Planetarion Forums

Dead_Meat · 21 Mar 2004, 01:41

Well, you might win a prize, depending on how useful and un-boringly pedantic about the relative merits of cross-threading vs whatever teh other oen is, as frankly, I couldn't give a shit and if I was worried about that sort of thing I'd be writing this on a useful site where I spent all my time pontificating about how the application of halon gas in a closed-pipe system could be the greatest PC cooling system ever if it wasn't for the implicit danger in using it that if it all escapes you'll suffocate.

Anyway, I have

a) A Duron 850MHz, running on an ASUS something that uses the VIA/AMD 761 Chipset, a GeForce 2 64MB thing, and 384MB of memory.
b) A copy of Battlefield 1942
c) A mighty fine cable connection
d) Some spare time.

The problem is, that the combination of b), c) and d) should lead to some highly enjoyable heli-fragging, but the use of a) is precluding me from this achievable goal.

I don't want a new PC, I'm not that bothered about HDD access times, I just reckon a new MB, CPU, memory and GFX card will sort it out.

So, what should I get, assuming I don't want to spend over $500?

Ta

MrL_JaKiri · 21 Mar 2004, 01:45

Barton 2500+, Radeon 9500 (although a 9600 would do), whatever mobo takes your fancy.

G_frog · 21 Mar 2004, 01:46

An MSI or Gigabyte motherboard featuring the Via KT600 chipset. Which depends on whether you like red or green better.
An Athlon 2500+ Barton, and a big fan. Overclock the Barton to 3200+ levels.
1Gb (512Mb if money is getting tight, i've no idea of the dollar cost of this stuff) PC3200 RAM. Doesn't matter what kind, low latency doesn't help performance. Single module will do, it's not a dual-channel MoBo.
Spend the rest on the fastest ATI graphics card it will buy. Unless it only leaves enough for a mid-range card, in which case buy an nVidia 5900XT.

MrL_JaKiri · 21 Mar 2004, 01:50

Yeah, you do really need at least a gig of ram to run BF effectively.

Although you don't need that much to run ut2k4.

GO FOR THE UNREAL.

meglamaniac · 21 Mar 2004, 01:50

There's no good reason to replace the motherboard.
Your primary problem is that your graphics card is shit. As you want to do online gaming, processor power is not that much of an issue. You don't have to worry about processing AI code for bots, because there are none. Or if there are, they're run at the server not by you.
It's all about pushing pixels around in most games these days, so what I'd reccommend is:
One of these.

That'll bring your graphics power at least above average. You might not even need anything else to play ok. You will see some noticeable performance increases with a faster processor and maybe another 128Mb memory, but to recommend anything for that I need to know your motherboard model number.

MrL_JaKiri · 21 Mar 2004, 01:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by meglamaniac

That'll bring your graphics power at least above average. You might not even need anything else to play ok. You will see some noticeable performance increases with a faster processor and maybe another 128Mb memory, but to recommend anything for that I need to know your motherboard model number.

BF1942 eats ram like there's no tomorrow, and a low end duron probably won't cut it

G_frog · 21 Mar 2004, 01:59

My brother just replaced his mobo/processor with something like what I outlined, from a higher starting spec than DM (but similar graphics card). The frame rates have risen enormously. But in order to take advantage of a new processor, you need a new mobo.

High end mobos do make a large difference.

Luckeh!!!! · 21 Mar 2004, 02:22

I had an AMD T-bird 850MHz, GF2MX 32mb and 384Mb RAM, on low settings everything, it ran BF1942 fine, it just looked shit and took forever to load that's all

anyway, for $500 you could get a fair bit, as mentioned AXP2500+, some cheap nForce2 Ultra 400 mobo, 512MB (in 2x 256MB sticks for dual channel, PC2700 minimum, if you're looking to OC, then at least PC3200), for GFX at least an R9600Pro. However, you might need a new PSU aswell since its likely your current system's PSU won't provide all the mentioned with enough juice.

G_frog · 21 Mar 2004, 02:52

He very likely has a 300/350W PSU, which will handle that lot just fine.

On a budget a KT600 board is better bang/buck than an nForce2.

There's no point buying a Radeon 9600 of any flavour when you can softmod (http://www.ocfaq.com/softmod/faq.php) a 9500 (www.radeonshop.de or www.ebay.com) to a 9700. The Geforce 5700/5900XT are preferable atm anyway.

Luckeh!!!! · 21 Mar 2004, 03:12

well, my pre-built system with the above specs came with a 250W PSU, my bro's new A64 machine came with a 350W PSU, and it isn't guaranteed that an R9500NP will softmod at all either. In UK, R9800pro's are roughly the same price as FX5900XTs.

This NF2 mobo is very cheap, KT600 mobos are not much cheaper... £5? oh yes, 2 pints of beer and 2 packets of crisps

G_frog · 21 Mar 2004, 03:36

Bloody hell, I had no idea you could buy R9800pros for about £150. And when did nForce2's get that cheap? Right you are, sir.

