need help/opinions first post here.

[sugashane19844]

hi there my name is shane im from detroit mi usa, this is my first post here and im looking for some advice, i have a very limited knowledge of computers so bear with me please. first ill start with telling you guys my computer purposes, im a gamer not a heavy gamer but i do enjoy games, i usually play age of empires 3, and grid. other than gaming and web browsing i really dont do much downloading so ya, lol
the computer i have was givin to me for free and i put a few hundred in a friends pocket to make it a little better. which i did notice a difference after he was done.
these are the specs as far as i can figure out, i dont know what most of them mean and i dont really care to be honest as long as it works and has good graphics and isnt slow.
the computer is a e machine t6410 3200 amd athelen 64 processor, 160 gb hard drive, 2.2 ghz?, 512 kb l2 cache?, 1600 mhz fsb, bestec power supply model atx 300 300 watt max out, the monitor is a hanns g 19 wide screen

now back to the friend part, i gave my friend like 300 bucks i think it was he put in a 8600 gt nvidea card, 2 gig ddr sdram, a soundblaster 32 hd card, and a philips dvd burner with light scribe, which i never used.

ON TO THE PROBLEM: well i play grid the most i have a steering wheel and i really enjoy the game especially the graphics recently the game seems to lag bad both online and offline and the car darn near freezes mid race, well i have a program called nvidea monitor view and the card seems to run extremely hot. its 230 degrees right now according 2 the program but the smart status what ever that is says healthy. so i took the side off hte computer and felt the video card and its hot **** hot like painful to touch hot thats gotta be bad right? the fans still spinning on it and everything seems to work fine until i fire up grid and mand i hear all kindas of fans or somethin start spinning and it doesnt stop until a few minutes after grid closes.

so what i want to know: is the video card most likely my problem? is this computer worth putting a new video card in? is it a decent computer according to specs? ? if so what kind ,i want something with equal or better graphics and of course i dont want to spend a fortune, also i do have plans of eventually using a 46 inch samsung aquos tv as my monitor so keep that in mind with recommendations please.

 

[patonb]

If it was fine, and now aggen.....Yha it is... your card throttles at that temp, to try and not burn out.

You can try to clean out the card. Dust tends to collect in the cooler, so you can blow out the dust, infact it's probably time clean everything out.

Also try ensure youre feeding cool air into the case.

It's definately not worth putting money into it.. You can get a new one for under 500, which would easily beat your old one, and then allow updating.

I'm no good at specing, but toss out a budget and someone will toss up a build.

 

[sugashane19844]

actually it was just cleaned about a week ago, my budget would be no more than 1000 but i have some other projects going {a hot rod} so the computer is still technically functioning ill need 2 smooth it over with the old lady and stuff and get a idea of what i want to do so do you say its not worth it because its out of date?

 

[aliasaid]

Race Driver: GRID System Requirements
Minimum Specifications

•Windows XP/Vista. (If running Windows Vista, SP1 is recommended)
•DirectX 9.0c
•Pentium 4 @ 3.0GHz or Athlon 64 3000+
•1GB RAM.
•Graphics Card: GeForce 6800 / Radeon X1300 or above
•DirectX Compatible Sound Card
•Dual Layer Compatible DVD-ROM Drive
•12.5 GB Hard Drive Space
Recommended Specifications

•Windows XP/Vista. (If running Windows Vista, SP1 is recommended)
•DirectX 9.0c
•Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.66Ghz or Athlon X2 3800+
•2GB RAM.
•Graphics Card: GeForce 8800 or Radeon X1950
•Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card.
•Dual Layer Compatible DVD-ROM Drive
•12.5 GB Hard Drive Space


You pretty much meet all the recommended requirements except for the video card, which should still run it pretty good. And since you said it only recently started lagging, then your system is good enough for your needs and i don't see an immediate need to upgrade just yet.

You definitely have a problem. Kinda strange that the heat issue starts now and not when you first installed the card. Maybe something happened to the paste b/w the heatsink and the gpu? I don't really know, but try getting other software for detecting temperature just to make sure; since there seems to be conflicting messages from your software.

Maybe you got a new virus on your computer? That could slow down your computer dramatically.

I'm actually surprised all your components run on that 300watt Psu. Did you upgrade a while back? cuz $300 seems like a bit much for those upgrades

 

[sugashane19844]

hey there i have no idea about the paste no the power box hasnt been upgraded. and it was recently cleaned . andd he told me 200 i gave him a 100 dollar tip for installation and everything.

 

[Trotter]

Sorry to say it, but your rig is worse off than mine. I'm on a s939, too, but at least I have a dual core.

If you don't have to have top of the line we can set you up nicely for $500 or less, especially if you recycle some parts (like your case (even if it is mATX), optical drive, possibly hard drive, keyboard, mouse, monitor).

 

[patonb]

Okay.. If you just cleaned it... Theres a good chance you actually pushed dust further into the gpu cooler.

Its actually common for that happen. If youre building a rod, you should have no issue with strip'n the heatsink off and cleaning and repasting the sinks.

Ultimate CPU Cooling Solutions! USA

Basically shows how the card looks under the shroud.