ATI Radeon 9800 XT req

[blade 24/7 365]

Im gonna buy a Radeon 9800 xt for my computer,i know i need to upgrade my processor and memory, but what would i need to bring them up to AT A MINIMUM to play Half Life 2 at its peak?

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

Dude if you run the 9800XT without bottlenecking, your pc is fine for hl2.

 

[blahblahblah]

It is too hard to tell for certain what will run HL2 at maximum.

I believe it will be somewhere around a 2.6 Ghz Processor, 1 Gb RAM, and a 9800 Pro. But I could be wrong since the game isn't out yet.

You should wait for the 9800XT to drop in price, or you can buy a X800 Pro which is nearly the same price as a 9800XT right now (if you can find the X800 Pro in stock).

What are you planning on upgrading too?

 

[FictiousWill]

Or you can softmod a 9800pro to an xt. Better make sure you have good cooling.

 

[blade 24/7 365]

well i want to get a 2.8Ghs Pentium 4 and 512 DDR RAM as well as the radeon 9800XT( i found a place with the HL2 cupon version instock for only £250! )

 

[bosox188]

An X800 pro is about the same price, but if you really want the coupon I guess go ahead. How much do you have to spend though?

 

[harhar]

I hear you can just flash the BIOS of radeon 9800 256mb to make it a 9800xt since they have same core

 

[blade 24/7 365]

does anybody know the required AGP slot speed of the Radeon 9800XT? the site i wanna buy it from confuses me

 

[Shuzer]

does anybody know the required AGP slot speed of the Radeon 9800XT? the site i wanna buy it from confuses me

AFAIK, it scales all the way back to 2X AGP.
Most boards have 4X AGP at the very least, and the difference between 4X and 8X is so minimal it's nothing to worry about

You'll be fine, as long as you have an AGP slot

 

[Asus]

I hear you can just flash the BIOS of radeon 9800 256mb to make it a 9800xt since they have same core

There's also a 128mb bios available.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

wouldn't it be just wise to wait til the prices drop?
i mean u don't need the video card right now, do u blade?

and HL2 doesn't come out til at least some time in August...so i guess unless u feel like paying extra cash.. waiting would be good.

 

[blade 24/7 365]

wouldn't it be just wise to wait til the prices drop?
i mean u don't need the video card right now, do u blade?

and HL2 doesn't come out til at least some time in August...so i guess unless u feel like paying extra cash.. waiting would be good.

Yeah im not buying it untill we hear HL2 goes gold, then on the day i wil order all the needed equipment, which i have already saved in my shopping basket on this site so that all i have to do is click proced to checkout and im done. also i dont have the money for it atm, im waing for a reply from a job i applied for which would get me enough for all the upgrades in a couple months!

AFAIK, it scales all the way back to 2X AGP.
Most boards have 4X AGP at the very least, and the difference between 4X and 8X is so minimal it's nothing to worry about

You'll be fine, as long as you have an AGP slot

I checked my motherboard manual and it says i have a 4x AGP slot so form that post i take that it will run fine

but atm my motherboard has an athlon processor in it, if i wanted to upgrade my processor would i need to buy an athlon or could i go for the pentium 4 i want?

 

[Shuzer]

You'd have to stick with another Athlon chip. What motherboard and processor do you have currently? You might be as up-to-date, CPU wise, as possible with your current motherboard.

If you wanted to switch platforms (Athlon XP to Pentium 4, Athlon XP to Athlon 64, etc) you'd have to get a new motherboard

 

[blade 24/7 365]

Yeah i found that out when i checked my motherboard manual, so ive decided to buld a completely new PC seing as my current one is 2 years old. I am buying a Motherboard bundle(2.8 GHz Pentium 4, 256MB DDR RAM, heatsink/fan for processor all pre built in) Extra 512 DDR RAM, ATI Radeon 9800 XT, DVD RW drive, 80 GB HDD.Its all gonna cost £722. I'm gonna use my current monitor, keyboard and mouse as they are pretty good anyway.
Tell me what u think

 

[Shuzer]

Sounds like a fairly good deal. Why a 9800 XT, though? How much is that card going to cost you? You might be able to get an X800 Pro for around the same cost, and it's a much better card.

 

[blade 24/7 365]

I checked around and the 9800 XT is £250 and the X800 Pro is £225. but i dont mind really as i want the 9800 XT cos of the HL2 cupon