Dead_Meat · 21 Mar 2004, 06:51

Righto, ta for the advice.

I have lined what appears to be a good mix.

Any one of ATI 9800/9700/9600 $230
MSI KT6V VIA KT600 Motherboard $70
Athlon XP 2800+ $120
Kingston PC3200 64MX64 512MB $120

Total is going to be about $550

Should I go for this little lot or change it somewhat?

Radical Edward · 21 Mar 2004, 12:03

could my voodoo banshee be the reason I keep getting "out of range" messages on my flat screen monitor even when I run things at smaller screen sizes?

KraKto$is8 · 21 Mar 2004, 12:53

DM's PC is so old...

Structural Integrity · 21 Mar 2004, 13:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by KraKto$is8

DM's PC is so old...

Listen to "weird al yankovic - it's all about the pentiums", and you can hear enough lines to fill that in

Luckeh!!!! · 21 Mar 2004, 15:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dead_Meat

Righto, ta for the advice.

I have lined what appears to be a good mix.

Any one of ATI 9800/9700/9600 $230
MSI KT6V VIA KT600 Motherboard $70
Athlon XP 2800+ $120
Kingston PC3200 64MX64 512MB $120

Total is going to be about $550

Should I go for this little lot or change it somewhat?

since you're buying PC3200 (200MHz), I'm assuming you're going to OC. That CPU you propose runs on a default 166MHz FSB, and 12.5 multiplier, I can honestly say its gonna be near impossible to reach 12.5x200Mhz, even with the best cooling. Which brings me to my next 2 points.

1. Multiplier selection, while its true less people buy the AXP2800+ and hence there are quite a number of them available that are unlocked (thus being able to select your multiplier), however it is becoming common that CPUs of this speed will be locked.

2. All VIA KTXXX boards do not feature a PCI and/or AGP lock and rely on dividers, this makes VIA a bad choice for OCing. NF2 boards feature PCI/AGP locking/fixing as standard and thus make decent OCing mobos.

I have no idea how much you know about OCing/PCI/AGP/dividers so I'll talk about that a little.

PCI runs @ 33MHz by default, AGP @ 66MHz by default.
Dividers are used to determine the AGP/PCI speed from the FSB, e.g. 4:2:1 divider are for 133MHz FSB machines, being 133/66/33 FSB/AGP/PCI, and 5:2:1 being 166/66/33 etc... and so on.

anything inbetween is runnin the AGP/PCI bus out of spec and can lead to device corruptions and failure. e.g. a 185MHz FSB will make the AGP @ 73MHz and PCI @ 36MHz.
Why care about PCI if you have no PCI devices i hear you ask? The IDE bus runs @ the same speed as the PCI bus, and in general HDDs do not like any increase on the default bus speed.

I'd strongly suggest switching for an NF2 at least, so then your OCs are not limited by the tolerance of your AGP/PCI/IDE devices. If you're willing, you can also opt for a Mobile AXP2500+, these CPUs will run in standard Socket A mobos, with lower voltage (hence run cooler) AND are guaranteed to be unlocked. A general OC with AXP2500+M's with region 2ghz-2.2ghz (from 1.833GHz).

Structural Integrity · 21 Mar 2004, 15:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckeh!!!!

since you're buying PC3200 (200MHz), I'm assuming you're going to OC.

When DM was young, the only overclocking method they knew of involved putting pepper up a yaks arse.

Radical Edward · 23 Mar 2004, 09:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radical Edward

could my voodoo banshee be the reason I keep getting "out of range" messages on my flat screen monitor even when I run things at smaller screen sizes?

does anyone know if this could be the problem with my monitor then, or was buying a flat screen just a bad idea?

MrL_JaKiri · 23 Mar 2004, 10:18

Get a new PC. The Banshee is rubbish.

Radical Edward · 23 Mar 2004, 10:49

the rest of my PC is fine, just the banshee. I was really just wondering if that might be why I keep getting out of range. The annoying thing is, when I get that, I have to reboot the computer

Luckeh!!!! · 23 Mar 2004, 16:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radical Edward

the rest of my PC is fine, just the banshee. I was really just wondering if that might be why I keep getting out of range. The annoying thing is, when I get that, I have to reboot the computer

you commonly get out of scan range when using invalid refresh, colour depth and/or resolutions.

usually you can press ESC to revert back to the previous setting, or wait and let windows do it.

Marilyn Manson · 23 Mar 2004, 16:55

Why is DM being upgraded?

meglamaniac · 23 Mar 2004, 17:37

Because he's obsolete?

Marilyn Manson · 23 Mar 2004, 18:41

Exactly. So why would we want to upgrade him? Just give him to the rag and bone men and be done with it.

Dead_Meat · 23 Mar 2004, 19:03

You'd throw me out and buy a new one before upgrading me?

That's just not techno-geek friendly though........

pablissimo · 23 Mar 2004, 22:17

What were these ****ing prizes then? And do I get one for not being ****ed answering a technical question since I'm entirely devoid of useful input?