Needing help with my PC!

Hey, so I have a gifted PC, and I've been wanting some help on knowing what to replace. I'm an amateur when it comes to PCs, I honestly know almost nothing and could really use someone's knowledge!

My game typically runs at 30 fps, and can drop to 20, making it difficult for me to play.

These are my specs:

RAM: 16GB
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 CPU @ 3.20GHz 3.20GHz
Type: 64-bit system
OS: Windows 7

Here's more on my PC: https://imgur.com/vKAPf1P

it looks like you're running the game on the graphics card supplied with the motherboard. I'd buy an external graphics card myself, but I'm no computer expert, it's just something I'd do. Your ram seems fine, although judging from the picture it's only using around 4GB so I'm presuming you're running windows in 32bit? If you're able to, I would upgrade to 64bit as that will allow you the full 16GB of RAM. With that two things combined, it should speed up your game somewhat!

I'm sure someone else with much more knowledge would be able to help you more than I can. Good luck and I hope you get everything sorted the way you want to soon :)

A graphics card will be the single biggest improvement of performance. Your processor and RAM are fine. Changing your HD's to SSD's if they aren't already will assist in loading times but won't really matter for actual gameplay.

Replacing the CPU usually means replacing the motherboard, which can then further cascade into compatibility issues with the type of RAM you have or slots for other hardware. In the end, it's not really something I would encourage a newbie try without supervision.

Anyway, knowing what OS it is running on (Windows 7, 8, 10, etc.) is also an important factor, particularly relative to 32/64-bit. 16gb of RAM is more than likely overkill if you don't do video/streaming or HD art work, with the most likely culprit of bottlenecking being your video card, as mentioned, with perhaps a nod to picking up an SSD to port your OS to and run more vital programs from. Again, though, this requires finding out what slots your motherboard supports (Stuff like PCI, PCI-E, SATA, RAID, etc.) so you get the right parts or don't have to further haggle with adapters if it's even possible to. Further advancements may also mandate a more powerful power supply or PSU and potentially additional cooling so it doesn't all overheat.

If said PC is actually a laptop, then pretty much forget anything we said and know you're more than likely stuck with what you got.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Saidosha

If said PC is actually a laptop, then pretty much forget anything we said and know you're more than likely stuck with what you got.

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I did not even think of this possibility. Good point. Laptop upgrade options are usually limited to SSDs and more RAM. Both of which have negligible returns for your framerate.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

I did not even think of this possibility. Good point. Laptop upgrade options are usually limited to SSDs and more RAM. Both of which have negligible returns for your framerate.

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I'm actually using a PC, not a laptop, but I appreciate the info.

Super helpful, and yeah, since I don't know what I'm doing, I'm nervous to mess around with my PC. Probably a stupid question, but my GPU has to be compatible with my motherboard right? I've only just started learning about PCs so I know very little.

Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Saidosha

Replacing the CPU usually means replacing the motherboard, which can then further cascade into compatibility issues with the type of RAM you have or slots for other hardware. In the end, it's not really something I would encourage a newbie try without supervision.

Anyway, knowing what OS it is running on (Windows 7, 8, 10, etc.) is also an important factor, particularly relative to 32/64-bit. 16gb of RAM is more than likely overkill if you don't do video/streaming or HD art work, with the most likely culprit of bottlenecking being your video card, as mentioned, with perhaps a nod to picking up an SSD to port your OS to and run more vital programs from. Again, though, this requires finding out what slots your motherboard supports (Stuff like PCI, PCI-E, SATA, RAID, etc.) so you get the right parts or don't have to further haggle with adapters if it's even possible to. Further advancements may also mandate a more powerful power supply or PSU and potentially additional cooling so it doesn't all overheat.

If said PC is actually a laptop, then pretty much forget anything we said and know you're more than likely stuck with what you got.

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Super helpful, and yeah, since I don't know what I'm doing, I'm nervous to mess around with my PC. Probably a stupid question, but my GPU has to be compatible with my motherboard right? I've only just started learning about PCs so I know very little.

Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GlacialFlowers

Super helpful, and yeah, since I don't know what I'm doing, I'm nervous to mess around with my PC. Probably a stupid question, but my GPU has to be compatible with my motherboard right? I've only just started learning about PCs so I know very little.

Thanks!

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Yes, check what kind of expansion slots are on it and also what kind of power supply is in your computer. If you have a prebuilt computer and can post the model # it would be easily searchable for other specs you may have omitted.

Your graphics card will likely want a PCI or PCI-E slot, with the latter being the more advanced and better option. They're also distinctly visually different, so if your board has a mix, you'll be able to tell. The case the PC came in may also have detachable shields in front of these slots, which is usually easily handled with a screwdriver and just popping them out so the connection slots can poke through the back.

If you are just using an on-board chip and do add a completely new card, that will be a guaranteed power supply increase relative to the power of the card in question. There are some sites out there that'll let you punch in your parts configuration and estimate the needed power, so google that later if you're running on something like a 250 or 300W PSU, because it's more than likely going to be insufficient. Aside from the card slot, you'll also need a specific connector to hook it up to the PSU. These will widely vary and some cards are kind enough to come with adapters, but you'll see stuff like 3 or 4 pin, stuff that looks more like a plastic USB port with 2 pins, and so on.

Frankly, changing the PSU can also seem pretty scary due to all the connections you'll need and the possibility you may have to drill new holes into your case to secure it or cut a slot out for the breaker. After a point, if this starts looking like a project beyond just getting a new card, I'd look up a local PC guy and let them handle the process.

