Time to upgrade for Bioshock and Epi2

elrasho

elrasho

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After playing the Bioshock demo ive decided to upgrade my PC. I have an xbox 360 but want to get the game on PC coz I love using mouse and keyboard.

Heres my current spec:

Asus A8N-SLI Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3200
2*512 Corsair Value Ram
GeForce 7600GT PCI-E graphics card
120GB Maxtor 7200rpm Hard Drive

Im thinking the first thing to do is get a dual core CPU, but im stuck with a socket 939 mobo and dont want to upgrade that untill its absolutly neccessary

I can get another 2*512MB ram fairly cheap too.

One thing im confused about is the graphics card. Im not planning on getting Vista any time soon, so theres no point going for a 8*** series GeForce card right?
 
8*** series graphics cards handle DX9 damn well too.
 
8800GTS for good DX9 AND DX10. Sorry Rab, but the 8600 doesn't seem to cut the mustard when it comes to DX10.
 
But im not planning on getting Vista for at least another year, so DirectX 10 isnt a worry for me

yes the 8600GT has a low memory bandwidth so Im looking elsewhere. Since I'm only going to be using DirectX9, how does the the GeForce 7900 GT sound to you guys?

As for future proofing, I've seen this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-054-OK&tool=3

And its only ?30 more than my ?150 budget. The reviewers on that site say its a brill card too.
 
Same here, but I'm looking at the BFG 8800GTX. The watercooled version is still a bundle though. I've been really hemming and hawing over motherboards, but really it's come down to two: the Asus P5K-WS or P5NT-WS. I'll definitely be getting a 6850 Core 2 Duo.
 
As for now I've decided to upgrade the CPU and Memory

Im gonna add another 2*512MB bringing it up to 2 gig

As for the CPU, the socket 939 4400 is ?100, and the 4200 is ?70. The 4200 has less cache but is it worth that ?30 price difference?

The 7600GT will just have to e overclocked to the extrmeme for now, until the 8800s come down in price
 
The 4400 isn't really worth the extra, especially if you buy the 4200 from scan for 50 pounds:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=505239

another 2 x 512 corsair value kit is 30 from scan as well:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=237278

and you could squeeze in a 1950pro for 87 pounds:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=481911

as you aren't bothered about DX10. Coming to a total of 170 pounds, a little over budget, but covers all areas and pretty well too.

just another option anyway

:)

edit: or, on the graphics card front, you could double up on your 7600GT for 60 pounds:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=457256

which combined with the cpu and ram would come in under your budget of 150 pounds.
 
3ssence said:
The 4400 isn't really worth the extra, especially if you buy the 4200 from scan for 50 pounds:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=505239

another 2 x 512 corsair value kit is 30 from scan as well:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=237278

and you could squeeze in a 1950pro for 87 pounds:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=481911

as you aren't bothered about DX10. Coming to a total of 170 pounds, a little over budget, but covers all areas and pretty well too.

just another option anyway

:)

edit: or, on the graphics card front, you could double up on your 7600GT for 60 pounds:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=457256

which combined with the cpu and ram would come in under your budget of 150 pounds.
Click to expand...


Cool I'll go for the 4200 and extra gig of ram. I wasnt too sure about getting another 7600 GT. I have a Sparkle 7600 GT now, will I have to get the exact same one to get them in SLI?

Also, which games support SLI and can it work under Windows XP Home Edition?
 
I'm pretty sure you can get any brand as long as it is a 7600GT, and yes SLI would work under windows XP home. As for support, i'm not sure myself which games do or don't support SLI, but i think there are a good few games out now that do receive a decent boost from SLI cards, however, with a single card you would be guaranteed that you would get the full performance potential of the card in every game. Which is why i would most likely go for something like a 1950pro myself.
 
3ssence said:
I'm pretty sure you can get any brand as long as it is a 7600GT, and yes SLI would work under windows XP home. As for support, i'm not sure myself which games do or don't support SLI, but i think there are a good few games out now that do receive a decent boost from SLI cards, however, with a single card you would be guaranteed that you would get the full performance potential of the card in every game. Which is why i would most likely go for something like a 1950pro myself.
Click to expand...

The Radeon 1950 Pro is a steal at ?100 for what its worth. It all depends if I get better performance from 2 7600GT cards or 1 Radeon 1950 Pro.... Im pretty sure the 2 7600GTs will be faster.

First things first though, im going for a Athlon 4400, seen one for ?90 Retail :thumbs:
 
I ran FRAPS and it said my average FPS was 28

My spec is as follows:

Windows XP Home
Asus A8N-SLI
AMD Athlon 64 3200
1 gig Corsair DDR
Sparkle 7600GT PCI-E
120GB Matrox 7200rpm Hard Drive

At first I was thinking of getting another 2*512MB ram and Athlon X2 4400 CPU

Then I remembered I can have SLI , so heres my question: Is it worth spending another ?70 for another 7600GT card and have a SLI configuration OR should I sell that card and buy a 8800 GTS card. The reason I ask is that I wont be using any DirectX10 games so theres no point in getting an 8800GTS right? Also 2*7600GTs working in SLI will surley do me good for Bioshock, HL2 Epi2 and UT2007 right?
 
i have a 7900 and its too choppy for my taste...ill be upgrading soon
 
Having done ALOT of thinking Ive decided to get a new mobo, cpu and ram... then I'll save up and get a 8800GTS

Heres what I intend to get:

1. Asus M2N-SLI (http://www.cclonline.com/product-in...egory_id=342&manufacturer_id=0&tid=m2n-slidlx)

2. Athlon X2 4400 (http://www.cclonline.com/product-in...ory_id=341&manufacturer_id=0&tid=ado4400ddbox)

3. 2*1GB DDR2 sticks (http://www.cclonline.com/product-in..._id=262&manufacturer_id=0&tid=twin2x2048-6400)

I have a question though, will that memory work with the mobo and CPU? And can I still use my 7600GT card?
 
Please can someone help me with this.... will that spec and my current 7600GT do the job to play Bioshock and UT2007 at 1024*768?
 
Come on people..... PLEEEEAASEEEE HELP

I compared 3DMark 06 scores with my system and others who have the same config as my upgrade, they all got marks of 6157 and I only got 2942 so I think upgrading the CPU, Mobo and RAM will let me play Bioshock at 1024*768
 
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