What Do I Need

[bigdawgfoxx]

Ok, I will be trying to play this game on my new system. My new system will contain the following:

Nice Asus Mobo w/ dual channel. (dont wana get all the specs and stuff)

AMD 2500XP "Barton" Overclocked to somewhere around the 3200XP range hopefully

Kingston HyperX Series 2X256MB of ram.

GeForce 4 MMX 440 ( :angry: ) yes I know.

Now I know all of the other settings other then the graphics card would play this game FINE, but would this graphics card play this game at ALL? All it has on it is a heatsink, but im thinking about getting a HS/Fan for it so I can overclock it some.

My card is clocked at 250Mhz Core, and 332Mhz Memory clock. How high do you think these settings will have to go before I can play BF1942? All settings dont have to be on High...medium or low will work on most settings, I just want to play without a lot of jumpy frames and stuff :D

Thanks for ANY help!

[adamp2p]

big dawg, please don't jump right to overclocking...

I suggest that you just pat yourself on the back if you are able to get everything running well in the first place...

after about a month of doing extensive research about how to overclock safely, then proceed carefully. I think the jump you will experience going from a celeron to that particular chip should keep you satisfied for quite some time... ;)

[Livy]

and also dont expect to get the cheapest barton chip and overclock it straight to the highest performance barton, without some major cooling. or if its possible at all.

[(>Zero Cool<)]

Mr dawg I had a p4 2.53 with some other ok/reasonable stuff, nothing fancy and a 440 or a 420 can&#39;t remember which nothing better though and it ran just fine, so don&#39;t do anything drastic till you try it first. :)

[bigdawgfoxx]

A lot of people have overclocked there 2500XP to a 3200XP with stock cooling.

Thanks for the info zero cool, that makes me a little more confident.

Im not talking about overclocking my CPU im talking about overclocking my GPU. But zero cool said his worked fine so I will just try it stock at first.

All you have to do with the 2500 is make it 200X11 and it will run at 2200. DONT GET ME WRONG&#33; I wont immediatly take that big of a jump&#33; I will inch up there and make sure everything is running right of course.

Edit: also my friend has a system which has a 2200XP, 512MB of PC2700 RAM, Some sort of mobo that doesnt look bad at all..has a chipset cooler and stuff, and a TI4200 128MB GPU. I reformated his HDD and put XP Pro SP1 on there. His system runs very slow for a computer of that spec I think. It takes a long time to go through folders and open programs and stuff. Going through stuff is only a little bit faster then mine...Ive always wondered about why his runs so slow. Also its from Emachine..which I think could be the problem..

[(>Zero Cool<)]

no probs, that wee card is not as bad as many think it handles quite a lot thrown at it I have only just very recently upgraded and it is probably very debatable whether I really needed to. As far as I can remember(haven&#39;t played it for a bit) I ran a pretty high spec/detail game wise and it was fine :) Hope you get on ok. :)

[abu_has_the_power]

u don&#39;t need to oc to play bf1942 with that system

[bigdawgfoxx]

even with that GPU...I thought it was like horrible..

[clocker]

Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx@15 December 2003 - 19:47
Ive always wondered about why his runs so slow. Also its from Emachine..which I think could be the problem..
Partially correct.
The eMachines BIOS won&#39;t let you do much of anything to tweak the settings and they have them set very conservatively.

You could still probably do quite a bit to speed up Windows for him though.

[bigdawgfoxx]

What do you mean they set them conservativly? Like do they downgrade some of that stuff or something? What stuff would they do to the bios to make it slower?

I have done some windows tweaking also...just like a little bit of stuff to the system.ini that i got off of tweak3d.net that has boosted my systems performance fo sho.

[clocker]

The memory timings are so relaxed they are almost comatose. This allows them to install the crappiest possible memory and still have the machine boot. Unfortunately, if you upgrade to better quality RAM there is no way to access the settings and improve the performance.

