Computers - if it's not one problem, it's another

Sometimes I wish I was a nerd. You have to be a nerd, or have a friend who is a nerd, or have vast amounts of money to pay a nerd, if you want your computer to perform satisfactory.

My latest frustration with this money pit called a computer comes in the form of a graphics card. I was unable to play certain games that I really wanted to play, and I was told I needed to upgrade my graphics card. So I did.

Last night I took my computer down to the store so a nerd could look it over, and I wasted $100 on a Radeon 9550. The nerd at the store said it was the same card he uses and that it can handle all the new games.

Well guess what, motherfucker...

It can't.

Not only am I still unable to play the games I want to play, but the overall speed on my computer has slowed down.

Sometimes I feel like computers are just not worth all the headaches and all the expense.

if youve upgraded your graphics card, other parts of your computer may need upgrading as well to cope with the new graphics card

Well, doing a little bit of research doesent hurt. If you take your computer in for a video card, they are no doubt going to take advantage of you. A video card is perhaps the simplest part of a computer and it plugs in and out... I built my own computer, and I'm no nerd. Its no more complicated than plugging the yellow/white/red cables into the back of your TV with your DVD player or playstation. But people are intimidated by wires sometimes..

What are your specs and what game are you trying to play?

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Originally Posted by Dutch Masta

Well, doing a little bit of research doesent hurt. If you take your computer in for a video card, they are no doubt going to take advantage of you. A video card is perhaps the simplest part of a computer and it plugs in and out... I built my own computer, and I'm no nerd. Its no more complicated than plugging the yellow/white/red cables into the back of your TV with your DVD player or playstation. But people are intimidated by wires sometimes..

What are your specs and what game are you trying to play?

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If he was going to take advantage of me he could have tried selling me a much more expensive graphics card. Let's be real here, $100 is pretty much at the low end of the graphics card price range.

He DID try to take advantage of me when it came to the installation, but I didn't go for it. He wanted $70 to put it in for me. I said fuck that, and I went home and figured it out mysellf. There was one tiny screw that took me about an hour to get off, but once I got it off I didn't have any difficulty.

I'm trying to play Rome: Total War.

I don't know exactly which specs you need to know. Like I said, I'm not a nerd. But my computer is an HP pavilion 9800. Pentium 4. I have windows xp. And the exact name of the graphics card I bought is:

"Diamond Stealth S120 graphics accelerator card featuring Radeon 9550"

Ever since I had my geek install the new mother board, my pc doesn't want to shut down at night and takes a whole 5 minute ordeal to shut her off.
And my power supply keeps blowing up too the last one was under warranty and was covered but the 6 of them before that were not. The last building I lived in had some funny electrical problems and that would cause my power supply to blow up. This house I live in now is close to the 101 freeway and that clogs my pc up with road dirt believe it or not and then she cannot breathe and over heats. When she blew last week, it was a little explosion that scared the shit out of me.
I run 3 Ionic Breeze air cleaners that I have to clean every 5 days and I vacuum my house every day because of the dust & dirt that comes thru the door & windows. But that dust and dirt is what is killing my power supplies.
I have to live here for two more years until my wifes daughter graduates high school and starts college but, then we can move to a less populated area where the dust won't be as big a factor.

I hate to tell you this bud, but $100 for a Radeon 9550 is a complete rip off.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...50+Video+Cards

Those are what you get by searching radeon 9550 at newegg. The most expensive one is half the price, and its memory is 256mb. Take your card back and tell him you will order one off of the internet :thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by fasterspider

Ever since I had my geek install the new mother board, my pc doesn't want to shut down at night and takes a whole 5 minute ordeal to shut her off.
And my power supply keeps blowing up too the last one was under warranty and was covered but the 6 of them before that were not. The last building I lived in had some funny electrical problems and that would cause my power supply to blow up. This house I live in now is close to the 101 freeway and that clogs my pc up with road dirt believe it or not and then she cannot breathe and over heats. When she blew last week, it was a little explosion that scared the shit out of me.
I run 3 Ionic Breeze air cleaners that I have to clean every 5 days and I vacuum my house every day because of the dust & dirt that comes thru the door & windows. But that dust and dirt is what is killing my power supplies.
I have to live here for two more years until my wifes daughter graduates high school and starts college but, then we can move to a less populated area where the dust won't be as big a factor.

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Your best bet might be to pick up a can of compressed air and clean the inside of the PC every couple weeks. Mine likes to suck up the dog hairs.

To the OP can you post your PC specs? Have you looked for updated video drivers? Sometimes just a new video card isnt enough.

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Originally Posted by Markass

I hate to tell you this bud, but $100 for a Radeon 9550 is a complete rip off.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...50+Video+Cards

Those are what you get by searching radeon 9550 at newegg. The most expensive one is half the price, and its memory is 256mb. Take your card back and tell him you will order one off of the internet :thumbsup:

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Maybe so, but what you aren't factoring in is the shipping charges that you have to pay when ordering merchandise off the internet. Often times, the shipping costs nearly as much as the thing you are ordering.

But I don't care. I have the card, and if I paid too much for it, oh well. I can live with that. I just want to be able to play my game. That's all I care about right now.

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Originally Posted by Zimzum

To the OP can you post your PC specs? Have you looked for updated video drivers? Sometimes just a new video card isnt enough.

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See, this is why I wish I was a nerd.

I don't know what specs you are asking for!

Fuck, I'm a welder and a farmer. Neither one of those jobs requires using a computer, so I've never learned anything about computers.