Upgrade Suggestions.

[Vermillion]

My current setup as is follows:

2.0ghz AMD
1GB DDR1 33000 Memory
Geforce 7600GS 512MB Video Card.

I have not build a new rig in about 4 years so I am a little out of the loop.

I do know Im going with a single core AMD, but Im not quite sure if AGP is obsolete to PCI 16x express in concerns to the video card.

I also heard going above 2GB of memory is pretty useless for gaming.

Suggestions?

What would be a good video card setup for this game so I can have things like anti-aliasing on and atleast have a nice mixture of high/medium settings?

[zeekgenateer]

Hey here's my take on it...

Get a new processor, I know you're looking for AMD, but Intel 2.66 dual cores go for $209. If you don't have PCIE then you definitely should get a new motherboard with, if you can, two PCIE slots so you can upgrade to SLI down the road. For video cards I'm not sure, I always have gotten Nvidia, but what decides my buying of video cards is how much money I have. Now for RAM maybe get another 512 if you can afford it.

For me I'm always poor, so I always have to look only for the cheap deals not the nicest stuff. So good luck on your build!

[connnnn]

If you're upgrading primarily for Huxley, wait. There'll be new CPU and video card models between now and when it ships, which will lower the prices for current gen stuff.

I personally built a new pc like 3 days ago, and picked everything based on price/performance for the Unreal 3 engine. I centered mine around a 320mb 8800 GTS and e6750. Crucial Ballistix ddr2-800 was on sale so I got a 2gb matched pair. Saw the Antec 900 case on sale (well, rebate), bought it, then got $30 off the antec NeoHE 500w power supply PLUS another rebate on it. Basically once you decide upon your core components (cpu model, vid card model, speed/size of ram), you can just build around it by trying to find decent products on sale. With sales + rebates I probably saved around $160 (which is about 20% of what I ended up spending).

For anyone wondering, I shopped all over from Fry's to Microcenter to Directron, zipzoomfly, etc, and newegg just ended up having the best price on practically every component (when you consider usually free shipping). Sometimes you'll get lucky and find something on sale at a competitor for lower cost though.

[Corbs]

I would buy a completely new setup.

Chances are, you're going to be spending quite the extra buck for an AGP card (assuming you're on AGP) and well, I doubt your motherboard supports dual core. Plus, you're still with DDR1, therefore, your 1GB of DDR1 will probably be the same price as 2GB of DDR2. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't your processor slot a S939? To my knowledge, S939 and AM2 are incompatible.

In the end, you're going to be spending 500$+ for pieces not even worth it.

[turbatron]

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU
4400 @ 2.00GHz
2.01 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM.

A new hardrive (You can get 350-360 gb for $75.) Together the upgrade is close to 300 bucks.

[turbatron]

Originally Posted by turbatron

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU
4400 @ 2.00GHz
2.01 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM.

A new hardrive (You can get 350-360 gb for $75.) Together the upgrade is close to $350 bucks.

The 4400 his a new Motherboard by ASRock. It supports Vista, quadecore and is DDR1 or DDR2.

The Intel is the Duo core. Its all you will need for the mother board.

This system together should run very well. Its upgradeable and easy set up. Might want to check out a new case too. Aerocool Extreme II is an awesome Casing. 250mm fan on the side, 140 on the front and 120 on the back.. You wont ever have heating problems. that case is 109 bucks. But there is other cases out there..

[Vermillion]

Im sorry I gave the wrong impression, I am building a new rig from the ground up.

I know I want to use a single core, because Ive read articles that dual cores are wasted on games and best saved for people who run multiple proccesses. It showed single core beat the creat out of dual core as far as gaming goes.

How obsolete is AGP vs. PCIe?

[zeekgenateer]

Very, it's also more expensive to get a fast AGP than getting a fast PCIe. Go with PCIe we have cookies.

[connnnn]

Most high-end games these days are optimized for dual core. As far as I know there aren't any single cores that can compete with dual cores anymore, especially when you consider heat/power efficiency. And the prices are so low that dual core is really what makes sense right now.

Quad core on the other hand is totally unused in most games as of now. They'll typically just unload the background OS and running applications to the 3rd and 4th cores and run the game on the 1st and 2nd.

And as far as cases go, I found an Antec Nine Hundred case on sale, which I would highly recommend. It's running so cool that my CPU fan doesn't even run while the system is relatively idle (anything less intensive than Firefox), because the temperatures of the cores stay around 22-25 degrees C (according to TAT at least). Thermaltake's Armor series has also been highly recommended to me.

Personally I always try to find a case on sale, and ESPECIALLY look for free shipping. If you can find one on sale at a local store, you'll pay sales tax but it's still worth picking up. Buying a case online you can often pay $20-30 shipping if you don't find a site that ships for free.

[pliskin_wolf]

Originally Posted by Vermillion

My current setup as is follows:

2.0ghz AMD
1GB DDR1 33000 Memory
Geforce 7600GS 512MB Video Card.

I have not build a new rig in about 4 years so I am a little out of the loop.

