PC upgrade help please (for gaming)

[Brian]

I want to upgrade my PC to play the latest graphic intensive games in
all their detail and glory. I would like to avoid replacing the cpu,
ram, and motherboard because of cost and I am not certain it is
necessary. Therefore, the solution seems to be replacing the video
card. However, I am not sure how games divide the work and memory
between the gpu, cpu, card ram, and system ram. My question is, with
my system specs, will replacing the video card allow me to play the
newest games at max detail and acceptable framerates @ 1024x768. My
specs are:
- AMD Athlon 1Ghz
- Asus A7V motherboard
- 32mb Geforce2 200MX
- 256mb P133 SDRAM

I would like to buy a new ATI Radeon card because they are good and
cheap. Can anyone suggest a card that would provide the best benifit
to my system at the lowest cost.
Thanks.
Brian.

 

[Strontium]

Hate to break it, to you. But, you will need to upgrade cpu/memory as well
to run 'all detail and glory' in the 'latest graphic intensive' games. As
for the video card, 9800nonpro/pro would be nice.

-
Brian stood up at show-n-tell, in
(e-mail address removed), and said:

I want to upgrade my PC to play the latest graphic intensive games in
all their detail and glory. I would like to avoid replacing the cpu,
ram, and motherboard because of cost and I am not certain it is
necessary. Therefore, the solution seems to be replacing the video
card. However, I am not sure how games divide the work and memory
between the gpu, cpu, card ram, and system ram. My question is, with
my system specs, will replacing the video card allow me to play the
newest games at max detail and acceptable framerates @ 1024x768. My
specs are:
- AMD Athlon 1Ghz
- Asus A7V motherboard
- 32mb Geforce2 200MX
- 256mb P133 SDRAM

I would like to buy a new ATI Radeon card because they are good and
cheap. Can anyone suggest a card that would provide the best benifit
to my system at the lowest cost.
Thanks.
Brian.

--
Strontium

"And, all of your lies weren't enough to keep me....here."

- Goo Goo Dolls

 

[Thomas Florkiewicz]

I would

- add another 256 megs of ram
- video card upgrade --> but make sure your motherboard's agp slot is
1.5 volt, which is the new standard i guess (some older mobos have a 3
volt slot into which new cards won't fit into). I got the ati radeon
9700 pro and i'm really happy with it.

Thomas

 

[Jon Danniken]

I would
- add another 256 megs of ram
- video card upgrade --> but make sure your motherboard's agp slot is
1.5 volt, which is the new standard i guess (some older mobos have a 3
volt slot into which new cards won't fit into). I got the ati radeon
9700 pro and i'm really happy with it;

Yeah, after trying to decide on the best card in (over) my budget I finally went with a 9700PRO
myself, and can hardly wait until it gets here next week!

Brian, you will definately see some improvement with a new video card, but only to a certain
point; your computer itself it getting a bit long in the tooth for playing the latest and
upcoming games. Components are cheap right now; you can get a good mobo for $80.00, CPU for
$80, RAM for $80.00, and a power supply for $60.00 (you'll need the new power supply).

As for Radeon video cards, the 9600PRO is going for ~$150.00, 9600XT is going for ~190.00 (with
a free coupon for HalfLife2), and the 9700PRO can be had for ~220.00. All of my prices are from
NewEgg; they are the only online dealer I trust.

If I were you, I would pick up a 9600PRO right now and start saving up for the other components;
you're current board is AGP 2.0, so you would be able to use the card for now (assuming you
current power supply can handle it). Good Luck.

Jon

 

[jim]

my system is a 1.8ghtz, 768mb ram, with a radeon 8500 and although I can
play halflife, medal of honor, call of duty and wolfenstein with little
problems, I am looking to upgrade to a better video card and sound card to
play the newer games coming out this year. I think you will have to upgrade
the cpu, ram and video card as a minimum to play the games such as doom 3
and halflife2 when they come out.

Jim

 

[Brian]

Unfortunately upgrading my mobo, ram, and cpu are not an option. I am
in university and cant even afford food (DSL is more important).
Hopefully my parents will want their system replaced soon so I can
give them my current one and have them pay for my new one. For now, a
cheap video card and maybe some ram will have to do.
After spending hours reading how video graphics are created and used
by memory, I have decided that the best option for my comp is a Radeon
9200se 128mb which can be had pretty cheap.

To Jon Danniken, my board is AGP 4x, and to Thomas Florkiewicz, it is
therfore a 1.5v slot.
Thanks all for your suggestions

 

[Jon Danniken]

To Jon Danniken, my board is AGP 4x

Yes, I know this. I said your current board is AGP 2.0, which is the standard it adheres to,
NOT the speed. HTH.

Jon

 

[DaveW]

Your CPU and RAM are too slow to play "the latest games" at max detail,
regardless of the graphics card you buy. For your system I would recommend
the Radeon 9200. The Radeon 9600 would be too limited by your other system
components.

 

[Brian]

Yes, I know this. I said your current board is AGP 2.0, which is the standard it adheres to,

NOT the speed. HTH.

Jon

Oops. I missread your post. You are correct, AGP 2.0 is the 1.5v
standard which includes AGP 4x. My goal with the Radeon 9200se 128mb
is to limit AGP texturing as much as possible. Hopefully 2004 games
will still look good (although not the best), even though the Radeon
9200 does not support directx 9.
This may seem like a dumb question, but can most games be played
without running windows and how would I do this? XP pro sure is a ram
eater.
Brian.

 

[Gary Tait]

Oops. I missread your post. You are correct, AGP 2.0 is the 1.5v
standard which includes AGP 4x. My goal with the Radeon 9200se 128mb
is to limit AGP texturing as much as possible. Hopefully 2004 games
will still look good (although not the best), even though the Radeon
9200 does not support directx 9.
This may seem like a dumb question, but can most games be played
without running windows and how would I do this? XP pro sure is a ram
eater.
Brian.

All DirectX games are Windows games, due to the fact DirectX is a
Windows component.