[bigdawgfoxx]

Originally posted by clocker@15 December 2003 - 21:06
The memory timings are so relaxed they are almost comatose. This allows them to install the crappiest possible memory and still have the machine boot. Unfortunately, if you upgrade to better quality RAM there is no way to access the settings and improve the performance.
damn that sucks...can a company permanantly affect a bios...couldnt he flash it or something and get that emachine shit outa there? Getting a new mobo would fix this prob right?

What would the memory timings be?

[DWk]

oh i finally understand where e-machines get their crappy rep....thx clocker :)

[TheFilePirater]

i can play bf1942 perfectly on mine, wit all settings full

[Virtualbody1234]

What&#39;s the point of overclocking when the bottleneck is the graphics card.


big dawg, please don&#39;t jump right to overclocking...

I suggest that you just pat yourself on the back if you are able to get everything running well in the first place...

after about a month of doing extensive research about how to overclock safely, then proceed carefully. I think the jump you will experience going from a celeron to that particular chip should keep you satisfied for quite some time...&nbsp; ;)
I was going to say something like what adamp2p said. I see I don&#39;t need to add anything to that statement. He said it better than I would have. http://www.mcbriens.net/liam/img/smilies/thmbup.gif

[RGX]

I have seen battlefield 1942 run very satisfactoraly (sp, I know :lol: ) on an Xp2000, 512Mb ram, and Gf4 440MX, with no lag, dont know what his settings were on but the graphics looked good so I doubt your new machine would have problems, just upgrade the graphics card whenever you have the money, despite what people say they arn&#39;t that bad

[TRshady]

Originally posted by RGX@16 December 2003 - 12:25
despite what people say they arn&#39;t that bad
Totally agree there, the card doesn&#39;t deserve the reputation and I think its only considered so bad because its no where near as good as the ti which is also Geforce 4. Although I would LOVE a ti4800 se .... the mx420 I have works fine, even on games like gta:vice city on 1024x768 resolution with everything else turned up. Having an xp1800+ athlon, and 256ddr my comp is no way super, but it does the job for me fine and you should be fine. :)

[bigdawgfoxx]

Note: Mines also PCI..how much of a diff does that make?

[DWk]

bf1942 runs on my computer...but not well... i have to turn a lot of details off :(

[Virtualbody1234]

Battlefield 1942 System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Windows® XP, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows 98, (Windows NT and 95 are not supported)
500 MHz Intel® Pentium® or AMD Athlon™ processor
128 MB RAM
4x CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive
1.2 GB free hard disk space plus space for saved games (additional space required for Windows swap-file and DirectX™ 8.1 installation)
32 MB video card which supports Transform & Lighting and with DirectX 8.1 compatible driver
DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card
Keyboard, Mouse

Recommended Requirements:

800 MHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor
256 MB or more RAM
16x or faster CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive
1.2 GB free hard disk space plus space for saved games
64 MB or greater video card which supports Transform & Lighting
Environmental Audio™ capable sound card

[DWk]

yea thats my point :(

dunno why it runs like that :(

[bigdawgfoxx]

Looks like I pass all of that, but still...It doesnt say how fast the card should be, and never does of course, but that plays a big role..I think it will be fine..thanks guys&#33;

[Virtualbody1234]

@bigdawgfoxx as you can see from the requirements that you absolutely don&#39;t need to overclock your CPU.

[bigdawgfoxx]

I never asked about the CPU..although most people are talking about it..im asking about if I have to overclock the GPU.

[Virtualbody1234]

What&#39;s this then?


AMD 2500XP "Barton" Overclocked to somewhere around the 3200XP range hopefully

[bigdawgfoxx]

yeah I know...I&#39;m just saying that I hope to have a very powerful CPU. I wasn&#39;t asking about that though, just the GPU.

[bigdawgfoxx]

oh and on speedfan (the program) which temp do I go by? Temp 1, Temp 2, or Temp 3?

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx@19 December 2003 - 06:41
oh and on speedfan (the program) which temp do I go by? Temp 1, Temp 2, or Temp 3?
Wait, bigdawg, I am a little lost here...

have you already recieved the components for your new system?

