Upgrade time for me

[Debaser]

Possible upgrade time for me midweek so long as im feeling flush :s

Can you help?

System specs atm (the specs I know anyway) are p4 2ghz cpu, 256mb ram and Geforce 2 mx 400.

As I understand the g2 is somewhat of a bottleneck.

Now I'm pretty usless at tech stuff, even the basics are a little baffling for me so I'd appreciate any upgrade advice for a budget of 2 - £300

Sound isnt really a priority. My first thought has been to upgrade the graphics and ram.

Any suggestions?

 

[Wij]

Radeon 9800.
More RAM.

 

[Insane]

okay.

memory.

512mb bare minimum, id sell off the 256mb ddr stick and invest in a single 512mb DDR from Crucial UK at around £65 for a stick of PC2700 DDR.

im still trying to see if its worthwhile upgrading to a full gig of DDR when the new games come out...

graphics card.

Crucial UK again do a Radeon 9800 Pro (128mb) for close to £260 if you want to be flash, but KustomPCs stock the Connect3d Radeon 9600 PRO for £141 (depending on where you are there is a courier surcharge)

i'd sell the P4 and board off, and invest in an AMD 2500+ and Nforce2 board... but thats just me i invested in a whole new base setup for less than it would have costed to upgrade the CPU.

to reiterate:

Memory, £65 from Crucial UK for 512mb DDR
GFX, £141 from KustomPC for Radeon 9600 PRO

you may now run me down for my advice

 

[Ch3tan]

Radeon 9600 pro £99 from www.ebuyer.co.uk

Why would you pay £140 for a 9600 pro when you can get a 9600 XT plus a voucher for HL2 for £140 on pre-order from oc.co.uk ?

 

[Insane]

is this the same e-buyer that sends out RMA stock and broken kit when you order from them? or am i confusing them with Overclockers.co.uk?*

didnt realise the XT were released already.. but i'd still buy a standard 9600 PRO and overclock it, since on paper isnt that what the XT is? overclocked with a piece of hardware to underclock when it gets too hot. (which is somewhat pointless if you play a lot of games)

* yes i do have a grudge against both companies because of that particular example

 

[Tom]

get 2 sticks of 256MB DDR ram, so you can run them in er...whats that mode called?

 

[Ch3tan]

Well I have had no problems with ebuyer yet. I am trying to point out though that £141 is ridiculously over priced for a 9600 pro. It's not just ebuyer that sells them cheaper.

The XT comes shipped at much higher clock speeds than the standard 9600 pro, and can overclock much further -hardocp have a good review of it (thanks Embs).

 

[Insane]

tom: Dual Channel mode, only useful if your board supports it really (like Nforce2 and some P4 800FSB models) , its also hard trying to get matched DDR pairs at times to run stable as hell if they dont match up.

I guess with online retailers you will either have good experience, or bad experience with them.

i went with kustoms price because i was on the site already, fair enough you can get them cheaper elsewhere (like komplett.co.uk doing the powercolor 9600 Pro for close to £100 as well) but it was using an example, give him a price to work around.

you can always cut prices if you shop around for better deals anyhow, just depends how far you want to go and what your looking for.

im happy, just found out i can get The Darkness - Growing on me as a polyphonic ringtone for my new phone
edit:// uurgh.. its horrible!

 

[Jupitus]

Might consider something like my current spec... not the latest and greatest of everything, and hence is also moderately priced.

P4 2.6 GHz HT Intel processor
Intel 800 Mhz fsb mobo
1 Gb dual channel DDR 400 ram

and I run a Radeon 9700 pro in that at the moment. I've had zero stability issues with the ram, but the 'dual channel matched pairs' stuff is, allegedly, pure marketing bollocks.

I've not even tried clocking this machine as I can't be assed.

 

[jakswan]

Assuming your motherboards reasonable (not some SDRAM jobby) then your priority imho should be as follows:-

1) Graphics - 9600 pro good value at £100 odd ish.

A lot then depends on motherboard as it could be 400fsb only.
2) Memory
3) CPU

All imho etc

 

[ECA]

Decide what you want, then hit planetprices.co.uk to find out who's cheapest :-]

 

[Xavier]

Originally posted by Wij
Radeon 9800.
More RAM.

What he said,

MUCH more RAM

1Gb would be nice

Is that 2Ghz northwood? Or Willamette? (Sp?)

 

[Xavier]

Originally posted by Insane
didnt realise the XT were released already.. but i'd still buy a standard 9600 PRO and overclock it, since on paper isnt that what the XT is? overclocked with a piece of hardware to underclock when it gets too hot. (which is somewhat pointless if you play a lot of games)

No, they're using a new low-k manufacture process, they've not added any new features but it's not just an overclocked 9600 Pro either.

 

[Debaser]

Cheers for the input.

Think I'll go with the 9600 ATI card, the 9800 is a little too pricey for what I'd feel comfortable spending. Unless there's a mid spec card available?

The question is of course, could I play HL2 on it?

 

[Deadmanwalking]

The 9600 is the mid spec card as it were.

And as for HL2 that cant really be seen with much certainty, but from the released figures before the whole hacking incident it should be able to play it acceptably.

 

[Ch3tan]

Originally posted by Debaser
Cheers for the input.

Think I'll go with the 9600 ATI card, the 9800 is a little too pricey for what I'd feel comfortable spending. Unless there's a mid spec card available?

The question is of course, could I play HL2 on it?

Woah horsey! When the 9600 XT comes out it will push the 9600 pro prices down even more. It's been reviewed so it's not far from release. Its worth thinking about waiting for the 9600 XT to buy too, as it comes bundled with (a voucher for) HL2.

 

[Debaser]

hmm, done a little reading; so the 9600 is the mid range replacement for the 9500 and the 9800 is the top end replacement for the 9700? :s

So where does that leave the 9700 in performance comparison to both newer cards, the 9600 and 9800?

Is a 9700 worth buying over the 9600?

Or am I off the mark a bit?

 

[throdgrain]

9700 pro would be an excellent card, I just cant find anyone selling em at a decent price .

 

[Ch3tan]

Correct me if I am wrong, the 9500 and 9700 are not DX 9 cards are they? Price wise they are both still very pricey and not everyone still stocks them.

 

[Deadmanwalking]

The 9700 is one of the first gen directX 9 Cards.
Damn excellent piece of kit.

 

[throdgrain]

Yep, the 9700 pro is very close to a 9800 pro or so Im told. This is probably why I cant seem to find one for love nor money, its prolly soo close to 9800 spec that no one would buythe new card ...

 

[Deadmanwalking]

I did have a 9700 pro and now have a 9800 pro.

The difference? .... Pfft

 

[throdgrain]

As I thought mate
SOMEONE GIMME A LINK FOR A GOOD PRICED 9700 PRO U BASTS !

 

[Deadmanwalking]

To you throddy 160

 

[Debaser]

Just found out I need rambus.

Just found out how much rambus costs.

Just collapsed on the floor.

 

[throdgrain]

Btw, I just bought a Radion 9800 pro.
For D3D games it is superb, I mean really. Not only is it a bit quicker than my old card, but it looks much better on screen too. BF1942 is just lovely.
However for open GL type games, I see no significant improvement over my GF4 ti4400, that is 2 years old and heading for a second system Im attempting to build.
In fact, timedemo on q3 is actually slightly slower, although in fairness running it in 1600-1200 now produces exactly the same results as running timedemo in 1024-768, a result I wouldn't have got before !
However, just a point to note, its worth considering what sort of games you're going to play before buying pc componants maybe.