natas

Captain1328

I see that.

AGP - 1
PCI - 1
Version - 2.10

Looks like ''Version'' is the only thing different.

Thanks a ton L.O. Now what do I need to do?

Captain1328

Oh...the PCI is different also...mine has 1. ops:" class="inlineimg" />

Lord Odin

I wouldn't worry about that. It may effect what other things you can add to your computer, but it's factor with graphics is virtually zero since you have an AGP bus.

But, I just had a thought cross my mind, is it possible that the onboard video counts as AGP bus and you may not have a seperate one? I've never had onboard video, nor ran Sandra on a system that did...

I think it may best to check via another method. Either:

A) Open the case and follow Tony's post. Basically you're looking for an empty brown slot (AGP) atop the white ones (PCI). If you don't see a brown one, there may not be an AGP port.

B) Fire up Sandra again. This time you want to click "Motherboard Information". Give it a minute, or two or four or whatever it takes, and let it poll your system to see what's what with the motherboard. There's going to be all kinds of info in here, divided into all kinds of sections.



Manufacturer, Model, and Version are the three important parts. This will let one of us look up the board to find out the specs on it. This may actually be the better route.

Another piece of info that could help somewhat is your processor speed. This will help make sure you're not recommended a card that is "underpowered" by the CPU. This will also help determine how likely, if at all, your CPU is also causing the slow-down you're experiencing with Sims 2.

Sorry Cap, should have thought about this stuff last post

Captain1328

No need to apologize at all.

When I run it, I don't get a ''Mainboard'' list of info. I get everything else though. A rundown of the AGP and PCI ports and what not...but nothing like the image you put in.....I don't get the ''Mainboard'' list.

Lord Odin

Dude, did you get a Dell?

If you got a Dell/Compaq/whatever, I believe they make their own boards so the info may not be listed.

Check on these in that screen:

Under AGP Bus(es) look for Version and Speed.

Under Expansion Slot(s) look for AGP.

I'm not too sure these will be too conclusive either, if indeed onboard video gives AGP readings. The only things I can come up with would be to look inside the case.

If you haven't opened your case before, there's really nothing to it although it may take one of a couple methods to do so depending on the case. When looking at the computer from behind (try not to get turned on, frickin' electronics perv ) on the right hand side you should have a few screws holding the door on. Unscrew those. Now, try sliding the door on that side backwards. It may take a bit of pressure. If it doesn't slide back, then it's going to fold or hinge at the bottom, outwards away from the top. If this is the case, you may need to remove the front. This may change with other cases, but if you grab underneath the front plate, and pull out it should pop off with enough pressure. Don't He-Man that thing off there, or it may not snap back on later

Going back to the pic Tony posted, the AGP port is brown and the PCI ports are white (generally). If they're a different color, the AGP port is always the one farthest up and is offset from the others. The PCI ports should be sitting in a neat line, while the AGP one will be farther from the side. If you're still unsure, just snap a photo with a digi-cam (if you have one) and I'm sure the first person to check on the thread afterwards can let you know what's what.

Just trying to be thorough here Cap. Don't want to recommend you an AGP card, you buy it, then find out something I saw in Sandra was misleading and you didn't have what you needed for it.

bizell

if you actually did buy a dell,



ahem. back to regularly scheduled programming.

Captain1328

L.O. - you're cracking me up....with the ''electronics perv'' statement.

Nahh...we have a HP........brief pause for laughter.

I appreciate all the info you are giving me. Big time. I'm going to read back through it, look at the shots that you and Tony put in, and dig a little deeper into this thing.


Sandra did tell me one thing that's kind of scary - it says the CPU fan has failed or is spinning too slowly. Not sure how accurate that info may be, but using this program is opening my eyes to all sorts of things I didn't know.

I'll get back to this thread when I have some tangible info for all youse experts to analyze for me.

Seriously...again I greatly appreciate it.

Papa Bear

Whats wrong with Dell? I've had this one for 4 years now and never had a problem with it

I wouldn't buy any other brand

__________________

Lord Odin

It could be very accurate, but at the same time not have a bit of importance.

There are four fan connections on my motherboard, for example. One's titled CPU, another Chassis, one PSU, and another has AUX or something to that effect. When looking at any readout, the program gives the rating of the fan attached to that connection, if one is. Your CPU fan could be connected to a different fan jumper, and thus it'd be reporting in the wrong place.

Look in the same info page for CPU Temp under Temp Sensors (though this may not be available since it's HP, I'm pretty sure it is though ). If it's over 70C, it's definitely time to look into what's going on. Is the fan working? Is there a fan? Perhaps it's time to get a new fan and heatsink on there. Temp gets high enough, CPU fries. However even at 70C, I think you're still 10-15C away from it happening. Still, if the temp is high enough, OS errors can occur. Blue screens of death and whatnot. If it's 60-70, it may still be a good idea to do so. Under 60 and I wouldn't really concern myself with it unless the OS or something was giving me problems.