[silentbob]

i have the same card and it runs fine ;)

[bigdawgfoxx]

@ Adam, No I dont have all of the components but I ordered the case and PSU and they arrived today :D

[bigdawgfoxx]

Another thing that pisses me off..is that my PSU has a "chrome" finish kinda...but they put all of the uglyl ass stickers on the side that faces the clear size pannel...why couldnt they put it the other way around&#33;

And my case and shit came with no instructions...gona be fun to figure out lol

Edit: :o NVM...Ill just take out the lil faceplate kinda thing and TURN IT THE OTHER WAY...hopefully this will work&#33; lol

Edit: Nope...didnt work. They make it look reversible but theres shit in the way and it wont fit right..I could cuz it but dont have anything to cut it with..FUCK

[DWk]

ask them for the manuals :)

edit: or any kind of documentation?

[bigdawgfoxx]

Why wouldnt tiger direct ship me the fucking manuals? Oh well..w/e....

Is there like an opposite plate thing that I can buy to fit in there to make my PSU fliped around?

http://www.sighost.us/members/bigdawgfoxx/edited.jpg

this is the thing im talking about...I cant reverse it because its not cut...so can I get a reversed one at like comp usa or something? thanks

[adamp2p]

Why don&#39;t you just search google?

I know that sounds like a futile recommendation, but I figure that it is worth a try.

[bigdawgfoxx]

well I dont even know what the name of the damn thing is or anything so im just seeing if anyone has seen them

Also, I just pluged my PSU into the wall and pushed the power button thing and nothing happend..

[adamp2p]

Well you should not expect anything to "happen" if you just plug it in.

You probably need to have things actually connected to the PSU for it to be functional.

[bigdawgfoxx]

ohh ok ...didnt know that..I thought it would still turn on and spin the fans around.

[adamp2p]

I am a little lost here with what that thing is for...

[raiserblade2003]

Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx@20 December 2003 - 01:48
ohh ok ...didnt know that..I thought it would still turn on and spin the fans around.
no u need to have the atx connector connected in order for the psu/system to power up when u push the power buttong....do u have all the part needed?

[bigdawgfoxx]

oh alright thanks raizer&#33;...ok adam..its like ya know where the PSU is installed on the top back of your system..ok well you dont just stick they PSU in there. There is also another thing you can unsrew that you screw the PSU directly into. I cant switch it because like the part of the "faceplate" (in my picture above) isnt cut.

http://www.sighost.us/members/bigdawgfoxx/psu_and_case.jpg

I know that there HAS to be one, because when you see an awesome looking case your never see the gay ass PSU sticker.

[adamp2p]

hmmm...I am a bit lost here. It sounds to me you are going to have to wait until one of the experts like Virtualbody1234 or clocker can help you...can you still return it?

[bigdawgfoxx]

Yes, Tigerdirect.com has always been great with returns for me. There is nothing wrong with the case, and I am quite in love with it :D lolol

[DWk]

all this for a sticker? tsk tsk.....

anyways.....so im sure you already said it...but cant you flip the psu instead?

[bigdawgfoxx]

no not just for a sticker. Well yeah I guess so...but its a big ass white sticker and it will look horrible with blue cathodes and it will be easily visible. If it was the other side the blue cathode will reflect off of the awesome finish. If there wasnt a clear side pannel I wouldnt care

[raiserblade2003]

cant u just cut the other side?

[bigdawgfoxx]

Thats what im thinking..what would I cut it with..its metal

[raiserblade2003]

Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx@20 December 2003 - 03:15
Thats what im thinking..what would I cut it with..its metal
chainsaw? lol guess u dont have shop class....but ask clocker what he uses im sure he cut tons of stuff b4....look at his project idea

[DWk]

dude if the sticker is on the back of the computer it shouldnt be visible unless you use ur pc in some way we never heard of....

[Virtualbody1234]

Does you power supply have 2 fans? One right above the CPU.

