Who Upgraded for HL2?

[razorblade kiss]

Since 1998 Half Life was my life. Dedicated much time to the game itself, the mods, it's community. To me it was more than a game. It was a lifestyle. Something only I could never get my friends to understand. They just couldnt see it. But I connected with HL. The game ran beautifully on my 1.8 mhz Voodoo 3, 128mb ram system. So I won't play HL2 on anything but the best. I decided to get a little self indulgent yesterday at work. I ordered a new Alienware.

Heres the specs.

Chassis: Alienware® Full-Tower Case (480-Watt PS) - Saucer Silver
Power Supply: No Power Supply Upgrade
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor w/ HT Technology 2.8GHz
Motherboard: ASUS® P4C800-E Deluxe - Intel 875P Motherboard
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR PC-3200 SDRAM at 400MHz - 2 x 512MB
Video Card: ATI RADEON™ X800 XT Platinum Edition 256MB DDR3 w/Digital and TV Out
System Drive: High Performance - Serial ATA - 80GB Seagate® Barracuda 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache
Optical Drive One: Lite-On® 16x DVD-ROM Drive with Software DVD Decoder
Floppy Drive: 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 High Definition 6.1 Surround
Network Connection: Integrated High Performance Intel® Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2
Display One: NEC 17" LCD 1760NX MultiSync - Black
Speakers: Logitech® Z-640 5.1 70-Watt Speakers
Home Networking: D-Link® 802.11G Wireless Base Station

The total just almost hit 3 grand, but I figured what the hell. I was tired of skimping out on previous computer buys. Maybe cutting back on the graphics card to save money, or not getting the monitor I wanted. I've waited for HL2 since the day the first screens came out last year. I love HL, I love HL2, I owe it to myself to be able to enjoy this game to it's max. I love video games.

So who else updated? When? Why? Last year before the infamous Sept release date? Who bought XT cards just to get the voucher? Tell me your stories. I love hearing them Later duuudes. HL2 is nearing. :cheers:

 

[GuNzABlaZiN]

Looks real good, but 3 grand? You could have got it cheaper if you built it. My current system blows (933mhz P3, 256 ram, GF2Ti 64mb), I'm building a new comp next week (AMD 64 3000+, kingston 512 ddr3200, R9800Pro@XT). I'm not getting it JUST for HL2, I'm getting it out of neccesity. My mobo is 4 years old, my vid card is on it's death bed and my audio card is so old that the sounds sucks for just about anything. I've been playing HL since 1998, got a new comp in 2000 and hopefully my new comp will last for a couple of years to come. I've saved up about a $1000 and I'm gonna start ordering pretty soon, I don't want to spend all my money on a new system because I've got other things to buy.

 

[Roland Deschain]

And another of those posts, damn I thought they'd have died out. But I guess it is ones right to brag about your system if you spend a lot of money on it. T o answer your question, I upgraded about 3 months ago for the sole purpose of HL2 , getting a 3.0CPU, 1024RAM, and a good old cheap 9800 PRO.

 

[ktimekiller]

i just got 9800pro so i can play hl2 and css lol

 

[major5013]

I just built a new computer. Mostly because halflife 2 . But also cause i was in need badly haha. my 5 year old computer is just not doing its best anymore. Its slacking off. poor fella R.I.P.

 

[razorblade kiss]

SO I have 2 others on the ATI boat with me. Sounds good. Damn right I'ma brag about it. I havent seen someone all day without telling them I ordered it. It's the first time I've ever had a brand new system and paid for it on my own. And the reason I went the Alienware route was because, if I built one myself I'd have warrantys on a bunch of parts. Instead, I have a warranty with just Alienware for my computer as a whole. Not a bunch of warranties from 10 different vendors. I don't have time to build one either. Workin like a nut lately. They said though, since the X800 PE card is somewhat rare, my system will take 4 weeks to get here. Hopefully thats before the game comes out. I also do other things on my computer. Being an IT Specialist / Systems Analyst / Web Designer for a company here in CT, I have it loaded with all kinds of Apps, Web Design Tools, Graphics progs. I also do recording stuff with my guitar. So its not ALLLL for Hl2. Just 75 % of it.

 

[nw909]

9800pro 128mb - Upgraded
P4 2.4 GHz - Not Upgraded
512 MB DDR Ram - Upgraded
Creative Soundblaster PCI Card - Not Upgraded

Meh.

