Question for you computer guys Options

[Random_Stranger]

Ok, I am not looking for super computer, but here is what I have, followed by my question.

Asus M3A78-EM motherboard (ASUS M3A78-EM AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD)
Phenom 9600 quad core processor
6GB RAM
ATi Radeon 3400 1GB video card (That's all the information I know on this)
and not so certain on my power supply, I know it isn't 500w


Anyways, I gotten into emulation, and it plays anything from Playstation 1 > just fine. When I go to play dreamcast or ps2 in my computer, it runs really unstable and a bit choppy. Now I have a 64bit operating system (that's what the specs say) and when I look at the ratings for my computer, all is 5.9's except for the graphics and gaming which is only 3.5

So I really, I am just looking to make the whole thing a bit balanced and see how satisfied I am with that for the time being. Does ANYONE know what video card I can go with that will bring it up a bit, and whatever else I need to accommodate that card? I am going nuts trying to determine which card is best suited for the job. I don't play a lot of online games, so that isn't the factor. Just want this darn Emulation thing to run smoothly.


Oh yeah, I found this too, wondering if this is worth a shot as well>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etInrz46UCc...FD1502245CEAE1A

This post has been edited by Random_Stranger: Aug 25, 2009 - 3:42 PM

[Superaison]

Whats your budget? I use to build gaming computers and sell em for profit, business tanked due to untrustworthy friend.

[Random_Stranger]

Whats your budget? I use to build gaming computers and sell em for profit, business tanked due to untrustworthy friend.

I dunno. I just built this one with some advice from someone. People on youtube who can run that emulator no problem said my setup was pretty good, in fact I quote they said it was "One hell of a machine". Yet from some videos I have seen, never regard my motherboard as a gaming motherboard... So I dunno if perhaps there is issues with that as well. I just know I put more than I was willing to into this and don't really want to bother with too much. A video card and a power supply is all I expect to and I want to be atleast above 2.4ghz, which I have seen my processor with 2GB that someone guy had, overclock his to 2.5ghz and with no issues of instability.

I wanted to see how I can overclock this, and also toggle with it, without using AMD OVerdrive software. To me, that software isn't as good as if I can dabble with the bios, however I am afraid of messing something up. I did read that I have to adjust the multiplier to overclock, but I dunno.

Did you build your computer yourself? There may be some bios settings not exactly where they should be, probably related to the ram. I just ran my nullDC that I had been previously using and it runs around 60 frames on an 8800GTS 512MB.

im pretty sure the ATI 3400 GPU is wayy slower than your 8800 GTS.. 3400 gpu speed is 400MHZ.. while 8800 is 670 mhz ATI cards really need to be overclocked to reach good frame rates.. his card is what is making his games run slow.. has to be.. he has close to the latest CPU, the phenom which has a super fast bus speed and he has spit load of memory.. an outdated video card would still negate those specs however.. i think he needs at least a 740 mhz GPU and around 900 mhz memory speed graphic card at that min to run the latest games... pm sent stranger

Dang, you're pretty good. My ATI Overdrive (Cataylst Controller) auto tuned (And selected) it to 600mhz gpu and 405 memory ghz (But then it says "Current Values" which are 110mhz gpu and 400ghz memory, wtf is that?!") As you can see, I am a total n00b.

Did you build your computer yourself? There may be some bios settings not exactly where they should be, probably related to the ram. I just ran my nullDC that I had been previously using and it runs around 60 frames on an 8800GTS 512MB.

How do I adjust through the bios?

This post has been edited by Random_Stranger: Aug 26, 2009 - 12:26 AM