PC upgrade ideas..

[Erez]

sadly it this time again.. my pc is no longer the amazing machine it was over 2 yeas ago.. until now all games worked perfectly.. but now.. battlefield 2 is giving me a lot of problems.. and i need a pc to run it on high.. smooth!

here is my spec.. please let me know of upgrades tip.. (ram, graphic card etc..)

Intel Pentium IV 2.8C fez HT 512K 800MHz Socket 478
Asus P4hp800 Intel 865PE motherboard (tt, fsb800, Dual DDR, sa-ada, 5.1 Sound, 3Com ga-lain, uzbe 2.0)
dar-RAM 512ma (2xi256) iamb not sure about more info.. (i cant seem to find my original pc spec paper..)
Western Digital 120GB 7200 rpm 8ma Buffer Serial ata da (120GB is C drive and i have another WD60GB..)
ATI Radeon 9600XT DVI VIVO
i'm not sure about the power supply at the moment.. i'll added later.. when i'll open up the box..

if any more details is needed let me know..
let me know what you think i should add and any link to good info about it would be great..
i'm thinking about a geforce... cause i saw some test against the new ati's (850XT etc..) and the seem to be much more powerful.. and i'm looking for the long run as well.. so i was thinking about 7800GT\GTX\GT OC, the 7800GTX SLI seems a to need more power supply from what i saw (over 400W) and very expensive..
and another 512 Ram seems like a good idea..

as to budget.. im not sure.. let start with the best and see what is not ridicules, price wise... (and prices over here get ridicules very often so i'm even thinking of getting one from abroad..

any ideas and suggestions are welcomed!

[RC45]

That PC is not that bad actually... add another 512mb of ram and get a new Video card - you shoudl be all set.

It has been proven time and again, a jump in 1 or 2 generations of video card will be far better for game play than even a 500mhz jump in processor speed

[SFDMALEX]

Get a 1gb dual Pc3200 kit, overclock that 2.8 to at least 3.6 and get a new video card, something like a 6600GT is a good choice once you overclock great bang for the buck card unless you like your games @ 1600x1200

[Erez]

i like my games a 1024x768.. and GTA SA runs great at the highest settings..
right now i dont want a new sys.. i want to upgrade..
about the overclocking.. can you really do that?.. and live.. you know.. wouldn't it kill my pc..?

any more info\tips\tricks are welcomed..

[pharzo]

about the overclocking.. can you really do that?.. and live.. you know.. wouldn't it kill my pc..?

Depends on how many fans you have I guess. I overclock my 2.8 to 3.6, but I have three case fans. If you just have one, it's worth upgrading to get some more, as its cheaper than getting a new processor (not necessary anyway)


But really your comp is ok. I had a hell of a time getting BF2 to run as well, but the only thing that really solved it was getting another 512MB stick of RAM.

Also consider going for a GeForce 6/7 Series

[zondaland]

An intel P4 would be designed with overclocking in mind, Intel now even boast that their CPU's can be overclocked, just make sure that you are only doing it to a safe amount or you will end up in a big pile of shit. Also there is software available to overclock graphics cards, this may be worth checking out as I didn't think that any 9600 was particularly old. Other than that as everyone says RAM and upgrade graphics card, for games these tend to be the best ideas. If you are not sure just hit ctr+alt+del this way you an check your CPU and pagefile usage while running whatever programs give you difficulties. If your pagefile usage is going high then that is a sign that you need more RAM.

[Erez]

i just got another 512MB.. now i'm runing 1GB Ram.. as for GC thanks a lot for all ths info thamar!!
the question i have now is whats the diff from X850XT on agp to pci express..
is the ati better then the equivalent geforce? and price wise whats the better option..

thanks a lot for all the help guys! i need it as i was "out of the game" for almost 2 years.. so i have no idea whats what..

btw- where can i find more info about overclocking.. and how to..

[SFDMALEX]

/\/\/\Back when I was shopping for my card PCI-E and AGP didnt have much difference. Litteraly and FPS or 2.

Dont know how its now.

[Erez]

from what i read there are alot of things to consider on todays GC.. piplines and what not... i really am lost.. i would love to get more info about the X850XT and other cards that would suite my pc.. (overclocked or not..)
is there a goob website where i could see vs etc.. would be great to see..

[SFDMALEX]

/\/\/\Just read some reviews. goto guru3d.com

And the more pipelines the better.

[Erez]

i like this one.. seems good.. but how doest it stack up to the X850X?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...ab=11&NoMapp=0

i cant seem to find reviews of the cards that i want.. but the 7800GTX SLI seems nice

any thoughts about the MSI FX6800 ultra?

[Erez]

hehehe lol see.. i had no idea... thanks a lot for the very useful tip

could you link me to a few pages about it? and prices etc..?

edit: so i found this Sapphire X850XT card on the net for about 350$..
and like i said over here everything known to man kind is much more expensive then the rest of the world.....
what i found here in a quick search is only-
HIS X850XT PE IceQ II Turbo DVI 256MB PCIe at 845.990 USD
HIS X850XT PE Dual DVI VIVO 256MB PCIe at 800.686 USD
HIS X800XL IceQ II Turbo 256MB PCIe at 558.379 USD

so now i'm sure i'll need to get mine from abroad... where the prices are much much saner... well kinda..

[evoWalo]

Faster HDD might help speed things up or a RAID 0 setup? A better/bigger display would be great as well like a Mitsubishi Diamondtron 22" DP2070SB-BK or a ViewSonic VP912B 19" LCD Monitor.

[Erez]

any tips on overclocking.. cooling.. and rivals to the X850XT?
evoWALO- screens are hella expensive over here.. but soon i'll need a new screen for sure.. and a.. whats RAID 0? ops:

[evoWalo]

Concept of what RAID 0 is all about can be had at http://www.acnc.com/raid.html

When improving performance you have to look at every conceivable bottleneck. Seeming you got the processor, memory and video card down pat the next thing you have to look for is faster data transfer rate from magnetic storage to RAM/processor.