 

[BigNamek]

I upgraded back in February. Here are my specs:

Giga-byte GA N7400 Pro 2
AMD Athlon XP 2800
Buffalo 512MB PC 3200 RAM
ATI Radeon 9600XT
WD 120GB SATA HDD
Lite-On LDW-451S DVD-RW/+RW
A+BGB (or something like that) 450 watt PSU. Very quiet BTW.

BigNamek..

 

[Vegeta897]

Good God man. That is a dream PC. (@Razorblade)

I would have most definatly upgraded for HL2.. If I had the money. I don't have a job and get $2 a week for allowance so..

Although I do have a good enough PC to play HL2.. Thankfully.

 

[She]

i didn't not. no need my PC is to date.

 

[Petabyte]

Holy crap. NICE pc you got there! See my "didn't get 9600 xt voucher" for details on my graphics card adventure.
Well, that alienware PC will be awesome for Half-Life 2, gaurenteed, but you could have built your own PC for a little less. But those alienware cases are very nice indeed, and everything is well put together and slick. Not exactly top of the line, I would have gone with duel 3.2ghz processors if money was not an option, but that costs a fortune. X800 XT is pretty much top of the line. I envy your sound setup. I envy your whole pc, actually. You will be able to push Half-Life 2 to its limits. Your computer puts mine to shame.

My specs:
AMD Athlon 3000+
ATI 9600 XT (overclocking because of the nice fan)
(see my thread for more info about voucher etc.)
512 ram
160 gb hard drive.


I got my PC without my 9600 xt (had some cheap intel 32 meg card, unacceptable) for around 700 dollers.
Then the card was $200 (hopefully $150 because half-life 2 is $50). I can run doom 3 at 800x600 at high detail with good solid framerates.
So all this for under $1000- I'm happy. :thumbs:

I'm curious to see who really updated for Half-Life 2 and with what.

[edit] Wow, I thought I would be one of the first posters, looks like about 10 people beat me to it. But yeah, this system was not ment just for half-life 2. I'm not rich. [/edit]

 

[hunteraz]

haha... what a waste of money. You got suckered.

Alienware counts on people like you who can't manage your money.

 

[GuNzABlaZiN]

Ah well I have a student slave job, I work nightshifts at a huge supermarket chain getting paid barely anything so $1000 is a lot for me, if I had $3000, I'd be rich.

 

[jameth]

i upgraded in general. for all games ont he same generation as HL2/Doom3

P4 3.2GHz w/HT
ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe
1GB GeiL PC3200 (512 x 2)
Saphire X800XT-PE
19" Samsung SyncMaster 957DF
120GB Western Digital SATA
Antec TruePower 430WATT

 

[Roland Deschain]

I found $20 dollars in my pocked and it made my month, that's how poor I am.

 

[supangr]

I upgraded last july for HL2 (and all the other next gen FPSs, like doom 3, far cry and stalker) to this:

p4 3.2
asus p4c800 deluxe
ati 9800 pro 256 (before the voucher program was announced.)
2GBs pc3200 ram
2 120 GB SATA maxtors
sony DVD +/- rw
420w antec powersupply

All in all, about 2700 dollars. It seems this system will last me a lot longer than my others, considering the slow down in mhz ramping (only 400 mhz in the last year for intel.) I just wednesday received my evga geforce 6800 ultra, I'm hard to impress but this card rocks, far cry is so fast I get dizzy moving the mouse, and doom 3 gets up to 60 fps, I can't wait to see hl2 on it and far cry with the HDR patch.

 

[B.Calhoun]

My current vid card is a Radeon 7000 64 mb (might be 7500 i forget). nuff said.

Im buying a new one in about 2 weeks, im so excited, i just need a few more paychecks is all

 

[riTuaL]

I got this PC (in my signature) about 2 weeks ago. I got it for college but also for CS:S and HL2. My previous machine was a P4 1.3ghz, 640mb RAM, and an nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 128mb. It was quite a jump for me. The system ran me about $1600 but I later decided to buy myself a flat panel monitor for about $350. I don't regret buying this PC at all, even with HL2 not out yet..

 

[Mr-Fusion]

Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 going gold was my new computer building initiating point. Since Doom 3 hit it first i bought the following

Athlon 64 3200+
MSI NEO F2ISR K8t800
Sapphire Radeon X800 pro
1024mg generic ram
120gb SATA drive
SB Audigy 2 ZS

 

[BigNamek]

One thing that sucks about the system I got back in Feb. was that my mom refused to get it online, so we ended up paying like $900 just for the stuff I listed above. It would have only been about $740 at newegg.com at the time. Worst of all the place my mom wanted to shop at ripped us off $230 for the 9600XT. ;(

BigNamek...

