Is this a good upgrade?

**Swe_gamer** · October 30, 2006, 01:19 PM

Hey

I have a Athlon XP 3200+, 1 gb ram, 9600XT 256mb gfx card.

I am unsure if I should just buy a new gfx card or if I should go and do an all out upgrade in order to run MTW2 smoothly (never built a computer before). For the gfx card I am considering a Asus EN7600GT (175eur) or the MSI GeForce 7900GTO PCI-E 512MB (250eur).

If I go for an upgrade I will probably choose the following (prices in euro, Finland):
.......................................................................

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, 1.86 GHz, Socket 775, FSB 1066, 2MB Cache, 204.90

MSI GeForce 7900GTO PCI-E 512MB GDDR3 Dual-DVI 247.90

Gigabyte MB775 I-P965 Gigabyte 965P-DS3 169.90

Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe 58.90

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB Serial-ATA-II (SATA-II) 96.90

Corsair Twin2X 2x512MB DDR2 800Mhz KIT 171.90

Lite-On SHM-165H6S DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner. LightScribe 50.90

Antec Performance One P150 - 430W. 139.90

..................................................................................

Any thoughts on this upgrade? Should I be able to run MTW2 smoothly if I just upgrade my gfx card to one of the above or will these cards demand an upgrade?

Sorry for my noobishness in this, really appreciate any feedback!

**Spart** · October 30, 2006, 01:22 PM

Like the system. But I wouldn't take 512mb sticks anymore, games require more and more, and when Vista comes out... So take 2X 1GB. =) You can fit more memory then.

**Swe_gamer** · October 30, 2006, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by Spartacus(FIN)

Like the system. But I wouldn't take 512mb sticks anymore, games require more and more, and when Vista comes out... So take 2X 1GB. =) You can fit more memory then.

Kiitos Spartacus, the only problem is that the DDR2 sticks imo are so expensive at the moment and I am already stretching my limit as it is. Good tip though, I might go for a 1x1gb instead so that I have more space in the future? Any views on the graphics cards, will I be able to handle this game by just upgrading my card?

**krazykarl** · October 30, 2006, 03:25 PM

go for the GTO, its a good card.

**Incinerate_IV** · October 30, 2006, 08:45 PM

PSU is WAYYYY too expensive. An $80 one will probably be more than enough.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817194002

And the X1900XT 256MB is a little better than the 7900GTO, for only $10 more. It seems to be sold out at Newegg though.

**Spart** · October 30, 2006, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Incinerate_IV

PSU is WAYYYY too expensive. An $80 one will probably be more than enough.

But isn't there a case included too? P150, which I think is pretty good. Or is it still too expensive?

**UnderdawgIV** · October 30, 2006, 10:16 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817104954

That's even better and been tried and tested. Not to mention a fraction of the price.

**Swe_gamer** · October 31, 2006, 01:03 AM

Yes Spartacus is correct, it is a case included in that price and I have heard some good stuff about this model:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article272-page1.html

I might buy the gfx card first and see how it works with my old comp and MTW2 and perhaps wait with the full upgrade if no one sees why it shouldn´t work. I also know that directx10 cards are coming up soon but I think it will take some time before games that support it are out and it seems you can get a really good deal on directx9 cards at the moment so I think I will go for an gfx upgrade now.

Here are some more reviews on these products if anyone is interested:

Motherboard: http://www.neoseeker.com/resourcelink.html?rlid=140420

CPU: http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...?cid=2&id=2014

GFX card: http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/r...tanv7900gt0103

Thanks for your input so far!

**Freddie** · October 31, 2006, 03:28 AM

Originally Posted by Swe_gamer

Hey

I have a Athlon XP 3200+, 1 gb ram, 9600XT 256mb gfx card.

I am unsure if I should just buy a new gfx card or if I should go and do an all out upgrade in order to run MTW2 smoothly (never built a computer before). For the gfx card I am considering a Asus EN7600GT (175eur) or the MSI GeForce 7900GTO PCI-E 512MB (250eur).

If I go for an upgrade I will probably choose the following (prices in euro, Finland):
.......................................................................

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, 1.86 GHz, Socket 775, FSB 1066, 2MB Cache, 204.90

MSI GeForce 7900GTO PCI-E 512MB GDDR3 Dual-DVI 247.90

Gigabyte MB775 I-P965 Gigabyte 965P-DS3 169.90

Scythe Ninja Plus Heatpipe 58.90

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB Serial-ATA-II (SATA-II) 96.90

Corsair Twin2X 2x512MB DDR2 800Mhz KIT 171.90

Lite-On SHM-165H6S DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner. LightScribe 50.90

Antec Performance One P150 - 430W. 139.90

..................................................................................

Any thoughts on this upgrade? Should I be able to run MTW2 smoothly if I just upgrade my gfx card to one of the above or will these cards demand an upgrade?

Sorry for my noobishness in this, really appreciate any feedback!

Thats a good upgrade, I have a lot of those parts myself (DS3 mobo, Seagate 7200.10 320 Gb HD, E6400), if you want to save some money but the Aractic Freezer Pro 7. Great cooler, and half the price of the Scythe Ninja and it's great for overclocking as well. Also your PSU seems a tad expensive.

**Shaun** · October 31, 2006, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by Freddie

Thats a good upgrade, I have a lot of those parts myself (DS3 mobo, Seagate 7200.10 320 Gb HD, E6400), if you want to save some money but the Aractic Freezer Pro 7. Great cooler, and half the price of the Scythe Ninja and it's great for overclocking as well. Also your PSU seems a tad expensive.

