Just got my tax refund...

[DarkStar]

2400 f*cking dollars!

Okay, so I want to spend this money upgrading my rig for Doom 3/HL2/etc...I've got a Pentium 3.06, Geforce ti4200, 512 megs of RAM. What do you guys reccomend I do? I'm retarded when it comes to hardware so I really need some help. I know I need a better video card but which one should I get? Should I upgrade the CPU? Help!

 

[blackeye]

9800 pro (if on budget)
6800 gt (for midrange)
x800 xt (for highend)

You should get some more ram.

Other then that it looks fine. If you really want to spend money you could always buy a whole new system and get a athlon 64.

 

[63]

9600XT for budget
9800Pro for midrange
x800XT for highend.

 

[poseyjmac]

dont forget the 6800 ultra

 

[DarkStar]

So basically you guys are saying go with ATI?

 

[blackeye]

If your willing to spend the money ATI would be prefered for most of the games out at the moment. Depends if you are going to be playing a lot of opengl games or d3d. If your going to be playing a lot of opengl you should get the 6800 ultra. If your playing d3d then you should get x800 xt.

 

[DarkStar]

Is Doom 3 opengl? Why are the benchmarks so much higher for Nvidia?

 

[blackeye]

Doom 3 is opengl. Nvidia runs opengl games much better then ATI. At the moment ATI is rewriting their opengl drivers so we will se a perfermance jump with the x800 series in the coming months.
If your going to be playing doom 3, Q4, and the wolfenstein sequal it will run faster on nvidia cards. Hl2 is of coarse going to run faster on ATI cards. A couple more months and we will see who is the performance champion this time around. In games like far cry both cards are relativley the same in performance untill you start turning up resolutions and AA/AF in which case ATI is faster then nvidia..

 

[ShadowFox]

If you have a good bit of money I highly recommend you get a 6800 GT. Excellent card.

 

[ShinRa]

Go with the xt. This way, at least when the next generation of cards come out, by then ati would have re-wrote their opengl codepath, thus keeping it a top of the line card for at least another generation.

 

[blahblahblah]

Darkstar listen to me. After all I stole your avatar. Weeeee!!!!

Anyways, I would recomend another 512 MB of RAM and at least a 6800 GT (the X800 Pro is slightly slower than the X800 Pro but still fast card). This will make your computer fly and prepare your computer for upcoming games. As for the X800XT, I only recommend that to people who have extreme high end PC's (like the FX-53). You can buy an X800XT but you will have a hard time finding it. Especially since Doom 3 is coming out in 2 weeks. You will still have some trouble hunting down a 6800 GT or a X800 Pro. If you have a need to go uber-nerd, you can choose between a 6800 Ultra or an X800 XT. It's your choice but I don't think they are worth the extra money.

If you are a money pincher, either grab the 9800 Pro for $200 or grab the 6800 for $300. Either will give you great performance in Half-Life 2 and Doom 3.

Your CPU is fine, I would leave that alone till next year or beyond. Once you do this upgrade, your computer should be set for a while.

[Edit]: Why didn't you file for direct deposit? You get your money earlier.

 

[DarkStar]

Darkstar listen to me. After all I stole your avatar. Weeeee!!!!

Anyways, I would recomend another 512 MB of RAM and at least a 6800 GT (the X800 Pro is slightly slower than the X800 Pro but still fast card). This will make your computer fly and prepare your computer for upcoming games. As for the X800XT, I only recommend that to people who have extreme high end PC's (like the FX-53). You can buy an X800XT but you will have a hard time finding it. Especially since Doom 3 is coming out in 2 weeks. You will still have some trouble hunting down a 6800 GT or a X800 Pro. If you have a need to go uber-nerd, you can choose between a 6800 Ultra or an X800 XT. It's your choice but I don't think they are worth the extra money.

If you are a money pincher, either grab the 9800 Pro for $200 or grab the 6800 for $300. Either will give you great performance in Half-Life 2 and Doom 3.

Your CPU is fine, I would leave that alone till next year or beyond. Once you do this upgrade, your computer should be set for a while.

[Edit]: Why didn't you file for direct deposit? You get your money earlier.

Thanks Blah! I'm thinking of getting the 6800 GT. Although I've heard they're extremely power-hungry...although I don't really know why that such a bad thing.

Happen to know where I could find a 6800 GT in the next 2 weeks?

 

[Link]

...the X800 Pro is slightly slower than the X800 Pro...

Are you quite sure about that???

 

[sHm0zY]

buy a hooker

 

[mortiz]

Are you quite sure about that???

Yes, that's because the X800 Pro only has 12 pipes compared to the X800 Pro's 12.

 

[Link]

Yeah, but the X800 Pro ony has 256 RAM compared to the X800 Pros 256

 

[ewilson248]

hey dont forget about your power supply also!

from your old card to one of new ones will add about 100 watts to your total
consumption. Judging by your existing rig plus a new card, you look to be in the 500 to 550 catagory. and dont be cheap get one of the big brands..

 

[blahblahblah]

Are you quite sure about that???

Shush, little one. I wasn't all there last night. :O

Darkstar you are going to have to constantly check a bunch of places like

Bestbuy.com
Compusa.com
newegg.com
monarchcomputer.com

If those sites fail, you can try pricewatch.com, that is a price comparision site. However, I don't know how trustworthy some of those sites listed are. You may want to check a place like resellerratings.com to make sure a place is reliable.

 

[Azrael.]

Shush, little one. I wasn't all there last night. :O

Champion. I thought I was the only one who gets all messed up and comes home and gets on the computer. Lol. :cheers:

 

[DarkStar]

hey dont forget about your power supply also!

from your old card to one of new ones will add about 100 watts to your total
consumption. Judging by your existing rig plus a new card, you look to be in the 500 to 550 catagory. and dont be cheap get one of the big brands..

What are the "big brands" when it comes to power supply?

 

[staddydaddy]

Not to pull this thread off topic, but I love it how people hate the Bush administration and then are like SCORE! when they get their tax return. I think it's kinda ironic and funny.

 

[Warbie]

I'd get another 512 memory and a 6800 gt if I were you. Maybe a decent psu if needed.

 

[blahblahblah]

What are the "big brands" when it comes to power supply?

Antec, Thermaltake, and Fortron. Typically you will want at least a 350 Watt power supply, preferably a 400 Watt or more to give you proper headroom.

 

[DarkStar]

Shush, little one. I wasn't all there last night. :O

Darkstar you are going to have to constantly check a bunch of places like

Bestbuy.com
Compusa.com
newegg.com
monarchcomputer.com

If those sites fail, you can try pricewatch.com, that is a price comparision site. However, I don't know how trustworthy some of those sites listed are. You may want to check a place like resellerratings.com to make sure a place is reliable.

Dude, I just found a 6800 GT for $399 that ships on August 2! It's at EVGA.COM. Are they reputable? Should I buy it?

 

[Z|insane]

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2580.html

 

[blahblahblah]

They make video cards, so I imagine they are reputable. Sounds like you found your video card. Just to be sure, spend some time looking for feedback on the internet. You can never be too sure, especially when you are spending $400 on a video card.