Who's Upgrading?

[Milo]

Who's upgrading their pc's to play HL2?

Just curious. I have to I'm running a 1ghz amd athlon with a huge 768 mb of DDR 1600 RAM. woot

 

[nw909]

I already upgraded:

One 256MB DDR Ram - Total: 512MB

One Radeon 9800pro 128MB

 

[Solidarnosi]

I'll be building a new PC next year. Gonna play fine for now on my Gf4Ti, I can wait a bit to get all the rest & hopefully have a bit better CPU/GPU by that time.

 

[Prince of China]

I don't plan on upgrading, but if I had 50,000 for no reason, I'd get= a Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz,
Another 512 MB ram making my total: 1GB
and a Radeon 9800XT 256MB ram
Oh, and also a Creative labs Extigy

 

[Shuzer]

I upgraded!

From a..

GeForce3 Ti200 to a Radeon 9700 (Now OCed to 9700 Pro)
AMD Athlon XP 1700+ on an ECS K7S5A to an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (OCed to 2800+) on an Asus A7V8X-X
512MB PC2100 to PC2700 (didn't want to, but was forced to due to FSB)
40GB 5200RPM HD to a 120GB 7200RPM HD (Didn't get this for HL2, but oh well)

 

[nw909]

Originally posted by Tredoslop
I don't plan on upgrading, but if I had 50,000 for no reason, I'd get= a Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz,
Another 512 MB ram making my total: 1GB
and a Radeon 9800XT 256MB ram
Oh, and also a Creative labs Extigy

wtf?

with 50,000 I'd get a P4 3.20 Ghz 3GB Kingston Ram W/Hyperthreading

 

[SidewinderX]

I upgraded from
256Mb PC2100 -> 512MB PC210
GF3 Ti-200 -> Sapphire 9600pro Atlantis 128MB
Internal sound -> SoundBalster LIVE! (it was free cause dell forgot we wanted a gameport )

 

[The Dark Elf]

Ok I was gonna post this in the hardware section but since you guys are talking about upgrading here I thought I'd post it here instead

Basically I've come up with the spec below, now I'm pretty sure it will play HL2 without problems, well it had better do! lol, but what I'm more interested in is will this stuff work together (I'm not up on all the different things these days and if they work together or not ) and if its any good or am I about to buy a lot of scrap metal that'll be as out of date in three months as a 486 is now.
Please no AMD bashing unless its something serious like it wont work with the ATI card or something heh

So yeah my question is will this work and will it be any good. There's no CD or DVD drives and no monitor as I have spares and will probably get a DVD-RW sometime next year, no rush though, lived this long without needed to write to DVD's so I can happily wait, and I haven't included the ATI 9800xt as I plan on getting that at a later date also (hopefully with HL2 and hopefully a little bit cheaper in the meantime I'd just stick my Geforce4 card in it. Memory aswell, 512mb to begin with then upgrade that later on, 512mb should be fine for now, again not a huge rush.

Asus A7NBX-D (DDR M/BoarD) Nforce2, Dual Lan, 1394, SATA
AMD AthlonXP PR3000+ (RTL) Barton
512mb DDR (PC3200) 400
Zorro Black Case (cause its black and I'm sick of white and cream PC's
120GB W/Digital WD1200JB (8mb cache)
3.5 Black Floppy Drive (only cause I haven't one spare to fit in it, and the
others are icky cream color
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 RTL

oh and yeah, is the sound card above ok these days or should I be looking at a newer card? I'm not too fussed about super amazing audio, but something cool wouldn't hurt, and I've some 5.1 speakers knocking about which I wouldn't mind making full use of (bought them cheap at Staples of all places

Thanks for any advice, and see it wasn't another "will this spec run HL".. its a "will it even power up" question


PS. oh yeah and it'll also double as a workstation for the work I do, hence the eventual need for more memory than normal and other extra's.. but thats work stuff and not important right now, just thought I should clear that up before I was accused of showing off or something (you wanna try running XSI and Houdini on less than 1Gig memory with a looming deadline.. that err wasn't caused by playing games lol, it ain't fun atall

