PC hardware for games

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-04-14 03:22am

Okay I am really out of the loop when it comes to gaming hardware.

But now when the high detail Morrowind mod and all my games is running really bad I need some new stuff.

My current rig is a 1.8ghz gforce3 ti.

So what's hot now when it comes to graphics and processors?

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2005-04-14 03:37am

If you managed to get a 1.8 GHz GeForce 3 Ti, I want one!

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-04-14 03:41am

Doh!

I have a 1.8ghz intel pentium IV processor and a GF3 ti somthing.

Thinking of getting a whole new rig and downgrade that one to some soft of server.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2005-04-14 04:06am

Athlon 64 Venice cores are hot.
NVidia 6800 and ATi x800 are also hot.

Of course both of those statements can and should be taken two ways.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2005-04-14 04:10am

I just bought a brand-new 6600GT; a really fantastic card, and cheaper than a 6800GT, though it has something like 75 percent of the power (IIRC). The AGP version goes for 250 bucks, PCI-Express is around 200, but only newer motherboards have PCI-E slots, so its up to you which one to get. It plays extremely well, save for my crap processor (1.15ghz AMD 2600+).

As for processors, I've been looking at an AMD 3200+, good performance and not too expensive, plus its about the highest end one I can get for my current mobo. It might be what you're looking for.

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2005-04-14 05:12am

The 3200+ is the chip I'm using now. It gives me great performance although you really should invest a little extra in keeping it cool. Consequentally, I bought a GF4 ti4200 a little over two years ago now and it's still keeping me up to date in games apart from some DX9 stuff, it's been quite litterally the best card purchase I've ever made.

If I was buying a card today I'd probably be looking at a 6600 for price vs performance or a 6800 for extra oomph.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2005-04-14 07:11am

AMD 64 3500+ and X800XT PE for me

Though the X850 is out now, though still hideously expensive...

For graphic cards, it slightly depends.
ATI cards do quite better at HL2, nvidia is optimised for Doom3.

I'd normally go for an ATI, because the higher Nvidias take an awful lot of power and are a bit bulkier than their ATI counterparts.
Nvidia might be the way if you look for something more future-safe, as they support shader model 3, unlike ATI.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-04-14 11:15am

For a CPU, an AMD 3200+ or 3500+ Winchester\Venice(cores), neither are hot and both run great.

For GPU's... both run equally well, I'd take a 6600GT or a 6800GT, both run fine and cool.

Spyder, I don't know what 3200+ you have, but they shouldn't be running hot, not the newer one's.

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2005-04-14 03:45pm

Ace Pace wrote: Spyder, I don't know what 3200+ you have, but they shouldn't be running hot, not the newer one's.

Barton core. To tell you the truth it's only in mid summer that the temperature start's to climb.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2005-04-14 04:34pm

Something to note about the Venice core is that it supports the SSE3 instruction set, which isn't all that important right now, but could be later.

Knighthawk · Post by **Knighthawk** » 2005-04-18 06:04pm

i'm using a 2ghz Athlon 64, unfortunately the damn thing pushes 74 degrees Celcius when i play HL2

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2005-04-19 01:07am

Faram wrote:Okay I am really out of the loop when it comes to gaming hardware.

But now when the high detail Morrowind mod and all my games is running really bad I need some new stuff.

My current rig is a 1.8ghz gforce3 ti.

So what's hot now when it comes to graphics and processors?

High detail Morrowind mod? Do tell.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-04-19 02:12am

In AU the 3200/939 is the pricepoint atm, and a friend of mine imports PCI-E 6800l337zors for around AU$500, so cheap as really.

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2005-04-19 02:31am

Knighthawk wrote:i'm using a 2ghz Athlon 64, unfortunately the damn thing pushes 74 degrees Celcius when i play HL2

Que? Those things aren't supposed to run anywhere near that hot. Check your fans.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-04-19 04:00am

Reopened.

Okay I got two system offered to me.

