Need Help From Tech Guru's...

hi all,
just come back from hols in europe :P ... need to upgrade my celeron 1.7 and mx440 video to something that will allow me to run new games like deus ex 2 and half-life 2 and doom 3 reasonably (when they are all out...)..without costing the earth, as i have no money left!!
The place i'm gonna get my gear from will pay me for my current stuff, but i need to decide on what speed (ie P4 2.8,3.? *EDIT* - or AMD?? ...etc) and what sort of video card (ie nvidia 5200,5700..or radeon 9???)...
i just need a bit of guidance as i don't know what to get to have a noticiable difference...
any help would be appreciated..
dave.

For HL2 and D3, if you want to play it good, id suggest you get atleast a GeForce 5950 or Radeon 9800 Pro.

As for cpu, you can get yourself a 2.4 and oc to 3.2

you should post the brand & model number of your motherboard so people can help you figure out how much of an upgrade that it will accept, and whether or not you should consider buying a newer motherboard as well. you may be able to pop a significantly faster CPU into it, or you may not... it depends on the particular model.

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Originally posted by 3RA1N1AC@9 August 2004 - 22:02
you should post the brand & model number of your motherboard so people can help you figure out how much of an upgrade that it will accept, and whether or not you should consider buying a newer motherboard as well. you may be able to pop a significantly faster CPU into it, or you may not... it depends on the particular model.

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Forgot about that. But by the sound of it, you will also need a new motherboard. Maybe some new RAM if you get a new motherboard.

yep, SingaBoiy is right...i can't up my current m/b beyond p4 2.4 (400FSB) so its not really worth it... and yes i think i will have to trade in my 512 ram too...cant remember what speed it is...plus when i say run the games "good" i dont mean with all the settings way up.. isnt 30fps enough for most games? the radeon 9800 is more than i can spend from the looking around ive done... should i head towards something in that range or steer towards the nvidia range? i notice a lot of you guys have radeon cards so i guess thats an endorsement on its own..!

You could get a Celeron D. Seen lots of people OC it to 3.8 on stock and get performance just below P4 3.4. ($88)

Some Kingmax 512MB PC-3700 for good OCing ($88)

I dont know alot about motherboards, but this ASUS P4S800 should be fine. I think ($66) :rolleyes:


Thats $242. Just need a vid card.

GeForce FX 5600XT should be decent for new games. ($86)

i know this is very noobish of me but the guy at the computer shop recommended getting a similar 800fsb p4 board but with p4 2.8, and he said either the geforce 5200 or 5700...? what do you guys think of those...? EDIT -what speed of celeron D would you say to go for?

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Originally posted by dboucher@10 August 2004 - 10:26
i know this is very noobish of me but the guy at the computer shop recommended getting a similar 800fsb p4 board but with p4 2.8, and he said either the geforce 5200 or 5700...? what do you guys think of those...? EDIT -what speed of celeron D would you say to go for?

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DO NOT get the 5200, it's basically the same as your MX440 with more RAM.....any card but that.

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Originally posted by dboucher@10 August 2004 - 01:26
i know this is very noobish of me but the guy at the computer shop recommended getting a similar 800fsb p4 board but with p4 2.8, and he said either the geforce 5200 or 5700...? what do you guys think of those...? EDIT -what speed of celeron D would you say to go for?

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The one I linked to.

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Originally posted by RGX+10 August 2004 - 13:23--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (RGX @ 10 August 2004 - 13:23)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-dboucher@10 August 2004 - 10:26
i know this is very noobish of me but the guy at the computer shop recommended getting a similar 800fsb p4 board but with p4 2.8, and he said either the geforce 5200 or 5700...? what do you guys think of those...? EDIT -what speed of celeron D would you say to go for?

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DO NOT get the 5200, it&#39;s basically the same as your MX440 with more RAM.....any card but that. [/b][/quote]
While I wouldn&#39;t recommend the 5200 now, it is in no way "basically the same as the MX440". The FX5200 is DirectX9 compliant, the MX440 is not.

If you do get that Celeron D from Newegg, check the Combo deal to see if you can get something good for cheap.

thnx all...good advice.. :D