Need help with random computer issues and questions!!

[skitty4gzus]

1) I have an hp desktop, yea i know please hold back the cheap shots I got it refurbed at microcenter for an awesome price. Anyways, I just pulled one of the sticks of ram out to see what it actually came loaded with. This thing has Media Center XP and a 2.8ghz ht processor and 200 gig hard drive standard and they load it with 512 of ram? How measly. I replaced the pathetic ati x300 card that it came with for an ati x850xt platinum. The issue is after the install of this card it doesnt seem like games are going much faster. Granted the graphics are light years better, but its also having some odd errors and fatal error shutdowns. It doesnt fatal error anymore as i rebooted xp in the mode of last good settings or whatever its called. Im thinking a ram upgrade would do the machine some good or is it waste of money? It uses 400mhz ddr ram which is just a hair faster than the 333 in my t42p. I just dont know if this machine is worth the money to sink into it or should I just save up for a new tower? Any suggestions on how to speed up the computer and gaming? Since the install of the new card Starcraft has unexpectedly ended quite a few times. Is that maybe a driver issue? I hope it is something that simple, even though I have had problems finding the driver on ATI's website. Also, ATI catalyst software is not as smart as it thinks it is. No matter how many times i resize the parameters for the monitor and click ok and everything it always goes back to some old settings everytime the machine shuts down or the monitor is turned off. I dont know which one cuz i shut them both off at the same time. Any help would be great, thanks.

[christopher_wolf]

I would really wait and invest for a new tower that you simply put together; but I am wondering if everything is OK on that one. I have seen some heavy duty games, like Far Cry, choke, hang, and sputter when they run out of useful memory. There are tweaker programs available for most games, but those only help so much.

Are all the drivers set up correctly within Windows for that new card?

[skitty4gzus]

I doubt it highly. I did like the instructions said when installing the new one. I uninstalled the old one and installed the new one. I used the software that it came with, but I have not been able to go to ATI and see if there is a more recent driver for it. Im not really sure what Im doing wrong to find a new driver, I didnt think it was that involved at all, but i havent been able to find the driver for that card on their website. Than if i do find it, im not even sure where to save it to and than the whole process of going in and finding it and updating it is kinda sketchy for me. Yea I think I got a good deal on the tower and all, but 512 is just weak considering the vid card alone has 256 itself. The onboard fan on the card is super loud though. Its twice as loud as the fan on the computer itself. I dont know if thats a problem or a sign that there is something else wrong? I didn't see anywhere in the catalyst software for a fan controller? Not to mention the thing boots up ridiculously slow. My t42p I use frequently boots up at a fraction of the time it takes the tower to. Anyways, maybe if memory isnt too expensive I might upgrade and put a gig stick in it and bring it up to 1.2 gig.