Originally posted by rathma Right now i have a P4 2.4ghz, 512MB Ram, 120GB HD and a Radeon 9200SE. I'm trying to improve my gaming performance so i can play games like EQ2. I should probably add another stick of RAM, but my graphics card is what's really screwing me over. Even CoH can get some low fps. Anyways, what would you guys reccomend on a graphics card for around 300 dollars?
Thanks Coraith. It looks pretty good, except when i convert it into Canadian dollars and add shipping... Eeep. I'm not even sure if NewEgg ships to Canada. I will still consider getting it though.
What processor are you using? How much RAM? That could play another large part in it. A graphics card can do a lot, but if your system is dragging on the ground behind it there's not much you can do.
AHH! Run away from the monster! He's going to eat us!
Socializer 80% Explorer 73% Achiever 33% Killer 13%
Killer 100% Socializer 40% Explorer 33% Achiever 27%
I got a AMD Athlon XP 3000+ and 512mb of ram. All the latest drivers for the graphics card too, I phoned up the people I bought it from and after a few tests they asked me to do they seemed to think that with the problems im having in games its probably a chipset problem and they are gonna replace the graphics card for me.
Edit: People with a similar system to me, same graphics card and processor were getting 7000-8000+
1) It's a DELL Mobo. NO upgrades for you! Dell uses Intel MOBOs now, they haven't used a proprietary MOBO since the Dimension 2100 (I believe). 2) You have a DELL. They use half sized cards...thus limiting your range of cards down even farther. Combine that with #1, cutting out even more posibilities. Once again no, I just upgraded to a ATI 9200 Pro.
I hate Dells, having one myself I understand problems, but I should correct some of this because it is not all true. From the sound of you having a GeForce 4 MX 440, you probably have a Dimension 4500 like I have. You can upgrade to a 9200 pro (around $65.00) and that will provide you a lot better graphical performance than what you are getting now. There is a major improvement. If you need more power, you can upgrade your power supply (yes you can!) at www.pcpowerandcooling.com (select power supply units for dell comps). It is a 425 Watt power supply, but it runs at 149.00. You can purchase a power supply elsewhere, but that means you will have to cut a whole in the back of your case for it to switch.
Basically my setup is now this on my 4500:
1024 MB pc 2100 RAM Western Digital 7200 RPM Ultra 80 GB HDD Turbo-Cool 425 watt Deluxe Power Supply ATI 9200 Pro 128MB
Now granted it's not a great set up, but it will run eq2 on low. To upgrade the memory, psu and vid card, I spent a total of $280. I don't have the $$$ to build a new computer yet, so this will hold me for a while.
--------------------------------------------
33.333333333333336% of me is a huge nerd! How about you?
Killer 100% Achiever 53% Explorer 33% Socializer 13%
ok i have a question....this is really bugging me.
ok i just got doom 3 two days ago. and i thoguht that my system could handel it very well because i have a pretty good setup. well i started hte game and stuff but i was like oinly get 15 fps. this is very bad wehn playing a game like this. i should be getting around 25-30 fps. here aer my comp stats:
Originally posted by Brutux What does an internal modem do (Sorry if been asked before).....
I take you dont know what a modem is... Its a tool to connect to the internet, your internal modem probably is a 56k modem which uses the phone line to connect to the internet, not cable which is most probably what you have, unlike some of us who have been using a dial-up modem for quite a few years.
OMG.....I'm away from this site for a few days.....and holy sh*t....I drop from Elite to Hardcore to now Advance member status. Oh Well! No, seriously, you guys and gals have been doing major posting. WTG Well, the parts for my new system should be here this afternoon. I can't wait to put it together. I did make some changes right before my order shipped. I went with an MSI RX9800Pro 128mb, 256bit vid card. It has a R360 9800XT core minus overdrive and temp monitoring functions. This card is going to oc so sweet.
This baby is going to scream with the Athlon 64 3000+ especially when I oc it and with the WD Raptor 10,000rpm SATA HDs.