 

[GuNzABlaZiN]

I got this PC (in my signature) about 2 weeks ago. I got it for college but also for CS:S and HL2. My previous machine was a P4 1.3ghz, 640mb RAM, and an nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 128mb. It was quite a jump for me. The system ran me about $1600 but I later decided to buy myself a flat panel monitor for about $350. I don't regret buying this PC at all, even with HL2 not out yet..

I'm ordering the same mobo, who well does it run? Is the onboard sound any good?

 

[Sp00fman]

My upgrade was a 9800 SE last yeat. damn delay. I hope it won't happen to you.
This years upgrade was cheap. i watercooled my cpu,chipset and radeon
all from scrap metal (copper) and some soler.

I hope i fry my GPU, good excuse to get a new X800
-note to self: Will wait till the game is in my hands this time.

 

[Agent.M]

Nice setup man and youll be happy you went with AW, you check out my old thread when I ordered my system I got flamed like hell from whinners that built there own and hell yeah man having one warranty on all parts is much better then on a bunch....yes you couldve saved some money but for me at least it wasnt that much .....AW's are the porsche of gaming computers and you cant get a new porsche for 25,000 grand... Im still pissed from getting so flamed if you cant tell anywho here are my specs!

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Chassis: Alienware® Full-Tower Case (480-Watt PS) - Nova Yellow
Power Supply: None
Processor: AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-53 Processor with HyperTransport Technology
Motherboard: ASUS® A8V Deluxe - VIA K8T800 Pro Motherboard
Memory: 1GB Dual Channel DDR PC-3200 SDRAM at 400MHz - 2 x 512MB
Video Card: ATI RADEON™ X800 XT Platinum Edition 256MB DDR3 w/Digital and TV Out
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer
Video Cooling: AlienIce™ Video Cooling System - Astral Blue
System Drive: High Performance - Serial ATA - 120GB Seagate® Barracuda 7,200 RPM w/8MB Cache
Optical Drive One: Plextor® PX-712A 12x DVD±R/W Drive
Floppy Drive: 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High Definition 7.1 Surround
Network Connection: High Speed Gigabit Ethernet
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Portable Storage : Alienware® 8-in-1 Digital Media Reader / Writer with FireWire
Keyboard: Microsoft® Multimedia Keyboard - Nova Yellow
Alienware Exclusive Offers: 10% off your next EB Games online purchase
Benchmark Software: 3DMark®03 Standard Edition

This is hooked up on a New Sony 5.1 Theatre system with the new HD apple 23" cinema display here are pics of my monitor im putting up ics of the whole shabang soon!

 

[Krynn72]

I upgraded for it.... last year. I was on a budget, and tech wasnt as good so here is what I got.

AMD Athlong XP 2500+ (OCed to 2.0 gig)
ATI Radeon 9600 pro 256mb
Asus A7n8x-x mobo
512 ddr266 ( I didnt know the difference between ram speeds then )
Aspire Turbo Case X-Dreamer II

 

[ktimekiller]

dude u guys got uber comp.......

 

[GuNzABlaZiN]

I hate you MACHINE. My monitor is a 15" and is 6 years old. I'm not getting a new one until this one dies which won't be any soon it seems. flame flame flame

 

[Kouler]

I just upgraded my mobo and my GFX card.

Specs:

P4 2.4GHZ
ASUS P4P800-Deluxe mobo
GeXCube Radeon 9600XT Xtreme
Some kind of built-into-mobo sound card
2 x 256mb DDR-400 ram
80gb and a 40gb HD
15" LCD monitor
2 small cheap desktop speakers/a cheap pair of headphones

And yeh thats it
Uber comp 2002

 

[joule]

I am still in the process of upgrading...but so far...

P4 2.26 GHz-No upgrade planned.

Intel 845GE Max Mobo-Still debating on whether or not to upgrade.

768 DDR MB RAM-No upgrade planned.

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200-Plan to upgrade this within the next two weeks to this.

7200 RPM 50 GB HDD-No upgrade planned. I don't have much on this HDD except Painkiller, Far Cry, Halo: Combat Evolved, XIII, Call of Duty, Tron 2.0, Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, Max Payne, Postal 2, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Doom 3, and several songs and apps.

Razer Viper Mouse-I just upgraded to this...God I love this mouse. I recommend this mouse to all who are in dire need of a great gaming mouse.

Compaq CV735 Monitor-Plan to upgrade this within the next two weeks also, to this.

Logitech Z-540 (4.1 Surround Sound speakers)-No upgrade planned.

