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hi guys,i've posted a few times now asking for some help on upgrading or buying a new system ,so i'am gonna ask you guys again,first my system specs(amd athlon 2100 xp,soltek kt600rl,sapphire atlantis 9600xt 256mb,768mb pc2100 ram,maxtor 4ogb hdd)shoulh i upgrade this systems or.........get something along these lines(AMD ATHLON FX 64 BIT OR A ORBITRON 144 OR 148,THIS WHOULD MEAN I WOULD HAVE TO GET A NEW MOTHERBOARD THAT SUPPORTS 64 BIT PROCCESSERS OS WHATS THIS BEST 64 BIT MOTHERBOARD MONEY CAN BUY?,I HAD A LOOK AT THIS(Asus SK8V (Socket 940) Motherboard (MB-043-AS)is this the best i could get?for the graphics card i have looked at the nvidia 5950 ultra or the ati radeon 9800xt 256mb,whats the best card i could get for current and upcoming games like half life 2 doom3?i what something that isn't going to slow down on max settings.I would like about 1gig of ram,i have looked at cosair and kingston ram,whats this best ram money can buy?.I think thats all the hardware side out the way,if there is anything i have missed please tell me,Now for the cooling,whats the best form of cooling currently avaliable?i what i cooling system thats gonna cool the cpu and the graphics card.I would also like a brilliant looking case,I would like something with the following features(side window and window running along the top,lots of fans to keep things cool,a lcd display on the front with temps etc,a fan speed tuner,something like this(Coolermaster Aerogate 2 Fan Controller)i would also like some form of cool lighting in the case,maybe uv etc,thats about it,anyone who reads this please don't think i'am joking about this,i really do have the money for these upgrades as i have just joined the british army as a infantry soldier,and i get a nice pile of money after my first 6 weeks,A huge thanks to anyone that helps with info or other suggestions,i'll post a picture of the pc on here as soon as its built,thanks again
~david
I don't know if you read the other post but anyways here are my suggestions for a *monster* upgrade...
video card - radeon 9800 xt 256mb ($500)
motherboard - nforce2 ($80)
processor - athlon fx 64bit ($300)
case - whatever you want ($50-$150)
ram - kingston hyper x or corsair xms series ($250 for 2 512mb sticks)
power supply - 400w ($100)
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Oops, sorry about that. I meant to say nForce 3 because the nForce 2 motherboards support socket *a* processors. The new 64-bit amd processors are socket 754, so you'll have to buy a motherboard that supports that kind of processor.
heres a link for nforce 3 and other motherboards
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?catalog=22&DEPA=1&submit=property&mfrcode=0&propertycode=&propertycodevalue=4936
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sorry esp,didn't see that you had answered me on my last post,why shouldn't i get the (Asus SK8V (Socket 940) Motherboard (MB-043-AS,i heard that this is about the best mobo you can get at the moment,is the athlon fx quicker than a orbitron 144-148?what about water cooling,i would like to overclock the graphics card and cpu to the max,want type of cooling would you suggest?,can you tell me what type of benchmarking results do you think i'll be able to get on thnigs like 3dmark2001se and 3dmark03,also,if i'll be able to play half life 2 and doom3 and max settings?thanks again esp your always a help m8
~david
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I didn't really say that the Asus SK8V (Socket 940) Motherboard is a bad choice. Socket 940 Motherboards are faster than Socket 754 Motherboards, but they are pretty expensive and you don't need the *best* motherboard out there for a Monster Gaming Machine. The nForce 3 is about $80, and it supports 64bit AMD so I would pick that since its much cheaper. Cooling Fan/Heatsink should be included with the processor, so I think you should use that one instead since it saves money. You should be able to overclock efficiently with stock fan/heatsink.
and for vga cards..all you need is like a 9600 Xt to run Half-Life 2 & Doom III. The Radeon 9800 XT 256mb more than enough to run Half-Life 2 & Doom III. The benchmark scores I think are around 6500 in 3dmark03 and 17000 in 3dmark01 SE.
Its really your choice but, if you want to save money you could buy the 9800 Pro and mod that to XT...
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personally, If you wanna play Half Life 2, And Doom 3, I would wait till they come out, or when they are going to come out soon and we know whats going to run better, etc. Plus, everyhting will be cheaper that you want, or you'll find something better.. etc.. etc..
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I think all this hoo-ha about HL2's graphics is a load of crap. A marketing scam to get us poor mugs rushing to the shops for the latest hardware.
Have you seen Far Cry? if you ask me the graphics in that game equal HL2's graphics (yes, I've seen ALL the rolling demos), and not only that, it runs well on a GeForce 4 MX440.
