ATTENTION: Read this before posting upgrade questions/'Will my PC run HL2?' questions

[VeZ]

if you make it run in dx8

 

[Asus]

Now, I know I'll run the game at playable framerates at medium, but could I max out and still get a decent performance?

System:
Amd Barton 2800XP (2ghz)
Radeon 9700pro
2x512mb DDR 333mhz

It should be very playable with good detail even at 1280x1024.

ive got..

256meg sapphire 9600XT
2400+ amd cpu
768 meg ram

im pretty sure my system will run hl2 well, but how well is well?

ideally id like it to run at 1280x1024---> at this res im not bothered much about AA or AF...

but would anyone know what kinda resolution/settings my system will be able to take?

You should be able to run HL2 with good detail at playable framerates. Even at 1280X1024 you should be able to hit 30FPS by adjusting some settings.

 

[Unfocused]

I've got a Celeron 1.8 Ghz, 256 MB RAM (DDR 333, downgraded to 266 because of the processor; need Pentium) and a GeForce 4 MX 440. Which of these should I upgrade first?

 

[Asus]

I'd probably say the Graphics card.

 

[Unfocused]

I'd probably say the Graphics card.

I thought about it, but a graphics card (such as GeForce 5900XT or Radeon 9800) is more expensive than the other two and I cannot afford it right now, while I could buy some RAM. And I'm thinking of playing HL2 when it comes out. Unfortunately I will have to buy an Intel processor, as I have a mobo for Intel and this company seems to not notice AMD's prices and do something with theirs.

 

[dscowboy]

What Intel prices are out of line? If you ignore their Extreme Edition crap, all the Intel chips are cheaper than the 3700+, and they all perform worse in games than the 3700+. If anything I'd say the FX, 3800 and 3700 prices are out of line, AMD is taking advantage of the fact that Intel has nothing that can compete with those procs for performance.

And good for AMD, it's about time they took a solid performance lead. While Intel is screwing around with DDR2 (which actually performs WORSE than DDR at this point) and moving their pins from the CPU to the board (WTF?!), AMD is putting 64-bit architecture in all their new chips and redesigning the FSB for real performance gains.

 

[Asus]

But the CPU upgrade that you probably could do with your board probably wouldn't do much even though it would cost less than a 9800.
Do you know what board you have?
Memory would be a big boost though.

 

[bosox188]

I would say upgrade the processor first. That Celeron is worse than a >$30 piece of sh1t amd duron. I looked at 1.8ghz celerons on pricewatch and it looks like they're all socket 478, so yours should be too, so you can upgrade to any pentium 4 you like. Now here's a nice one from newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-157&depa=0

The link should work. It's a P4C 2.4ghz and it has an 800mhz fsb and even has Hyper Threading, very nice, $167 and it's retail. But it would help if I knew your budget, then I could recommend a card and ram.

 

[himself]

my new pc will look like this:

Mainboard: ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ FSB400
Kühlkörper: Thermalright SLK-947U Kupfer
Lüfter: NB UltraSilentFan-SE2 Blue
4x Lüfter NB UltraSilentFan-S2 Blue
RAM: DDR PC400 512MB TwinMOS CL2 Twister
GFX: 256MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro Full-RTL
HDD: S-ATA 160GB Samsung SP1614C 8MB
Gehäuse: Midi Chieftec DX-01SL-D-U, Silber
Netzteil: NorthQ NQ-4001S Titan 400W 17dB

im thinking about using a 120gb hdd, in order to buy 1gb of ram.. would be better i guess. and hey, im pretty sure that my pc will run hl2 properly hehe

 

[oldagerocker]

The following is what I'm getting, my friend is putting it together for me, but im no expert on pcs, with this i am right on my budget line. Can anyone tell me if il have any compatibility issues with it? If there are any please post as i'd like to know before i order it all tomorrow Thanks.


Motherboard : Abit NF7 V2.0 nForce2 Socket A 8xAGP LAN USB2 6 ch Sound DDR400 Memory Retail Box

CPU : AMD Athlon XP3200 400FSB 512Cache Barton Retail Boxed Inc Heatsink & Fan

PSU : Antec TruePowver 430 12V AC 430W ATX

HDD : Seagate ST3160023A 160gb 7200rpm 8mb Cache Barracuda 7200.7 Plus -

RAM : Crucial 512 DDR400 PC3200 CL=3 Memory Module

Graphics : Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 PRO 128 MB DDR 8x AGP DVi & TV-Out

Case : Chieftec Dragon DX-01 Silver ATX Case No PSU

Drives : Sony 52x32x52x Ide Drive - Oem, SONY 16x48 INT IDE DVD DRIVE - OEM Silver, Alps 1.44 Silver Floppy Drive 3.5 Inch Internal - OEM

