View Full Version : How do I improve my PC to l33t mode
Hi
Advice please - despite having a phd in something related to computers, I know nothing about Micro$oft - i've had a PC for 3 years and I suspect it's pretty out of date for gaming. (everytime i buy a new game I wonder if it's going to laaaaag)
Anyway - my questions:
1. How do I find out what graphics card etc. I have (I should know but...)
2. What should I buy to improve my PC? Can somebody give me a decent setup shopping list ? I have a 40 gb disc (full of work though) and a ADSL internet connection.
Help much appreciated.
JP
to answer your first question go to display properties/settings tab and it will say on that. Just right click on dexktop, hit properties, then hit settings tab...
ANd your 2nd question. Ok 3 years. Well you will need a new motherboard to keep up. But that depends on what kind of proccesor you want. And it all depends on what you want to spend. So how much are you willing to spend?
Oh ya it depends on what you want to use your comp for.
Use your DirectX Diagnostics to determine the Video card. type 'dxdiag' in to your run box (in the start menu, select 'Run' and a small dialog box will appear). Gives quite a good amount of information on your grapohics and sound etc.
To improve:
Up to Date Graphic Card (I'd say GF-FX 5200 and above)
More Memory.
Faster Processor
all of this may require a new motherboard though, depending on the capabilitries of your current one, so chalk that in as a possibility too.
(Most motherboards only support certain speeds of processors, also certain sizes of memory and memory speeds, same with AGP ports on the motherboard)
theres yer updated PC.
Well my main use of my home PC is to play games (though I do some research on it but speed there isn't that important)
How much do I want to spend? I dunno - let's say up to 200 quid. (but I'd prefer much less than that)
JP
Promethius
20-11-03, 18:10
Well I'm going through the same problem as you. I think its time i upgrade. So i've talked witha few people adn ehres wat i am getting:
Asus Motherboard
p4 2.8 ghz processor
a new cpu cooler anda new case.
possibly a geforce fx...if i get the money.
forgot bout dxdiag but i thought i should say somthing
NEVER GET ANY NVIDIA CARDS!
ALL radeon are better then geforce and are cheaper. The newest geforce. like the 9999 ultra bla bla bla wich is more then the radeon 9800 dousent perform nearly aswell. If i where you id go for a radeon 9600. Unlike the ones ahead of it it overclocks real well. Plus its cheap. Also pentiums are great. Though can some1 explain to me why athlon baron chips wit the 512 catch still arnt as good as pentium chips?
Dostan'Ilindith
20-11-03, 18:16
dude, turn ur pc round and look for a button on the power box.
should say '1337 mode'
just switch it to 'On' and there ya go :D
Same situation here, i got a P3 600 with a ATI 7000 graphics card.
it does the job at the moment but i've noticed a lot of games out lately have minimum requirements above what i got.
early in the new year i'm just going to get a new one something along the athlon 2800 with an ATI 9600 pro or something. i've costed it at about £600 atm so hopefully that should come down a bit in the next few months.
my current pc i'll keep on the LAN setup i got so one of my friends doesnt have to bring their pc when we get together.
Dostan'Ilindith
20-11-03, 18:17
iany your backwards.
athlon owns pentium and Geforce owns ATI
get wit the program dude:P
Promethius
20-11-03, 18:17
Originally posted by iainy13
forgot bout dxdiag but i thought i should say somthing
NEVER GET ANY NVIDIA CARDS!
ALL radeon are better then geforce and are cheaper. The newest geforce. like the 9999 ultra bla bla bla wich is more then the radeon 9800 dousent perform nearly aswell. If i where you id go for a radeon 9600. Unlike the ones ahead of it it overclocks real well. Plus its cheap. Also pentiums are great. Though can some1 explain to me why athlon baron chips wit the 512 catch still arnt as good as pentium chips?
Lol my friend has a radeon. it the buggiest thing every. He alt+tabs from NC and all lighting in NC gets darker. Then randomly all his gfx on NC would just bork out and he can't see 2 inches infront of him.
