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[Iowa]

Well, I figure it's about time to upgrade my PC, primarily to make it so that I can run games made past 2001 but more specifically i'm looking to run World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Painkiller, and Doom 3 (and maybe FEAR).

Here are my current system speculations:

Windows 2000
Intel Pentium 4 (1.7 GHZ)
Integrated sound card (?)
16mb Nvidia Vanta
128mb RAM
20GB hard drive

I plan to upgrade my video card to 128mb and my RAM to 1GB. If I have any money left after this, i'll try to at least up my HD capacity to 50GB, but I doubt this is all possible on 150 dollars.

But i have a few questions:

-Will this upgrade make the aforementioned games work? (for WoW I should be fine on Internet connect speed, I have upwards of 200kb/s)

-Does the brand of video card i get matter? (Nvidia or ATI)

-How do I determine my video card port number? (or that I am buying the right type of video card for my PC)

-If HL2 will work, will I be able to run STEAM without completely raping my system resources and connection speed? (I've witnessed this on lesser computers)


Any advice/knowledge would be very much appreciated on these and other subjects. k:

[_r.u.s.s.]

the games will run, but i would upgrade the slow 1.7ghz instead of hd capacity.

for graphics i would choose nvidia if i were you cause i own one ati and its seriously buggy and they have issues with some shaders which makes some games crash and stuff. and you can see your graphic cards 'port' on a box from your motherboard, but looking on your pc i guess it will be AGP

and steam is gay

[Icewolf]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Iowa @ Jun 29 2007, 01:35 AM) [snapback]296991[/snapback]</div>

I plan to upgrade my video card to 128mb and my RAM to 1GB. If I have any money left after this, i'll try to at least up my HD capacity to 50GB, but I doubt this is all possible on 150 dollars.[/b]

Don't know where you live, since the prices even within Europe vary a huge deal.
In Germany you could get all the parts for 150€.

Originally posted by Iowa+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Iowa)</div>

Look up the system requirements on the game box or in the web. There's minimum and recommended. If you surpass the recommended setting by >10%, the game should work fine.

You can download everest or download the mainboard manual from the web if you don't have it available.<!--QuoteBegin-Iowa
-If HL2 will work, will I be able to run STEAM without completely raping my system resources and connection speed? (I've witnessed this on lesser computers)

See above. Check the requirements first.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(_r.u.s.s. @ Jun 29 2007, 02:06 AM) [snapback]297000[/snapback]</div>

the games will run, but i would upgrade the slow 1.7ghz instead of hd capacity.[/b]

Then again, a quick CPU won't help you with too little RAM. It's like a good worker with a too little desk.

[_r.u.s.s.]

he said he wants 1gb ram, i think its enough =)

[Icewolf]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(_r.u.s.s. @ Jun 29 2007, 10:08 AM) [snapback]297033[/snapback]</div>

he said he wants 1gb ram, i think its enough =)[/b]

OK, I thought you mean upgrading the CPU instead of upgrading sth. else.

I experienced that a really bad graphics card (e.g. busniess pc, onboard-graphics, shared mem.) slows down the entire system.

[gregor]

let's see.:

Seagate SATA 160GB 7200rpm 8MB Cache 55,49 € but i saw smaller disks for 30 €

WD 80GB, 7200rpm, 8MB, IDE 44,53 EUR

oh you need to know if interface is SATA or IDE (your disk choice depends on it)

you can buy OEM graphics card:

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1050, 256MB, AGP 52,37 EUR

i would go for 256 MB graphics - because difference in price is not big.
i think oyu need AGP card since your ocmputer seems old.

they are good enough for games, unless you want to make some animations or something.

for ram depends on which RAM modiles are you using. you might be able to get some older ones at good price.
new RAM
Patriot DDR2 1GB 800MHz DL PC2-6400 45,35 EUR

Here they sometimes sell them in packages (e.g. 2 x 512MB. depends on what you want) i if your motherboard doesn't support dual speed ram then i would buy single stick 1GB and just add it to the existing RAM.

total is 142,25 EUR which is about 190 $

i advise the 256 MB graphics card because difference is not so big but performance is better. as for disk you might get something smaller and cheaper. i know they used to sell small disks (40GB) here for 35 or so EUR. but if you download form internet larger disk is good to have. i'd say at least 80 GB.

your lmiitation will then be your porcessor and motherboard. you want to play some graphically demanding games so you should check their requirements.

i can tell Morrowind runs fine on 320 MB RAM 1.6 Ghz Celeron with 128MB graphics card. not sure about Doom 3.

[Iowa]

if you download form internet larger disk is good to have. i'd say at least 80 GB.[/b]

...Yeah...about that...*tries to casually close Bittorrent window*

Thanks for all your help, guys!

But gregor, where did you find these things at such low prices? I checked out Newegg and TigerDirect (my friends' recommended sites to buy computer parts at) and 256MB graphics cards were way more expensive than 52,37 EUR [especially the ATIs].

[_r.u.s.s.]

typed 'nvidia'+'256' in to search form. http://www.agem.sk/?cmd=tovar&flag=dis...6qJFcLu83V50QjU
34 SK= 1 euro -> 30-60 euros/ one

[The Fifth Horseman]

Intel Pentium 4 (1.7 GHZ)[/b]

Will do.

Integrated sound card (?)[/b]

I don't see integrated sound cards being any problem. Using one myself, and long as the sound quality is acceptable (ie no distortions or noise during normal operation) I'll keep doing so.

16mb Nvidia Vanta[/b]

That graphics card is positively stone age. Do you even have an AGP slot on the current motherboard of yours?
If you have one, I suggest getting a card with 128 MB RAM or more. Hadware T&L is a must.

128mb RAM[/b]

You'll most definitely need a RAM upgrade. 256 to 512 MB. (recommending the latter)/

20GB hard drive[/b]

This may be a problem, since most of those games will require several gigabytes of HDD space. I'd suggest an additional 20 to 40 GB HDD.

-How do I determine my video card port number? (or that I am buying the right type of video card for my PC)[/b]

By reading the motherboard manual or opening the case and looking on the motherboard. PCI, AGP and PCI-e slots look very different from each other.

-Will this upgrade make the aforementioned games work? (for WoW I should be fine on Internet connect speed, I have upwards of 200kb/s)[/b]

No guarantee for Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. If you turn down the graphic detais and resolution to bare minimum, turn down Anisotropic Filtering and Anti-Aliasing, disable bump-mapping and finally set shadows to simple... maybe.

[_r.u.s.s.]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(the_fifth_horseman @ Jun 29 2007, 04:35 PM) [snapback]297102[/snapback]</div>

No guarantee for Half-Life 2 and Doom 3. If you turn down the graphic detais and resolution to bare minimum, turn down Anisotropic Filtering and Anti-Aliasing, disable bump-mapping and finally set shadows to simple... maybe.
[/b]

it will work=)