Graphic card .
You can get a avga 650-970 an should fix your framerate they not that expensive anymore.
Make sure your board has an PCI Express x16

Quick update with more specs:

https://imgur.com/4Y8EGXj

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Saidosha

Your graphics card will likely want a PCI or PCI-E slot, with the latter being the more advanced and better option. They're also distinctly visually different, so if your board has a mix, you'll be able to tell. The case the PC came in may also have detachable shields in front of these slots, which is usually easily handled with a screwdriver and just popping them out so the connection slots can poke through the back.

If you are just using an on-board chip and do add a completely new card, that will be a guaranteed power supply increase relative to the power of the card in question. There are some sites out there that'll let you punch in your parts configuration and estimate the needed power, so google that later if you're running on something like a 250 or 300W PSU, because it's more than likely going to be insufficient. Aside from the card slot, you'll also need a specific connector to hook it up to the PSU. These will widely vary and some cards are kind enough to come with adapters, but you'll see stuff like 3 or 4 pin, stuff that looks more like a plastic USB port with 2 pins, and so on.

Frankly, changing the PSU can also seem pretty scary due to all the connections you'll need and the possibility you may have to drill new holes into your case to secure it or cut a slot out for the breaker. After a point, if this starts looking like a project beyond just getting a new card, I'd look up a local PC guy and let them handle the process.

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Thanks so much!

I'll probably have to have someone come and work on my PC for me.

EDIT:

Saw the updated specs. You would be replacing your graphics card (the HD6570).


As others have said, a graphics card will be the best upgrade route. An Nvidia Geforce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon 580 will be plenty fro this game, they're both around $200 USD, give or take. Can go lower end if your budget is lower than $200 for the upgrade, but I wouldn't recommend anything lower end than an Nvidia GTX 1050ti or AMD Radeon 570

Your PC's motherboard will need a free PCI-Ex16 slot (kind of a long slot with a latch looking thing on the right side). If you purchase a video card, make sure to unplug the computer from the wall before installing it and you'll be fine.

Putting components in PCs is kinda like building Legos. Just remove the respective plate(s) from the back of the case to access the ports on the card, slot it into the PCI-E slot, and secure the card with a screw or two (into the case).

With the new graphics card installed, make sure you plug your display into it, rather than into the motherboard (you may need a new cable if you are using a VGA cable on your monitor. The monitor you have does seem to have Display Port [did a quick search by the image you shared and found the specs for HP Compaq LA1905wg 19-inch], so I would recommend Display Port since most modern graphics cards do not support VGA without an adapter, and some don't support DVI anymore).

using this as a reference:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03859136

You do have a PCIE 16X so it should be able to support a decent graphics card, but it also has a tiny power supply, so that would likely have to be upgraded as well, hopefully it uses standard form factors and isn't some weird proprietary shaped thing (HP used to do that back when I did computer repair, like 5 years ago). If you know a PC guy or have someone local have them take a look, any competent techie should be able to give it a quick once over and advise a strategy.
You are probably looking at at least $250+ for parts, depending on how crazy you want to go. I would also take a look at upgrading your windows 7 to either a 64 bit version of the same or just upgrading to windows 10 64 bit version as it will allow more ram to be used. I haven't looked into what's available now but there have always been free opportunities to upgrade in recent years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Krotoan

using this as a reference:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c03859136

You do have a PCIE 16X so it should be able to support a decent graphics card, but it also has a tiny power supply, so that would likely have to be upgraded as well, hopefully it uses standard form factors and isn't some weird proprietary shaped thing (HP used to do that back when I did computer repair, like 5 years ago). If you know a PC guy or have someone local have them take a look, any competent techie should be able to give it a quick once over and advise a strategy. (Snip)

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To add to this, you might be able to get away with the small power supply, but you would likely have to upgrade it to accommodate for potentially higher power draw components (the PC may not have a standard ATX power supply mount/cutout on the case). For example, the NVidia recommends at minimum a 300W power supply for a GTX 1050, which your PC spec technically meets (whether or not you should run the card on that spec or not is up for debate, I personally would recommend an upgrade to the PSU as well if possible).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by File2ish

To add to this, you might be able to get away with the small power supply, but you would likely have to upgrade it to accommodate for potentially higher power draw components (the PC may not have a standard ATX power supply mount/cutout on the case). For example, the NVidia recommends at minimum a 300W power supply for a GTX 1050, which your PC spec technically meets (whether or not you should run the card on that spec or not is up for debate, I personally would recommend an upgrade to the PSU as well if possible).

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Thanks so so much!

Windows 7 will stop being supported soon-ish so an upgrade to Windows 10 64-bit is the way to go.

Look for a sticker on your computer and you can use that key to activate Windows 10.

It might be worth posting some screenshots from the dxdiag screen (Press Windows Key + R to bring up the run window, then put in "dxdiag"). You'll want the "System" and one of the "Display" tabs. This will punch out the information that we need to see what GPU you're using. It's also possible to save all this information to a text file, which you can use for sharing around (in fact IIRC, if you're posting for technical support on this forum, you HAVE to provide that dxdiag window, so it's a useful feature to note)

Well if you want a cheap upgrade, pretty good for it's price too i would recommand a gtx 1660 ti. Good performance for it's price and it will run ffxiv with no problem.

Something to also keep in mind when it comes to power draw is that even if something has its own power source, like a printer, it still technically draws from the PC and can be a factor. So, if you've got a lot of gizmos connected, it'll add up. A more niche fact is that there also usually priority USB ports that you may want to plug certain things into over others, but that's often more for trying to run things out of the boot menu and the common user generally wouldn't have to worry about.

People have suggested a few cards already, but you may want to give https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ a gander and just browse for things in a chosen price range or performance level. We're probably in a bit of lull for big sales, with maybe there being some labor day or back to school stuff if you're patient, but I imagine the tech market won't have a whole lot until Black Friday/Cyber Monday since you just missed Prime Day. Which may be too long a wait for you.