upgrade/new PC hardware advice

[grunion]

i don't read all the hardware sites too often so i'm out of the loop on what's the latest greatest in PC gaming hardware.

right now i have:

cpu: Intel P4 478pin 2.2 GHz (100 FSB, 400 bus speed, whatever that means)
mobo: Intel D845WN (AGP2, kind of old)
ram: 768MB generic+name brand SDRAM
video: ATI Radeon 9000

and the other stuff is pretty typical, MS mouse, DVD burner, normal case, nothing special. sound and NIC built into mobo, a couple ATA HD's.

FFXI runs smoothly in most situations (i.e. bogs down with 36 people fighting in 1 spot). so my questions:

(a) if i was going to spend $1000 purely to be able to run FFXI with more graphics options on, should i replace the mobo, CPU, and video card, or some other combination of parts?

(b) specifically what mobo/ram/cpu/video card should i get? i don't want to overclock anything, and i want to stick to intel just because i'm more familiar with it

(c) with my current setup, would it be more cost-effective to just get a new video card and faster CPU (i.e. dont mess w/ ram, mobo, etc.)?

(d) if i get a full replacement of cpu/mobo/ram/video, how much more would it cost (minimum) to just get another case and power supply to have 2 PC's instead of 1 PC and some spare parts?

(e) what's the cheapest way to get the stuff i need? should i just use nextag.com?

sorry for all the questions, any (specific!) advice will be very helpful

[Kiro]

A) Motherboard and Video Card. You don't need a crazy fast processor for FFXI.

B) Motherboards, ASUS is great. RAM, I say it doesn't matter. But others will disagree. Video card, anything NVidia I think.

C) With your current setup, a new video card and motherboard would be good. You have more RAM than I do at the moment, but the more RAM the better. If you do have $1000, try and get a 1GB stick.

D) Cases are pretty cheap, unless you want a crazy one with lots of lights and LCD panels. Power supplies are really cheap too, $100 bucks for a nice case and decent power supply probably.

E) I've never bought PC parts online, dunno how well it works. Someone else will know though. :O

My answers aren't that great 'cause I don't know a ton about computer parts. ^^;

[grunion]

thx kiro, 2 semi-informed opinions (yours and mine) is probably almost as good as 1 informed opinion

[Sonomaa]

FFXI is cpu based, so a good mix between video card and CPU will do very well for you, something above the 3ghz range (or amd equiv or higher), 1g of ram minimum, and geforce 6600/atix800 or above series video cards

the new nvidia chipsets for intel CPUs are really impressive, but intel itself makes one of the most impressive ones availible still, people like asus, I prefer gigabyte or msi, any of those three will serve you well

it would not be more effective to upgrade yourself, your ram is SD, 845 chipsets are limited to 400mhz fsb chips, you might fit a 533 chip on there, but probably no hyperthreading, which works quite well, if you want to upgrade, time to say goodbye to the mobo

not much more money to fully replace, you can get a nice case including power supply for limited funds, 400w + or better, 500w is recomended

search around for the best place, I like newegg and zipzoomfly.com but it depends on your location (newegg + canada = X)

[dietvanillapepsi]

If you do have $1000, try and get a 1GB stick.

You mean $100 right? Just bought a pair of 1GB sticks for a little over $200 bucks. I've seen some newegg prices for a little under $150 for a pair. BTW you want to buy in pairs. Either 2 or 4. Don't go replacing just one stick.

And yes, upgrading the memory makes a load of difference.

[grunion]

If you do have $1000, try and get a 1GB stick.

You mean $100 right? Just bought a pair of 1GB sticks for a little over $200 bucks. I've seen some newegg prices for a little under $150 for a pair. BTW you want to buy in pairs. Either 2 or 4. Don't go replacing just one stick.

And yes, upgrading the memory makes a load of difference.

memory options are confusing - speed, type, parity (do they even have parity any more?), it seems like my odds of buying the right kind of memory are pretty low. i guess i will wait and see what mobo i end up with and just see if i can find something that tells me what memory to use with that mobo. i dont really understand the distrinction between DRAM, SRAM, etc., especially as it pertains to making a game PC.

[Kiro]

If you do have $1000, try and get a 1GB stick.

You mean $100 right? Just bought a pair of 1GB sticks for a little over $200 bucks. I've seen some newegg prices for a little under $150 for a pair. BTW you want to buy in pairs. Either 2 or 4. Don't go replacing just one stick.

And yes, upgrading the memory makes a load of difference.

I didn't mean pay 1000 for 1GB, I meant if he has that much, why not go for 1GB. @_@

[GraveRobberX]

Is my computer worthy of playing a MMORPG... I played FFXI on PS2


OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation

System Name NATASHA

System Manufacturer Dell Computer Corporation

System Model Dimension 4550

System Type X86-based PC

Processor x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2525 Mhz

BIOS Version/Date Dell Computer Corporation A05, 1/27/2003

SMBIOS Version 2.3

Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2

Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"

Total Physical Memory 256.00 MB

Available Physical Memory 77.70 MB

Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB

Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB

Page File Space 619.87 MB

[Alleya]

A) Motherboard and Video Card. You don't need a crazy fast processor for FFXI.

Untruest statement in the whole thread. CPU + RAM is everything for FFXI, GPU is on the back burner.

