BF2 and hardware...

Keyzer

I'm contemplating a few upgrades in the near future.
I'm just wondering what the general consensus is in regards your rigs...

Im running the following at the moment (see below), the game is stable at low settings, and semi stable at medium settings. Having seen the game at medium settings, and thinking the improvement on low settings was awesome, I would like to get a rig which would run everything on high...

So my question is, would high settings be achievable with just a graphics card upgrade and if so, whats the best AGP g card on the market for 250 Euro?

PowerColor Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR
AMD Athlon XP2800+ 2.083 GHZ
Asus A7N8X-X Mainboard
1GB DDR-DIMM RAM

Spear

Keyzer wrote:

I'm contemplating a few upgrades in the near future.
I'm just wondering what the general consensus is in regards your rigs...

Im running the following at the moment (see below), the game is stable at low settings, and semi stable at medium settings. Having seen the game at medium settings, and thinking the improvement on low settings was awesome, I would like to get a rig which would run everything on high...

So my question is, would high settings be achievable with just a graphics card upgrade and if so, whats the best AGP g card on the market for 250 Euro?

PowerColor Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR
AMD Athlon XP2800+ 2.083 GHZ
Asus A7N8X-X Mainboard
1GB DDR-DIMM RAM

Assuming nVidia is okay for you, then a GF6800 is only €180 or so at the moment. Gives me 60 fps on high settings.

Töpher

The GFX card will make a large difference. My rig is similar to yours and I get 55-90+ on mainly medium settings, with things like effects on high.

XP2500 @ 2.31GHz
1.5 GB DDR RAm
X800PRO @ 515/562

The extra .5 GB RAM is a late addition, and only really effects loading times. And you can get MUCH better cards than what I have, so I would imagine you would see a large improvement!

Ponster

I have almost the same spec as you...

Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR
AMD Athlon XP3200+ 64
Asus k8v Deluxe
1GB DDR-DIMM RAM

I manage to play on High with fps at about 50-60

Keyzer

Ponster wrote:

I have almost the same spec as you...

Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR
AMD Athlon XP3200+ 64
Asus k8v Deluxe
1GB DDR-DIMM RAM

I manage to play on High with fps at about 50-60

Thats strange, I wonder why my machine goes to bits when I stick it on high... Strange indeed....

Töpher

The 64Bit processors are monsters for gaming. Even at the same clock speeds, the AMD64's (such as Ponster appears to have) will far and above out-perform an old Athlon.

Keyzer

I think your right about the processor.
I stuck the game on there on high settings, everything looks lovely but its frame by frame, like in slow motion.

Might be worthwhile trying out a new processor instead of forking out a wad on a new g card...

Anything on Komplett that would be compatible with
Asus A7N8X-X mainboard for Socket A

Socket A suxx ass right?

Stephen

Socket A is obsolete. Athlon64 doesn't support it.
For now, go with a socket 939 board if you do plan to upgrade. If you have PC3200 RAM you can keep that - it will work fine in a socket 939 board. I moved my gig of ram over from my socketA/XP2800 rig when I built my A64 rig a few months back.

Töpher

Keyzer wrote:

I think your right about the processor.
I stuck the game on there on high settings, everything looks lovely but its frame by frame, like in slow motion.

Might be worthwhile trying out a new processor instead of forking out a wad on a new g card...

Anything on Komplett that would be compatible with
Asus A7N8X-X mainboard for Socket A

Socket A suxx ass right?

It depends on all your setup, but the processor would be the weakest link in your setup I would imagine. The GFX card could do with an upgrade too, do both and the improvement would be immense. My socket A runs fine, presumably thats somewhat down to the gfx card. Both are important, but if you can only do one - remember that for a processor upgrade you will also need a new motherboard, which will up the price well past a new gfx card (if you are looking for AMD64).

Your best bet would probably be to get a new GFX card, and clock the bejayzus out of your processor. Happy gaming!

uberpixie

Keyzer wrote:

I'm contemplating a few upgrades in the near future.
I'm just wondering what the general consensus is in regards your rigs...

Im running the following at the moment (see below), the game is stable at low settings, and semi stable at medium settings. Having seen the game at medium settings, and thinking the improvement on low settings was awesome, I would like to get a rig which would run everything on high...

So my question is, would high settings be achievable with just a graphics card upgrade and if so, whats the best AGP g card on the market for 250 Euro?

PowerColor Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR
AMD Athlon XP2800+ 2.083 GHZ
Asus A7N8X-X Mainboard
1GB DDR-DIMM RAM

2 choices:

* assuming you have pc3200 ram..... if not 1 gig pc3200 bog branded ram is €100.