Yeah, 139 for a 430W PSU is quite expensive. You might want to get a faster Core 2, at least the E6400.
Oh, and although the 7900GTO is great and all, you might want to consider ATi's options. They are currently the only cards that can run AA and HDR at the same time, and have overall better image quality.

**Arakorn** · October 31, 2006, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by Shaun

Yeah, 139 for a 430W PSU is quite expensive. You might want to get a faster Core 2, at least the E6400.
Oh, and although the 7900GTO is great and all, you might want to consider ATi's options. They are currently the only cards that can run AA and HDR at the same time, and have overall better image quality.

Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah!

Are you seriously telling me that you can see a difference between different cards?

That's like looking at a monitor and telling if it's 1ms or 2ms!

**Arakorn** · October 31, 2006, 04:55 AM

Yep seems good, though get 1x1GB instead of 2x512, and then you have room for an additional gig :wink:

BTW, should I speak Finnish or Swedish with you?

Oh and any idea where you're going to buy it from? verkkokauppa.com or?

**Swe_gamer** · October 31, 2006, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by Arakorn-eir

Yep seems good, though get 1x1GB instead of 2x512, and then you have room for an additional gig :wink:

BTW, should I speak Finnish or Swedish with you?

Oh and any idea where you're going to buy it from? verkkokauppa.com or?

Swedish please mutta ymmärän vähän suomea

. I am from Sweden but live in Helsinki (first snow storm today...) and yes the store is Verkkokauppa. I called them today and was able to get a 20 eur discount on the whole package. Thats like 1,5% discount but better than nothing :tooth: . The guy said I would not be able to upgrade with just the video card so I guess I am going for the package above except I will go for a 1gb ram lnstead of 2x512 ike you suggested.

Thanks again guys, guess I will see you in mp now that my rig won´t suck for once

.

**Shaun** · October 31, 2006, 03:49 PM

But you might as well buy the best you can, right?

**AlfonsoVIII** · October 31, 2006, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by Shaun

But you might as well buy the best you can, right?

Shaun, I know you like ATI, but is the HDR and AA on at the same time is the only thing that makes it better than Nvidia. You seem to look at that answer, and as I am reading alot about ATI cards, I want to know what else makes them great cards.

**Shaun** · October 31, 2006, 04:23 PM

Well the fact that they are a bit cheaper, have overall better image quality and still manage to beat the GeForces on about half of the benchmarks that I seen.

**Hadrian** · October 31, 2006, 05:23 PM

But, Shaun, on the other side of the fence, nVidia's, as a whole, run cooler (who needs more ambient case heat?), and quieter, and beat ATI in about half the benchmarks as you said, so they are winning the other half that ATI isn't, and that stuff about "better image quality" is not detectable by the human eye, just like the difference between 42 FPS and 48 FPS! SLI is much more developed and user friendly than Crossfire and therefore is typically more optimized by more games than Crossfire. Also, nVidia's pricing in the low and middle range products smokes ATI's, and nVidia makes more products for those who still use AGP, so the argument can be made that they are more customer friendly, as well!
Both company's make excellent products, and we as consumers benefit because they force each other to innovate, excel, and produce ever higher quality products, as well as the fact that our final consumer benefit is their feverent pricing competitions! When one is whipping the other, we get $600.00 video cards, but when they are neck and neck like right now, we get the great pricing we are enjoying at the moment.
I've found ATI's tend to aim for "refined quality and power" whereas nVidia tends to focus on "brute force".....fair enough?

Shaun, I've enjoyed the ongoing debate between you and Arakorn-eir on the subject....

**Shaun** · October 31, 2006, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by Hadrian

But, Shaun, on the other side of the fence, nVidia's, as a whole, run cooler (who needs more ambient case heat?), and quieter, and beat ATI in about half the benchmarks as you said, so they are winning the other half that ATI isn't, and that stuff about "better image quality" is not detectable by the human eye, just like the difference between 42 FPS and 48 FPS! SLI is much more developed and user friendly than Crossfire and therefore is typically more optimized by more games than Crossfire. Also, nVidia's pricing in the low and middle range products smokes ATI's, and nVidia makes more products for those who still use AGP, so the argument can be made that they are more customer friendly, as well!
Both company's make excellent products, and we as consumers benefit because they force each other to innovate, excel, and produce ever higher quality products, as well as the fact that our final consumer benefit is their feverent pricing competitions! When one is whipping the other, we get $600.00 video cards, but when they are neck and neck like right now, we get the great pricing we are enjoying at the moment.
I've found ATI's tend to aim for "refined quality and power" whereas nVidia tends to focus on "brute force".....fair enough?

Shaun, I've enjoyed the ongoing debate between you and Arakorn-eir on the subject....

Im not bothered if its detectable by the human eye really, I just hate the crap at the bottom of the range, if I was honestly bothered about a price per performance ratio, and about only buying good enough gear to turn on stuff I can actually see I would have went mid range. And it must only be the X1900XTX and below that runs really noisy, my X1950XTX (stock, Sapphire) runs really quietly, if it ever does get noisy then I can just turn the volume up on my speakers. My speakers are loud enough.

I agree with the second part of your post.

EDit- ambient case heat keeps my legs warm on these cold winter nights.

**Germanicus75** · October 31, 2006, 05:31 PM

Shaun, are you thrashing your 6600 or is it running at stock? Just curious :-)

**Hadrian** · October 31, 2006, 05:57 PM

OK, since your in Scotland, I'll give you the ambient heat thing! You know me Shaun, I hate the low end just like you, and personally, I could care less if my VC's fan is noisy, it can't be any worse than my 120 Tuniq Tower when it's wide open! Lol Give me the top end baby....