce 8500 for only 60-100$
 
Well, if you are going to game at least a little, you should really get at least from the 8600GT/HD2600XT and up. I would personally recommend the HD3870, but for price/performance ratio, the 9600GT and the 8800GS seem pretty good also.
 
Well overall how much graphics memory would you recommend. I have an Intel GMA 950 w/ 128 shared VRAM. Since I have 2GB RAM it doesnt make much of a performance hit. Still, If I even had 128MB VRAM standalone, would it be better. Any advice is appreciatied
 
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