Solved Isn't 300W too little??

[biggles1000]

Well, I've had the PC for a few days now and have been, ahem, 'testing' the graphics card out.

GTA4 (+EFLC): Was really choppy, but once I changed the settings around and updated it, it's smooth and runs well on nearly the highest settings.
Mass Effect 2: If I remember rightly, it was on highest settings. Runs smoothly.
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Waste of £15 as this game sucks, but it runs well.
The Sims 2: Highest settings, runs smoothly (starting slowing down a bit during construction of a huge four-story hotel )
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit: Runs smoothly on highest settings (well worth the price as well, unlike TDU2 as this is actually fun)
GTA San Andreas: I think I ran it on the highest settings, or at least near-highest... anyway, it was the best quality I'd ever seen SA in and it was smooth.
Portal: Huge resolution and near-highest settings, runs smoothly.
Red Faction Guerrilla: Still haven't played it yet as bought it pre-owned so the key was already tied, have contacted THQ, awaiting response.
Lego Star Wars: After contacting SecuROM due to an error, they sent me a fix and I got it working (no, I never bought this game to play it (I played it on the PS2 at launch), I just bought it to determine how good my graphics cards were. This is the first GPU I've ever got it running on) and it ran smoothly.
Scarface The World Is Yours: I don't think the issue is Windows 7, as I had it running on my now dead Celeron D rig with Windows 7. I'm pretty certain the issue is just the number of cores (it doesn't run on this PC, well, it's the usual huge graphical mess-up). I'll have to wait until I've bought another HDD for XP.

So, so far the graphics card is fine. Yes, it could be better, but I'm fairly happy with it at the moment.
6GB of RAM isn't quite enough, and I'm thinking on buying a 2x4GB kit in the near future, bringing the total up to 12GB (as currently 3x2GB, so would need to empty one of the slots).
So, would the increase in RAM require a more powerful PSU?

 

[LiquidSnak]

You probably aren't going to notice any more than eight GB of RAM, just to save you some cash possibly. Another note on RAM, if you buy RAM that is a higher clock speed than what you have now, check you mainboard specs to make sure it will handle it, and know that it will all run @ the lowest clock.

 

[biggles1000]

yeah, I read on the HP that it can support up to 16GB (4x4GB), but "Due to AMD limitation, DDR3-1333 modules will run at 1066 MHz if three or more modules are installed." I'm guessing that the current modules are 1333 running at 1066 (as I currently have 3x2GB). So, my question about RAM is, what are the MHz about with RAM? (I know it probably sounds like a dumb question. I know what MHz for a processor mean, but I've never really understood it on RAM)

Yeah, I guess I probably wouldn't notice more than 8GB apart from during VirtualBox usage, which I don't use too frequently, but it's nice to have a fast VM. If only RAM could be rented...

 

[LiquidSnak]

Virtual ram?

Ram speeds are essentially the same as processor speeds, it's just the clock speed at which information passes through, the faster the better, depending on timings.

 

[biggles1000]

ah, thanks

 

[longhorn]

This is slightly late, but all I've ever owned (the exception being 2 dinosaurs ) are HP PCs. And I've had a great experience with them. I have a desktop from 2005 that we're still using (although it's about to be replaced by a custom build ) and it ran fine up until recently, when it started slowing down.

 

[biggles1000]

Thanks for comforting me in the experience of them having long lives It wouldn't be much fun to have shelled out on a £500 tower that goes wrong soon
I've unfortunately been an HP person mostly as well, but accidentally The HP pavilion 7950 I have is too old to compare to anything, and my two 2005 HP laptops (Pavilion ZV5000) are painfully slow
Thanks anyway for the indication of lifespan, as I've never much used an HP tower