[Sonomaa]

Total Physical Memory 256.00 MB

that part right there would hurt you horribly, in fact if you bumped that to 512 or 1g, windows itself would seem significantly faster

seriously, do yourself a favor, bump your ram up, then experience FFXI on PC, its quite nice in my opinion

[Septimus]

I want to buy a new computer, should I start a new thread or will people give me decent advice on this one?

[Alleya]

I want to buy a new computer, should I start a new thread or will people give me decent advice on this one?

Go to newegg, do searches limiting to the max amount of money you want to spend on a certain part and get the most expensive one.

:D

[Thranduil]

I want to buy a new computer, should I start a new thread or will people give me decent advice on this one?

GHz is Galkas / sec, right?

[Sonomaa]

I want to buy a new computer, should I start a new thread or will people give me decent advice on this one?

Go to newegg, do searches limiting to the max amount of money you want to spend on a certain part and get the most expensive one.

:D

yep, if you have questions feel free to ask, a friend just built a computer based on some specs I picked out for him, Ill get his sheet in a few days, he spent about 800ish and got a fricken amazing system

[raginbull]

I agree Asus motherboards are the best, for RAM you will want Corsair or Crucial. 512mb is satisfactory but you ideally should get 1GB. and should be pc-3200 at least. RAM is not that expensive.
For cpu generally AMD is better for gaming than intel, don't know the specifics but that seems to the overriding opinion (Athlon 64-bit btw)

You need to find out if the Cpu and graphics card will work with your board, but you should probably replace that anyway if you are upgrading those. For video cards any of the newer nvidia cards are great.

fsb is front side bus, term for the physical bi-directional data bus that carries all electronic signal information between the Cpu and other devices within the system such as RAM, the system BIOS, AGP video cards, PCI expansion cards, hard disks, etc.

Oh sonomaa I don't like microstar (msi) boards but that's just me . Asus by far the best Ive had.

[Sidd]

I agree Asus motherboards are the best, for RAM you will want Corsair or Crucial. 512mb is satisfactory but you ideally should get 1GB. and should be pc-3200 at least. RAM is not that expensive.
For cpu generally AMD is better for gaming than intel, don't know the specifics but that seems to the overriding opinion (Athlon 64-bit btw)

You need to find out if the Cpu and graphics card will work with your board, but you should probably replace that anyway if you are upgrading those. For video cards any of the newer nvidia cards are great.

fsb is front side bus, term for the physical bi-directional data bus that carries all electronic signal information between the Cpu and other devices within the system such as RAM, the system BIOS, AGP video cards, PCI expansion cards, hard disks, etc.

Oh sonomaa I don't like microstar (msi) boards but that's just me . Asus by far the best Ive had.

would agree here - Asus boards are awesome.

http://www.pricewatch.com is helpful if u know parts that u want already, or zipzoomfly.com has a good selectionon their own.

if u have monitor / case already, u can save quite a bit and spend extra in the core component area.

[Iku]

Motherboard: ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI X16 ATX AMD Motherboard - $230

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX - $300

RAM: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel. $200

Hard Drive: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6L200S0 200GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - $100

DVD/CD Drive: These cheaps. Go find one. or reuse it.

Video Card: connect3D 3038 Radeon X800GTO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - $180

Sound Card: Creative 70SB035000017 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card - $100

around 1200 bucks.

Monitor = reuse

power supplies = reuse.

PC case = reuse.

What else am i missing?


This will probably change your gaming experience. This is a mid-range system. Prices are according to newegg.com. Also, this system is compatible with Window Vista ( new OS from Microsoft and i heard it is 64 bit OS. ghey! )

[Septimus]

OK, what about if one does not possess the technical expertise to build one's own system?

[edgarfigaro]

OK, what about if one does not possess the technical expertise to build one's own system?

Did you build legos as a little kid?

Hell, did you dress dolls as a little kid?

If you answered yes to either of those questions, you have the expertise to build your own system.

[dietvanillapepsi]

If you do have $1000, try and get a 1GB stick.

You mean $100 right? Just bought a pair of 1GB sticks for a little over $200 bucks. I've seen some newegg prices for a little under $150 for a pair. BTW you want to buy in pairs. Either 2 or 4. Don't go replacing just one stick.

And yes, upgrading the memory makes a load of difference.

memory options are confusing - speed, type, parity (do they even have parity any more?), it seems like my odds of buying the right kind of memory are pretty low. i guess i will wait and see what mobo i end up with and just see if i can find something that tells me what memory to use with that mobo. i dont really understand the distrinction between DRAM, SRAM, etc., especially as it pertains to making a game PC.

Decide on the MB you want to buy first. Most retailer websites have a tool that tells you what kind of memory it supports. Just plug in your model number and it will let you know. And of course, you can visit the manufacturer's website to see their recommendations.

One of my computers is a Dell so I didn't know what MB I had and I was too lazy to look so I just went to the Dell site to see what type of RAM they offered as an upgrade for my model desktop. Then I just shopped around for RAM with the same specs as the RAM they were offering.

OK, what about if one does not possess the technical expertise to build one's own system?

Did you play that game where you fit the pegs into the correct hole? Computers are just like that game. If the square peg doesn't fit into the round hold then try to find the square hole. When it doubt, buy your buddy a beer to do it for you.