Is your comp ready for HL2?

I'll probably go for this;

3.2GHz Pentium 4
512MB (or 1024MB?) dual ddr PC3200
ASUS P4C800 motherboard
256MB Radeon 9800 Pro (or 256MB GeForce FX 5900 Ultra?)
Audigy 2 Platinum eX

...they're the upgrades I'm aiming for.
 
Nec 22" Multisync FP1350
Voodoo.ca system (highly recommend)
AMD Athlon 1.33GHz
256 MB Ram
SB Live
Hercules GeForce 2 Ultra

My upgrades by HL2 will be

another 256 MB Ram
ATI Radeon 9800 (or whatever is the fastest/cheapest at time of purchase)

Not sure where I'm gonna dig the money up for a new video card from, but it will be done.
 
i am unsure of a few things im putting in my new comp, im still looking at motherboards, sound cards, and disk drives. i am also either getting an athlon xp 2400+, or i will pretty much get the best cpu i can afford, so anywhere from 2400+ to 3000+ just so i can match with everyone and thier p4 3.08 ghz shiznit.

but i am sure on a 9800 pro and 1024 ddr ram.

the only question i have is will i see a noticeable preformance speed difference between pc2700 ram and pc 3200 ram? cause if so i want to make sure i get a mobo that supports high end ram.
 
Originally posted by Pr()ZaC
It's not based on the R300 core.
Sure, it's similar, but it's not the same and it's called R350 for a reason.
Anyway, the main difference between the R300 and R350 is the longer shader instructions you can program (F Buffer).
Click to expand...

Actually it is based on the R300 core. In fact it's just a slightly modified R300 to support higher clock speeds and some updated shader technology like I said. Just because it's named R350 doesn't mean it uses a new core, that was just the designation it was given to differentiate it from the R300. Now the R420 is a new core.

Ender: You'll never use 2 gigs of ram unless your into graphics and video editing and production.
 
Originally posted by pinkerton
how about we start refering to transistor size in nano meters instead of micron's here? I think it would be a welcome change. seeing as how 90nm is easier to type than .009 micron.

Anyways, i dont know if i've said this before or not, but the only 2 advantages 13nm has over 15nm is lower tempature and lower cost to make. The only reason the nv30 cost as much as it did to make is because they had such low yeild rates (20-30% i belive, im not sure) at 13nm. Now that they moved out of the shitty manuacturing place in Tiwan they should have more sucess.
Click to expand...

that last sentence!...i cant believe it! someone else knows about why nvidia has been in the dump..

Anyway that tiwan deal was the WHOLE reason nvidia went downhill..If they had IBM to manufacture there cards laster year like they will be doing at the end of this summer...the 5900/5800 would have been out before the 9700pro.

advantages of a lower micron..

Lower tempature
Less Power Consumption
%10-15% more overclockable
Faster performance
 
AMD T-Bird 1.3 ghz
512mb SDRAM
Geforce4 Ti 4200 64 Mb

I'm hoping HL2 look perdy on my comp.
I want a nice ATI, but I just don't wanna blow the $$$ on one right now...not while they're in the $200 range.
 
I'll sure will buy a Radeon 9800 pro 128 mb after reading 2 hours of forums and hardware benches

so the next purchase will be for me:

asus p4C800
p4 2.8Ghz (800Mhz fsb)
2 x 256 mb PC3200
radeon 9800 pro (128mb)

there isn't much differences between the 256mb and 128mb version if you look at this:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030604/radeon_9800-04.html

For those of you who absolutely must play your games in resolutions that are higher than 1600 x 1200 with 4x FSAA, the 256-MB card is sure to be welcome. Other users can take comfort in sparing themselves the extra $100 and be happy with their solid 128-MB version. Even upcoming games such as Doom III don't run better with 256 MB, as our benchmarks show, with the current status of the 3D engine (see the section on Doom III in our FX 5900 review). It's improbable that more changes will be made, if not downright out of the question. If ATI's statement that the cards will be brought to market with the Samsung modules turns out to be true, then the 256-MB version could be worth considering for overclocking fans. However, it still remains to be seen if this will only be valid for cards from ATI, or if it will hold true for board partners such as Gigabyte, Tyan, Hercules and others.
Click to expand...
 
What do you guys think of this? My comp is about 2 years old (State of the ****ing art when I 1st bought it) I'm hoping I can run it on full detail with these specs, but im planning on getting a new videocard (Like a 9800 PRO 256mb or a 9700 PRO 128mb) soon.



