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gaming perfomance
Cowzkilla
Member Posts: 23
in Everquest II
at the moment I've cel 2.0512ram(ddr333)fx5600, sucky configuration I know:P
I want to try EQ2, so I have to upgrade my pc | amd 64 2800+ (754 socket)1024... or may be 1536 mb of ram(pc 2700 or pc 3200?)what about fx5600 as a graphics card? I could buy ati radeon 9800 pro... would it be ok? or maybe someone couldl tell me pc configuration for EQ2
p.s.
I cant afford amd 64 4000+ 4gb of ram and fx6800ultra :P
Comments
I've read few topics about pc configurations, looks like fx5600 will do it's work for some time, so I'll buy amd athlon 68 2800+(754)1024 ram, then new graphics card(could someone tell me what to choose?512more ram I think and sata hdd in the end:P (have wd 160gb ide 8mB 7200rpm atm) going to overclock hardware for better perfomance as well
Why waste money on a SATA HDD when you have a good one already?
Point is a 7200rpm 8mb SATA runs same as a IDE 7200rpm 8mb!I have never seen a single credible tech post that said they noticed any difference at all.The few indivdual posts that have noted a difference all seems to have a 3 year old HDD when they changes which was old,knackered etc or had other hard ware changed.
And if you are short of RAM and it starts trashing the HDD it still be quite laggy no matter the HDD .
Now take that extra $80 or whatever and get yourself a Motherboard that can hold a 939 athlon 64.
Do not buy 754 because they are been phased out go for a 3000+ athlon 939 as you can use that board to upgrade later.
1gb RAM.
6600gt G card.
This is about the cheapest i can think of buying to get a nice EQ2 experience.
Can give you a more expensive(and better perforamce) option if you wish.
But take my advise and keep your HDD and use the money for a better g card or processor.
well, pc I have isn't mine actually:P, so everything in it must be exchanged anyway, so you recommend to buy 939 socket based motherboard and amd 64 3000+ cpu... probably there's point in buying pci-e graphics card? which ram to buy? ddr400?.. and there's no need in taking more then 1gb of ram, huh?
p.s. I live in Russia (Saint Petersburg), so my monthly income is lower the yours... I'm 17 years old, which doesn't make me rich also... so I can't afford uber pc
I have an iXPS2 (dell laptop) with 6800Ultra and 2GB ram, and i play on Very High Quality at 1920x1200 and it's smooth as butter. Even in cities it handles well.
I use a P4 2.66ghz with 512mbs of ram, a Geforce FX5600, and WinXP SP2. Alot of the lag I got from the memory leak disappeared for some odd reason after I installed beta version of MS Net.frame 2.0 (I think that's what it was called). Someone in game recommended it. EQ2 now runs fine for me on balanced settings even after extended playing.
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
thank you all
Well if you are on a budget then I suggest buying a dell and upgrading the video to Nvidia's 6600gt
It has the same chipset as the 6800 but, the ram is slower. More bang for your buck. The only reason I suggest dell is because you sound like you are on a tight budget. You can get a dell computer for $300-400 sometimes with monitor! Then slap in super phat video and you're there. Now if you already have everything but, the video and ram then just upgrade I guess. But, a cel2.0 w/5600 video would prolly sell to a friend for $100-200....
I'd go with the pc3200 ram.. The cost difference is minimal just don't get junk ram..
OCZ, Corsair, Mushkin, or crucial... you should be gtg..
(all this for eq 2? what a let down)
EQ2 isn't a better version of eq... it's pretty much a different game.
Not a good one at that.... nice graphics for the most part..
thanks for ram tips! I've decided to buy AMD Athlon 64 venice(939), motherboard EPoX EP-9NDA3J, 2gB of ram Mentat recommended, Leadtek 6800LE and try to make 6800 or 6800GT of it even:) if someone have something to say....... here you go, probably there's something better for this money.
p.s. excuse me for my language, I'm from Russia, didn't practice it for long
Yeah think thats a good deal.I go for a SLI Motherboard if i was you though for simple reason you can get an extra card whenever and boost performance.
But if you are like me and think 2 cards is just too expensive to worth the cost i say go for a X800XL cost about same as the plain 6800 and is a better card for sure.
Its been tested and proven that SLI's don't improve the preformance of EQ II at all. Just wanted to mention that. It does work very well with most other games however. Everquest II unfortuntely however is just SLI "aware" and not SLI friendly.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Its been tested and proven that SLI's don't improve the preformance of EQ II at all. Just wanted to mention that. It does work very well with most other games however. Everquest II unfortuntely however is just SLI "aware" and not SLI friendly.
I'd really like to know where your getting your information and if you could provide links and resources. As an Ultra SLi user I have seen considerable performance increases when using dual cards over a single Ultra, especially when turning up eye candy at higher resolution for viewing pleasure, which is where SLi really shines and very much so applies towards EQ2.