Network : NETGEAR RP614 Broadband Router + 4 port 10/100 Switch

Monitor : Sony SDM-S73H 17ins TFT 0.26dpi 85khz TCO99

Sound : Plantronics audio 90 Bass Headset - F/ Speech Recognition/telephony Uk

TV : Leadtek TV2000XP Deluxe TV/ FM Radio/Teletext Optional/remote control And Doubles as a PC Video Recorder


Miscellianeous(sp?):
Belkin Cat5e Assembled UTP Patch Cable (Black) 10m
Belkin Cat5e Assembled UTP Patch Cable (Grey) 15m
Antec 80mm Smartcool Thermally Controlled Case Fan x2
Logitech OEM PS2 Light Beige Internet Keyboard

 

[Asus]

I don't see anything that stands out but I would highly suggest this route instead.
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 2GHz 512Kb L2 Cache
Chaintech VNF3-250 nForce3 250 Board
or MSI K8T800 Board

Performance
The Athlon 64 2800+ and 3000+ are very well priced and their performance is above the Athlon XP series.

 

[oldagerocker]

Thanks Asus, i just ordered that 5 mins ago, but never fear... il upgrade next year :thumbs: i really happy with a fast 32bit.. thanks for your help anyway... il go for 64bit when its a tad cheaper and all the software supports it.

 

[kronus]

I know people are getting tired of this (or maybe it's just me because i read through 10 pages of this before posting :x ), but my next machine is going to be a laptop for school and it will probably have the following specs. Any comments are appreciated. It's too bad that all the current Mobility 9800 notebooks are fugly&heavy(Inspiron 9100) or out of my price range(Alienware, XPS).

So here it goes:
Inspiron 8600
Pentium M Processor 745 (1.8GHz)
15.4in WSXGA+ 1680x1050
1 Gig ram
128MB DDR ATI's MOBILITY RADEON 9600 PROTURBO
60GB 5400 rpm drive(?)

Thanks all! :thumbs:

 

[Shuzer]

kronus, it will run it beautifully :thumbs:

 

[Tekki]

Yay

Yay its time to embarass myself!

1-AMD , 1681MHz, 256KB (0% Load) RAM:
Usage: 375/480MB (78.13%) With a Screen running at: 1280x1024 32bit 60Hz Using Videocard: S3 Graphics ProSavageDDR

Gotten from my IRC Script :/

 

[himself]

tekki, your pc is still better than my current system...:

pentium III 900mhz
128mb sd ram
30gb hdd
geforce 2 mx

... this sucks!

 

[Slufa111]

Im stuck b/t these...

A XFX nVIDIA GeForce FX5700 Ultra Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-bit, VIVO/Dual DVI, 8X AGP, Model "PVT36BND" -RETAIL

and

POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9800SE Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, bundle Free Hitman Contracts Game , Model "R98SE-C3G" -RETAIL

I would like some help getting feedback on a new card that wont leave me broke..thanks guys.

 

[Axyon]

A XFX nVIDIA GeForce FX5700 Ultra Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-bit, VIVO/Dual DVI, 8X AGP, Model "PVT36BND" -RETAIL

and

POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9800SE Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, bundle Free Hitman Contracts Game , Model "R98SE-C3G" -RETAIL

I would like some help getting feedback on a new card that wont leave me broke..thanks guys.

Out of those two, definitely get the 9800SE. The FX range of nVidia cards are naff.

 

[Slufa111]

But why? What makes Nvidia worse than ATI.. I dont get the actually difference. I am a Nvidia fan myself :cheers:

Anyways. If you have a suggested card froma website i.e newegg.com or somewhere else that is good and within 200 bucks please inform me

 

[Slufa111]

Im looking fro a new Video card that will run HL2 and all teh new current games smoothly.. and I wont have to replace it for abouta year or so.

I have a XFX Geforce4 ti4200 with 8AGP

 

[Slufa111]

I sorta have a lot to say on this issue of mine so here in my 3rd post in a row :cheers:

The XFX nVIDIA GeForce FX5700 Ultra Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-bit, VIVO/Dual DVI, 8X AGP, Model "PVT36BND" -RETAIL
has Specifications:
Chipset/Core Speed: nVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra/475MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 128MB GDDR3/1GHz
BUS: AGP 4X/8X
Ports: Dual DVI + VIVO
Support 3D API: DirectX 9.0, OpenGL 1.4
Cable/Accessories: Manual, 6 CD, 3 Cables, 2 DVI to VGA Adapters
Max Resolution@32bit Color: 2048X1536@85Hz
Retail Box (See pics for details)

 

[Axyon]

But why? What makes Nvidia worse than ATI.. I dont get the actually difference. I am a Nvidia fan myself :cheers:

Anyways. If you have a suggested card froma website i.e newegg.com or somewhere else that is good and within 200 bucks please inform me

nVidia basically just tried to pack their FX range of cards with 'features', and spent less time on trying to get them to run fast. The 9800 ATi cards are absolutely solid, definitely one of the best range of cards made.