SPECS:


Pentium 4 1800mhz
200GB WESTERN DIGITAL 7200rpm 8mb cache
Geforce 3 (Original) (It has bump mapping :) )
512mb KINGSTON 700mhz Rdram
6.1 Turtle Beach Santa Cruz

Give me some info on how do you think my current system will run :dozey:

I am going to Build a new comp pretty soon, and it is gonna be really nice. Heres the new comps specs.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP Ultra - $360
Processer: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz 800MHz fsb 512KB Cache & HyperThreading - $500-450
RAM: 1GB DDR SDRAM PC-3200 - $200-150
Power Supply: 500 watt PS - $150-100
Case: (Large Tower Case) - $130-100
Video Card: ATI Readon 9800 PRO 256mb - $450
Hard Drive: 200GB WESTERN DIGITAL 7200rpm 8mb cache - Already Own
Sound Card:Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 - 6.1 w/ 6.1 speaker set - $300-250

Total Price: Around $2040

Sure my new comp might be alot but, its still alot cheaper then buying the same system of Alienware or Dell, and it will also have higher quality parts.. All I need to do is get a job...;(
 
Get an Asus P4C800 instead of that Gigabyte. A P4P800, IS7, or IC7 would be good too. Also, 1GB of RAM won't do you much good unless you do graphical stuff. Please, people, don't waste your money on over 512MB of RAM if all you do is gaming.
 
I must agree with ankalar,

Why is everybody want 1GB of memory in their system? It won't give you that much improvement with gaming. Maybe 2 or 3 fps more in some cases. Only if you are a die-hard photoshop or video editing user it could save you some loading time.

And why go for the 256mb version of ati radeon 9800? If you see my last, go to http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphi...on_9800-04.html

For those of you who absolutely must play your games in resolutions that are higher than 1600 x 1200 with 4x FSAA, the 256-MB card is sure to be welcome. Other users can take comfort in sparing themselves the extra $100 and be happy with their solid 128-MB version. Even upcoming games such as Doom III don't run better with 256 MB, as our benchmarks show, with the current status of the 3D engine (see the section on Doom III in our FX 5900 review). It's improbable that more changes will be made, if not downright out of the question. If ATI's statement that the cards will be brought to market with the Samsung modules turns out to be true, then the 256-MB version could be worth considering for overclocking fans. However, it still remains to be seen if this will only be valid for cards from ATI, or if it will hold true for board partners such as Gigabyte, Tyan, Hercules and others.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by ankalar
Get an Asus P4C800 instead of that Gigabyte. A P4P800, IS7, or IC7 would be good too. Also, 1GB of RAM won't do you much good unless you do graphical stuff. Please, people, don't waste your money on over 512MB of RAM if all you do is gaming.
Click to expand...

I would, but i have had BAD experiences with ASUS, i might also get a SOYO dragon 2, but i hear thoses have a few cheap parts and also not very good fan settings. but they are only like $150-130 compared to $460.

Also the reason im getting 1gb of ram is because winxp + other backround programs TAKE up over 50% of my 512mb ram. Also Hl-2 physics will most likely need alot of ram...
 
Originally posted by ApocalypseNow
I would, but i have had BAD experiences with ASUS, i might also get a SOYO dragon 2, but i hear thoses have a few cheap parts and also not very good fan settings. but they are only like $150-130 compared to $460.

Also the reason im getting 1gb of ram is because winxp + other backround programs TAKE up over 50% of my 512mb ram. Also Hl-2 physics will most likely need alot of ram...
Click to expand...


Maybe disable ones that you aren't using?..
 
Yeah, try running Lavasoft's Ad-Aware and make sure you have no spyware or adware running in your computer. If that doesn't work, then maybe you're using extremely slow RAM like I am so everything takes longer, which would make the items in the RAM stay there longer.

PS: I only have 256MB of RAM and I know what you mean, I sometimes even run out of swap file space and I set it at like a gigabyte maximum. The reason my RAM gets used up fast is because at some times I have over 8 non-background, non-system programs running at the same time including 3DS Max and Photoshop.
 
1GB is worth it...

512 MB is the bare minimum nowadays. Trust me, 1GB of RAM is worth it. New games coming out are real memory hogs and the sweet spot seems to be 768 MB of RAM nowadays for newer games. If you play MMO games, like Planetside, SWG or even an older MMO like DAOC, if you don't want slow down when alot of entities are on screen, you'd be wise to get at least 768 MB or RAM (1GB is even better), especially if you want to run everything at full detail. If you play SWG, you'll understand.
 