This happens with many other games aswell. (of coures it doens't happen constantly but don't hit alt + tab without hitting alt + F4 first)
oh here r a few great sites if u rly want a good comp
Good systems. up to date. (http://www.quadigy.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=382)
Rly good. Look good to. (http://www.alienware.com/)
You can make the best computers here (http://www.pugetsystems.com/all_articles.php)
An radeons might not be very good for nc but they r great for everything else. Dont even take my word for it. You should look up some benchmarks. heh. Oh i think this site (http://www.megagames.com/news/html/hardware/nvidia,futuremarkexchangingblows.shtml) shows it a little. And alright i thought athlon was better... but if its becouse of the athlon 64 then thats not why. Pentium got a better chip now.
The Radeon fix from the Test server should hopefully be in the next retail patch and when it comes down to it the only Nvidia card that competes with radeon for quality while not being more expensive is the FX5700 -v- 9800XT.
Having owned 3 nVidia cards I changed to a Radeon 9800 because to get equal power from nVidia I would of had to pay €150 more.
well it appears radeon own ati here (http://www.gamersdepot.com/hardware/video_cards/ati_vs_nvidia/dx9_desktop/HL2_benchmarks/002.htm) aswell as here (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTE5LDI=) an then there is here (http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/video/5600_9600/index_4.shtml) not to mention . Though i did find one rigged page here (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/fx5900-r9800.html) .here (http://www.spodesabode.com/content/article/9700/print) so there you have it. Oh and if you ever wanna play hl with decent fps i suggest a ant becouse thats what hl was ment to be run with. But i do admit that i thought nvidia where odin worse then that. Its weird though. Radeon has way better hardware... The only way nvidia is keepin up is with their amazing drivers.
Originally posted by Promethius
Lol my friend has a radeon. it the buggiest thing every. He alt+tabs from NC and all lighting in NC gets darker. Then randomly all his gfx on NC would just bork out and he can't see 2 inches infront of him.
This happens with many other games aswell. (of coures it doens't happen constantly but don't hit alt + tab without hitting alt + F4 first)
Only happens to me in NC, runs the game sweet as a nut unless i have to alt + tab.
Runnin All in Wonder 9800 Pro here only on a shitty 4xAGP motherboard and still benchmarking and performing better than an OC FX5200 on an 8XAGP with agp fast wirte enabled.
Enuff to make me thing ATI are owning nvidia in the gaming front.
Thats my pennies worth
well it appears radeon own ati here aswell as here an then there is here not to mention . Though i did find one rigged page here .here so there you have it. Oh and if you ever wanna play hl with decent fps i suggest a ant becouse thats what hl was ment to be run with. But i do admit that i thought nvidia where odin worse then that. Its weird though. Radeon has way better hardware... The only way nvidia is keepin up is with their amazing drivers.
Good god. You know NOTHING about video cards or computers man. Please do us a favor and keep your mouth shut. HL2 was "meant" to be run on an ATI?? Yea, I am sure that valve would make HL2 run crappy on nvidia cards thereby eliminating at least 50% of the game market! GG, logic.
And the only way nvidia can keep up is because of better drivers? Dont smoke the grass then post on forums man. Drivers have been the #1 problem for nvidia ever since the 5800Ultra was released. Did I mention that in some games and benchmarks nvidia cards dont even render some textures to increase FPS? This is done solely by drivers....but I guess that makes them good drivers in your eyes.
Neither card is better than the other. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. But saying "NEVER BUY NVIDIA!!!" or NEVER BUY ATI is just plain childish....not to mention your horrid lack of knowledge on the subject.
Anyway.....go to www.falcon-nw.com/ and buy one of their Talon pre-built machines (or the cheaper $995 frag-box...which is also an awsome performer). You cant ask for more then what they have for the incredible price. Besides falcon offers some of the best customer support of any computer company.
This is my area... :)
Since your current computer is 3 years old, I would recommend getting a whole new computer instead of simply upgrading your current one. (maybe take the old monitor/keyboard/mouse if you're short on cash)
First of all, you need to decide your budget. That is what you need to do first. When you have a number in mind, read on.
