pc upgrade question

[mrwells]

hello,
I want to upgrade my computer can anyone give me some advice on what laitist softwair is compatable with my computer.
AXIS 64 DOMINATOR (JAN05)
AMD ATHLON 64 PROCESSOR 3500+ WITH HYPER TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY
NVIDIA NFORCE3 ULTRA 939 PIN MOTHERBOARD WITH DUAL CHANNEL DDR
512MD DUAL CHANNEL DDR RAM (PC3200) 4000MHZ (2X256MB)
200GB SATA 7200RPM HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE
256MB DDR3 ATI RADEON X800 PRO WITH TV-OUT & DVI
THANKYOU DAVID.

 

[acewarlock]

What kind of software, Operating system, games?




This is a Signature and not part of the answer, it appears on every reply.

This is an Analogy so don't take it personally as some have.

Why change the engine if all you need is to change the spark plugs.

 

[mrwells]

GAMING IE-(CRISIS)

 

[Crowley16]

no way you'll get crysis to run on that machine with any sort of performance/graphics...

stick to games 3 years old or more then you should be ok, anything newer and you'll likely struggle...

--------------------
Procrastinate Now!

 

[mrwells]

if i add 2gbmem better graphics card ?

 

[BadBigBen]

I have played Crisis on a nVidia FX6600GT (128mb mem), an Athlon XP 2600+, and 1gig of mem...

and it was playable, albeit the GFX where not as good as on my new RIG (actually that game was the cause why I upgraded) which has an FX8800GTS (640mb mem), a Core2Duo CPU @ 2.66ghz, 4gig mem...

Problems encountered: Slow Frame Rates, a crash once in a while, and GPU getting heated... better cooling cured the heating, crashing was never cured even with patches updating the game, probably was due to lack of MEM...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[BadBigBen]

@David - Yes adding more RAM would see an improvement with lots of games...

if you want to game really hard like, then upgrading the GFX card would be the next step... but in all I would save up the money and upgrade the whole PC - newer mainboard, DDR2 RAM at least 2gig, and a newer nVidia GFX card 8800GT or better, the drive can be salvaged from the old PC...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[mrwells]

hi ben,
do u no what mainboard i need that is compatable with my drive? thanks dave.

 

[paparazi]

What you have:
Chembo Gaming Bomb Xspider Case
AMD ATHLON 64 PROCESSOR 3500+
MSI NFORCE3 250 ULTRA 939 PIN MOTHERBOARD
512MD DUAL CHANNEL DDR RAM (PC3200) 4000MHZ (2X256MB)
200GB SATA150 7200RPM HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE
256MB DDR3 ATI RADEON X800 PRO 8X AGP

Firstly: you choose just about the most graphically intensive game available which in turn needs a pretty powerful PC and GPU just to play reasonable frame rates.

It is just about conceivable that you could add more DDR400 memory and then hunt down (second user) one of the fastest AGP cards (something like an Nvidia 7900GS in AGP form) which could just about make Crisis playable on your present rig. It would be border line but playable.

The alternative is practically a whole new base unit.
The only three re-usable parts being the case, roms and hard drive and personally I wouldn't be totally happy using a 3 year old hard drive...
So that would leave a parts list as follows:
Motherboard: either AM2+ for X2 or Socket 775 for Intel Core2 Duo
Processor: Dual core X2 or Core2 Duo
Power supply: 24pin V.2.03 500watt plus quality unit
Graphics card: Nvidia 8800 series PCIe

And when you work all that out it really isn't worth keeping anything from the old system! that is best sold as a going concern or kept as a second PC.

So much has changed: Your PSU is 20 pin and not 24
Your graphics card is AGP and all the graphics cards powerful enough to play Crisis at reasonable frame rates are PCIe
Your memory is old style DDR1 and nearly double the cost of newer DDR2
All this points to the conclusion that so few parts could be re-used, that you would be better off buying a new base unit.
Martin



On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep

 

[dseaver]

no way you'll get crysis to run on that machine with any sort of performance/graphics...

stick to games 3 years old or more then you should be ok, anything newer and you'll likely struggle... "

I have a 4 year old rig i built with a p4 3.0 ghz and a gig of DDR1 ram and an ATI all in wonder 9600 Vid card and I can run TF2 and HL2 Ep 2 no problem at 1280 X 1024, I had to tweak down the shading and models and reflections, but it still looks good at that res. I don't have a need to play Crysis, so I might not be the best person to go off of. But my rig still games respectfully!

 

[wahnula]

mrwells,

What Ben is referring to is your SATA hard drive, that should be supported by ANY current mainboard. MaximumPC has an article this month on assembling a $1500 gaming rig, at its core is the MSI P35 Neo2-FR mainboard. It also features the QX6600 quad-core, an 8800GTS 512MB graphics card, 4 GB Patriot DDR2/800 RAM, X-Fi soundcard, and CoolerMaster Stacker case.

It scored 109fps in Quake 4, and 93 fps in FEAR 1.07, but no mention of Crysis, as this game knocks even top-tier rigs to their knees. Just turn off the eye candy and it will be fine. This particular title is exceptionally cruel, even SLI rigs score poorly, so don't expect much from ANY machine and this game.

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[wahnula]

paparazi,

ATI has an X1950 available in AGP interface, there's also an HD 2600 XT that is DirectX 10.0 compliant and in AGP...go figure!

So, in this market, it's all ATI!

Tony

Users helping Users...

 

[mrwells]

thankyou, i downloaded crysis from ea,it tested my pc to c if it passed to play the game it passed all bar the mem,so i think i will put 2 gig c what happens.

 

[BadBigBen]

@paparazi - thanks for clearing it up a bit... though, depending on how much a drive was used in those three years, it would depend on how much I would trust it, ie. a drive that was extensively used to share stuff with (eMule, Torrents etc.) I always switched out after a year, and these became usually BackUp HDD's, where as a drive that just sits there and is not used extensively (I have had at least 5 of these last more than 10 years) I would trust to go another 2 or 3 yrs at least... but this is all hit and miss, since they can go out any time for no apparent reason, and while building a new rig, I always use a new drive as the ROOT drive...

@whanula - yes you where correct I was talking about the SATA HardDrive...

@mrwells - with 2meg, you should be able to play the game, though not as nice with newer and better hardware, but it will buy you time to save up the money to purchase a better rig...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[mrwells]

thankyou all will let u no how i get on..............

 

[Aussie2]

mrwells I dont think two gig of ram is going to do it for you but I hope it does .Crysis is a great game but would have to be the most demanding game on the market to date if you manage to get it to run on your pc it would not very playable.I have spent a lot of time tinkering with this game in the last few days and the following are my results

AMD X2 5600+/2x160 sata raid0/2 gig ddr800 cas5/8800gts

the above not playable on high game settings not bad on medium but good on low

Intel Q6600/680i/2 gig ddr800 cas4/320 sata/8800gt 512

the above playable on high settings but very good on medium