 

[Milo]

I want to build a athlon 64 system but a 800 dollar proc with no decent mobo's i cant justify it. I think i'll just build a XP 3200+

 

[Hudson]

I think the real question is, who the hell ISNT upgrading.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Originally posted by |CC|Hudson
I think the real question is, who the hell ISNT upgrading.

those lucky buggers who already have top of the line machines who probably already consider HL2 "as not bad could look better" *grumbles*


Out of interest, do you guys upgrade regularly, always trying to keep upto date, or like me do you prefer to upgrade slowly, getting every last ounce out of your machine before making a big jump and getting that "oh wow this is so cool" feeling when you see what a difference it is. eg: I went from an old P200 to 1gig, huge difference, big grin. then from low end OpenGL to what (before seeing the HL2 vids) was amazing realtime effects on a Geforce card. I dunno, I guess I just like it that way, makes me feel less guilty spending so much on myself like that.. hmm what am I saying, as if I'd spend it on anyone else lol

 

[Solidarnosi]

Fenric, I do the same as you. I went from a Celeron333 to a P4 1.8

But unlike you (I'm guessing from your statement) I do have others who depend upon my income - a brand new baby girl (two days old, yay for me!), a 13 year old daughter, a wife, mom who I help since dad died, plus my wife's family in Russia that I send money to when I can to help them live a little better. So yeah upgrading is a big deal for me, something I do when I know that cash isn't needed elsewhere. Also it helps that this is really my only hobby nowadays - I hate to think what my brother spends on golf, for instance! I could have some nice rig with the money he spends on green fees every month....

 

[Subz]

me . im waitin for 9800pro to be cheaper. I got most stuff like monitor and dvi cables for the big tv hl2 play and stuff

 

[Hallucinogen]

Definatly not me, I'm all set to go.

 

[MetallicA]

Im not exactly upgrading but i am getting my pc. specs: amd 2600,512ddr(pc 2700),80 gb and a ati 9200( for now will be upgraded to a 9700 or a 9800 pro when i can afford it)

 

[Quixoticism]

I wait for my upgrades to come to me pretty much. I went from a 766 Celeron to a AthloxXP 2000+ for $200. I didn't really upgrade my video card which was a Geforce 2 MX400 64MB to a GeForce 4 Ti4200 64MB because my dad broke my card. I did just buy a 256MB DDR Corsair stick last week. I also might upgrade to a 9700Pro after the prices drop in November.

 

[XtAkm4p]

ill prolly have a 9800 b4 hl2 comes out, to replace my 4200 64mb

 

[Bobo Vieri]

Well a did a general upgrade, to a Ti4200, AMD 2500+, 512MB DDR , soon to add another stick of RAM to utilise the dual channel on my K7N2 nForce2 Mobo. Though, the longer HL2 is delayed, the more likely i'll replace my Ti4200 for a 9800Pro if the price drop a bit.

 

[genocide604]

meg, i need a new video card... mom and dad arent here anymore to buy me shit *hint hint *

 

[hunteraz]

i dont think i need to upgrade really, i have 1 gig ram ddr 2100 ram, 9700pro, and a 1.733mhz cpu, i think it'll run fine, if not, oh wells

 

[Skammich]

my 9800 pro is gonna be here on wed. :-D

 

[pHATE1982]

I tend to do massive jumps, and end up buying an entire new system, as there is absolutally nothing i can salvage...

I went from a 486DX33 to P166MMX to a AMDK6-800 and now to a 2700+....