So...will I be ready for Half-Life 2 after all the upgrading is complete? God...I have all of these games on my HDD, but I can't play them with the visual quality turned way up (Except Max Payne and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault). But in the next two weeks, I will be playing all of these games, all day long. :bounce:

 

[me2you1]

I'm buying this stuff at the end of the week, sold my old computer in order to afford it lol.

AMD Atlhon 64 3200+
| Lian Li PC6070b |
Samsung cd-r/dvd |
Western Digital SATA 80gb
| 1gb ddr400 pc3200 |
Gigabyte GA-K8NS Pro
| Vigor 500w psu
bfg 6800u oc

already have a 19'' flatcrt
and altec lansing sound system

 

[kaf11]

im in the market for a 9800 pro. ill pick one up at the end of the month.

 

[Head_Crab_04]

I upgraded my video card from 9700 pro to a 6800 GT.

My computer specs are:

P4 3.0 Ghz
1 Gig RAM
6800 GT
Audigy 2

 

[BigNamek]

bfg 6800u oc

That is going to be my next video card. Just how great is it?

BigNamek...

 

[P43.2/1Gig/X800P]

i had purchased 2 pcs for hl2 1 about a year ago it was a amd2800+ 512 ram and 9800 pro, then the game got delayed so almost a year goes buy and i say to myself i need another pc because my pcs out of date so i did i went to cyberpowerinc.com and pieced mine together i currently have a P4 3.2 gig 800 fsb hyper threading enabled 1 gig of generic ram pc3200 and i just got my x800pro man it is truely the card to get for hl2 and doom 3 . i get 90fps on doom 3 with ultra quality and 1024X768 res. its a dream come true for me,anyways im just glad i can run hl2 the way its meant to be played i feel sorry for the less fortunate.... sorry guys i feel your pain. i cant wait to play hl1 on the new graphics engine for me its a whole new game.

 

[Petabyte]

i had purchased 2 pcs for hl2 1 about a year ago it was a amd2800+ 512 ram and 9800 pro, then the game got delayed so almost a year goes buy and i say to myself i need another pc because my pcs out of date so i did i went to cyberpowerinc.com and pieced mine together i currently have a P4 3.2 gig 800 fsb hyper threading enabled 1 gig of generic ram pc3200 and i just got my x800pro man it is truely the card to get for hl2 and doom 3 . i get 90fps on doom 3 with ultra quality and 1024X768 res. its a dream come true for me,anyways im just glad i can run hl2 the way its meant to be played i feel sorry for the less fortunate.... sorry guys i feel your pain. i cant wait to play hl1 on the new graphics engine for me its a whole new game.

Doom III is capped at 60 frames per second... But thats one kick ass pc. I see you have no problem showing it off, P43.2/1Gig/X800P.


You know what? I'm sick of not being of the high end of gaming, so I'm saving so one day (probably late DirectX 10)
I will buy a kick ass pc, and finally be able to run ANYTHING on full detail (ie Far Cry 2, half life 3, ). And newer games running on the Unreal 3 engine. It will be good while it lasts.

 

[P43.2/1Gig/X800P]

why does it do that it stops at like 60 fps your right ,why..... do you know

 

[me2you1]

Bignamek

dunno yet man, gotta order it when its available, its always saying pre-order, and I never preorder, waste o' money. So when I get it I'll see.

 

[P43.2/1Gig/X800P]

i saw a 6800 gt overclocked version at my best buy just 1 left , i went to tell my friend and went back to store and it was gone lol damn

 

[Petabyte]

wow, Are these things really so rare? I heard they were, but I had no idea it was that bad... Is it the same with the x800 XT PE?

why does it do that it stops at like 60 fps your right ,why..... do you know

Because ID capped it so people wouldn't run it insanley high frame rates so they can play it they way it was ment to be played. Plus, think about it: people (like me) still try to run doom. Doom I. Just like later on people will still play doom 3 (That is, if Half-life 2 doesn't own it). So If we ran doom 3 on tommarows hardware it would be too fast without that limit. I'm pretty sure thats why.

 

[P43.2/1Gig/X800P]

good to see the real hl2 fans are preparing for this game ,alot of gamers are going to be disapointed when it gets released... why you say simple because you think your radeon 9200 is goin to visually satisfy you haha it wont

 

[The.Spiral]

I've upgraded my vid card fom a Matrox G400 (16 mb) to a Radeon AIW 9800 pro (128 mb)... big difference... all I need now is a new CPU/mobo/RAM, that's it... (right now I can play DOOM³ @ 1024x768 medium)