If you're willing to spend within $200 then skip the 9800SE, and go straight for a 9800 Pro - it's a fantastic card, combining both speed, reliability and lack of expense. Anything like this or a Sapphire model (stay away from their 128-bit versions, though) would be fine. They are refurbished though, so you might want to pay more for the same model brand new.

 

[Slufa111]

now lets see here before I upgrade my card....

Tell me if I need anythign else that is more important

AMD Athlon 2200+
Windows XP Home Edition
1.80ghz
512mb DDR RAM
XFX Nividia Geforce4 ti4200 with 8AGP
Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Limited Edition
Creative Labs t5400
17 inch Flat Screen LCD monitor

 

[Axyon]

now lets see here before I upgrade my card....

Tell me if I need anythign else that is more important

AMD Athlon 2200+
Windows XP Home Edition
1.80ghz
512mb DDR RAM
XFX Nividia Geforce4 ti4200 with 8AGP
Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Limited Edition
Creative Labs t5400
17 inch Flat Screen LCD monitor

Well, if you're planning to use your computer for the next year, then you might want to consider getting a CPU upgrade, as well as another 512mb of RAM.

 

[Slufa111]

Well If you could recommend some good CPU's for me?

See I am not really sure about what to actually get sicne I dont really know what is actually good for the price, ya know?

 

[Fordon Greeman]

Uiii a ko ko ko ííííííííí...

Will I run HL2 in DX8.0 full setting in 800x600x32 resolution on this machine. :sniper:

Athlon BARTON 2500+ (1833Mhz 166x11)
Epox 8RDA3I nForce2 ultra + MCP
GeForce3 (200/460)
512Mb-RAM DDR400Mhz
Seagate Baraccuda 7200r 80GB

Mouse
Keyboard
headphone
monitor
pretty case... :naughty:

what I need is 14-20Fps :angel:

 

[Axyon]

Well If you could recommend some good CPU's for me?

See I am not really sure about what to actually get sicne I dont really know what is actually good for the price, ya know?

Well, I know a lot less about CPUs than I do GPUs, but something like an AMD Athlon 3000+/3200+ would be a good compromise between money and power. I'm sure others can give you better details on what CPU to look into, though.

 

[Axyon]

Will I run HL2 in DX8.0 full setting in 800x600x32 resolution on this machine :sniper:

Athlon BARTON 2500+ (1833Mhz 166x11)
Epox 8RDA3I nForce2 ultra + MCP
GeForce3 (200/460)
512Mb-RAM DDR400Mhz
Seagate Baraccuda 7200r 80GB

Mouse
Keyboard
headphone
monitor
pretty case... :naughty:

You're aiming for a lower resolution, so I'd imagine you would be able to, yes.

 

[Fordon Greeman]

Yeah that was what I need to hear.... hi hi hi hi

 

[Slufa111]

If I get a new CPU do I need to get a new Motherboard?

this 3000+

 

[Dedatorv]

If I get a new CPU do I need to get a new Motherboard?

this 3000+

Well we need to know what your motherboard is, or you can just pull out your motherboard manual or box and it should say somewhere on it in clear writing.

 

[Slufa111]

i dunno what type motherboard i got anywhere on my PC system info I can find what it is

 

[Dedatorv]

i dunno what type motherboard i got anywhere on my PC system info I can find what it is

Start->Run->type in "dxdiag" w/o the quotes. Let the program load, then it should say your Motherboard under System Model.

 

[Slufa111]

Syetem Model: AWRCDACPI

 

[Dedatorv]

Ummm...Where did you get your computer from? I'm getting no results for anything called that.

 

[Slufa111]

Tigerdirect.com

I need to go to work at 12pm so... kinda need to do this quick but here it goes. I would like to just upgrade my PC totally.. I want a new everything because stock isnt very good usually. So I mean pointing out a new Motherboard/CPU for me wouldnt be bad. I would Like the upgrade

 

[chriso20]

Will my pc (and new pc to be) run hl2 and to what graphics extent?;

Current:
1.4ghz AMD athlon
512mb DDR RAM
Prophet kyro2 64mb
550W 2-fan *MOFO* PSU

New Comp to be:
Pentium4 3ghz 800FSB
1gb DDR RAM (pci3200)
ATI Radeon 9800pro w/ ICEQ Fan thing
550W 2-fan *MOFO* PSU


Thanks for your comments

 

[bosox188]

You'll run max settings.

 

[Alyx_Lover]

Do you think my computer can run HL 2 1024x768 with everything medium or high?

My specs:

AMD XP 2400+
512 mb
G4 4800 ti se

Going to get 1024 mb 64 3000+ and maybe an x800 before christmas. :thumbs: How will this machine work?

 

[bosox188]

I'd say medium 1024x768.