HP dx6100 MT P4-530 3GHz 80GB SATA 512MB (2x256) Integrerad grafik 64MB
DVD/CD-RW XP Pro inkl. 19" TFT 1902 Monitor, Analog TCO-03 (svart &
silver)

And

SCENIC E600, I865G /P4 HT 3.0E/1MB/512MB DDR 400/FDD/DVD16X48/80GB

Graphic card will be some sort of addon nvidia I think.

Any thoughts?

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2005-04-19 10:06am

Faram wrote:Reopened.

Okay I got two system offered to me.

HP dx6100 MT P4-530 3GHz 80GB SATA 512MB (2x256) Integrerad grafik 64MB
DVD/CD-RW XP Pro inkl. 19" TFT 1902 Monitor, Analog TCO-03 (svart &
silver)

And

SCENIC E600, I865G /P4 HT 3.0E/1MB/512MB DDR 400/FDD/DVD16X48/80GB

Graphic card will be some sort of addon nvidia I think.

Any thoughts?

I would definitely bump up memory to 1GB.
And this "P4 HT 3.0E": the E part does not mean it's one of these over-priced Extreme Edition ones, does it?

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2005-04-19 10:08am

Dahak wrote: I would definitely bump up memory to 1GB.
And this "P4 HT 3.0E": the E part does not mean it's one of these over-priced Extreme Edition ones, does it?

No idea I suck at hardware.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-04-19 10:09am

Faram wrote:
Dahak wrote: I would definitely bump up memory to 1GB.
And this "P4 HT 3.0E": the E part does not mean it's one of these over-priced Extreme Edition ones, does it?
No idea I suck at hardware.

No, EE is extream crap, but the P4E means its Northwood IIRC, better.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2005-04-19 12:37pm

Whatever you do, stay away from the Hewlett-Packard. They're a total pain in the ass to upgrade.

The Scenic looks pretty good, though you may want to add a second hard drive as well as a graphics card. 512MB of RAM is bearable for a while, you don't have to upgrade it immediately.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2005-04-19 01:06pm

Destructionator XIII wrote:
Ace Pace wrote:
Faram wrote: No idea I suck at hardware.
No, EE is extream crap, but the P4E means its Northwood IIRC, better.
I think the 'E' means its a Prescott core, which runs pretty fast, but also hot. I might also be wrong, though.

Okey, my thoughts on the Prescott, and your probebly right, too tired to check the roadmaps.

The Presscott is fast..if you belive the GHZ myth, functionally, its only good at media app's, games and other 'less complex' stuff leaves the Prescott sweating, and no matter how high the clock or cache is, its still too slow.

And heat...the KILLER, its 70C at idle, its a 'slow death' at anything above 3GHZ, the Prescott litterly DIES if you don't keep it properly cooled at every second.

Spyder · Post by **Spyder** » 2005-04-19 05:45pm

Crayz9000 wrote:Whatever you do, stay away from the Hewlett-Packard. They're a total pain in the ass to upgrade.

That's only the beginning of your problems. HP will NOT supply spare parts for any system outside manufacturers warranty. Also, expect additional delays in anything from HP that you're having sent away to get serviced as there's additional beurocracy involved. As for upgrades, not only are they a pain in the arse to do, but there's no actual way to do it without voiding the warranty, I know they're not the only name brand manufacturer to do this, but there are some that don't and I never reccomend going with name brand PCs anyway.

I don't know if they've improved since then but I remember back in the days of SDRAM, HP machines would simply refuse to accept various modules with no logical explanation as to why. Then there were those HP machines with the small cases. You could actually fit your hand between the power supply and the drive cage, meaning that any attempt to upgrade RAM would involve removing the power supply. Although that's not as bad on some models where there's no gap on the right side (mobo side) for removing screws in the CD drive. This would basically mean removing the entire right panel (motherboard and all) just to get the CD drive out (assuming it hasn't already been done and the person that replaced it made sure to only put screws in the left side).

If for some ungodly reason you need to go for a name brand PC, don't make it an HP.

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PC hardware for games

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