Also with the recent releases of 77.13 Beta Drivers and DNA Force 1.3.744 Unofficial Drivers many of quirks and kinks that have been present with SLi are weeding down, including the over-heat temp bug and the br-to-be bug. A good review of the most recent drivers can be found at http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=2300&s=1.
I also work at a QA firm where many of the work station test beds and personal rigs of my co-workers are now SLi set ups, many of which play EQ2 and all seem to be getting very good performance, varying of course on the rest of the set up. So all and all I would say that SLi is doing very well for EQ2 at the moment but then again, thats just my personal experience and from what I've seen around me.
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[quote]Originally posted by shae
[b]
Originally posted by Fadeus
Originally posted by herculesYeah think thats a good deal.I go for a SLI Motherboard if i was you though for simple reason you can get an extra card whenever and boost performance.But if you are like me and think 2 cards is just too expensive to worth the cost i say go for a X800XL cost about same as the plain 6800 and is a better card for sure.
Its been tested and proven that SLI's don't improve the preformance of EQ II at all. Just wanted to mention that. It does work very well with most other games however. Everquest II unfortuntely however is just SLI "aware" and not SLI friendly.
I'd really like to know where your getting your information and if you could provide links and resources. As an Ultra SLi user I have seen considerable performance increases when using dual cards over a single Ultra, especially when turning up eye candy at higher resolution for viewing pleasure, which is where SLi really shines and very much so applies towards EQ2.
Also with the recent releases of 77.13 Beta Drivers and DNA Force 1.3.744 Unofficial Drivers many of quirks and kinks that have been present with SLi are weeding down, including the over-heat temp bug and the br-to-be bug. A good review of the most recent drivers can be found at [url=http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=2300&s=1].
I also work at a QA firm where many of the work station test beds and personal rigs of my co-workers are now SLi set ups, many of which play EQ2 and all seem to be getting very good performance, varying of course on the rest of the set up. So all and all I would say that SLi is doing very well for EQ2 at the moment but then again, thats just my personal experience and from what I've seen around me. [/b][/quote]
Its been several months and I have no idea what the site was that I found the article on. However at the time I had found it through the NZone. So I took what it said as accurate since it was hosted by Nvidia, whom also helped SOE work on the graphics technology for EQ II and makes the card that is in question.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Well several months ago SLi was still relatively new technology, I certainly have no doubt regarding what you read but the hardware itself and software to support it has made some considerable improvments in it's still very short life, which is most likely why us SLi users are probably starting to see some significant perfomance increases in games like EQ2.
Just as a side note, it is quite possible now for someone to set up a 6600 GT SLi system with mobo and proc. for relatively the same price as a new X850XT or BFG Ultra 512, which seems to be a very popular choice right now and one that is gaining much respect as a great performer... just something to think about for anyone considering a system wide upgrade.
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If you can find a $400 computer from Dell it will HAVE the same garbage Celeron in it that he is trying to get away from. And probably only 256MB of RAM. It's a good idea, but I don't think it's good advice. Stick with the A64 2800, it's an outstanding chip, and it will walk over any celeron you can find.
At under $200 both the 9800 Pro and 6600GT are good cards for sure. I'm not sure what you're trying to say about the "chipset" of the graphics card (they don't have "chipsets", a chipset is found on a motherboard, like Nforce 4, or 875P, or VIA's K8T890). I can tell you that the core used in 6600GTs is a scaled down version of the 6800 line cores, but they are not exactly the same. You can flash a vanilla 6800 up to a 6800GT (by enabling 4 additional pipes), but there's no gaurantee that they'll work flawlessly. They MIGHT, but it's not for sure. There's absolutely no way to install a different BIOS on the 6600GT and turn it into a 16-pipe core, so they are in reality physically different chips, unlike most 6800 vanillas and their GT counterparts.
Habit is not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed down the stairs one step at a time. - Mark Twain
Ack sorry didn't see page 2!!
LE!!! NO!!! DO NOT BUY LE!!! LE IS EVIL!!! WASTE OF CASH!! DON'T DO IT!!
Get a vanilla 6800 for $200 and try to flash it up to GT, or just wait and spend $200 on the 6600GT when you can.
Seriously, I would say even go with 512MB of RAM till you can save up for another stick if that allows you to get a 6600GT right now. LE is total crap, and a waste of cash.
Habit is not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed down the stairs one step at a time. - Mark Twain
heh, SLI or CrossFire or whatever... no way guys, I can't afford it
seems like waste of money for me... my choice is 6800LE
ACK, LE is always the worst of the cards. They are turned down because they didn't pass the specs for any other grade. I have had several LE cards and I will never buy one again. You are better off getting a regular version of the generation before then getting a current LE. The older card WILL perform faster.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
If you're going to buy an LE, don't bother upgrading at all.
