PC Gamers *Upgrade Options*

[DarylVTR]

Ok the time has come to upgrade my pc as i have bought a few games lately and they are running crap. Im still on a Athlon XP 2500 and a geforce4 ti LOL


So i was thinking of the following:

MSI K8N Neo4-F SKT939 PCI-E Dual DDR400 SATA & ATA Raid GB LAN £53.46

Retail Boxed AMD Athlon 64 3800 Venice Core 512k 90nm Socket 939Pin £71.90

GeForce 7600GT PCI-E 256MB DDR3 DVI/TVO SLI £93


I dont want to spend a fortune but i do want it to run all the lastest games on high graphics settings! Such as Call of duty 2, Flight Simulator X, etc etc


Does this setup sound any good?

[dannyjay]

Not sure on the motherboard, you may need to upgrade ram too (If you use old ram on a fast board, it can slow it down due to the motherboard not working to its best rate of speed). Does the motherboard have IDE? I hope so if not you will need new harddriver(s) aswell (Obviously not if you already have SATA).

Other than that, its not bad for a budget. But it will be out dated soon, and you will be wanted something better, but thats IT! Haha.

[DarylVTR]

The motherboard is DDR400 and i have 700mb odd of DDR400 already :)

Yes it has IDE , all motherboards still have IDE channels on them luckily :)

[DarylVTR]

Have just ordered the parts above , apart from i have gone for a 7900GS 256DDR3 Graphics Card as i am told the 7900 series is amazing for games! We shall see tonight when i build it

[Karl]

good choice of graphics card if your on a budget! V nice card

[Easty]

My Spec...

CPU : AMD Athlon 64 3500 +
RAM : 1 GIG DDR
GFX :Geforce 7900 GS - 256MB PCI Express

No problems running any games, runs like a dream !

[Clouds_mate]

My Spec....

Xbox 360.


Could never get into PC gaming. Only game i did was Delta Force 2 and Delta Force Black Hawk Down. Both games i spent way too many hours online.

[GrantW]

lol i prefer the pc for games like call of duty, counterstrike and FEAR etc, but the consoles win hands down for driving and footie games and stuff.

[DarylVTR]

My Spec...

CPU : AMD Athlon 64 3500 +
RAM : 1 GIG DDR
GFX :Geforce 7900 GS - 256MB PCI Express

No problems running any games, runs like a dream !

Exellent my CPU will be the 3800 + and 768mb DRR400 RAM so im expecting it to be a huge upgrade from what i have! Picking it up at lunch time.... the only thing im thinking of is that the Motherboard has 4 slots but they are coloured in PAIRS. I have 3 x 256MB at the moment so will these run together or will they only run in pairs (duel channel mode) These are the products i have ordered...

MSI K8N Neo4-F SKT939 PCI-E Dual DDR400 SATA & ATA Raid GB LAN

http://images.novatech.co.uk/I321115.jpg

Retail Boxed AMD Athlon 64 3800 Venice Core 512k 90nm Socket 939Pin

http://images.novatech.co.uk/I329810.jpg

7900GS PCI-E 256MB DDR3 SLI DUAL DVI

http://images.novatech.co.uk/si-nov-79gs.jpg


Should i bother upgrading to Windows XP 64Bit edition or stick with the normal 32bit edition? Some1 told me 64bit windows was buggy and slow??

[Gav]

there are still loads of programes that wont run on 64 bit xp so you are better of sticking with 32bit xp. i usualy go to computer fairs to get all my pc hardware. loads cheaper than going to the shops and ebuyer. my m8 has just got a new gfx card for his kid and it beats a 9800 pro hands down and he only paid about £79 at the fair for it. its a radeon x1600

[James]

My spec,

Intel Pentium D945 (Last comp was an AMD athalon 64 bit duel and it died all the time on games.. but when it did play them it was an amazing machine).
Ram : 2GB DDR2
Graphics : 256mb something or other lol
HD : 300 GB

[Easty]

stick with 32bit XP... driver issues with 64 make it pointless at the moment.

Same graphics card as me mate, it was a massive step up from my radeon 9800 pro !!!

[James]

stick with 32bit XP... driver issues with 64 make it pointless at the moment.

Same graphics card as me mate, it was a massive step up from my radeon 9800 pro !!!

