Investing in HL-2

[<BTU>Storm]

Well, as we all know technology advances so fast in computer gaming these days that every new game requires you to buy a new arsenal of the latest hardware on the market. The question at hand is simple: what kind of money/hardware will I be needing to make HL-2 run in the rather higher quality settings at a decent fps of around 50-100 fps. Second: What kind of computer will I be needing to experience CS 2 in the same manner???

Currently I have:

- ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (used to be a GeForce2 GTS 32 MB piece of junk)
- Athlon 1500+ XP
- 512 MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM
- Sound Blaster Audigy 2
- Asustek A7V266 Motherboard

What kind of FPS will I get on what settings with that?

Any Valve techies out there or someone that knows where I can look up this kind of information so I can start getting prices on a new PC?

 

[adio2001]

The only bottleneck on your system is your CPU, I would look into upgrading that. The rest of your system is fine. You should be able to run on best settings.

 

[Mr.Magnetichead]

Upgrade that CPU now!

Everythign else is great but your prcessor is killing your system as it is, with a 3ghz processor it would be the dogs bollocks.

 

[Blud Stane]

i have:

1.8 processor
512 RAM
radeon 8500
60 gig Hard Drive
Creative 5.1 surround

what should i upgrade just video card?

 

[Xenome]

When you have an 1800+ XP, and you want to upgrade your cpu, then most of the time you have to upgrade your motherboard also, cause then it doesn't support faster cpu's, right?

Btw i think my system will run halflife2 very good on nice settings:

Amd athlon XP 1800+
VIA KT266 mobo
256 pc-2100 ddr ram (gonna make it 512)
ATI Radeon 9700 pro

 

[Flynn]

is a 2100 + a good processor for upping all the graphics in hl2? i have a 9800 radeon

 

[Frank]

Yeah, you'll probably do fine, but don't espect to run it at maximum settings. I think you're all overreacting on those specs. I'm pretty sure a 1700Mhz will be fine...with the right videocard etc.

 

[<BTU>Storm]

I don't remember who said this, but once you get a motherboard it will support all the processors in that family. For example: If someone buys a motherboard with support for Athlon XP processors you can use any Athlon XP processor on it. If you buy a Pentium 4 board, any pentium 4 will work on it (depending if you have 800 or 566 FSB CPU, which in that case you can only use 566 or 800 chips).

There is so many things in comps you have to keep track of these days that buying a new game can mean buying a whole new comp.... I don't buy games anymroe cause one month after I buy a new comp a new game comes out that won't run on it... =/

 

[King Buzzo]

Yeah I say replace the mobo/cpu/ram. You can get a good penitum setup for about $300 that should last you for some time.

 

[<BTU>Storm]

Oh I got a good question: They say the recommended processor is a 2Ghz Pentium 4, but what is that in Athlon XP terms?!!?!

 

[pinkerton]

the cpu is a major problem. My brother has the same aged cpu and it causes him lots of problems. Upgrade there and you will be fine. A new motherboard could wait a little while.

 

[<BTU>Storm]

Problems with the Athlon XP 1500+? Eh, what kind? I get this thing now where every time I restart or turn off the comp an error window is displayed reading: "The system has recovered from a serious errror! Send Error Report to Microsoft?" I think Athlons are a piece of junk and don't have a life past 2 years, which is how old mine is now. They heat up too much and get wear and tear like non other. I think I will purchase a Pentium 5 a with a AGP 8x board.

 

[bx|ch3f_0z]

Originally posted by <BTU>Storm
Problems with the Athlon XP 1500+? Eh, what kind? I get this thing now where every time I restart or turn off the comp an error window is displayed reading: "The system has recovered from a serious errror! Send Error Report to Microsoft?"

Format c: .

I think Athlons are a piece of junk and don't have a life past 2 years, which is how old mine is now. They heat up too much and get wear and tear like non other. I think I will purchase a Pentium 5 a with a AGP 8x board.

Athlons dont get hot unless you o/c them. Even the 2200 and up to 2800 dont get higher than 34-36 on idle and 39 at most if you have no flow in your case. And the only ones that get upwards of 40-45c are the 2800-3200 or 242, 240.
8xagp<pci Express

 

[Frank]

Originally posted by <BTU>Storm
Problems with the Athlon XP 1500+? Eh, what kind? I get this thing now where every time I restart or turn off the comp an error window is displayed reading: "The system has recovered from a serious errror! Send Error Report to Microsoft?" I think Athlons are a piece of junk and don't have a life past 2 years, which is how old mine is now. They heat up too much and get wear and tear like non other. I think I will purchase a Pentium 5 a with a AGP 8x board.

