Pc Upgrade

[Jockstar]

Seriously thinking about upgrading the PC. I am pretty sure my recent problems with Half Life 2 are due to the fact my Pc is just not up to it. Currently got a Pentium 3 256Mb 40GB. My graphics card is fine as it was only recently purchased. So how much do you reckon it would cost to upgrade to Pentium 4 with more ram? Was quoted a while back in Fortune town for new mother board installed 10K. Any ideas guys?

[Firefoxx]

10K won't get you much. Just the lowest P4HT (not celeron) and a no-name mainboard will set you back by that much already. Add 512MB (at least, 1GB preferred) and you're well beyond 10k.

Since you want to use your old graphics card (agp) you'll be stuck with the old AGP/PCI boards instead of the newer PCI express boards. The board I use is the Asus P4P800-D, costs around 4,000. The lowest P4HT prescott is the 3.0E, at 7,700 baht. DDR ram is around 3,000/512MB. Total is around 18k, but it's good enough for HL2.

[Jockstar]

10K won't get you much.  Just the lowest P4HT (not celeron) and a no-name mainboard will set you back by that much already.  Add 512MB (at least, 1GB preferred) and you're well beyond 10k.

Since you want to use your old graphics card (agp) you'll be stuck with the old AGP/PCI boards instead of the newer PCI express boards.  The board I use is the Asus P4P800-D, costs around 4,000.  The lowest P4HT prescott is the 3.0E, at 7,700 baht.  DDR ram is around 3,000/512MB.  Total is around 18k, but it's good enough for HL2.

The reason i want to keep my graphics card as i just bought it about 4 or 5 months ago. Its an Asus V9950 SE TD Geforce FX 5900. So its pretty new and will be good for games. Would buying a new pc be cheaper than upgrading? Use my original monitor. So only need the engine room.

[Jockstar]

Ok. Lets say i forget upgrading the Pc and buy and Xbox. Is it possible to play Pc games on an Xbox as i have just bought Half Life 2 the original? I know its got a hard drive. I'm no PC wizard. So please save the flaming. Just asking genuine questions. Cheers

Edited January 27, 2005 by Jockstar

[monty]

Since you have a very good performing vga card I certainly would go for upgrading your PC!

If you want gaming performance you probably want to look at AMD based systems.

Example:

nforce 2 based mainboard (Gigabyte 7NF-RZ, NVIDIA nForce 2 SPP, at 2200 Baht)

512Mb ram at around 3200 Baht

You then have the choice of processors between 2000 Baht (Sempron 2200) and 10000 Baht (Athlon Xp 3200)

Either the Sempron 2800 or XP 2600 would bring your system around 10000 Baht and this would certainly run HL2 with your graphics card at acceptable speed.

Alternatively, for a bit more of your hard earned Baht you can go the 64Bit Athlon way, which outperforms pretyy much anything Intel can trow in the ring at a very reasonable price!

Starts at around 4000 Baht for a basic socket 754 Mainboard and around 6200 Baht for the Athlon64-2800

Add the 3000 something for memory and you have your basic 64 bit platform wich will play Half Life 2 at very decent frame rates.

Can be upgraded with both more memory, and a faster CPU when the prices of the 754 Athlons are going to drop

[bkk_mike]

Ok. Lets say i forget upgrading the Pc and buy and Xbox. Is it possible to play Pc games on an Xbox as i have just bought Half Life 2 the original? I know its got a hard drive. I'm no PC wizard. So please save the flaming. Just asking genuine questions. Cheers

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not really - no.

You can modify an Xbox to run Linux and stuff, but I've never heard of anybody running windows on it.

Even if you succeeded though, it's basically a Pentium 3 with a 3 year old Nvidia graphics card, and is almost certainly slower than your existing PC if you were to try to run half-life on it.

Unlike a PC, because the Xbox and PS2 are standardised to all have the same basic electronics, the game writers don't have to worry about working acceptably on different graphics cards, or different O/S versions, or different processors, so can optimise things more when the games are compiled...

[chanchao]

> Was quoted a while back in Fortune town for new mother

> board installed 10K. Any ideas guys?

Sounds about right. 2000-3000 baht mainboard, low-range Pentium 4 would be enough so those cost about 5000 baht, and you'll be replacing your memory. You will want to get not less than 512 MB. So you're likely just a little over 10K.

I wouldn't shell out big for the latest greatest CPU as this seems to be the fastest depriciating component in your PC. I'd save my money for things that hold their value. (Like a nice screen) Or you could get an AMD based setup, you'll be saving like 1000-2000 baht compared to the Intel CPU.

[Jockstar]

Just checked my processor speed and its &lt;deleted&gt;. Really &lt;deleted&gt;. 800MHz. What the fukc? No wonder its stalling on playing games. So can i just change the processor for a bigger one or do i have to replace the full motherboard? I understand that i can just do this with the ram. Unclip the existing ram and pop in a higher ram. But as i said before i'm no PC wizard.

[Firefoxx]

Your motherboard, as you said, uses the Pentium III processor. Current processors are the P4, so you would need to buy a new mainboard. Your old RAM also won't work on the new mainboard. So, new mainboard, new RAM, new CPU. Might need a new power supply too.

[Jockstar]

Your motherboard, as you said, uses the Pentium III processor.  Current processors are the P4, so you would need to buy a new mainboard.  Your old RAM also won't work on the new mainboard.  So, new mainboard, new RAM, new CPU.  Might need a new power supply too.

Cheers Firefox. Thats what i wanted. A nice simple answer. Will keep you posted on when and what i get. Thanks.