rackish February 21, 2003 Share rackish Member February 21, 2003 Well I just got a new job after 6 months and I'll have the money coming in, and I decided I was gonna upgrade my comp. Right now I have: XP home, 1.8 ghz, GF2 MX200, 55 GB, and 512 ddr that's the basic. Anyone have any suggestions of what I should upgrade Radeon or GF4, etc. I would appreicate some opinons especially from Homer , thanks. also URL's with good prices would help too, because I'm an idiot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magruter February 21, 2003 Share Magruter Member February 21, 2003 The first thing that i would upgrade to the floppy drive... Those are crucial for a tight system... I'd say anything over 200$ your getting ripped off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mmmm]Homer February 21, 2003 Share [Mmmm]Homer Member February 21, 2003 Your specs look fine other than the video card. Getting a ATi Radeon 9500 Pro would be a huge step forward. Check Pricewatch for prices, and order from Newegg. For a review look at Tom's Hardware VGA charts. You could go higher and get a 9700 Pro, but bang for the buck says 9500 Pro. Also, other than the new nForce2 motherboards, if you are using onboard sound I would upgrade and get a nice sound card if you don't already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magruter February 21, 2003 Share Magruter Member February 21, 2003 you can find the sound blaster live 5.1 OEM on newegg for a bit over 30 dollars. It's great for the money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mmmm]Homer February 21, 2003 Share [Mmmm]Homer Member February 21, 2003 See Mag, this is great. Since you didn't just go buy a Dell you now know what you are talking about. Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magruter February 21, 2003 Share Magruter Member February 21, 2003 Yeah i like know this kinda stuff, still a bit of nub (n00b is what i prefer) but i'm getting the hang of it. Thanks again hommie for all your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX February 21, 2003 Share NOFX Member February 21, 2003 Homer,Feb 21 2003, 01:23 PM]Your specs look fine other than the video card. Getting a ATi Radeon 9500 Pro would be a huge step forward. I just upgraded to the 9500 pro from a Geforce4MX440. I might score around 3600 on 3dmark2k3, but in the game theres not much difference. I play battlefield 1942 in 1024x768 and my fps still drops down into the 60's.... Maybe I should do a format.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOFX February 21, 2003 Share NOFX Member February 21, 2003 yea well when there isnt anything goin on, I get 99 fps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rackish February 21, 2003 Author Share rackish Member February 21, 2003 Let me ask this: what is the best card to get for games like: Cs, Bf 1942, and WarCraft3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Kill3r February 21, 2003 Share All Kill3r Member February 21, 2003 games like cs dont really matter what card you have, engines for cs are like 5 years old. Games like BF1942 a 9500 Pro or 9700 would be nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ZDamage February 21, 2003 Share Guest ZDamage Guests February 21, 2003 2 points that i have to make and they are really important. First if you are upgrading from one video card to another. Like from a Geforce to a Radeon, you NEED to do a format. Your registry is filled with Nvidia stuff if you are going to a Radeon and your card will run like crap. The same goes when you go from a Radeon to a Geforce card. You need to do a format, plain and simple Second, i would wait on a vid card until next month. The Radeon 9800 pro is coming out (R350) and it will drive the price of the 9700 pro down. Wait and pick that up instead. The 9700 pro right now has a long life span of over 2 years. The 9800 pro is supposed to be 40% faster than the 9700 pro (or so they say, we will see). So wait a few months and then go from there. OH yeah, getting a GF4 is stupid. You can get a better card that supports DX9 for cheaper, like the Radeon 9500 pro. The GF4 cards do not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rackish February 22, 2003 Author Share rackish Member February 22, 2003 Well, I am in a bind, and I think I might get http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?...Geforce4+ti4800 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest [DW]Archaic February 22, 2003 Share Guest [DW]Archaic Guests February 22, 2003 yea rack i would format before putting in new vid card. I added my geforce 4 ti 4200 when i still had windows ME and it wasnt that great. When i formated and put on windows 2000 my video performance was alot better, not sure if it was cause of OS difference or just a fresh hd. But i do recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rackish February 22, 2003 Author Share rackish Member February 22, 2003 Oh yeah thanks for Homer for the GREAT sites, I'll be using them for ALL my computer shopping. Comp USA sells gf4 ti4800 for $300 and the one I'm buying from newegg.com only cost $200. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ZDamage February 22, 2003 Share Guest ZDamage Guests February 22, 2003 Oh yeah thanks for Homer for the GREAT sites, I'll be using them for ALL my computer shopping. Comp USA sells gf4 ti4800 for $300 and the one I'm buying from newegg.com only cost $200. dude, the 4800 is nothing more than the 4600 with 8x agp, which does nothing. 8x agp will be nice in the future when the cards can actually use the extra bandwidth and games take advantage of it. The 4800 is the single worst decision ever made by nvidia. Radeon 9500 pro supports 8x if that is important to you, it is under 200 dollars, and take a look at my AA and AF thread. The 9500 pro is even better than my card at that with little performance hit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rackish February 22, 2003 Author Share rackish Member February 22, 2003 I DON'T CARE ANYMORE STOP PUTTING IDEAS IN MY HEAD I'VE MADE MY DECISION! Anything right now is better than my gf2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mmmm]Homer February 22, 2003 Share [Mmmm]Homer Member February 22, 2003 I'd also recommend jumping off the nVidia boat at this point. And stop shoping at CompUSA and the other retail places! They have advertising, stores, and employees that know nothing to pay for. Retail = glossy box that is thrown away = high prices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mmmm]Homer February 22, 2003 Share [Mmmm]Homer Member February 22, 2003 I DON'T CARE ANYMORE STOP PUTTING IDEAS IN MY HEAD I'VE MADE MY DECISION! Anything right now is better than my gf2 Ok, but you'll be tinkled when you get 1500 on 3DMark2003 and some dude with an 800mhz system and a 9500 Pro gets twice that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rackish February 22, 2003 Author Share rackish Member February 22, 2003 I mostly just bought games there. Got any websites that sell pc games with deals? Btw Homer to me seems to be the smartest person with computers and such along w/ zd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rackish February 22, 2003 Author Share rackish Member February 22, 2003 Explain these marks, I've already told you I'm stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ZDamage February 22, 2003 Share Guest ZDamage Guests February 22, 2003 Explain these marks, I've already told you I'm stupid. thx for the compliment. As for the marks... eh? edit: oh.. nevermind. homers 3dmark2003 remark above. Just go to futuremark.com and download the program. It is a program to test your 3dmark abilities. It isn't real life and it kinda useless in my opinion but does give you a good general idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mmmm]Homer February 22, 2003 Share [Mmmm]Homer Member February 22, 2003 Thanks Rackish! I think ZD does a great job here, in fact I put him in for a promotion - Tech Guru 1st Class. I learned everything the hard way, by trial and error. I'm really pleased that Magruter is coming along so nicely in the same path that I took. Building or doing upgrades on your PC the first time is a frustrating, exciting experience with great rewards. And it will be frustrating, just take it one step at a time and post up if you need help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ZDamage February 22, 2003 Share Guest ZDamage Guests February 22, 2003 oh yeah, btw homer. mark2003 requires like a 1-gig cpu to run. So the 800mhz cpu above may not work. I didn't say it wouldn't, just most like would not. and thx for the props homer. we are a good team actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rackish February 22, 2003 Author Share rackish Member February 22, 2003 Defintley. I guess I gotta figure out how to install my gf4 when it arrives. I'm gonna upgrade my computer in the early summer when I can get more money, for now the gf4 should last . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mmmm]Homer February 22, 2003 Share [Mmmm]Homer Member February 22, 2003 The 'marks' are just a synthetic number generated by a program called 3DMark2003. I get somewhere in the 1600ish area with my GF4/Ti4600, but if I had a 9500 Pro I'd likely get 3500-4000. The difference in the cards is the hardware with the GF4 was designed with DX8 in mind (the GF4 is getting old by video card standards now). The ATi 9000 and above cards were designed around DX9 and its instruction set. Buying a GF4 is kinda like buying a cabuerated car just as fuel injected cars were introduced. Edit: oh, you ordered already....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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