If you turn it upside down the fan won&#39;t be in the right place.

Anyway you could cut the metal with tinsnips.

http://www.btinternet.com/~fireballxl5/workplace/construction/tinsnips2534_small.jpg

[bigdawgfoxx]

well yeah it has 2 fans, but its purpose isnt to cool the cpu newayz is it? The fan that is on the PSU would be a little bit farther away from the cpu..is that really bad?

I just see awesome modded cases, and the sticker never shows..how do they switch it around and stuff...maybe i should just not worry but the cathodes would look so much better shining off the metallic finish

[raiserblade2003]

Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx@20 December 2003 - 01:09
Another thing that pisses me off..is that my PSU has a "chrome" finish kinda...but they put all of the uglyl ass stickers on the side that faces the clear size pannel...why couldnt they put it the other way around&#33;


do u see that dwk? its not on the back its on the side....and the one w/ the clear window.

[bigdawgfoxx]

Yeah well i duno i would think it would be easy to find one so you dont always have to see the sticker...but maybe ill just have to deal with it

Cutting it wouldnt be too hard but VB acts like its bad to switch the spots of the fans..

[bigdawgfoxx]

Ok another question. I still need to order all of the other hardware for my new computer. Will prices on mobos ram and cpu go down after christmas or will it not really change much?

[SciManAl]

my expierience shows that it won&#39;t but i don&#39;t know what new stuff will be rolling out this christmas... if any so prices should be somewhat stable this christmas... (i am watching those damn 64 bit proccesors, they haven&#39;d made thier push yet... still pricy and a minority)

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by bigdawgfoxx@20 December 2003 - 14:31
Ok another question. I still need to order all of the other hardware for my new computer. Will prices on mobos ram and cpu go down after christmas or will it not really change much?
Why are you so set on getting an ASUS Mobo? You know there are other companies out there, more notably EPoX. :D


But serious, go to www.amdforums.com And curise the Motherboard forums a bit, then the overclocking forum, get a feel for what people are using, and what there experiences are, ask around a bit and see whats right for you. ASUS, yes, im not knocking them, but u can find a board that does exactly what a model of their board does, for less.

Also, the new bartons are locked, for the multiplier atleast, so your going to need GOOD RAM. 3200 atleast to get it at 3200+ speeds. If you want to go higher, your going to need ram that will be able to clock above that 400 threshold (or 200Mhz as the FSB) 3200ram is that 400, (or 200Mhz, like I said.) Thus, 3500 is i think 216. Also, if you get bargain ram, dont expect to go over its rating much. For instance, my 3200 Ram, does 200Mhz out of the package. So 200 X 11 (the 2500+&#39;s locked multiplier) gives you 2200Mhz, the pretty much 3200+ speed.

DISCLAIMER: Bigdawg, if you get something similar to my setup, in ergo 3200 Ram, and run the CPU at 2200Mhz, YOU WILL BE FINE ON STOCK COOLING. I have two fans in my case, + 1 PS fan, and my stock cooling fan. My temps are usually right at 50C (idles are high 40&#39;s/loads are at low 50&#39;s.) THESE ARE PERFECTLY FINE TEMPS. But, if you wanna go higher, I would SUGGEST getting a good HS/F and better Ram.


COOLER- For a cooler, I am personally getting a Thermaltake 11+ xaser edition, off of newegg.com If you want to know how some perform, or which ones are good ones, simply go to www.newegg.com go to their heatsink fans section, go to summary view, and sort bt REVIEWS. You will see which are the most popular, and which are the best bang for the buck.

MEMORY- Now, Im not saying that a stick off 200Mhz ram will not go over the 200Mhz barrier. But the better ram you get, the more it can go over. I have seen 3200 Ram that will go up to 250Mhz 250Mhz x 11 2750Mhz (although, people who have got their ram to run this high, have lowered their multiplier, 2700Mhz, is really only feeasible with redicilious cooling setups, IE, dry ice, other stuff that they just do to see how far they can push it. Anyway, with good memory, you can easily get your CPU into the 2400Mhz + range. What I would suggest is google for overclocking arties on the 2500+ XP, and see what memory they use, and what they pushed their&#39;s too. Trust me, the overclocking ram is more expensive FOR A REASON&#33; You can get 3200 Ram, for 80 bucks like I did, but the 100+ dollar ram, is a hell of a lot better.