Only thing i've managed to salvage are HD's in the past, and a soundcard once. I think case sizes and PS's have changed most of the time so i can't even salvage them :-P

You can't beat the excitment of going to a store (online or not), ordering all the bits you want and waiting for them to arrive. You get that whole, some things arrive one day, then some the next... all the time you're crapping yourself with excitment wanting to just build the damn thing. Can't beat it :-P

And for the guy who hates beige boxes for PC's.... gah, this aint a MAC!
*strokes the pebble dashed sexy creamy box*

 

[cpu killer]

I upgraded!:

From:
S3 Savage 200 64mb AGP4x
Pentium Celeron 400 O/C'ed @ 550mhz
Abit BH-6 Mobo
384mb PC133 SDRAM

To:
INNO3D GeForce4 MX440 64mb AGP4X
Pentium 4 2.4ghz (533mhz BUS)
BioStar U8568 PRO Mobo
512mb DDR PC2700 Ram


Argh, im upgrading my vid card to a Sapphire Radeon 9600(np), and my mobo to an Abit IC-7...Than ill be better rigged , but it was a sweet improvement .

 

[MrMethane]

Originally posted by Fenric1138
<snip>
Asus A7NBX-D (DDR M/BoarD) Nforce2, Dual Lan, 1394, SATA
AMD AthlonXP PR3000+ (RTL) Barton
512mb DDR (PC3200) 400
Zorro Black Case (cause its black and I'm sick of white and cream PC's
120GB W/Digital WD1200JB (8mb cache)
3.5 Black Floppy Drive (only cause I haven't one spare to fit in it, and the
others are icky cream color
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1 RTL

<snip>

MOBO:
I hear this is a great mobo. Most people would probably prefer Abit NF7-S for overclocking, but since you're getting a 3000+, I guess thats not a big concern.

CPU:
I would probably have tried my luck o/c-ing a 2500+, but it will certainly work great in your mobo.

RAM:
You don't mention a brand. It's probably wise to go for a known brand instead of generic.

HDD:
WD occasionally have stability issues on nForce2 mobos!. Get something else, like the 8MB Maxtors.

I have 3 WD JBs and I love them, but they are the reason I'm hesitant about getting a Barton/nF2 system.

SOUND:
Well, your mobo comes with the excellent SoundStorm chipset, so I'd try that first, and only upgrade if you're dissappointed in it. It's 6.1 with S/PDIF out etc. Read up on it.

Also, Creative drivers = t3h suck, IMHO I swore I would never buy Creative again after my Live!, then I bought an Audigy Player, and it's also a pain in the ass

Maybe the Audigy 2 is better though

 

[oMarKs]

im gonna get a 9600xt and another 256mb of ram. maybe a new processor and mobo as well if hl2 isnt any good on my athlon 1700

 

[oldi1knoby]

I jsut upgraded to a 9600 pro DAYS before they dropped in prices... DAMN YOU!

I was upgrading for the Release. It runs great BTW!

 

[MrMethane]

Oh, I forget about the upgrading

I will be getting a 9800. Pro or NP, I don't know yet. Thank god I didn't buy one before they announced the delay. I'll wait until last minute since my ti4200 still works ok for current games.

Oh, also I meant to say the Soundstorm is 6 channel not 6.1

 

[MrD]

Originally posted by Tredoslop
... but if I had 50,000 for no reason, I'd get ...

One of these little babies!

 

[The Dark Elf]

Originally posted by MrMethane
MOBO:
I hear this is a great mobo. Most people would probably prefer Abit NF7-S for overclocking, but since you're getting a 3000+, I guess thats not a big concern.

CPU:
I would probably have tried my luck o/c-ing a 2500+, but it will certainly work great in your mobo.

RAM:
You don't mention a brand. It's probably wise to go for a known brand instead of generic.

HDD:
WD occasionally have stability issues on nForce2 mobos!. Get something else, like the 8MB Maxtors.

I have 3 WD JBs and I love them, but they are the reason I'm hesitant about getting a Barton/nF2 system.

SOUND:
Well, your mobo comes with the excellent SoundStorm chipset, so I'd try that first, and only upgrade if you're dissappointed in it. It's 6.1 with S/PDIF out etc. Read up on it.

