Any PC Experts???
 

Can someone please help??

I'm trying to run my recently installed Championship Manager 2010 but get an error message.

I came home today and upgraded my 512MB Memory to 4GB (Maximum for my PC) - The PC is a Dell Optiplex GX280 but when i start the game it says:

"Direct3D Failed to initialise - Please ensure you have a Direct3D compatible card and Driver. The game cannot continue and must close"

What do i do?? I have no idea what Card i have in my PC - is it just a driver issue or is my card likely to just not be up to the job?? http://www.oople.com/forums/images/smilies/frown.gif

The onboard graphics in the dell probably aren't up to the task, you probably need to get a half-height directx10 gfx card

Open up your device manager, which you can get by right clicking on My Computer, select properties and then click the hardware tab and click device manager, then find your graphics card under display adapters. This same method should work under Vista, but otherwise try going through Control Panel.

If you post what you find I might be able to help

Sounds like your graphics may not be up to the job. You need to identify your graphis card, if its an intel onboard chip you will probaly need to upgrade to a more modern card......providing you have a spare PCIe slot or AGP.

If not try updating to the lastest drivers for your graphics chip. The make/model etc can be found in device manager

You might also need to update DirectX... check the CD for Champ Manager, there ought to be a correct version on there somewhere

Faling that, feed the service tag through the dell website and it will tell you. I've a feeling the dell optiplex systems are on board graphics so you would need another one.

I think they are PCI-E cards but not 100%

I'm looking in Device manager but i can't see anything related to the Graphics card....

I downloaded latest Intel drivers which i think relate to the graphics card....

I just re-run the game and it started this time, played some video sequences then after a few moments came up with the same error again..

It's frustrating as i think the Graphics are only needed to watch the 3D game experience which i'm also told can be turned off once you're in the game anyway :-(

I've just run dxdiag and got the following:

Under Display tab:

Name: Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family
Chip Type: (As above)
DAC Type: Internal
Approx Total Memory: 128MB

Does that help?

The Graphics are on board, but the m board does have a PCIe slot. Being of small form factor you would need to buy a low profile graphics card

something like one of these http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?Interf...=p3286.c0.m282

Thanks for that mate!!

Would any of them work ok?? Is it just a case of plug and play?? I'm thinking the Asus one?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Asus-256MB-ATi...d=p3286.c0.m14

An Ati 4550 would be a better bet, a little bit more grunt. Should just plug in, but first uninstall the intel drivers and check in the bios as you may need to disable the on board graphics

Thanks Dez, do you know if it will definitely work in this machine?

The only issue you may have is that your power supply may not have a graphics card power connector, or it doesnt have enough grunt to power the card. If the PSU has a 6 pin PCIe connector that is not in use you will be okay. Looking at those card its not clear if they need the extra power

Ahh ok, not sure what sort of power supply it has to be honest.....

Is it much of a job to upgrade the power supply? What sort of money am i looking at?

This is the trouble with Dell :(

Im not sure if the newer Dells have interchangeable components but the older ones used to use parts unique to Dell themselves :thumbdown:

This is the same model - is anyone able to check what sort of Power supply it would have or what it could be changed for?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-Optiplex-...d=p3286.c0.m14

Having Googled the Optiplex 280 - im assuming that your machine is Pentium 4 based ?

I wouldnt waste a penny upgrading it tbh. Put your money towards a new tower.

Your best bet is to look at the wattage of your PSU anything over 400 watts should be okay for those cards.

Yeah that's the one.

It's a shame as this is the only game i wanted to play on the PC anyway lol.

I was annoyed at having to upgrade the memory but that was the only requirement i thought i needed to meet - i didn't think about Graphics etc....

Wonder how much i could get a new one for :-(

Thanks for all the advice by the way guys.

If you are goIng to upgrade up gpu makesure it has a minimum of at least 256mb, for good gaming look at 512's even 1gb's (don't know if you can't get those 1s for mini mobos though)

as for psu's you can get a decent 400kw one for around £25-30 new. I use a 750 in my high proformance gaming tower. But you wouldn't need to go that high.