See... I bought my 64 bit about 2 years ago .. I still cannot belive it hasent been sorted yet >.<

[nufc_lad]

you want one of these beasts
http://image.alienware.com/images/product_detail_page_images/Aurora_ALX/creative_front_big.jpg

[Easty]

See... I bought my 64 bit about 2 years ago .. I still cannot belive it hasent been sorted yet >.<

apparently they gave up and started concentrating on Vista instead. bastards.

[Easty]

you want one of these beasts
http://image.alienware.com/images/product_detail_page_images/Aurora_ALX/creative_front_big.jpg

Alienware systems are the fucking dogs... i will own one.... one day :D

[James]

apparently they gave up and started concentrating on Vista instead. bastards.

In the end i went a bought a new PC lol.. Bloody thing had a hissy fit everytime i tried to do something.. even after a nice format.

[Clouds_mate]

Not really arsed about the spec of my pc no more. Since working with Computers i like just chill when i get home and maybe surf the net and chat with friends not 'into' them like i used to be. Plus with my 360 and HD tv i have no need for PC gaming.

Iv been looking at buliding a new machine after xmas for Vista. Got all the nice case and good monitor just need to mobo, chip and ram. Havnt looked into pricing of hardware i a long time. Any idea how much i would be looking at?

[Easty]

Not really arsed about the spec of my pc no more. Since working with Computers i like just chill when i get home and maybe surf the net and chat with friends not 'into' them like i used to be. Plus with my 360 and HD tv i have no need for PC gaming.

Iv been looking at buliding a new machine after xmas for Vista. Got all the nice case and good monitor just need to mobo, chip and ram. Havnt looked into pricing of hardware i a long time. Any idea how much i would be looking at?

apparently 1 gig RAM as a bare minimum but they suggest 2 gig. I think at LEAST a p4 3.0 or equivalent (AMD 3500) oh, and SATA drives too :)

[R1ch0]

my 256 Geforce 6800 GT plays battlefield 2142. happy days.

[AdamVTRUK]

If i was you i would dump the MSI board and go with the Asus A8N Dual SLI

[the_icon]

amd skt 939 3000 overclocked running @ 9x300 (2.71ghz)
2gb fast ddr memory
geForce 7900gtx 512mb
x-fi fatality sound card
sata raid array
asus a8n-sli deluxe motherboard

Runs all games without a hitch :)

[furiomike]

i like ati graphics cards. the x1800 ones should be cheap now but maybe not quite cheap enough for yer budget.

i'd say the stuff you picked is good though.

i just bought a dell when they were doin double memory and other offers, then just stuck in a decent graphics card and its good enough.

[noxtioN]

My Spec:

Windows Vista :]

PSU: 700 Watt Multi-GPU Power Supply

Mobo: NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Motherboard

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 Dual Core Processor

RAM: 2GB DDR2 PC-6400 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 x 1024MB

GPU: Quad NVIDIA SLI technology featuring four GeForce 7900 GPUs

HDD: RAID 0 - 300 GB Serial ATA 1.5Gb/s, 10,000 rpm w/ 32MB Cache (2 x 150GB)

Optical Drive One: Premium 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Recorder

Optical Drive Two: Premium 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Recorder

Sound Card: X-Fi High Definition 7.1 Audio with XRAM Technology

GPU = Watercooled :]

I run all my games at max res, max settings.

64 Player servers online I get about 110FPS, thats when its packed, 20 - 30 people = 150 - 200.

[Clouds_mate]

Is Vista a media centre too?

[DarylVTR]

I had Vista R1 before and it was crap.... really slow, stupid ways of doing things and hardly any of my hardware drivers worked .... had to format it back to xp :(

[noxtioN]

XP is better for gaming, but if you get Vista, make sure you can get all the drivers you need ...

[Clouds_mate]

Media centre? lol

[noxtioN]

Is Vista a media centre too?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/features/forhome/mediacenter.mspx

"Windows Media Center in Windows Vista includes a redesigned menu system that can be enjoyed at your Media Center PC or through your Xbox 360 using your home network."

;)

[noxtioN]

Media centre? lol

Lol, just noticed that :]

[Clouds_mate]

woot, id be lost if i couldnt stream movies to my 360 ;)