Well if you treat your computer like shit, like installing tons of stuff from the internet then of course it'll get ****ed up, but otherwise it won't. My AMD Athlon XP is running perfect ever since I deleted everything and found out what was important to install...and what wasn't. Like that pop up you get that asks you if you want to install that gator corporation is shit!

CHEERS!

 

[Archangel]

hm...I have a 1ghz duron, works perfectly. I don't know why people want to play a Shooter at 100 FPS. Anything over 30-35 FPS shouldn't be recognizeable as more or less.

 

[<BTU>Storm]

It really depends on what kind of computer you have. I understand downloading stuff from the net hurts it a lot, but honestly the problem I am having is probably not processor related and I just said it because I am too lazy to find out hehe. I have only downloaded programs such as mIRC, Trillian, and Cheating-Death. No third-party things like Gator! I have a program I payed five bucks for that deletes anything Internet Explorer installs on my comp without my permission or a quick flashy yes or no that fools me.

 

[FictiousWill]

My newly installed athlon xp 2800+ with full copper heatsink and fanruns at 60 degrees celsius! What's wrong? I'm sure the core is in contact with the heatsink, too...

 

[Ridic]

Originally posted by <BTU>Storm
Oh I got a good question: They say the recommended processor is a 2Ghz Pentium 4, but what is that in Athlon XP terms?!!?!

i guess i would like to know as well. i think its around 2600+ but im not sure?

 

[Doobz]

yes, it's like a 2600, however, i've seen 2600s easily beat p4 2.5GHz

so, in frequency, yes, in power, no

 

[SenorDingDong]

Originally posted by FictiousWill
My newly installed athlon xp 2800+ with full copper heatsink and fanruns at 60 degrees celsius! What's wrong? I'm sure the core is in contact with the heatsink, too...

Nothings wrong with that.

 

[bx|ch3f_0z]

Originally posted by SenorDingDong
Nothings wrong with that.

?Uh, yes it is. 60 is way to high.
do the math
5/9=f-32 or find c
9/5=C+32 find f

My newly installed athlon xp 2800+ with full copper heatsink and fanruns at 60 degrees celsius! What's wrong? I'm sure the core is in contact with the heatsink, too...

Reseat ur heatsink. And put new thermal paste down

 

[ferd]

Originally posted by Flynn
is a 2100 + a good processor for upping all the graphics in hl2? i have a 9800 radeon

yup but if youve got an ownage gfx card an 512 ddr ram (2100 PC) well then your pc just doesnt run the way it should with a 1,7 ghz cpu

 

[ferd]

im gonna play HL2 with a

1900 mhz P4
912 mb DDR (2700 PC)
Radeon 9900 pro 256mb or that new thing called lico, also from ATI, is supposed to be 100* faster then the Radeon 9800 pro

 

[Archangel]

100*...yeah right....

 

[nw909]

yeah 100 times my asshole discharge.

 

[nmiken]

the only athlons that overheat loads are the tbreds, bartons are ok, but still not freazing, urm the radeon 9900 Pro is gonna be a beefed up 9800 Pro, which will be ok, but I think I'm gonna wait till NV40, Nvidias new chip... which will be anounced sometime later this year, and available early next year. Me thinks that HL2 will run fine on a 2.0Ghz, 512mb PC2100 DDR, with a GeForce 4 Ti 4200, but if you want all the eye candy u need a card capable of Directx 9.0

 

[Ender01]

well, i just bought a new mobo and processor, frys had a deal i couldnt refuse, a P4 2.7 and mobo for 189.99!!

so as of right now:

P4 2.7
512 DDR
GeForce4 MX 420 (IF YOU SEE THIS CARD RUN, RUN AWAY!!!)

for Xmas im goin get 9800pro 256mb, ill bet anything that it will be at least $100 dollars cheaper, only if the 9900 comes out before Xmas though. Why have ableeding edge graphics card now when theres no games to push it???

 

[Chris D]

True, but eventually you'll need it so it's a good investment.

I'm upgrading my RAM from 256MB to 2GB within the next few weeks which isn't really necessary, but for a change I plan to keep this computer for as long as possible, upgrading it as I go and I know that one day I'll need that much RAM. It's a lot cheaper than buying a whole new machine every 12-36 months.

 

[Doobz]

lol, that's true until they change RAM standards, then it'll be something like stranded with 2 GB of SDRAM while the rest of the community moves on to DDR