Seems to be 250w :-(

Its just not worth spending any more cash on Nick. The equivalent of fitting a Ford Focus engine in an Austin Allegro :woot:

Go for a std sized tower for future flexibility if you want to upgrade in future. Some people like Dell, personally i dont. I can recommend someone if you want who builds to your budget/needs on Ebay.

heres my home built water cooled system - i built it about 4 years ago now but its still going strong :thumbsup:

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...Y/DSCN0673.jpg

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/j...Y/DSCN0675.jpg

Thats not really enough it might fry the psu. Check the graphics card power specs

changes the motherboard, processor, memory and graphics for £150

Do you mean £150 to upgrade those components on this machine? What about the PSU?

I just bought £50 worth of memory for it too which is gutting, hopefully it would be transferrable to a new machine?? Memory was

Qty: 4 CT657133
Part number: CT12864AA667
Price: £10.99 (EX. VAT)
Description: 1GB, 240-pin DIMM Upgrade for a Dell OptiPlex GX280 (Desktop and Mini-tower Models) System

where did you buy it?? strewth, I just put a mobo, cpu, cooler and 1gig of mem, and that was £81, PSU on top was £13

try www.novatech.co.uk or www.aria.co.uk or www.yoyotech.com or www.microdirect.co.uk

That was Crucial memory, was cheaper then on Ebuyer surprisingly too!

I can almost 100% confirm that the psu in the optiplex will not have the power connector for the PCIe gfx card and will not have enough grunt to power it anyway. I'm not 100% on modern gfx cards, nor am I 100% on modern games (! am not a gamer) but I have worked with a lot of dells and those model optiplex are pretty old (by PC standards). You may be able to find a half-height gfx card that doesn't need the extra power connector, but I have to concur with the other advice offered. If your serious about gaming, you need a serious games machine:thumbsup:

Definitely not "serious" about gaming with the Pc at all to be honest, this was the first game i actually bought to run on this machine but it won't work so not sure i can now justify replacing it or spending loads on upgrading it :-(

I thought the Memory was worth doing anyway and i honestly thought that's all i needed to get the game to run - the Graphics side of things should only matter for watching "Live" Matches which i really wouldn't bother doing anyway.

Rich D - I had an experiement with water cooling, went well until I changed the RAM and hit the pipes, water went everywhere!

Not good ! lol

I water cooled mine primarily cos i wanted a silent system. Dont think i would bother again though tbh. I didn't go for a water cooled power supply as at the time they were horrendously expensive. Since then the PSU fans have started to rattle a bit so its as noisy as an air cooled system anyway now. :cry:

Its an overclocked Athlon64 skt 939 FX-60 @2.93ghz. Overclocked 7800 GTX GPU`s in SLI. In its day it was the nadgers - £600 just for the cpu but prices have fallen loads since then. I think the ram was over £200 second hand. Dated now but still quick enough to run everything but the latest games on max settings/full res 1680 x 1050

Back to the Dell - look on Ebay Nick for someone selling a second hand tower - shouldnt cost you an arm and a leg. Although it will most likely be cheaper to upgrade what you have got, your throwing good money after bad in my opinion. I got rid of a P4 system to build my current one and to be frank my current system is out of date.

Good luck

You can never have too much memory :D. It's a shame you can't turn off the 3d before running the game, sometimes you can edit the configuration manually. Might be worth checking out;)

Nice build Rich here is mine only a few months old still ironning out a few creases.....

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5966/dscf3158u.jpg


But i would do what pretty much everyone else ha said nick upgrade.

A

Ask here... http://forums.bit-tech.net/

Sounds to me like a number of things Nick...

From your previous posts, I would agree that it uses on board graphics chipset on the motherboard. This then shares the system memory (the 4GB you just upgraded to). If your running Vista, then this should be the minimum memory needed to run it! Nowadays, DELL stuff isn't proprietry (sp?) since tech peeps like myself complained bitterly about it.

IMO I would always try software stuff first, before splashing out on hardware.
New graphics cards also tend to need extra power through a molex connector, which from the sounds of it, your power supply cannot provide, since it is only 250W (you need really about 400w nowadays to do anything more than basic surfing/word docs/email etc....)

Rich D has made the most sense if you HAVE to play the game, buy a new tower, but if your not bothered that much, just get one of the new PS3 slim's! I gave up years ago buying PC games, because of the constant upgrade, driver, directX etc etc issues, which just became a PITA!

HTH (a bit!)
M.

Cheers Ash - < geek mode on > - Nice Corsair PSU :drool: :blush:

:woot: