New card or new system? help

Current System

AMD Athalon 1600+
512 mb PC2100 DDR SD Ram
300w ATX Case
3D Prophet 2 Ti

I like to play Shooters. I've been getting along okay until the last few
months. I subscribe to PC Gamer and have been unable to play some of the
newest demos due to my inadequate video card. Should I upgrade everything
or can I get along by only getting a new video card? what do you recommend
for Doom3 , Halflife 2 , Far Cry etc.?

Thanks, Lisa

I should have also said that I'm still using Win 98. Would it help to
upgrade to XP? Lisa

"xyz" wrote in message
...
Current System

AMD Athalon 1600+
512 mb PC2100 DDR SD Ram
300w ATX Case
3D Prophet 2 Ti

I like to play Shooters. I've been getting along okay until the last few
months. I subscribe to PC Gamer and have been unable to play some of the
newest demos due to my inadequate video card. Should I upgrade everything
or can I get along by only getting a new video card? what do you
recommend
for Doom3 , Halflife 2 , Far Cry etc.?

Thanks, Lisa

if u upgrade to win 2000 and get a descent graphics card then u will be able
to play far cry and doom 3, not sure about half life 2 though, look on
google for minimum system requirements. When u start playing far cry you
will be amazed, it shows what games of the future have in store graphics and
playability wise.


"xyz" wrote in message
...
I should have also said that I'm still using Win 98. Would it help to
upgrade to XP? Lisa

"xyz" wrote in message
...
Current System

AMD Athalon 1600+
512 mb PC2100 DDR SD Ram
300w ATX Case
3D Prophet 2 Ti

I like to play Shooters. I've been getting along okay until the last
few
months. I subscribe to PC Gamer and have been unable to play some of
the
newest demos due to my inadequate video card. Should I upgrade
everything
or can I get along by only getting a new video card? what do you
recommend
for Doom3 , Halflife 2 , Far Cry etc.?

Thanks, Lisa

"xyz" wrote in message
...

" Should I upgrade everything... "


What motherboard do you have?

Epox 8KHA+


"Cuzman" wrote in message
...
"xyz" wrote in message
...

" Should I upgrade everything... "


What motherboard do you have?

"xyz" wrote in message
...
Current System

AMD Athalon 1600+
512 mb PC2100 DDR SD Ram
300w ATX Case
3D Prophet 2 Ti

I like to play Shooters. I've been getting along okay until the last
few
months. I subscribe to PC Gamer and have been unable to play some of
the
newest demos due to my inadequate video card. Should I upgrade
everything
or can I get along by only getting a new video card? what do you
recommend
for Doom3 , Halflife 2 , Far Cry etc.?

Thanks, Lisa



If you can handle missing out on some of the new tech coming out such as
PCI Express and DDR-2 RAM, etc., I'd say upgrade everything including the
power supply. I have no doubt that your processor is good enough for Far
Cry, Doom 3, and Half Life 2 if you don't have very high expectations for
graphics. If you did upgrade, I'd look at something around 3GHz (or
3000+) levels and at least a 9800 Pro video card, if not X800 Pro. 1GB of
PC-3200 RAM is a good idea if you take the total upgrade plunge. Make
sure the power supply is fairly beefy and of a decent brand name. I
wouldn't go lower than 430W these days.

If you don't want to do a major system overhaul at this point, a new video
card would at least extend the life of your current system. I don't know
how much longer the 1600+ will remain somewhat viable as a gaming
processor, but I suspect under a year. I guess it depends on part on what
you expect.

As far as the operating system goes, Windows 9x is unfortunately dying.
The new video cards like the X800 from ATI don't support it at all and the
newest Catalyst driver set for 98/ME is 4.3 as compared to 4.5 for Windows
2000 and XP. When I went to the store on the weekend looking around, I
even noticed that Thief 3 - Deadly Shadows does not support Windows 98 or
ME at all - it specifically says on the box that 2000 or XP is required.
I suspect this will start to become a trend. If Windows 98 is still
important to you, maybe keep your old system as it is and build a new box.

Cuzman is right to imply that you should see how high of a processor your
current motherboard can take. This might not be a bad idea either.

AMD Athalon 1600+
512 mb PC2100 DDR SD Ram
300w ATX Case
3D Prophet 2 Ti

I like to play Shooters. I've been getting along okay until the last few
months. I subscribe to PC Gamer and have been unable to play some of the
newest demos due to my inadequate video card. Should I upgrade everything
or can I get along by only getting a new video card? what do you
recommend
for Doom3 , Halflife 2 , Far Cry etc.?

Why not just upgrade the graphcs card and see how you go? Then if it's still
poo, upgrade the rest .... or upgrade the rest later on. You'd be upgrading
the gfx card anyway, if you were to "upgrade everything".

newest demos due to my inadequate video card. Should I upgrade everything
or can I get along by only getting a new video card? what do you
recommend
for Doom3 , Halflife 2 , Far Cry etc.?

My system is Athlon 2000XT with 1 gig ram on a Gigabyte
7ZXE ( VIA chipset ... ugh! ). The mobo was one of the
last of the 7ZXEs put out, so it runs fine. The CPU is clocked
around 1660 .. so I think we have about equivalent systems,
except I'm running XP. Video card is ATI Radeon 9000 128
Pro. I paid $64 for it just this year. It took some work to
figure out all the silly problems, but now I run Far Cry very
very well. As for Doom3 ?? What's that. It is never coming
out because Far Cry has stolen its thunder totally. As for
Half Life 2. I found the first Half Life to be a total bore
and the keyboard jumping to be a nuisance. Nothing will
convince me to buy Half Life2. It is out of date already.
I recommend you try to get XP, up the ram to 1 gig,
and pick up one of the ATI Radeon 9200 128 Pros
for about $80. Be sure to install the latest Catalyst
drivers ( 4.5 ), or you will have load and crash problems
with Far Cry. All of my other games work perfectly
... RTCW, MOHAA, Spearhead, etc, CoD. I have
no problems with any of them. Then for the future,
watch the Dell game computers ( don't buy one, just
watch ). Dell is starting to bundle the ATI 9800, and
I've never caught Dell pushing low end mobos like I
have caught Gateway doing for years. Still, I think
any vendor who "gets you" with the monitor and
low ram should be avoided until they clean up their
act. In the future, the Dell game computers might be
a good deal since they are bundling the video card.

johns

xyz wrote:
I should have also said that I'm still using Win 98. Would it help to
upgrade to XP? Lisa

*ANY* system that can be considered modern will benefit performancewise
from XP, in my experience, over any of the 16 bit Windows systems
(DOXWin3.1, 95a,b,c, 98,SE, ME). In my own system, there have been far
fewer driver problems, fewer problems with software, games included.
I've been using XP Pro retail since Nov. 2001.

Summing up what others have said already; you can benefit from a faster
processor, more ram (faster if your mobo can use it), and new video
card. You don't really seem to have a lot of options open to you with
your mobo, but there are still a few.

http://www.epox.com/USA/product.asp?id=EP-8KHAplus Good ol EpoX still
supports it
You have the fastest ram you can use. One more 256 meg DIMM will give
you 768 megs, which is better of course. 512 is actually enough for XP,
though it starts to shine with 1 gig. What is the fastest Athlon XP
processor you can use at 266 mHz fsb?

Hm. Instead of all the arguements, try the new video card, one that
will be usable in a new motherboard too, just in case. Like a ATi 9800
Pro
McG.



Current System

AMD Athalon 1600+
512 mb PC2100 DDR SD Ram
300w ATX Case
3D Prophet 2 Ti
Epox 8KHA+

I like to play Shooters. I've been getting along okay until the
last few months. I subscribe to PC Gamer and have been unable to
play some of the newest demos due to my inadequate video card.
Should I upgrade everything or can I get along by only getting a new
video card? what do you recommend for Doom3 , Halflife 2 , Far Cry
etc.?

Thanks, Lisa

"xyz" wrote in message
...

" Epox 8KHA+ "


http://www.epox.org/products/mainboards/8khaplus/
http://www.epox.org/support/cpu-support.pdf

You'll see from the above sites that your motherboard can take a 266FSB
Thoroughbred Athlon XP 2600+. It might be easier and better value getting a
2400+ instead though, as production of the 266FSB 2600+ stopped a long time
ago and they come at a premium.

An upgrade to a good video card would see the biggest jump in gaming
performance. From the high-end cards, the Radeon 9800 Pro and the GeForce
FX5900 are pretty good value for money at the moment. If you wait a while
for the X800 XT and the 6800 to arrive, then the Radeon 9800XT and the
GeForce FX5950 Ultra may well come to $200 as well.

I would add another 512MB PC2100 last of all, as it might not give the same
jump in performance as the first two upgrades will. Even so, it would give
you more power for future games.

Once you've done the first two upgrades, sell your Athlon XP 1600+ and your
3D Prophet II Ti on eBay. It should near-enough cover the cost of a new
Athlon XP 2400+. An upgrade to an Athlon XP 2400+, Radeon 9800 Pro and 1GB
RAM could easily be done for $250 all-in.