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Computer doesn't run low specs games, something wr

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ninahart View Drop Down
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    Posted: 14 Oct 2016 at 8:27am
My younger brother got a new computer, put together by one of his friends. It doesn't even run Fistful of Frags. Is this normal for these specifications?

AMD FX4300 3.8GHZ
MOTHERBOARD ASROCK N68-GS4FX
MEMORY 4GB
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7025
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parsec View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote parsec Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Oct 2016 at 12:51pm
Originally posted by ninahart ninahart wrote:

My younger brother got a new computer, put together by one of his friends. It doesn't even run Fistful of Frags. Is this normal for these specifications?

AMD FX4300 3.8GHZ
MOTHERBOARD ASROCK N68-GS4FX
MEMORY 4GB
NVIDIA GEFORCE 7025


Your brother's friend didn't do him much of a favor.

The N68-GS4FX mother board is a budget ($50) board with a built in graphics chip that runs with a PCIe 1.0 interface. The PC does not have a video card, it has a very low end integrated graphics. What can be expected from built in graphics from the board's old Nvidia chipset, with these specifications:

- Integrated NVIDIA® GeForce 7025 graphics
- DX9.0 VGA, Pixel Shader 3.0
- Max. shared memory 256MB
- Supports D-Sub with max. resolution up to 1920x1440 @ 60Hz


He would have been much better of with an AMD or Intel board with a CPU that has modern integrated graphics. While gamers don't consider these to be serious for gaming, they are leaps and bounds beyond the 7025 graphics.

This mother board is not marketed for PC gaming use at all. It is suitable for browsing the Internet and watching videos.

I would not suggest getting a video card to use with this board, since it only had a PCIe 1.0 interface.

Try this page to check its rating for playing that game:

http://www.game-debate.com/games/index.php?g_id=20306&game=Fistful+of+Frags&p_make=AMD&p_deriv=FX-4300&gc_make=Nvidia&gc_deriv=GeForce+7025+nForce+630a&ram=8&checkSubmit=#systemRequirements
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Xaltar View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Xaltar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Oct 2016 at 3:04pm
Parsec pretty much covered most of what I was going to say. The PC is using it's onboard (built into the Chipset) graphics. This is not the same as integrated graphics on modern CPUs like intel's Core family and AMD's APUs (FM2/+) which are much newer and are actually capable of playing modern games, albeit at lower settings.

I have to disagree with Parsec in that your best bet with a system like this would be to get a discrete GPU, as Parsec noted, the board runs a PCIe 1.0 interface so you don't want to waste your money on a high end offering that would be bottlenecked. I am guessing you wouldn't want to spend much anyway so that shouldn't be an issue. 

The best GPU to pair with a system like this for gaming purposes would be something like an R7 250/Radeon HD 7770/7790 or a Geforce GTX 650/750. None of these GPUs should bottleneck on the PCIe 1.0 x16 slot on that board. All of these will be able to play even the latest games at lower graphics settings. There are a lot of the older GPUs I listed available used for very reasonable prices if you don't want to spend more on a new one, just be careful buying used.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote parsec Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Oct 2016 at 11:36pm
Originally posted by Xaltar Xaltar wrote:

Parsec pretty much covered most of what I was going to say. The PC is using it's onboard (built into the Chipset) graphics. This is not the same as integrated graphics on modern CPUs like intel's Core family and AMD's APUs (FM2/+) which are much newer and are actually capable of playing modern games, albeit at lower settings.

I have to disagree with Parsec in that your best bet with a system like this would be to get a discrete GPU, as Parsec noted, the board runs a PCIe 1.0 interface so you don't want to waste your money on a high end offering that would be bottlenecked. I am guessing you wouldn't want to spend much anyway so that shouldn't be an issue. 

The best GPU to pair with a system like this for gaming purposes would be something like an R7 250/Radeon HD 7770/7790 or a Geforce GTX 650/750. None of these GPUs should bottleneck on the PCIe 1.0 x16 slot on that board. All of these will be able to play even the latest games at lower graphics settings. There are a lot of the older GPUs I listed available used for very reasonable prices if you don't want to spend more on a new one, just be careful buying used.


I don't disagree with you Xaltar, but I did not word my comment correctly, or make my point clear.

My point is, if your brother used a recent or new model graphics card with this board, he might not get the full level of performance from the card, because of its PCIe 1.0 interface on the PCIe x16 slot.

There certainly would be an improvement in gaming performance, but you would expect more if you used the link I included in my post above to evaluate its performance. New, low priced cards like the Nvidia 1050 models, or AMD 400 series support PCIe 3.0, but you would not be able to use the higher performance settings of these cards.

Another factor that influenced my initial comment, although I am not sure about this, is a difference in the power available from a PCIe 1.0 x16 slot, compared to the PCIe 2.1 specifications. That is based upon this statement I found:

PCI Express 2.1 (with its specification dated March 4, 2009) supports a large proportion of the management, support, and troubleshooting systems planned for full implementation in PCI Express 3.0. However, the speed is the same as PCI Express 2.0. Unfortunately, the increase in power from the slot breaks backward compatibility between PCI Express 2.1 cards and some older motherboards with 1.0/1.0a, but most motherboards with PCI Express 1.1 connectors are provided with a BIOS update by their manufacturers through utilities to support backward compatibility of cards with PCIe 2.1.

So I am uncertain about using modern graphics cards in that board's PCIe 1.0 slot.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Xaltar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 Oct 2016 at 1:14am
The only part of your comment I disagreed with was:

Quote I would not suggest getting a video card to use with this board, since it only had a PCIe 1.0 interface.

Sorry, I wasn't clear either Embarrassed

That system would work well with any of the GPUs, or similar, I listed. I agree and wouldn't advise current gen GPUs as we have already seen compatibility issues with the GTX 1000 series. The RX 400 series has some pretty intense power draw from the slot which I wouldn't risk using on a PCIe 1.0 interface either.

I have used both my GTX 960 and HD 5850 on a motherboard with PCIe 1.0 without issues so at least up to GTX 900 series should be compatible as far as power delivery goes. I suggested the particular GPUs in my first post as they fall into a performance category that shouldn't be noticeably affected by the older interface. The board in question uses the same NForce chipset as the N68-GS4 FX so I am confident the GPUs I listed will work without issue. 

There is a lot of misnomer regarding PCIe gen and GPU bottlenecking. While yes, the PCIe gen can impact performance it is not typically due to lack of bandwidth. It has more to do with the way the PCIe interface is handled such as latency improvements with successive generations. These performance discrepancies are largely insignificant in practical use. When it comes to bandwidth PCIe 1.0 x16 is ~= to PCIe 3.0 x4 which would not even come close to being saturated by a low/mid range GPU. The PCIe gen is far more significant where it comes to storage and other applications but when it comes to GPUs it really isn't as critical as many would have you believe, especially not where it comes to gaming. 

I will shut up now before I derail the thread completely LOL
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