Habit is not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed down the stairs one step at a time. - Mark Twain
So true. I had a 5700LE that was slower then my 4200 ti by FAR. I hated that card so bad.
- Scaris
"What happened to you, Star Wars Galaxies? You used to look like Leia. Not quite gold bikini Leia (more like bad-British-accent-and-cinnamon-bun-hair Leia), but still Leia nonetheless. Now you look like Chewbacca." - Computer Gaming World
Those $300 and $500 gpu (graphic cards) with 256 and 512MB memory are for big display (eg, 1600 X 1200 res in 32bit colour.) If you play on normal size monitor (eg. 19 and 21 inch) then more likely you will play 1280X1024 or 1024X768 screen area. SOE has a deal with nvidia to optimize their game for the GeForce gpu with their shaders (also there are enhanced sounds in EQ2 so likely you need a decent aw64 type sound card instead of the integraded sound found on many mobo [motherboards.])
The GF6800 nvidia gpu is the NV40 architecture. (6800, 6800LE, 6800gt, 6800ultra, 6800ultra extreme.) The GF6800GTO is NV45. All those DX9c 0.13 micron gpu have the same 220 million transistor counts. The difference is quality of performance, those that can not meet specs are bined as cheaper models (le, gt, ultra) and priced accordingly. The (x16agp) pci express 6800 is a bit different. The x8AGP vs pci express gpu is dependent on what your mobo supports, as also the mobo determines the cpu (pentium vs athlon) and memory (PCsdram, ddr, ddr2) and hd (ata, sata, scsi) you can use.
Settling for the GF6800le is a mistake. It is so inferior that only half the 16 pipes are usable, hence it's 8 pipe and 22GB/s bandwidth and 2400Mtexel (graphic eye-candy) spec in contrast to the way more expensive (GDDR3 memory using) GF6800u 16pipe, 35GB/s, 6400Mtexel gpu.
A year or two back the 115 million transistor Radeon 9800pro was the defacto standard in high end gaming gpu. The 9800pro 256MB gpu also a 256bit memory bus (same as 6800) using DDR2 uses a lot lower clocked memory than the 6800 (less heat) but had lower stats (these cards were April 2003 retail) 8 pipe, 22GB/s, 3000Mtexel. Back in 2003 the 9800pro were $400 and $500 gpu, now (watch out for pulls [used cards 'pulled' from systems to make room for newer modern components,]) sell in the low $200 range.
For gaming idealy yet reasonably priced the socketed 939 A64-3500 (mid $200) is your best bet with ddr 3200 2GB a pair of 1GB memory sticks (near $200,) instead of four 512MB sticks ($80 x 2.) (Some athlon mobo have problems with 4 sticks of memory.) Memory is a tricky item, certain mobo need specific brand memory and older memory often is not mix compatable with newer. Some memory is only for certain cpu (P4 using ddr2 vs athlon using ddr1.) Beware bogus memory sites trying to sell you cheapo generic memory that usually does not work, or sending you memory other than what you actually ordered. They make $ on 'restocking fees' and refusal to even take back 'r m a' what they sold you.
Also modern cpu, gpu and memory needs Windows XP (pro) instead of w98.2. W64 will be retail by next year.
The pci express mobo (pci express gpu) with sata2 (hd) support is a good investment for the next few years. The raptor 10,000rpm sata1 hd ($110) are good for gaming due to their fast ability to get to data stored and using a pci express mobo move that data into system memory.
None of these high end gaming components really matter if you are only using a 15 or 17" monitor ($50 to $200.) Those monitors play 800x600 res fine. The 1200x1024 and 1600x1200 res display of 21" and larger monitors ($500 to $1000) need the 256MB memory high end 256bit gpu (Radion x800xl/850 or Nvidia GF6800ultra but +$500 gpu.)
Good site for gpu details.
though 6800le is still pro overclockers choice
, I'm taking 6800LE with moneyback option, if I'll not like this card I'll take 9800pro instead... I think it's worth of giving a try...
I agree with everything you wrote here billie accept that Ram is not CPU specific but rather motherboard specific, regular DDR will work just fine with a P4 so long as the mobo supports it, which for now is far more common then DDR2 mobo's. Which is probably what you meant in the first place but the writing is a little off and thought I would help out
Don't want any espiring upgraders getting confused :P.
Also, most modern GPUs, CPU's, MOBO chip sets will work just fine with a Win2000 system but of course you may not get the great performance you would like compared to XP optimized Drivers.
And finally, the retail version for Win64 is available right now for upgrade for current XP users (key holders), problem is getting good drivers of course, which are almost all in beta form, for the rest of your hardware. If you can manage to get yourself good drivers for your hardware, AMD 64 cpu and Win64, the nice folks that brought us FarCry released a really cool X64 version of the game to take advantage of the new improved optimizations.
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