I redid my sig. It's a basic sig, but I plan to do a nicer one with my new Wacom tablet and software I got from my brother. I hope I got the code right because I was having trouble with it appearing in my sig area.
man you should invest in those new geforce 6600's when they come out. Says to have the power of 9800's but supports shader 3.0 and other neat stuff. i think it'll be around 200 or so..
I know what you mean. I try to direct people over to motherboards.org for hardware and pc problems and building suggestions. I still come here to gleam over the threads though since they don't discuss mmorpgs and mmogs too much at motherboards.org.
Plus, the off-topic and spam threads are still quite entertaining to read, debate and post in.
I don't have as much time to spend here, though, because of work, and the parts just arrived the other day from newegg so I'm busy putting my new system together.
Originally posted by Gunblade Heh..this site isn't the same..man. It's all about arguments over what mmorpg to choose blah blah. Well at least in the general discussion.
It's what this site is for.
---------------------------------------------- The sheep in the meadow go bah.
---------------------------------------------- The sheep in the meadow go bah.
Spent the weekend building my new pc and @#$!%^$&, I ended up having trouble with it. I narrowed it down to the mobo and cpu after much advice and opinions since this was my first pc build. I had to decide to RMA either the mobo or the cpu, so I chose the mobo, and I will be receiving a new mobo midweek, hopefully that soon. I hope I made the right choice.
My question is...what is more common to have, a bad cpu or a bad mobo from a dealer???
I would guess the mobo. I know ram can be problematic, but I popped it in a friends pc and know it works like a charm.
Here's the forum thread, if you want to put your 2 cents in or you can put them here.
NP Gunblade. I appreciate you taking the time to look, and I always appreciate your input.
Hey Zergy. I was just looking over you system your getting and notice you have down that you are getting some Kingston Value Ram. It's not bad ram, but for about the same price, you can get some KingMax, Crucial or Mushkin ram which is better. Ram tha is labeled "value select", "value series" or just has the word "value" is not the best performing ram in the world, and it can be hit and miss with it's reliability. I learned this in looking for parts for my new pc and getting advice and reading reviews. Kingmax memory is about $76 per 512mb stick depending on where you buy from, Mushkin is about $78, and Crucial is around $80. Good luck on your build.
edit: I also so where you were getting or looking at getting an Antec 380watt true power psu. This is ok to go with the 9800Pro, but if you go with an X800 series card from ati or a 6800 series card from nVidia, you might consider at least a 420watt to 460watt psu. AMD Athlon 64 socket 754 systems are power hungry as are the new cards from ati and nVidia, even more so are the nVidia cards. Make sure the psu you are purchasing has at least 30+amps on each of the 3.3volt, 5.5volt and 12volt rails. You can buy a high wattage power supply that doesn't put out enough amperage on each of it's rails and end up having power problems.
Comments
Im only getting 6024 on the 3DMark tests with a 9800xt graphics card
Thanks Coraith. It looks pretty good, except when i convert it into Canadian dollars and add shipping... Eeep. I'm not even sure if NewEgg ships to Canada. I will still consider getting it though.
Sky and Beyond: Developer
www.skyandbeyond.tk
What processor are you using? How much RAM? That could play another large part in it. A graphics card can do a lot, but if your system is dragging on the ground behind it there's not much you can do.
AHH! Run away from the monster! He's going to eat us!
Socializer 80% Explorer 73% Achiever 33% Killer 13%
Killer 100% Socializer 40% Explorer 33% Achiever 27%
I got a AMD Athlon XP 3000+ and 512mb of ram. All the latest drivers for the graphics card too, I phoned up the people I bought it from and after a few tests they asked me to do they seemed to think that with the problems im having in games its probably a chipset problem and they are gonna replace the graphics card for me.
Edit: People with a similar system to me, same graphics card and processor were getting 7000-8000+
What does an internal modem do (Sorry if been asked before).....
I hate Dells, having one myself I understand problems, but I should correct some of this because it is not all true. From the sound of you having a GeForce 4 MX 440, you probably have a Dimension 4500 like I have. You can upgrade to a 9200 pro (around $65.00) and that will provide you a lot better graphical performance than what you are getting now. There is a major improvement. If you need more power, you can upgrade your power supply (yes you can!) at www.pcpowerandcooling.com (select power supply units for dell comps). It is a 425 Watt power supply, but it runs at 149.00. You can purchase a power supply elsewhere, but that means you will have to cut a whole in the back of your case for it to switch.
Basically my setup is now this on my 4500:
1024 MB pc 2100 RAM
Western Digital 7200 RPM Ultra 80 GB HDD
Turbo-Cool 425 watt Deluxe Power Supply
ATI 9200 Pro 128MB
Now granted it's not a great set up, but it will run eq2 on low. To upgrade the memory, psu and vid card, I spent a total of $280. I don't have the $$$ to build a new computer yet, so this will hold me for a while.
--------------------------------------------
33.333333333333336% of me is a huge nerd! How about you?
Killer 100%
Achiever 53%
Explorer 33%
Socializer 13%
--------------------------------------------
ok i have a question....this is really bugging me.
ok i just got doom 3 two days ago. and i thoguht that my system could handel it very well because i have a pretty good setup. well i started hte game and stuff but i was like oinly get 15 fps. this is very bad wehn playing a game like this. i should be getting around 25-30 fps. here aer my comp stats:
CPU:
pentium 4 3.0ghz
Motherboard:
Intel i875
graphics card:
geforce FX 5950 ultra
RAM:
1.024 gig
can someoen please help me >_< its being ghey
you update all the drivers?
I know what a modem is but I should of been more specific do i need an internal modem if i use cable?
OMG.....I'm away from this site for a few days.....and holy sh*t....I drop from Elite to Hardcore to now Advance member status.
Oh Well!
No, seriously, you guys and gals have been doing major posting. WTG
Well, the parts for my new system should be here this afternoon. I can't wait to put it together. I did make some changes right before my order shipped. I went with an MSI RX9800Pro 128mb, 256bit vid card. It has a R360 9800XT core minus overdrive and temp monitoring functions. This card is going to oc so sweet.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-127&depa=1
I also went with a different case, the Thermaltake VA3000 Dream Tower Black Tsunami .
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-133-132&depa=1
I decided to go with the ASUS "K8V" mobo instead of the Abit with a couple of 512mb sticks of KingMax PC3200 DDR400 ram.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-491&depa=1
This baby is going to scream with the Athlon 64 3000+ especially when I oc it and with the WD Raptor 10,000rpm SATA HDs.
I redid my sig. It's a basic sig, but I plan to do a nicer one with my new Wacom tablet and software I got from my brother. I hope I got the code right because I was having trouble with it appearing in my sig area.
what is everyone's opinion about the upcoming geforce 6600 cards..? being SLI compatible and for about 200 bucks i think it's a card to look into..
sorry for the double post
man you should invest in those new geforce 6600's when they come out. Says to have the power of 9800's but supports shader 3.0 and other neat stuff. i think it'll be around 200 or so..
Good to hear from you Gunblade.
I know what you mean. I try to direct people over to motherboards.org for hardware and pc problems and building suggestions. I still come here to gleam over the threads though since they don't discuss mmorpgs and mmogs too much at motherboards.org.
Plus, the off-topic and spam threads are still quite entertaining to read, debate and post in.
I don't have as much time to spend here, though, because of work, and the parts just arrived the other day from newegg so I'm busy putting my new system together.
It's what this site is for.
----------------------------------------------
The sheep in the meadow go bah.
----------------------------------------------
The sheep in the meadow go bah.