BTW, here are my system specs:

P4 3.0c
Asus P4P800 Deluxe
Kingston HyperX PC3500 512 MB x 2
ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro (opted for this instead of the 9800 because of the TV-Out quality via component cables)
SB Audigy 2 Platinum eX
Antec Performance PLUS 1080 Case /w 430 Watt PSU
200GB Maxtor Diamond Plus 9
Pioneer A05 DVD-RW
Sony 16X Black DVD Drive
21" Black IBM P260 Monitor
Windows XP Pro
 
Originally posted by ApocalypseNow
I would, but i have had BAD experiences with ASUS, i might also get a SOYO dragon 2, but i hear thoses have a few cheap parts and also not very good fan settings. but they are only like $150-130 compared to $460.

Also the reason im getting 1gb of ram is because winxp + other backround programs TAKE up over 50% of my 512mb ram. Also Hl-2 physics will most likely need alot of ram...
Click to expand...


the physics need cpu time, not ram.
 
No.

But since it's still in the early stages, I know that people have been having trouble with the performance. It's been going extremely slow for everyone. Next argument, please.
 
Originally posted by ankalar
No.

But since it's still in the early stages, I know that people have been having trouble with the performance. It's been going extremely slow for everyone. Next argument, please.
Click to expand...

not to mention the game is trash, why anyone would want to pay to beta test a POS like that is beyond me.
 
Probably if you want to run HL-2 to run in full detail with all the high quality textures, you'll need alot of RAM, but I'm just guessing here. Better to get 1GB (better safe than sorry) now, as, if you plan on getting a motherboard with the 865PE or 875PE chipsets it'll be difficult to upgrade in the future as many of these motherboards are real finnicky about what type RAM they accept (I had to RMA my Corsairs PC3200LL chips for HyperX modules because they wouldn't work in my mobo). They become especially finnicky when you populate all four DIMM slots, and you'll need to use at least 2 DIMM slots right off the bat to take advantage of Dual Channel.
 
Allright just cuz everyone else is doing it .. here's mine I finished building and testing last week.

P4 2.4C OC@ 3.2 GHz $179
Abit IS7 MB $108
Zalman 7000CU $45
Kingston Hyperx 3500 $130 (2 x 256mb) - Dual DDR Config
Radeon 9500 PRO $160
2 Case Fans + Floppy $35
Crazy Ass Lit Case
with 400watt PS $50
Original SB Live! FREE - Pulled from prior system
Maxtor 80GB HD FREE - Pulled from prior system
Seagate 40GB HD FREE - Pulled from prior system
Pioneer 4X DVD-R FREE - Pulled from prior system
48x CD-R FREE - Pulled from prior system
Total Cost to upgrade - approx $700

3DMark2003 Score - 3750

And here's a pic of the system ... not really good but you get the idea:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=34041
 
Originally posted by ankalar
No.

But since it's still in the early stages, I know that people have been having trouble with the performance. It's been going extremely slow for everyone. Next argument, please.
Click to expand...

Well, it runs like a dream on my system, even in towns. I know of some with similarly configure systems, but with only 512 MB or RAM, who experience poor frame rates in towns. As well, some who have upgrade from 512 MB to 768 MB noticed huge performance increases.
 
Stubbychubs afaik Corsair PC3200LL chips were the only ones that had problems with the 865/875 chipsets. The HyperX ones are awesome tho :) I love them ....... they look really pretty too ....... <I need help!>
 
Wow, i didn't think this thread would degrade to a pissing match.
 
Hey, I have a question about my system, first i'll post the specs.

Soyo KT333 Dragon Lite
AMD XP 2400+
768MB DDR333
20GB WD 5400rpm
40GB Barracuda 7200rpm
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
Sound Blaster Audigy2
WinXP Pro Sp1

My question is about my motherboard, it only supports 4x agp, and with my video card, just installed today, should I buy a motherboard that supports AGP 8x or should I just save my money? Thanks.
 
Save your money, with pci express coming, you'll be wanting to get a new mobo either way. Besides nothing currently utilises the full potential of 8x agp.
 
It amazes me how many people think you need a supercomputer to run HL2. That is just not the case. Doom 3 is much more demanding then HL2 and even it can run fairly well on a 2.0 ghz P4 with a Radeon 9500 Pro. You don't need much more than that.

1 gig of memory can be beneficial. However, going over this is pretty unnecessary. The only time you use more than a gig is if you do graphics editing or have a lot of programs open at the same time. And I don't mean four.
 