You could always use 333mhz ram on the newier motherboards but you will take a performance hit....

(1) N force 3 mobo + amd 64 cpu, reuse video card, *ram etc...
This will get you playing bf2 @ medium settings smooth as a kitten, but at the cost of reduced upgrade path due to lack of pci express.

You can always buy a new nforce 4 mobo in the future + gfx card later if you are short on funds..... dacent hf4 mobos start @ €90 or so and you can reuse the chip and buy into a faster gen of gfx than the current high end.

(2) Get an nforce 4 mobo + amd64 + pci-E gfx card. *reuse ram etc...
Better upgrade path,more expensive initially but better in the long run.

With option 1 you will see a huge improvment in frame rates, even sticking with the same gfx card.

I went from a 2400XP, 512mb 333mhz ram + 9800 NP to
3500+, 1gig 400mhz ram and reusing 9800 NP.

Frames in hl2 went from 40-50 to 100-110.

Option 1 should be considered a quick fix. It might suit you better to go this way if you are short on funds.

You could always get a better AGP card in the future but they are going off the market soon(the good ones). Also the good AGP cards can still cost a lot.

i.e. an X800XT PE AGP is not really all that far off in price from a 7800GT PCI-E which is a dacent amount faster....

Option 1 is not really a long term solution unless all you play is strategy games :-)

Option 2 you should go for from the get go if you have the cash.

But get at least an X800XL or a 6800GT.

6600GT is a good card but not really all that much faster than a 9800 pro if you run games @ 1074 x 768. Especially when a GT6600 is the guts of €200.

Spend the money and get dacent gfx.

Best of luck.

Keyzer

Cheers Uber, lots of advice there...

I think I'll wait a while and upgrade the lot in one go.
Quick fixes suck.

Question though - I think I know the answer, just need verification.

If I go the PCI-e route, and get a new mobo/gfx card, everything else I currently have will work fine won't it? As in RAM, HDD etc.

I'll need a new cpu as well if I go PCI-e wont I?

So in all three new components needed - mobo, gfx card and cpu.....

uberpixie

Keyzer wrote:

Cheers Uber, lots of advice there...

I think I'll wait a while and upgrade the lot in one go.
Quick fixes suck.

Question though - I think I know the answer, just need verification.

If I go the PCI-e route, and get a new mobo/gfx card, everything else I currently have will work fine won't it? As in RAM, HDD etc.

I'll need a new cpu as well if I go PCI-e wont I?

So in all three new components needed - mobo, gfx card and cpu.....

Yip you will need a new cpu, mobo and gfx card.

You can reuse everything else.

For cpu it's up to how much you want to spend.

You can either go for a fairly cheap AMD64 single core and then upgrade to a dual core when the prices fall.

Or just start off with a dual core. Cheapest dual core is a 3800+ X2 which is €365 or so. Which is not so bad when you consider a single core 3800+ costs around €310.

A Cheap nforce4 mobo + AMD64 3000+ costs €229 vs The quick fix costs around €222 for a cheap nforce 3 mobo and a 3000+ chip.

After that its up to what gfx card you want.

The full upgrade will cost you €400-650.

Best of luck.

Keyzer

What do you think of this lot -

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket 939, 512KB, BOXED w/fan - €220.00

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, nForce4 SLI, Socket -939,S-ATA,Dual-GbLAN,Firewire,PCI-Ex16 - €155.00

Club3D Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3, 256bit PCI Express, DVI, VGA, Tv-Out, Retail - €295.00

Total cost of upgrade = EUR 670

In terms of value for money and longevity of components?

EDIT - Just read a review for the gfx card above, gets a great review...

uberpixie

Keyzer wrote:

What do you think of this lot -

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket 939, 512KB, BOXED w/fan - €220.00

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, nForce4 SLI, Socket -939,S-ATA,Dual-GbLAN,Firewire,PCI-Ex16 - €155.00

Club3D Radeon X800XL 256MB GDDR3, 256bit PCI Express, DVI, VGA, Tv-Out, Retail - €295.00

Total cost of upgrade = EUR 670

In terms of value for money and longevity of components?

EDIT - Just read a review for the gfx card above, gets a great review...

mobo is sweet, well worth buying.

Overall that will play anything well. Will Play bf 2 at high detail.

What you could do is cut the 3500+ to a 3000+ and get a 7800GT instead of a X800XL.

If you are going to be replacing the cpu very soon and plan on going dual core when the prices fall get a 3000+ and the 7800GT.

If you plan on sitting on what you buy for a while get the 3500+ and the X800XL.

Keyzer

One more question...

Do I need a new case for this mobo?
I have an ATX case at the moment...

Töpher

Should be fine.