Wolf_Shadow

Just wanted to say thanks and goodbye to all my forum friends. It's been wonderful to get to know all of you. You've all taught me so much. Unfortunately, I'm just not gaming as much and I can't see maintaining my account any longer.

So to all of you, again, Thanks!

-Wolf Shadow

If you do decide to go back to Windows XP-64, MAKE SURE all of your hardware (motherboard, network, modem, graphics card, sound card) has drivers available for it. I've run Windows XP-64 for a while now without issue, but I made sure that each component had drivers available before making the switch.

-Wolf sends

With that kind of budget, there not much you can't get. I'd probably start off with the latest in motherboards

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P - Has support for SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0

Base all your other components on that.

CPU - Intel Core I7-860
Memory - A-Data 4GB (2x2GB)
Case - Antec Three Hundred
Power Supply - Antec TruePower 750 Watt
Graphics -EVGA GTX285 (for this game) or if you can find one, an ATI HD5870 for all other games. It should also be noted that the new expansion, City Of Heroes: Going Rogue apparently has resolved many, if not all, of the issues that CoX and ATI have had.
HDD1 - Seagate 320GB SATA 3.0Gb/s - This is your OS and game install drive.
HDD2 - Seagate 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb/s - This is your storage drive.
Optical Drive - LG 22X DVD Burner
Speakers - Logitech Z-5500
Monitor - Hann-G 28" 1920x1200
Operating System - Microsoft Windows 7 x64


All totaled, we're looking at $2137.12 shipped (using the EVGA GTX285). There's still plenty of room in your budget to up-(or down-)grade. This is just a build I'd consider if I were buying.

-Wolf sends

Hey FatherX. Does that mean PC Power & Cooling's "Dell Replacement" power supplies are nothing more than marketing gimicks? If so, I'm really disappointed.

-Wolf queries

ASUS G Seriese w/Geforce GTX 260M - $1600

This doesn't look too bad, but I'd definitely throw in a laptop cooling pad.

-Wolf sends

The 7900GS was produced in both flavors (AGP and PCI-E). The one Healix linked (below the image) is AGP. Unfortunately, I doubt it would run on a 250watt power supply. One thing to remember about older Dell systems is that they used proprietary motherboards and power supplies, so you can't just go to the store and pick a better one.

PC Power and Cooling does make Dell replacement power supplies and this one would suit your needs.

Concerning what to replace your graphics card with, I'd recommend going through BillzBubba's ATI Guide, stickied at the top of this forum before making a decision to go with an ATI card. That said, if you do want to go with an ATI card, then my recommendation would be this HIS ATI Radeon HD4670p (a bit better than the HD 4650 linked above).

Unfortunately, on the NVidia side, they stopped manufacturing AGP cards with the 7 generation of cards. Your best bet on the NVidia side would be to go with the 7900GS.

-Wolf sends

Just out of curiosity, what form factor GX270 do you have? The Small Form Factor and Small Desktop versions only accept half-height (low-profile) cards; whereas the Small Mini-tower accepts full height cards.

Dell Optiplex GX270 Images

-Wolf sends

Should be enough at very low settings, but I wouldn't expect superb game play. I've played on worse.

-Wolf sends

By replacing it, they probably mean if your current one goes bad, they can put in another ATI HD3650. I think you're stuck with that card.

-Wolf sends

Upgrading a laptop is almost never possible. You will need to check with your laptop manufacturer to find out for sure. If it is possible, they should provide you with a list of options they have available (most likely, you'll need to purchase from them). On the off chance it is possible to upgrade, post the list they provide you and we'll make a recommendation.

BFG, Galaxy, PNY, etal are all manufacturers of graphic cards. ATI and NVidia provide these manufacturers the actual chipset to place on the cards.

-Wolf sends

From the ATI Issues sticky at the top of the forum:

I saw that too, Mephisto, but the CoHHelper reports Vista SP2.

@Electric - What's the native resolution of that monitor and what resolution do you game at? If it's high (1920x1080) have you tried lowering it in game? I'm kind of leaning towards overheating and lowering the resolution may reduce some of the stress (heat) the card suffers.

-Wolf muses

Well, the first problem I see is the low amount of RAM and the number of background processes you have running. First step would be to turn off (or prevent from starting) unnecessary programs like Steam and Windows Sidebar (wasn't that a serious hinderance in Vista?)

Secondly, it appears your driver installation for your graphics card failed. *IF* you have a PCI-E version of the HD2400 graphics card, you can get the latest from ATI's Web site. If you have an AGP version of the HD2400, then you'll probably need to get drivers from the card's manufacturer's web site.

Give that a shot and see how it performs. Then come back and let us know.

-Wolf sends

Thanks alot, guys

I had absolutely no reason to build a new rig. None, whatsoever!

No New Game Awesomeness (scratch that. Thanks Billz)
No knowledge of newer processors (scratch that. Thanks FatherX)
Going to cost too much for new components (scratch that. Thanks Mid)

Geez! With friends like this...

-Wolf keeeds

Not sure where you're looking, but I've only got four DIMM slots. Best I can find is 4x1x4GB at $133 per. Even $532 is a bit steep for memory.

-Wolf sends

There's no changing the minimum as the game does run on (and in some cases even below) minimum specs. I won't say the game is enjoyable, but it does run and you can play it. As far as recommended specs, at a minimum:

2.0 GHz dual-core processor
2 GB of RAM (if running XP)
3 GB of RAM (if running Vista)
Discreet graphics card where the second numerical digit is a 6 or higher (260GTX, 9600GT, etc).

Again, this is what I'd consider a "Minimum" recommendation.

-Wolf sends

Unfortunate as the case may be, there is no other place to download patch files from. Your best bet would be to find someone you know that already has the patches downloaded and have them burn their CoX folder to a DVD for you.

-Wolf sends

I've seen this before with other anti-virus/firewall systems. Generally what you need to do is Remove the offending program from the allowed list and then re-add it.

-Wolf sends

I don't have time to post links right now, but for just over $1900 shipped (from Newegg):

Case - Antec P183
Power Supply - Corsair 850watts
Motherboard - Gigabyte X58
CPU - Intel Core I7 920
RAM - 6GB OCZ (3x2GB)
Graphics Card - 2 x XFX GTX285
Hard Drive - Western Digital 640GB SATAII
Optical Drive - LG DVD Burner
OS - Windows Vista Home Premium w/SP1 x64 (with free Windows 7 upgrade coupon)
Monitor - ASUS 24" 1920x1080

-Wolf sends

It's it's not that you have the wrong drivers for your card, but that the installation of those drivers was corrupt. Generally, this means a good uninstall/reinstall:

Control Panel --> Add/Remove Programs (anything related to ATI)
Driver Sweeper (In Safe Mode).
Cancel Windows New Hardware Found prompts
Reinstall Drivers.

For your ATI card, go here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...2&lang=English

For your NVidia card, go here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_190.38_whql.html

-Wolf sends

Well, if you're going to upgrade to a new, more powerful graphics card, you're definitely going to need a better power supply. I'd probably recommend this Corsair 750. Not only does it have sufficient power for the graphics card, it already has the required power connections.

As for the case, I'll leave that up to you, but unless there is something specifically wrong with your current case, it should get the least consideration towards upgrading.

-Wolf sends

Single core 1.6 GHz processor
1 Gig of RAM (maybe upgradeable)
Integrated Intel graphics solution.

Playable? Probably only in Safe Mode.

-Wolf sends

Looks like your system can only take DDR2-533 memory; up to 4GB (4x1GB).

If this is your system then these are your system specs.

Looking at Newegg, these appear to be your options.

-Wolf sends

Yes it does!