Any other questions?

PS: Oh btw, Im getting a Epox 8rda3+ in acouple of days, I will tell you how its goes.

[_John_Lennon_]

Oh Also, big dawg, about playing Battlefield 1942 with your card. I have the 2x/4x 128MB MX 440 version, and I cant run BF 1942 at over 80% bots, or else it turns into a slide show. Its a really graphic intensive game. I would suggest Halo, my card runs great on it, with full details and shading. OR, call of duty, that was kinda fun when I played it a few days ago, after getting it off bittorrent, and I would like it more than BF 1942.

But then again, im also getting a Radeon 9500 Pro, finally.

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by _John_Lennon_@21 December 2003 - 05:34

But then again, im also getting a Radeon 9500 Pro, finally.
Where are going to pick one up and for how much?

newegg has one for &#036;178 (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-258&depa=1)

and that&#39;s a Sappire Atlantis, probably an excellent overclocker...

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by _John_Lennon_@21 December 2003 - 05:30

Why are you so set on getting an ASUS Mobo? You know there are other companies out there, more notably EPoX. :D


PS: Oh btw, Im getting a Epox 8rda3+ in acouple of days, I will tell you how its goes.
Well, apparently we have several members of this board who have had excellent experiences with the ASUS model name; not to mention they are well respected throughout the world for their craftsmanship...

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by adamp2p+20 December 2003 - 23:45--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (adamp2p @ 20 December 2003 - 23:45)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-_John_Lennon_@21 December 2003 - 05:34

But then again, im also getting a Radeon 9500 Pro, finally.
Where are going to pick one up and for how much?

newegg has one for &#036;178 (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-258&depa=1)

and that&#39;s a Sappire Atlantis, probably an excellent overclocker... [/b][/quote]
Im picking mine up through the for sale trade forum at amdmb.com For about 100 bucks.

[_John_Lennon_]

Originally posted by adamp2p+20 December 2003 - 23:48--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (adamp2p &#064; 20 December 2003 - 23:48)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-_John_Lennon_@21 December 2003 - 05:30

Why are you so set on getting an ASUS Mobo? You know there are other companies out there, more notably EPoX.&nbsp; :D


PS: Oh btw, Im getting a Epox 8rda3+ in acouple of days, I will tell you how its goes.
Well, apparently we have several members of this board who have had excellent experiences with the ASUS model name; not to mention they are well respected throughout the world for their craftsmanship... [/b][/quote]
Im well aware of ASUS&#39;s craftsmanship, and their high quality motherboards. My point is, is that there are comprabable boards from other companies.

Epox 8rda3+ (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=13-123-198&depa=1) 93&#036;

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=13%2D131%2D436&searchdepa=1) 118&#036;

Cant say im the biggest fan of passive cooling on the north bridge either.

[bigdawgfoxx]

The board your getting doesnt have RAID like the Deluxe Asus. I have researched ASUS boards and have seen alot of good reviews from the A7N8X non deluxe (not sure i got the numbers right) and have also seen many many people take a 2500 to a 3200 on them. The Asus name is good, there board is good looking, and it has features I will use, and not loaded with features I wont use.

Dual Channel ram is what i want to take advantage of with the board im getting.

Here is the ram im getting.

HyperX 2X256MB PC3700 (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-129&depa=1)

I was going to get the 3200...but this is actually cheaper...It doesnt show the timings and the timing on the 3200 are 2-2-2-6. Usually the higher speeds seem to have more lengthy timings such as the PC4000 has 3-4-4-8...so will the 3700 be slower then the 3200? I can spend the 10 dollars more for the 3200.