Then you have to decide if you want to make your new system an Intel or an AMD. It is hard to say which one is better for you. Intel produces better results in the multimedia applications but AMD turned out to be a better gaming processor. But lately AMD hasn't been able to keep up with Intel. The recently introduced Athlon 64 (FX) CPU's are a big step forward but are a little too expensive I think. My advice would be to read this (http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030923/index.html) review (skip straight to the benchmarks if you want) and then decide which platform you want.
When you've figured out if you want AMD or Intel, look at the prices and at your budget. Look for the one with best price/performance ratio.
Then the mainboard is next. Worldwide, ASUS is known for their outstanding motherboards. For Intel CPU's I'd recommend the P4P800 (or P4C800 if you have a large budget). For AMD's I'd go for the A7N8X Deluxe.
I would go for at least 512 Mb of memory. I doubt you will need anytime soon, but you can take 1024 if your budget allows it. Decide if you want the normal, cheap brand-X modules or the more expensive, better quality brands like Kingston and Corsair.
Next part is the most fun, the graphics card. There can be huge discussions about this topic, but I won't start one. It's your computer, you decide. Same as the processors: read this (http://www17.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031023/index.html) review (this only covers the mid-range to high-end cards though, if your budget doesn't even allow a mid-range card, I'd suggest a FX5200 or ATi 9200). Then look at the current prices of the cards, then look at your budget again and decide.
Be careful when picking your processor and graphics card. Some people think game performance all depends on the graphics card but this is not the case. Best is to keep a balance between your processor and your graphics card. Spending 500 bucks on one and 50 bucks on the other is not gonna do any good.
There, that covers the most important stuff.
Last thing I have something to say about are the hard drives. Maxtor and Western Digital are highest in the ranks when it comes to speed. Seagate produces not the fastest, but defenitely the quitest drives. Maxtor drives have a small higher percentage of drive failures though.
Here (http://www6.tomshardware.com/storage/200311141/index.html) is another review if you want to read... :)
Oh, I almost forgot the operating system. Go for Windows XP. Home or Pro doesn't matter. Home is cheaper :).
Don't give me crap about Windows XP not being stable. If you can't get it stable you are using outdated or crappy software or there is something wrong with your computer management skills.
The only reason a person would have to not install XP would be because they desperately need an outdated program that isn't supported by NT systems.
Well, this is my advice. Take it or leave it. But you're welcome anyway. :)
Maarten.....awsome post. That covers everything!
I would like to comment on the motherboard stuff. I would go for Abit rather than Asus. They perform very similar and I have owned both and liked them equally. But I must say that Abit is generally cheaper than Asus. I would gor for an Abit NF7-S (best AMD mobo on the market....comes with awsome onboard sound too....no need for a sound card) and an Abit IC7 MAX-2 motherboard for Intel. Compared with similarly performing Asus mobos the Abits are cheaper.
www.newegg.com/
You can get all the parts you need right here. They offer cheap things and are a very reliable/trustworthy reseller.
http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishList.asp?position=current&submit=add&item=24-116-281
Thats an awsome system for the price IMO. Not to mention it includes a very very nice perfect flat 19" viewsonic monitor. Take out the monitor and it will be under $800. Plus you will have tons of overclocking head-room, for at least a 5-10% performance gain all for free.
Strongsad everything ive ever read bout nvidia and ati that i said where right and if you like i can post some links to prove it. Look around man. Lots of articles for hl2 say that it mainly supports ati cards. Check out the benchmarks, becouse they are twice as high for any card thats an ati. Also 3dmarks just launched a patch wich disabled driver acceloration for 3d cards when tested with it, so it was testing hardware to hardware and it showed a severe drop in all nvidia cards. So why am i wrong? Every freaking article says im right and i never said it DIDNT support nvidia did i?
BTW i make tons of spelling mistakes in my last post. Sry bout that, i should have cought them.
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