Need Some Upgrading Advice

[Dog--]

Ok, so my computer is old, and I need to upgrade, and I think I only need more memory and a new graphics card. But which one? What will bottle-neck with my CPU?


I have:

Pentium 4 @ 2.6GHz
GeForce FX 5600 (AGP 8X)
512 MB

I want:

GeForce 7800GS (here)
2GB


Now I need to know:

Will these things Bottleneck with my CPU?
How do I know what memory to get? (the pin #, and also what brand)
If I upgrade to this stuff, what year will it put me in game-wise? (right now 512MB and a 5600 is in year 2003 max graphics, what'll the new stuff put me into?)
Tell me as much as you can about this stuff.
I am willing to spend $300 which should be enough for $200 GFX card and 2 $40 1GB sticks.

Thanks for the help.

 

[giant384]

with the new parts you will be in 2006-2007 gaming wise with decent performance. also people seem to be confused by bottlenecks. a bottleneck is only if you upgraded to the 7800 from the 5600 and didnt get any performance change, but that isnt the case here. so you will have a vast improvement in performance. for the ram you will need 2 pc3200 sticks(also called ddr400).

enjoy!

 

[Asus]

Still on AGP huh?
7800 would be good. Although here is an alternative card, x1950pro (AGP).
Benchies

Can't really go beyond that for graphics without updating the system to PCI-Express. 2GB would be awesome.
Not sure how the P4 will hold up. It is sorta old. Like Crysis wants a P4 2.8Ghz in XP as minimum. 3.2GHz P4 if you run Vista. Recommended is Core2duo/Athlon 64 X2. No mention of Pentium 4's in the recommended requirements at all.

I would see if you can get some more money down the road for a system upgrade. If you can then I'd put this on hold til then.

 

[function9]

Similar to an older machine I'm looking to upgrade. Currently it's a p4 2.8ghz w/ 512mb ram and a 9600se. I was surprised it runs HL2 at 800x600@medium settings, certainly isn't great but I didn't think this video card would cut it.

I figure upping the ram to 1gb and an x1950pro/7900gs should give it some more life. My only concern with the x1950pro is power requirements, but I've seen people running those with the same psu in this 480w NeoPower so I think I should be fine.

 

[Dog--]

I can run HL2 and EP1 at maximum graphics (anti-alias, HDR, etc) except model detail which only stays at medium.. That is the biggest surprise ever.

As for the P4, I'll probably never upgrade it on this computer, I'll only get a new one when I get a new computer, too much money those things cost. (sounded like yoda there..)

Also keep in mind I'm not changing anything else, just the card and memory. So everything else is top of the line from 2003.


ALSO keep in mind, I'd rather have a GeForce/nVidia card, because I've got dial-up and it is a BITCH to download drivers and everything for another card.. I downloaded the last drivers which took forever, and don't plan on downloading anymore for a while..

I'm not really looking to play brand new 2008 games, I'd be happy with 2005, but 2006-2007 made my day


On another note: I thought bottleneck was when one part of your system couldn't keep up with another, so the card and memory would be too advanced for my P4?

Oh yea - how do I figure out the pin # for the memory.. there's like 184 pin, 203 pin, etc.. How do I know what'll go in my system?


The only reason I want to upgrade is for games that I own, for example, when I close down a game, it takes about 10 minutes for the computer to get to normal speed again. Or in some games I have to wait forever for them to load.. I can't even play Doom 3 at minimum without an FPS hit (I played it at 15-20 fps, lowest settings). I just want to play new-ish games decently, that's all.

 

[Asus]

DDR2 SDRAM = 240 pins
DDR SDRAM = 184 pins
SDRAM = 168 pins

Usually a sticker on the memory itself that says specs.

Drivers come on the CD...Much newer than anything you have on your system if you have not updated in a long time. And you'll want to update your drivers from what you have.

 

[Dog--]

Well, I had my computer taken in a few months ago, and for some reason the only thing on my hard-drive that was deleted was the program to install the drivers.. The version I have now is 162.48 forceware.

My current card says "256MB DDR" on the box, the card I linked to in my first post is "256MB GDDR3", and both don't look similar to what you posted..

 

[Asus]

Don't worry about what memory is on the GPU (GDDR3). It is stuck on the video card. Not upgradeable separate from the card. Just worry about system memory.

 

[giant384]

yes video card and system memory are separate from each other.

 

[Dog--]

..eh, I guess I wasn't clear, I wasn't really focusing on the card memory, I was focusing on the DDR. Which one of the 3 that Asus posted was the one the new card has? I need to know for the pin # of the memory sticks.