Upgrade Questions

[UnholyDemon]

Yes, I have read the stickies, which have NOT helped me so far, seeing as my question is considerably different from the others in those threads.
My system specs are as follows:

• Soyo KT600 Plus Mobo
• AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (2.0 ghz)
• 512 MB of Generic Ram
• 450 Watt Power Supply
• BFG nVidia 5600 Ultra (128 MB Version)

Now, the question. What do you think I should upgrade to play HL2? I will have around $280. What I mean is, what should be upgraded? Better Processor, More RAM, Better video card?
In my price range, the following items stood out:
MSI 9800 Pro (256-but, 128 MB Version)
eVGA 6800 non-ultra/gt (256-bit, 128 MB Version)
1 GB (2 x 512 MB) Corsair RAM
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ "Barton" (2.2 GHZ)

One last question, about the processor. I'm confused as to if my mother board could handle it. Does my Mobo support it?
Here is my current mobo

I think I should get the Vid Card as my current card is not DirectX 9 compliant or so I've heard.

Thanks to everyone who helps me out, this is my favorite HL2 forum.

 

[Gajdycz]

y the lowest is a 9800pro, get a x800pro vivo, and flash that to a xt, and save 150, while u cnat do that to the 6800

a new cpu wuold be good to

 

[Homie]

Hello UnholyDemon Your computer seems pretty up to date i think the downside on your computer is graphics card try getting a Radeon 9800 Pro.

 

[UnholyDemon]

y the lowest is a 9800pro, get a x800pro vivo, and flash that to a xt, and save 150, while u cnat do that to the 6800

a new cpu wuold be good to

Because I only have $280. I forgot to add, and will add now: What do you think I need to upgrade to play HL2?

 

[Gajdycz]

vid card, the fx suck in hl2 9800pro at least

 

[UnholyDemon]

What do you think about the 6800? In other threads, the 6800 has performed roughly the same as a 9800 XT. How do you think it would perform with MY system?

 

[ailevation]

:cheers: If you can afford the 6800... get the 9800 Pro, with the extra 120 or so bucks, get another 512 of ram.

 

[Asus]

OK, what speed of memory do you have currently and do you just have 1 stick of 512MB or 2 sticks of 256MB?
Your upgrade will include a graphics card, that is for sure.

My suggestions:
$197 - Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB 256Bit
$74 - Muskin 512MB PC3200 CL2.5

If you want after you sell your 5600 Ultra 128MB card, you could buy a little faster CPU that would support 333FSB for better game performance. If you want to get into OCed you could grab a Athlon XP 2500+ Moble CPU.

 

[bosox188]

512 ram is good, your processor is fine. Definitely upgrade to the MSI 9800 pro. Then it comes down to either a new Athlon XP or get another 512 stick of ram to make 1GB. Well, your processor really isn't bad at all, I would get the GB of ram.

 

[UnholyDemon]

OK, what speed of memory do you have currently and do you just have 1 stick of 512MB or 2 sticks of 256MB?
Your upgrade will include a graphics card, that is for sure.

My suggestions:
$197 - Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB 256Bit
$74 - Muskin 512MB PC3200 CL2.5

If you want after you sell your 5600 Ultra 128MB card, you could buy a better CPU that would also support 333FSB.

I thought the 9800 was good for the money. Also, how/where could I sell my old video card?

 

[Asus]

It supports the Athlon XP chips all the way up to 3200+ with 400FSB.

Could always sell your card on Ebay or to a friend.

 

[UnholyDemon]

Thanks to everyone in this thread for not calling me a n00b and flaming me for posting a relatively common topic.
MSI 9800 and a 512 stick, eh?
What Kind of a performance increase are we talking about? I'm not a n00b by the way, I've just never had a chance to build a "non-budget" pc. [offtopic]I am also a web/graphic designer and I've started skinning for WOTA HL2 mod Check it out at www.wotamod.com [/offtopic]

 

[bosox188]

Well with that MSI 9800 pro we're talking about going from struggling on low settings to cruising on high settings, to put it simply. Pretty much it's incredibly fast and you'll notice a huge difference right away. As for the ram, we're talking about much faster loading times, smoother gameplay especially at the beginning, a few more fps, and of course little slow up after exiting a game. And just wondering: do you know who made your psu? 450 watts is plenty even if it's a cheap one, I just wanna know.

 

[UnholyDemon]

Rycom manufactured the PSU. So MSI 9800 it is! Thank you so much everyone. And Asus, oh great one (not being sarcastic) , do you think the MSI card is better than the Sapphire card?

 

[bosox188]

Just to put in my 2 cents, I like the MSI 9800 pro the best. It has a good cooler that I think is more effective than Sapphire's. It also uses the R360 core, so really it's an underclocked 9800xt.

 

[Asus]

The MSI card has more possibility if you choose to Flash the card and OverClock but out of the box they will give you the same performance/quality.