What you lot don't quite understand, is that when magazines and websites talk about not being able to run HL2 on today's video cards, they are talking about ridiculous resolutions with AA and god knows what else.
The simple matter of the fact is that HL2 will run like a dream on lower-spec cards at 1024x768 with full detail.
Don't be a mug.
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On and on the argument goes, and the people that rush out to buy a Radeon 9900 are idiotic fools. For the same price (£400) you could build a whole base unit capable of running HL2 nicely. Makes me mad!
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asus board
definately the nvidia card. if u search the forum u will find a web address to a benchmark i posted there where 20 test run and the 5950 kicked the ati peace of s--- 17 times. so that left 3 times the ati was victorios. lol . that alone said all that needs to be said on the nvidia versus ati subject.
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hmm,seem to me that there is mixed opinions here,"To wait,or not to wait,that is the question"As i said a huge thanks to all you guys that replied,your info has help me very much.esp,i think i go with the nivida nforce3 like you said,thanks for the advice,and for the graphics card,i'll think i'll get the asus 9800xt,and put the 9600xt in my other rig,hooner,i'm soz but i don't believe you that a geforce4mx440 can play far cry,my m8 has one in his rig and the game was totaly unplayable,even on the lowest settings,i also think that if you had the money to buy a 9800xt you would,having a graphics card that can play half life2 with max settings can't be a bad thing,with higher res the graphics on games look sharper and more defined,and with aa and af on full,the graphics are a hundred times better than with them off,this is coming for expierence,i started off with a crap 200mhz proccesser with a crappy onboard graphics card,so i know what its like to play games with lowest settings and stuff,but i worked hard and got to where i'am at now,i able to aford some of the best hardware on the market,again thanks for all the help guys,i'll post a pic of the rig once its finshed.
~daivd
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Far Cry runs fantastically well in 1024x768 with full detail (no anti-aliasing tho :-(). Bear in mind I have an Xp 2000+ clocked as a 2600+ and 512 Meg PC2700. Not only that but my GPU is clocked +30MHz and video memory clocked +40MHz, and my AGP bus at 86MHz.......
:-)
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Each to their own David, if you want to go out and spend £400 on a piece of h/ware that will only be worth a quarter of that in a years time, you go ahead and waste your "hard earned" cash.
Personally, I like to get my money's worth, and spending £400 on a graphics card is not the way to go about it, that's just getting ripped off.
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sorry m8 but i don't see it as a waste of my cash,i'm sitting next to my cousin who bought a 9700 pro which has dropped only £50 in just about a year,depending on where you bought it from.Like you said, value for money,you have kept your mx440,which is now reaching the end of its thread,i'll see my 9800xt put though its paces,and it isn't gonna be thrown out for at least five years,maybe replaced,but still used else-where.
Your card is not direct x 8 compliant, nor 8.1. It can only use a certain number of dx8 features. Farcry, however, utilises a lot of dx9 features, one of the most noticeable is the sand shimmering as the waves crash onto the shore. I would recommend your next upgrade to also be a card that supports multisampling anti-aliasing to get that big extra quality boost with no more impact on performance at higher states.
If you have an unlocked agp bus i can assure you, running at 86MHz is seriously going to dampen your cards life. Your memory runs cool but this is due to a low power input, overclocking it by 40MHz could lead to a fair few artifacts and/or instability after load.
Has that card got antistrophic filtering capabilities?
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I agree with David...the 9800 XT is not a *Rip-Off* although its a more expensive than the Pro version. The prices will lower in months but these cards will probably last for a long time in benchmarks, and maybe in the future it will run Dx10 games perfectly as well.
And Hooner, I can't understand how you could run Far Cry fantastically well with FULL DETAIL. I do have a Geforce 4 MX 440 on my other computer and it lags like hell in Call of Duty & Far Cry. Even with my Geforce FX 5900 XT it still lags in Far Cry /w Full Detail, so either you are lieing or you are talking a lot of serious bs...
Well anyways...both of you might want to take a look at this review while you're at it.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html
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It has David, yes, but I never touch it, I know my card's limit, lol. I know the MX440 is crap in todays world, but I kid you not, it runs Far Cry very well, the shimmering of the sand (which DOES happen even with my non DX8 card), the roll of the surf, the parrots swooping past, it's all very pretty.
Ok, I'm only looking at 20-30 fps, but it's eminently playable.It seems to run a lot of new games very well, I'm rather shocked to say the least. Max Payne 2 is gorgeous with full detail, as is Halo, as is Knights Of The Old Republic, as is Call Of Duty, as is UT2003. I run all these games in 1024x768 with full detail. I guess the real shock is going to come when I try to play Doom3 with it, lol. I reckon I might squeeze 3 fps outta my trusty old card, lol.
