Would you even bother...

C

Chemtec

n00b
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
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I've currently got a AMD 2400+ with a Radeon 9800Pro and 1GB mismatched RAM. The rig will play HL-2 with eye candy reduced (still has some rough spots but certainly playable).

My board will handle up to a Barton 3200+ and has an AGP slot (8x I think) - the problem is that the Bartons above 2800+ are INSANELY priced (the 3200+ is more than a qx6600 at $250+)

I'm interested in HL-2 orange box this month but I have no expectations this heap will play Crysis in Nov -

Would you even bother to upgrade the video card to make HL-2 more playable - assuming I'll give this computer (upgraded or not) to my kids (all under 10 and not likely to need much in the graphics depts for a while).

Is there any card for around $100 that would give this thing a kick in the rear? Or am I bottlenecked by CPU? I'm considering the Penryn early next year but as always it seems like something better is just around the corner.
 
id save your money and upgrade all at one time, an agp card buy right now seems silly with DX10 games just waiting to catch on
 
I've seen used 6800GT/Ultra's going for ~$100 or less. I know when I upgraded to a 7900GT about a year ago I sold my 6800U to a buddy of mine for $75. I know your CPU is pretty low end, but I would have to assume you'd still get better framerates with a 6800GT or Ultra. Just MHO... ;)
 
CPU and RAM will hold you back in newer games, I'd say games newer than far cry. Let me tell you about my upgrades as I have gone through a similar problem.

My original system was a barton XP-3200+, 1gb of ram and a 9600 pro. This was pretty good for half life 2, but newer games like fear and doom 3 were killing the system. That's when I decided to get an agp x800xt. FEAR and doom 3 were playable now, but not with as much eye candy as I would like. I'd still have to play at 1024x768 with 50% of the settings turned down. I didn't really play these games much as it wasn't too enjoyable, until I got an e6300 and an asrock 775dual vsta which let me re-use the 1gb of ddr and my agp x800xt. Performance went up a fair amount in quake 4, doom 3 and prey ( all doom 3 engines), but FEAR was still hiccupping here and there. Finally, a couple of months later ( last week), I got 2gb of ddr2 ram to go into the 775dual and WOW, FEAR runs really smooth at 1280x960 with like 80% of the settings on max.

This goes to show that firstly the 9600 was holding back the barton, then getting an x800xt prompted the barton to hold back the x800xt, and finally the ram was holding everything back as well, heh. Not only this, the x800xt is 3 generations old so without a doubt this is the bottleneck in my system now, lol.

Save your money to upgrade everything at once, IMO, if you really want to enjoy your games properly.
 
I just want to add, my advice above is assuming you just want that upgrade for playing HL2 and will be upgrading first part of next week as you'd posted. If it's worth it to you to spend $75 - $100 on improved gameplay in the meantime. Otherwise, as suggested, save your money for when you can do the upgrade all at once.
 
well tbh spending any more money on that rig is an excercise in futility. No offense, it doesnt owe you anything but it just wont keep up and you certainly will not be happy with it later.
The AMD X2's are outstanding value and solid peformance. You could get a decent system up and running for under $500. Check this out(assuming you live in U.S.)

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103773

Mobo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131042

RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231098

Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814133186

Total $434!

This would give you solid performance for quite a while. That 7900 gs will oc like crazy! I have seen oc's of over 600 core clock and 1600 memory clock!

GL! :D
 
I was testing my HTPC a couple of weeks ago with HL2 just to see how it would run.
The Specs on that machine are: 9800Pro, P4 2.6HT, 1gig Ram, 160gig HD.
I was able to run the game really smooth at 1280x720 with all the settings maxed.

I think you need a proc upgrade right now, and then a vid card later, or maybe just wait and build a new rig.
 
As above really, I personally wouldn't bother pumping more cash into it. I'm running a similar system myself (2500 barton @ 3200, 1.5gb, with a 6600gt oc'd), until I upgrade next month.

Playing TF2 recently - it is playable" (and I must say still very enjoyable) on a 19in but think more held back by the CPU more than graphics card judging by temps (card gets hotter on benchmarks/tests than in TF2, CPU at full load and as hot as it gets when gaming).

Like you say, if you wait there is always something around the corner. Its nearly xmas, see if santa can't bring you (and your kids) an early present in a nice new rig :D
 
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