A few random questions

Alright, I just bought Guild Wars and I need to know a few things. Where can I see what graphics card my computer has without opening it up. How do you overclock a processor and is it safe? Guild Wars often freezes up on me, how do I prevent this? Any help is greatly appreciated.

up until recently I had some bad freezing problems after playing for about 2 hours at a time. This hasn't happened for about a week though when I started playing in the not max mode. Like, you know how when you play GW it takes up the whole screen? Well mine stopped freezing after i clicked the "restore" button on the top right and now it plays with the bar at the bottom, but I'm ok with that since I like to im people anyway. But if you post your specs I could help you there too.

Well the specs are way above the suggested requirements. 2.89 GH processor and more than enough hard drive space and a gig of ram. Is it possible to not have a graphics card? I have two computers and the one I'm on right now (the slow one) has a Nvidia GEForce2 MX/MX 400 with 32 MB but I don't see one on the other computer. Thanks for the help guys.

[quote name='jagwire1141']Well the specs are way above the suggested requirements. 2.89 GH processor and more than enough hard drive space and a gig of ram. Is it possible to not have a graphics card? I have two computers and the one I'm on right now (the slow one) has a Nvidia GEForce2 MX/MX 400 with 32 MB but I don't see one on the other computer. Thanks for the help guys.[/quote] Not always a card, but there will always be a graphics chip of some sort; you wouldn't have a display otherwise. Many computers have a graphics chip integrated into the motherboard, which is never ideal for gaming. That GF2 MX is a very old card and a poor match for an otherwise decent system imo.

Another way to see which graphics card (or chip) you have have is to click Start\Run... and type in "dxdiag" It'll be listed under the display tab.

Ok, where can I find a gaming computer for on the cheap. I'm not talking top of the line, just good enough to run guild wars and half-life 2. High upgradeablity is a must. Also, I'm looking at buying an Evga e-GeForce 6600GT 128 MB PCI-E Graphics Card for the good computer (2.8 gig processor, 1 gig ram and integrated graphics chip). How is this card?

[quote name='jagwire1141']Also, I'm looking at buying an Evga e-GeForce 6600GT 128 MB PCI-E Graphics Card for the good computer (2.8 gig processor, 1 gig ram and integrated graphics chip). How is this card?[/quote]
Well, it's a huge step up from your MX. Couldn't tell you if it's good enough for your needs though. Best thing to do is check the hardware sites; see how it stacks up against other cards.

IMO, the best value graphics card is the Nvidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB. I got one from Newegg last Christmas for $100 and it has dual DVI ports and can run games like FEAR on max settings with no lag at all. Just for comparison, I have a 3.0GHZ HT P4 processor, 1GB of ram.

Well an S video out is very important to my dad, it's the reason he's buying it

New Question: On Guild Wars, I often get a blue screen error that says something about PC memory dump overload or something like that. It usually happens when I fiddled with items and merchants. Any help here?

How old is the computer with "2.8 gig processor, 1 gig ram and integrated graphics chip"

Guild Wars isn't too demanding on the graphic card compared to games like Quake 4, Obvilion, COD2, FEAR.

(The Geforce 2 MX is an AGP card so I assume your not talking about replacing that one with a PCI-E)

No, I'm putting the PCI-E on the computer with the integrated graphics chip. We got the computer this past december. Also, if I get a new graphics card, do you think my rig could handle oblivion?

[quote name='jagwire1141']No, I'm putting the PCI-E on the computer with the integrated graphics chip. We got the computer this past december. Also, if I get a new graphics card, do you think my rig could handle oblivion?[/QUOTE]

Yes, with a new graphics card, you should be able to play Oblivion, but you will need to invest in at least a mid-level card ($100 to $200).

Will a new graphics card help with the blue screen error? Also, my friend is getting a more video oriented graphics card and is looking to get rid of his evga 256 mb 7800 gt or something, is that a big step up from the 128 mb one?

Ack!, Ack Ack! If your computer is freezing while playing any game the LAST thing that you want to do is overclock anything!!!
If the game is freezing then you need to find out what is causing the problem. It could be a lot of things.
mabye....
your pc is running too hot
the game sucks & has lots of bugs
you have old video/audio/other drivers causing the game to crash

The LAST thing you want to do is overclock anything & run your PC outside of specifications when the ing program is crashing. Doing so is asking for trouble.

If you really want to find out what is causing the problem go get http://www.memtest86.com/. Burn a cd of it. Let it run for 4+ hours. Do you get any errors? If yes your memory is hosed. Goto crucial.com & buy memory for your system. Don't skimp and get shitty memory. Just don't do it. The extra $20 you spend at crucial.com for the right memory will be worth it.

If memtest86 worked fine the next test is to get http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm. Install it & run a stress test for 4+ hours. Does you PC crash this time? If no, congratulations. Your Pc's processor, memory & windows installation are all happy & working well together. ( no small feat!)

If mersenne worked, the next thing to try is run the mersenne stress test while doing the latest freebie 3dmark test available from http://www.futuremark.com/download/. Does your PC crash while doing both the mersenne test & the 3d mark test? If yes then the combination of your CPU and video card running at full tilt is too much for your PC. If that is the case I would upgrade my video drivers and try again. 3dmark is a great test. You can be reasonable certain that the 3dmark test runs without major bugs. Something you can't always say about the latest game.