There's no noticeable real-world performance increase in going from 4X to 8X, just like there was no really noticeable performance increase in going from 2X to 4X back in the day (unless you do CAD or 3D graphics design, just because of the way those type of software are written). The only way you'd benefit from 8X is if games are written specifically to take advantage of the increased memory bandwidth the 8X offers. Seeing as most games don't even take full advantage of 4X (case in point: I believe Doom III is the only game that comes close to taking full advantage of 4X AGP), I believe you're safe in staying with 4X at least for another year or two.
 
Originally posted by Curator
It amazes me how many people think you need a supercomputer to run HL2. That is just not the case. Doom 3 is much more demanding then HL2 and even it can run fairly well on a 2.0 ghz P4 with a Radeon 9500 Pro. You don't need much more than that.
Click to expand...



I think people understand that.. I for one know it will run on my older pc.. I think that most people are more worried about graphical quailty then if it will run or not..

An ATI 9500 may run HL2 just like any other computer, but it won't look anywhere near as good as a top of the line pc. That is why most people are upgrading, I assure you.
 
Originally posted by Folder
I think people understand that.. I for one know it will run on my older pc.. I think that most people are more worried about graphical quailty then if it will run or not..

An ATI 9500 may run HL2 just like any other computer, but it won't look anywhere near as good as a top of the line pc. That is why most people are upgrading, I assure you.
Click to expand...

Yep. I bet a AMD 1800+ or Intel 1.8gig with 9500pro or a ti4600 will run halflife very well, even on the high settings.
All you need is a processor capable of handling everything when the settings are maxed and Im pretty sure a 1.8gig amd or intel will keep pace. 3gig my be nice but its really a waste I think. Better to get a 2.4 or even a 2gig and drop the rest on a better video card. Besides if you got a 2000+ and spend the extra $$ on the video like a 9800pro then later like dec you can drop in a better cpu for the newer games to come out in spring. My 2 cents. :)
 
while i currently build my new system i just need to know a few things.

im dont know jack shit about sound cards, so if anyone has a good suggestion for a sound card it would be great, i want a really good one for no more than $80-100.

i also ned to know if its worth getting a mobo that supports pc3200 and pc3500 ddr ram. the current mobo im gonna get is an Abit kd7. it had 4 ddr 333mhz ram slots, and supports pc 2700 ram. i might change that motherboard if i end up with more money than i thought which is likly to happen. id also like opinions on the mobo the Abit kd7 motherboard, if anyone has one, or has things to say about them.
 
An ATI 9500 may run HL2 just like any other computer, but it won't look anywhere near as good as a top of the line pc. That is why most people are upgrading, I assure you.
Click to expand...

No. A 9500 will not only run HL2 but it will run it at near top graphics settings. You don't need a 9800 pro to play it at max settings. For instance, Unreal 2 can run at 50 fps with all the graphical options turned up on a Geforce 2 MX400.

It's no different with HL2, just instead of a GF2 you will need a 9500 pro since it's a next generation game that utilizes Direct X 9.
 
Originally posted by Curator
No. A 9500 will not only run HL2 but it will run it at near top graphics settings. You don't need a 9800 pro to play it at max settings. For instance, Unreal 2 can run at 50 fps with all the graphical options turned up on a Geforce 2 MX400.

It's no different with HL2, just instead of a GF2 you will need a 9500 pro since it's a next generation game that utilizes Direct X 9.
Click to expand...

yea i agree, though i am still getting a 9800 pro 128 so i dont have to upgrade for a long time.

but i dont think people should be spending thier money on the new pentium 4 3.08 ghz 800mhz fsb hyper threaded..etc. its wayyyy to much money and 800mhz fsb is not going to make a noticable differance! its just way over priced.
 
A 9800pro at heart is still the same vpu as the 9500pro ... (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). What's the point of upgrading to a 9800pro only to have ATI come out with a brand new line of better VPUs towards christmas?
 
Originally posted by guinny
Bilko, next-gen cards won't be much different, to each his own though.:)
Click to expand...

Like the Geforce 3 and 4 were'nt much different? :flame:
 
heh though i really hate guinny i think he just meant that the 5900 ultra and the 9800 pro wont have a noticable performance differance. which is so true, for most things at least.
 
I have an AMD xp 1900+ and a gf4 ti4400 and 512 ddr ram, and i expect smooth graphics at medium/high graphics at medium res.
 
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