posted
I will, starting next week, be going to work for Target as a night-stocker. I'll be working 10:30-6am four nights a week (Wed. night through Sunday morning). It pays $9.35 an hour or so, and I'm hopeful that my finances will be back on track within two months. When they are, I need to work on upgrading my computer. Please read on.
As many of you know, I'm an avid player of "Counter-Strike", the mission oriented Half-Life mod. I've recently been given admin on the server I play on (Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow - [EGBT]), but I've been having difficulty playing certain maps with the post-1.4 texturing (as well as two oldies: cs_office, and cs_italy).
While the problems are lessened on the two "older" maps, it essentially boils down to the same thing: my computer lags horribly, and visuals and sounds repeat for quite some time before refreshing. I don't have the problem when I open a map as a LAN game where I'm the only guy running around, but attemtping to play maps like Torn, Chateau, Piranasi and Havana is impossible.
Speaking with some of the more technical minded folks on [EGBT], I've learned that I need to boost my ram, and change my video card to handle my problems on the maps. I've got 96 RAM, and the stock video card of a HP Pavilion 8655c. Essentially, I'm looking for a second opinion. Boost RAM and get a new video card? If so, what?
Charles Capps
We appreciate your concern. It is noted and stupid.
Member # 9
posted
What CPU is in that thing? If it's a P3, you'll do fine with a GF2 or a GF3. If it's a P4, a high end GF3 or 4. Don't waste your money on a state of the art card when upgrading an older system.
You want no less than 256 megs of memory.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
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The 8655c has an integrated graphics chip, so you can't take it out. Not that you'd want to, anyway.
Alas, there's a catch in upgrading: your motherboard isn't fitted with an AGP interface bank, meaning it will only take to older PCI display adapters. Nvidia GFx*/ATI Radeon** cards that are tailored to PCI slots do exist, but they're a rarity -- in addition to being less powerful, as the PCI bus can't offer enough bandwith to utilize their full numbercrunching potential. Then again, a P3-533 won't exactly push them to their performance extremes, so it's safe to buy one if you don't plan to carry the thing over to a new rig in the future.
* 1/2/3/4 (Don't bother with the first two unless you're really stretched for dough, and stay clear of the MX types.) ** 7500/8500/9000/9100 (Don't, incidentally, be fooled into thinking a higher number equates to a faster card. ATI's 8500 chipset packs by far the biggest punch of the four listed here... that's marketing for ya.)
Without replacing the motherboard, you're looking at a limit of 256 megs of memory, which is the bare minimum you can get away with in this Day And Age. Should be adequate for large CS maps, but I'd avoid crowded areas if I were you.
Cartman's economic advice for happy gaming: GF3 Ti500 or GF4 Ti4200, two 128MB RAM sticks. (Be sure to get the older SDR (PC-133) memory modules, or you'll deepfry them... assuming you could somehow insert DDR units into SDR banks and not break both in the process.)
[ February 24, 2003, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: Cartmaniac ]
Registered: Nov 1999
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Charles Capps
We appreciate your concern. It is noted and stupid.
Member # 9
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... or you could just save up about $1500 and just get a new kickass system...
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
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"?"
"I will, starting next week, be going to work for Target..."
Registered: Nov 1999
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I agree with most of what Cartman said, apart from...
quote:Originally posted by E. Cartman: Without replacing the motherboard, you're looking at a limit of 256 megs of memory, which is the bare minimum you can get away with in this Day And Age.
...because it's clearly bollocks. 128mb is the minumum you can get away with in this day and age. He's playing Counterstrike, not Doom III. 256mb on a computer that old won't really make much difference.
Also, remember that a GeForce 4 MX != a smaller GeForce 4. A GF 4 MX is actually slower than a GeForce 3.
I would also recommend looking at ATI cards, but their numbering system confuses and frightens me. Can someone do a rough ATI to nVidia card equivalent list? Please?
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Well, Liam kinda makes an interesting point. See, I've found that the difference between 256MB and 512MB is actually relatively useful....but not so much for games, especially FPS games. Ironically, the most demanding game on my computer is Simcity4, easily outclassing Max Payne, Morrowind, etc. However, the main area where additional memory shines is when doing work with lots of multitasking (i.e. JBuilder Java programming, plus 3 or 4 browser windows open, a SSH connection, and whatever else).
Roughly speaking, performance best to worse is: Radeon 9700 PRO / GeForce FX (not out yet) Radeon 9700 Radeon 9500 PRO / G4-4600 / various flavours of G4-4200-8x G3-Ti500 Radeon 8500 G3 Radeon 9000 ... and I'm getting bored. The naming convention is basically like this. Numbers starting with 9 are DX9 capable hardware, starting with 8 means DX8 capable. The PRO indicates that ATI manufactured it, meaning slightly higher clock speeds, quality, etc...but it will be more expensive. Note that: The ATI cards are usually much cheaper as well, at least here in Canada.
On a P3, a Radeon 8500 or a plain-Jane Geforce 3 should be more than you'll ever need before your processor becomes a problem. Good luck finding any that will go into a PCI slot though.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Note that my personal pick was the Radeon 9500 PRO. Cheaper than the 9700 (PRO or otherwise) and the G4-4600 but with nearly the same performance. Roughly equivalent to a Nvidia 4600 in base performance, but clearly much better when using FSAA and AA. (Probably a case of, if you don't know what they are, you probably don't need them)
I wouldn't suggest pairing it with anything less than a 1.X Athlon or P4 though.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Mucus: However, the main area where additional memory shines is when doing work with lots of multitasking (i.e. JBuilder Java programming, plus 3 or 4 browser windows open, a SSH connection, and whatever else).
That's almost certainly true, but really, how many PC users do you think actually do all that? Jeff can barely read his e-mail.
If he had a lightning fast PC and GPU, then yeah, more memory would probably be useful. But as it is, I don't think that the memory is being the bottleneck. Upgrading to 128 or 192 mb might help, especially for the memory intensive games (like SimCity, as you say), but overall? A faster CPU, GPU, hell, even a new hard drive might be better.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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