Also, Creative drivers = t3h suck, IMHO I swore I would never buy Creative again after my Live!, then I bought an Audigy Player, and it's also a pain in the ass

Maybe the Audigy 2 is better though

Hey thanks MrMethane

Your reply was pretty similar to someone elsewhere, so if two different people say the same thing almost, then its enough to make me reconsider

made the following changes. Gonna go with the onboard audio, I'm a bit funny about Sound cards in general (never had one that didn't do something annoying with the system) so I didn't need much convincing to remove that from the setup hehe. Even if the onboard sound isn't the best, I'll probably be very happy with it, I spent most of my younger years with mono equipment or crappy small stereo speakers, if I can hear something I'm happy heh

the W/Digital drive, it was suggested that since the MB has SATA I should get one of those instead, a seagate one, which makes sense but goes to show I didn't have a clue lol

the cpu, I'm too much of a newbie when it comes to hardware, I wouldn't trust myself playing around OCing stuff, I'm bound to break something. I'll lookinto the Abit board though thanks

The Ram originally was generic, but since these changes free up about £100 extra I can go for better ram now, so thanks for that!

would be nice if I could get the ATI card and other fun extra's at the same time, but I've bills and other fun stuff to deal with, so will save up and wait impatiently heh

so thats a pint I owe you too :cheers: (if your the other guy then this could end up like Barney offering to buy drinks for Gordon heheh)

-
and when did I become a zombie.. I know I look like death when I've had no sleep but still

 

[h00dlum]

im going to upgrade my systems soon

 

[chu]

oo oo I am!! YAY goodbye money!!!

 

[MrMethane]

the W/Digital drive, it was suggested that since the MB has SATA I should get one of those instead, a seagate one, which makes sense but goes to show I didn't have a clue lol

Yes, those Seagate 7200.7 SATA drives are looking sweet. There are faster performers, but the 7200.7 is quiet, which is good.

Also, check out the Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 8MB SATA , I've been hearing very good things about it.

One other thing: I don't want to scare you, but some people have been having problems with on-board SATA controllers. I would still buy a SATA disk though.

edit: Oh, yet another thing: Make sure you get two sticks of ram so you can run dual channel. I.e. if you want 512 MB, you buy 2 256MB sticks.

 

[The Dark Elf]

Originally posted by MrMethane
Yes, those Seagate 7200.7 SATA drives are looking sweet. There are faster performers, but the 7200.7 is quiet, which is good.

Also, check out the Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 8MB SATA , I've been hearing very good things about it.

I'll take a look at that too, thanks

One other thing: I don't want to scare you, but some people have been having problems with on-board SATA controllers. I would still buy a SATA disk though.

too late you scared me hehe. What kind of problems?

edit: Oh, yet another thing: Make sure you get two sticks of ram so you can run dual channel. I.e. if you want 512 MB, you buy 2 256MB sticks.

hmm, what if I went for two 512mb sticks, still work ok? Its a bit more cash upfront but with the other savings I should be ok

 

[MrMethane]

too late you scared me hehe. What kind of problems?

Well everthing ranging from windows can't find the disks, to windows loses the disks, to not being able to boot from SATA.

I think most if not all of these can be resolved by

1) Updating BIOS (if not latest rev.)

2) Installing latest drivers from ASUS

3) Realizing that SATA drives apparently have a jumper that need to be removed for it to be a boot device.

hmm, what if I went for two 512mb sticks, still work ok? Its a bit more cash upfront but with the other savings I should be ok

Yes

 

[Fat Tony!]

My pc can handle it im not bothered about graphics but im gonna get a new pc sometime so it can support my digical camera + play games

 

[Hallucinogen]

I built my own system for less then $800

Asus A7N8X Deluxe Revision 2
Athlon XP 2500 @ 2.5GHz
Corsair XMS 512MB DDR400
Radeon 9700 (overclocked)
60+60GB HD 80MB cache each
21" Monitor

 

[The Dark Elf]

cool, thanks mrmethane