fao: people in the know

[barnett]

basically like a good few hundred people on here I want to upgrade my PC to play half life 2

my spec atm is:

amd athlon xp 1.7
512mb ram
64mb geforce gfx card
40gig hard drive

do you guys know how much it will cost me to upgrade to a 2.8 at least, another 512mb ram and a good gfx card that will show off all of half life 2's features


cheers for your time and help

 

[Sprafa]

Will you sell your 1.7?

hm..now that I think about it...won't do you much good :S

 

[RoyaleWithCheese]

Check your mobo, maybe it supports the cpu you want
if not, i'd recommend the asus a7n8x deluxe mobo, it supports up to xp 3200 (barton) procs, has agp 8x, serial ata, good onboard sound.

if you want a good card, get the 9800 pro
if you want an excellent card, get the 6800 or x800 series

get at least 512 MB ram but 1 gig would be best (ddr400/pc3200)

 

[Dead-Inside]

Check your mobo, maybe it supports the cpu you want
if not, i'd recommend the asus a7n8x deluxe mobo, it supports up to xp 3200 (barton) procs, has agp 8x, serial ata, good onboard sound.

if you want a good card, get the 9800 pro
if you want an excellent card, get the 6800 or x800 series

get at least 512 MB ram but 1 gig would be best (ddr400/pc3200)

The Barton isn't good. (Actually, it sucks.)

If you're going for a new processor it's either Intel (Like my new 3.0) or 64 bits from AMD. They're around the same price (AMD 64 3000+ and Intel 3.0 ghz)

For Graphic-cards I recommend 9800 Pro. Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro is to recommend.

Furthermore, if you buy from http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/k.asp and buy one of the kits (http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.asp?bn=10300) then you'll be sure to get the lowest price around unless you order from different stores, which usually adds transportation costs.

Good luck,
Dead-Inside

 

[Onions]

i'd upgrade your cpu (and motherboard, if necessary. get a asus a7v8x-x for like £40) and graphics card. Go for a 9800 pro if you can afford it, 9600 if you can't, x800 if your loaded
You'll get away with 512mb ram, but you'll notice the difference with 1024.

 

[Dead-Inside]

You got to remember something;
The motherboard isn't just a "requierd component", it's also a performance increaser. And older motherboard (2 years) is a lot worse then those that you can buy bundled with a new processor. So I strongly recommend, even if you card supports faster CPUs, that you do upgrade if you card is 1,5+ years old.

 

[RoyaleWithCheese]

The Barton isn't good. (Actually, it sucks.)

compared to P 3 Ghz AMD 64/fx it is quite slow, yes. I'd hardly say it sucks though. But I wanted to suggest something rather cheap with enough performance to play most games

 

[Dead-Inside]

The Barton and the 64 bits are different things. The Barton was what I was "going" to get, before I found out it sucked, and had to send the package back (Without opening it). Was a rough week waiting for my new comp but at least I had my old one the whole time.

Anyway, the 64bit and the latest Intel are about the same speed, and in the future pure 64bits will be a LOT faster then Intels stuff. However Intel has already said they're changing their design of processors to AMD's style.

In 7-10 years, we'll have magnetic processors, btw, which will be, well, EXTREME. They don't get warm . (Realisticly simulated water anyone?)

 

[Sprafa]

Aren't all the ATI cards the same no matter the distributor ?

 

[Malfunction]

Aren't all the ATI cards the same no matter the distributor ?

No, many 3rd parties like to play with the card to increase performance, or lower its specs. so they can sell them for a lower price. I usually like to buy from the big companies (ATI, Nvidia).

 

[ComradeBadger]

Aren't all the ATI cards the same no matter the distributor ?

Hellll no

 

[Dead-Inside]

Aren't all the ATI cards the same no matter the distributor ?

Nah, PowerColor's good (Radeon cards) but Sapphire's both cheaper and better, and can be excessivly harassed with modifications, you can increase at least 10% without extra cooling if you'd like.

 

[Asus]

The Barton isn't good. (Actually, it sucks.)

Far from it.
Celeron sucks.

Athlon XP's are for a different target and priced market. If you could pay more and wanted more performance then you just bought the wrong CPU for you. Not that it sucks.

When I had a AXP 2800+ Barton it was a great CPU that did everything I wanted it to and more. It's just these A64's do it so much better.