I do know Im going with a single core AMD, but Im not quite sure if AGP is obsolete to PCI 16x express in concerns to the video card.

I also heard going above 2GB of memory is pretty useless for gaming.

Suggestions?

What would be a good video card setup for this game so I can have things like anti-aliasing on and atleast have a nice mixture of high/medium settings?

my input get a Duel core if amd get a 2.4 ghz or greater they are like 120$ so dont fret even 3.0 ghz am2 sockets are only like 160$ 2g+ Ram which is also cheap, and a PCIE x16 DX10 Comp G-card though a 7900gt greater should suffice, but who wants to be normal when you can max stuff :P. if you dont have broadband my heart goes out to you. and no dont listen to that rubbish 2g is great, but 4 is better, im going to say depending on what you are doing/ gaming.if you are running eq2 or VG then you will want 4g ram to get to max settings, o just to raid on it. if you are doing just fps then 2g is more than enough when im playing BF2142 i dont go over 40% usage in ram and i have it maxed/ listing to music/ other random crap on second screen. as always stick to GOOD brands Asus, Corsair, and such no off brand stuff it goes bad to quickly. for your mobo you will want a 939,AM2, or a LGA 775 socket

[Corbs]

S939 is incompatible with AM2 and obsolete therefore I suggest staying far from it.

[siiix]

Originally Posted by Vermillion

Im sorry I gave the wrong impression, I am building a new rig from the ground up.

I know I want to use a single core, because Ive read articles that dual cores are wasted on games and best saved for people who run multiple proccesses. It showed single core beat the creat out of dual core as far as gaming goes.

How obsolete is AGP vs. PCIe?

the problem with single core is that you cant get that high

in other words say you have a dual core 3 + 3 ghtz that will add up to say 5.5 ghtz (trust me i tested this) , so far i know you cant get a single core safely much above 4 ghtz

sure as hell i would rater have a 5 ghtz single core then a 3 + 3 dual.. but thats not an option

with quad core it shows really the problem , if you get those cheap 4 x 1.8 ghtz CPU's (E6300) then your screwd in some cases as your program only uses 1 of the cores, HOW EVER if you would be overclock to 4 x 3 ghtz ... hey you cant beat that, you still 3 ghtz in worst case scenario

so in other words multicore is always better if each core is running on at least 3ghtz

currently my choice is the dual 2.8, its cheap as nuts and you can overclock 3 sometimes 3.5 ghtz / core (mine runs on 3.1ghtz)

Intel® Product Comparison Chart

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as for agp/pcie ashrock has boards with both - i mean at the same mobo and they not expensive at all they cost the same then with out, look under "dual" !
performance wise agp/pcie about the same, but pcie cards are much cheaper
however if you current card is AGP (like mine) then its handy to get a dual boar as right now sure as hell i would not buy a 8xxx nvidia card, they suk .. wait with that till they get better

just look all over the internet they have nothing but problems, especial the 8800 variations

[pliskin_wolf]

Originally Posted by siiix

as for agp/pcie ashrock has boards with both - i mean at the same mobo and they not expensive at all they cost the same then with out, look under "dual" !
performance wise agp/pcie about the same, but pcie cards are much cheaper
however if you current card is AGP (like mine) then its handy to get a dual boar as right now sure as hell i would not buy a 8xxx nvidia card, they suk .. wait with that till they get better

just look all over the internet they have nothing but problems, especial the 8800 variations

umm... im running a 8800gtx and it blows everything out of the water, and suggesting an extreamly outdated GPU interface is very bad.
I have a stable card it is from msi, and if you "have" a problem they have 3 year full warranties on them. if you dont want to spend so much get a 7900 they are still good cards, but i would not suggest anything lower than a 7900, you would want a 512+ they are not that much more. ( im saying ATI equivalent also) PCIE x16

[connnnn]

I don't get how anyone could say the 8800's suck... they're the leaders in raw performance AND price/performance break down almost across the board (for high end, value, and budget builds). Depending on price the ATI 2X's are sometimes contenders in specific brackets, and the 1950pro is decent if you can find it on sale for around $150, but for the most part the 8X's have the market on lock right now. I haven't heard of any consistent problems with 8800's, and I know many people who work in tech support including one who does it for one of the biggest GPU manufacturers (point being, if tons of people were calling in with 8800 issues, he'd know because he'd be talking to them). The biggest issues lately have been with chipset problems, particularly the nvidia 680i, although they're supposedly getting all of those kinks worked out now.

As far as AGP vs PCIE, most motherboards that support AGP are so outdated they generally (I'm sure there's probably exceptions, but even then you're almost always paying more for the fact that it has twice the slots) only support older CPU and RAM standards, so ultimately the odds are the bottleneck would be outside of the video card in the first place. Even the best AGP card can't help you if you're running a Barton 2500+ and DDR1-400 :P

Of course, the future pretty much always brings better performance per dollar in PC hardware, so if you wait 6 months you will always get more for your money. It's up to you to decide if you'll be missing anything worthwhile in those hypothetical 6 months.