As for reducing the life of my card, I'm well aware of that, but I have a good fan on my card, and heatsinks on the video mem. And hey, if it DOES go, I've finally got an excuse to go buy a 9600, so I'm not too bothered, lol.
I should apologize for my other reply, I was feeling argumentative :-)
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someone sed something bout half-life2 system requirements like being a scam 2 get ppl trying 2 get all the latest hardware. Well, i reckon it's not true. I got ahtlon3000+/512ddr/geforcefx5600, and playung halo lags, and halo has like s--- graphics. So i reckon half-life would need at least like radeon9800.
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I doubt it, Halo is a buggy game and it lags sometimes(yes, it kinda does have s---ty graphics) but that doesn't mean Half-Life 2 will. Call of Duty never lags with my FX 5900 XT (Full Detail) and the graphics are awesome, Halo doesn't lag that much for me too, I get an average of 50 fps. If you really want to know if Half-Life 2 will lag on your system you should take a look at the benchmarks.
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_Esp, I have no need to lie, I am not a kid like most in this forum and happen to tell the truth. Why no-one else can get decent performance out of their MX440 is beyond me.
Clearly the PC you have yours in is not very good, I have one of the fastest AMD production boards, OC'ed to the max.
There's a lot of life in those MX's, you just gotta know how to tap into it.
I feel sorry for you............
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My Specs
-Pentium 4 2.6ghz @ 3.0ghz
-Asus P4S800 Motherboard AGP 8x
-512mb DDr400 RAM w/ Thermaltake Heatspreader
-128mb e-Geforce FX 5900 XT/SE [454/540] w/ Thermaltake Giant II High Performance Heatsink/Fan
-120gb HD 7200 RPMMy Benchmark Scores
-3dmark01 SE : 13500
-3dmark03 : 5400Hmm...um so lets see a Pentium 4 2.6ghz O/C'ed at 3.0ghz is a bad system? Like I said, I have the same kind of video card you have on my other comp and the performance / image quality is very low but did I ever say it was a horrible card? No, its actually a good card for its price so I do know that *theres a lot of life in those MX*. Im not saying I don't believe you at all so I apoligize for the other post. I think the reason why Far Cry lags for me is because it hates my computer or something...I don't know.
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Hey Hooner,
Where did you get farcry at? I did'nt think it was out yet.I read a review on it in my subscription of PCGamer,they say it's a great game.I want it "NOW"!!!LOL
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You could get the demo here http://www.farcry-thegame.com/
Yes, it is a great game, has amazing graphics.
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Esp_, you should be getting higher benchmarks than me.
ASUS P4P800
P4 2.8 w/800fsb not OC'ed
1024 MB DDR400 RAM
Radeon 9800 PRO not OC'ed3DMark2001 SE: 16600'ish
3DMark03: 5650
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Echelon, yea I hear ya almost any low-end video card could run Call of Duty pretty good but image quality matters too not just performance.
Fishystix, I don't think my benchmarks should be higher than yours. I only payed $190 for this vga card, and compared to a 9800 Pro this card kinda sucks. I have reached about 5650 3dmark03 before with high overclocking but there was too much artifacting so Im thinking of getting a new ram sink & a.s epoxy. (Why is your 3dmark03 score so low? I've seen others get over 6000 without overclocking.)
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Ahhh. You have a 5900 se. And about my low scores? I really don't know. It's something I've pondered before. RAM timings? Driver issues? Who knows. Half of my ram is cas 3 though and the other half is cas 2.5. Can I set my timings at like 2-2-2-6 or something like that and not worry about any problems?
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I only have 1 stick of 512mb DDr400 RAM and its a cheap one with 3 Cas Latency. Its weird but sometimes when I play Battlefield 1942 it starts lagging like crazy and when I reboot the computer it runs perfectly. I think it has something to do with the memory, I don't really know.
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Thats what I meant by *memory*...
mines isn't so cheap, its just not recommended for gaming & overclocking. Its a Kingston 512mb DDr400 RAM.
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Ummm...Hooner I would have to see that score for me to believe it. Because I've never EVER seen a single computer get that score. So until I do I won't believe that. Are you on 1024x768 resolution? What about your anisotropy? Your texture Filtering? Vertex Shaders? Because I would crap my pants to see even the most impressively overclocked machine do that.
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:-(
Thought you were talking about 3DMark 2001 SE, I'd probably score about 3 points on 2003, if that!!
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