ANTEC SONATA QUIET CHASSIS ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5 PIANO BLACK 380W TRUEPOWER
(SONATA) (sku: 9479)
Processor AMD ATHLON 64 3000+ PROCESSOR S754 2.0GHZ 512KB L2 CACHE RETAIL BOX
(AMD643000) (sku: 11100)
Motherboard ASUS K8V DELUXE ATHLON64 S754 DDR AGP 5PCI SATA RAID 1394 1000LAN SOUND
(K8V DELUXE) (sku: 10394)
Memory KINGSTON VALUERAM 512MB PC3200 400MHZ CAS2.5 DDR NON ECC 184PIN DIMM
(KVR400X64C25/512) (sku: 10663)
IDE Hard Drives MAXTOR 160GB 7200RPM 8MB 8.5MS ATA133 QUIET VERSION OEM 3YR WARRANTY
(6Y160P0) (sku: 8813)
Floppy 1.44MB BLACK 3.5IN FLOPPY DRIVE
(BLACK-FLOPPY) (sku: 6139)
Video Card SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DDR AGP VGA DVI-I TV OUT OEM
(102A0751800079764) (sku: 9863)
Keyboard MICROSOFT MULTIMEDIA KEYBOARD & OPTICAL MOUSE COMBO BLACK OEM *WITH SYSTEM ONLY*
(S82-00001OEM) (sku: 11319)
Sound Card CREATIVE SOUNDBLASTER LIVE! DE 5.1 OEM
(SB0220) (sku: 6435)
DVD Writer LG GSA-4120B DVD+RW 12X4X16 DVD-RW 8X/4X16 DVD-RAM5X DVD+R DL 2.4X CD-R/RW 40X24X40 W/ S/W OEM
(GSA-4120BB) (sku: 12185)
Network Card D-LINK DFE-538TX 10/100 ETHERNET ADAPTER PCI
(DFE-538TX) (sku: 5162)
and does a sound card make a difference in game performance or is it only for sound quality?
Thanks for the tip
Would getting a newer card make a big difference or would I be paying more for nothing really useful if I mostly use the computer for games?
Might wanna try to raise the RAM to 1.024GB
_______________________________________________
Spent the weekend building my new pc
and @#$!%^$&
, I ended up having trouble with it
. I narrowed it down to the mobo and cpu after much advice and opinions since this was my first pc build. I had to decide to RMA either the mobo or the cpu, so I chose the mobo, and I will be receiving a new mobo midweek, hopefully that soon. I hope I made the right choice
.
My question is...what is more common to have, a bad cpu or a bad mobo from a dealer???
I would guess the mobo. I know ram can be problematic, but I popped it in a friends pc and know it works like a charm.
Here's the forum thread, if you want to put your 2 cents in or you can put them here.
http://www.motherboards.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=52382
(KVR400X64C25/512) (sku: 10663) will it give my comp 1024 MB of RAM?
NP Gunblade.
I appreciate you taking the time to look, and I always appreciate your input.
Hey Zergy. I was just looking over you system your getting and notice you have down that you are getting some Kingston Value Ram. It's not bad ram, but for about the same price, you can get some KingMax, Crucial or Mushkin ram which is better. Ram tha is labeled "value select", "value series" or just has the word "value" is not the best performing ram in the world, and it can be hit and miss with it's reliability. I learned this in looking for parts for my new pc and getting advice and reading reviews. Kingmax memory is about $76 per 512mb stick depending on where you buy from, Mushkin is about $78, and Crucial is around $80. Good luck on your build.
edit: I also so where you were getting or looking at getting an Antec 380watt true power psu. This is ok to go with the 9800Pro, but if you go with an X800 series card from ati or a 6800 series card from nVidia, you might consider at least a 420watt to 460watt psu. AMD Athlon 64 socket 754 systems are power hungry as are the new cards from ati and nVidia, even more so are the nVidia cards. Make sure the psu you are purchasing has at least 30+amps on each of the 3.3volt, 5.5volt and 12volt rails. You can buy a high wattage power supply that doesn't put out enough amperage on each of it's rails and end up having power problems.