Can I salvage My System?

[dschwartz]

Hi all,

This is my first post on THG site. I have been coming here for some time and really appreciate this place. Here is my question.

I have an older rig for a computer and am not financially ready to build a new system from scratch yet. However, I enjoy playing games a lot, and really look forward to the upcoming release of Age of Empires III. I was wondering if I could ask some experts for their advice on how to potentially upgrade my system in a band-aid solution to help my hobble along for a while and still enjoy some RTS games including the upcoming AOEIII.

My current configuration is:
2400XP Athlon chip in an Asus motherboard, which suports AGP 8X. I have a gig of Ram and can insert two more gigs if necessary. I have an ATI 9200 Radeon with 128mb ram.

If I were to throw in, lets say a N-videa Geo Force 6600GT, would my sytem benefit greatly?

I really appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ChipDeath]

You've got enough RAM, your Processor isn't terrible by any means.

Knowing which Asus motherboard would help, since some are most definitely better than others, but simply put a Gfx upgrade will make a big difference.

The problem is any new card you get will have to be AGP to fit in the current rig, so when you come to upgrade motherboard later you'll either need a new PCI-Express graphics card, or you'll have to get a motherboard with AGP... Although my rig is an AGP-based A64 and I'm completely unconcerned about it at the mo.

So basically getting a new card <i>will</i> give a substantial boost, but doing so will limit your future upgrade options (although not really by much). Don't expect Real killer framerates, but it should be quite playable if you tweak the settings.

I am assuming here that AOEIII will be a proper 3D-engined game, since I recall the first two were just sprite-based things which wouldn't actually benifit at all from a powerful Gfx card. I haven't looked into the game, since my brother's AOE obsession kind of made me anti-AOE...

---
<font color=red>"Life is <i>not</i> like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapeńos - what you do today might burn your a<b></b>ss tommorrow."

 

[pauldh]

Your rig is just fine. It would be CPU bottlenecked in some games. There is no way to know about AOEIII yet. It will be 3D and huge claims are to have the best graphics of any game. We'll see how true that is, but it sounds like it might stress the video cards where otherewise most RTS games stress the cpu more. You could always wait for the game, but upgrading that 9200 now would help you enjoy other games more now. I can't imagine AOEIII not running on a XP2400+/1GB DDR/R9800 pro(or better) system.

I'd say a $100-200 card would be nice in that rig. Get a 9800 pro 128MB (256-bit), GF6600GT, GF6800 or X800 pro if found cheap. (all good, but listed from worst to first)

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[dunklegend]

The 6600 should benefit your system noticeably, and maybe you could OC your Athlon to give it a little more speed, but if you don't OC that 2400+ should be enough.

<b><font color=green>Celibacy is not hereditary<font color=green></b>

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Yeah the GF6600GT would compliment you system very well and be near the top of what it can easily exploit now. M<oving to a GF6800 of X800 might give you a little more, and may help in the future, but they are a little bit more money.

If you plan on keeping the graphics card when you build a new system in a year or two you may want a little more power, but even a GF600GT should allow you the minimum spec of games for the next few years.


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[dschwartz]

Thanks for all the replies! I will indeed go for a new graphics card and squeeze some more life out of my system, thus postponing a large outlay of cashola.

Merci bien

 

[marneus]

Good lad lol...

it would be worth ur while finding out what ur exact mainboard is, if its a Nf2 ultra, u could quite happily OC your CPU to 3200 levels (a few mhz at a time) to extend your systemlife a bit more, also make sure ur memory is PC3200 ro get a good stable OC...

Trust me I know what I'm doing... ooops, grab the cat...