What would be best to upgrade in PC

[re8]

It's 1600 x 1200. Google search for "2001FP" gives the dell site a few other hits.
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...p/EN/specs.htm

Ah, I though C088155O060L was the model #. Cheers.

[WarHawK]

this just shows how ignorant people who post on the forum are.

[KriLL3.8™]

It's 1600 x 1200. Google search for "2001FP" gives the dell site a few other hits.
http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...p/EN/specs.htm

[re8]

Art_illery gives good advice both with the Intel & AMD recommendation. However, when I saw this:

Im back! ..
gonna write ya everything, except how much space i got, mouse+keyboard, internet stuff, USB stuff....
Monitor: Dell 2001FP (Analog) [20"LCD] (C088155O060L)...

This means that you have a 1600x1200 dispaly!
That means you need a stronger graphics card in my opinion. Stealing from tomshardware.com, here are the GPUs you'll need, strongest to weakest:

nVidia // ATI
8800 GTX, 8800 Ultra // 0
8800 GTS // HD 2900 PRO, HD 2900 XT
7950 GX2 // X1950 XTX, X1950 XT, X1900 XTX
7800 GTX 512, 7900 GTO, 7900 GTX // X1900 XT
7800 GTX, 7900 GT, 7950 GT // X1800 XT, X1900 AIW, X1900 GT, X1950 PRO
7800 GT, 7900 GS, 8600 GTS // X1800 XL, X1950 GT

So, you're looking at a $150USD graphics card atleast.
I would wait until November; prices should fall, & you can see the results for the UT3 beta/demo.

[da ghost]

getting a dual-core processor would help you the most, but I'd just get the demo and see what your framerates are like before buying anything. Your computer's at about recommended specs, so I wouldn't worry about anything.

[DefJam101]

You could up that ****ty PC to UE3 standards easily.


First buy a cheap dual-core CPU from Intel (2.6-3.0Ghz will cut it..)

Then wait until the 8900's come out from Nvidia, then buy a cheap 8800GTS. Also another GB of RAM will help a lot.

[kobalt]

Quote :"you get out of that buy some new harddrive S-ATA maybe 200-300 Gigabyte"

As a matter of fact anyone wanting disk space there's good sales now and SATA 300 500Gb are selling like cupcakes at $109

[Art_illery]

Ok this Mainboard is an old S754 Sempron Mainboard, and sadly AMD never released dual Core CPUs for that socket, so you are out of luck upgrading by just plugging in a new CPU. And the Graphics card is also an old AGP slot Model, so you are out of luck there too.

Seems to me your best option would be to get a completely new System, and that said, everything is open to discussion from now on. You could either get an Intel Core2Duo System which would give you really nice performance, as it is proven that those Intel Core2Duos run games better than their AMD counterparts with a decent Graphics card, or you could be the price sensitive guy and choose a little less performance and go a little bit cheaper with AMD X2 Processors.

With 550-770 USD you should be in a good range for a new system that can run UT3.

I for myself bought an AthlonX2 5200+ 2 GB of MDT DDR2-800 CL5 RAM and a XFX 8800GTS Ultra 340 MB which cost me about 500€ in total and which also ran Bioshock like a charm. I could have bought an Intel Core2duo, but i decided against it, because i like the "Underdog" AMD, and like to support them, as they are the only ones who can at least touch Intels otherwise monopoly, and of course because those CPUs are manufactured here in Germany at the AMD Dresden Plant ;o). But that is a personal decision which doesn´t need to be of any importance to anyone else.

For an Intel based system i would get either a 6420 or 6750 with some Asus or Abit or Gigabyte Board all of which offer nice stability and features and get 2 GB of DDR2-RAM (RAM is really cheap today, so no real point in going for just 1 GB) and for the Rest of the Money i would buy the biggest nvidia Card that the remaining Money can buy, probably a 8800 GTS maybe only a 8600.

Then i would sell your old box, and with the money you get out of that buy some new harddrive S-ATA maybe 200-300 Gigabyte and DVD ROM/Burner, Case and a 450Watt or more Power supply.

I haven´t got any prices for real in my head on all those parts, but i think that should meet that 770 USD limit i think. Please advise me if i am wrong there all you other people.

But that would definately be a System you could enjoy UT3 with, even with high details.

[Pileyrei]

Guys

I live in London, UK.
What if I bought a new Dell system......not now......but soon.......what's the best/reaslistic to go for, with UT 3 in mind? (pls dont flame me with anti Dell stuff, I just find them more reliable than most).

Piley

[Weehuu]

Im back! ..
gonna write ya everything, except how much space i got, mouse+keyboard, internet stuff, USB stuff.

*writing directly from everst (its in danish, so ill do my best to translate):*

Motherboard:
cpu: AMD Sempron 1818MHz (9 x 202) 3100+

motherboard name: Soltek SL-K8An2(E)-GR (5 PCi, 1 AGP, 2 DDR DIMM, Audo, Gigabit LAN

motherboard chipset: nVIDIA nForce3 250Gb, AMD Hammer

system memory: [TRIAL VERSION] (probably 'cause everst want me to register)

BIOS type: Award (09/20/04)

Communication Port: Communicationport (COM1)
Communication Port: communication port (COM2)
Communication Port: Printerport (LPT1)
----------------------
Graphiccard:

Graphiccard: Radeon X1650 Series Secondary (512 MB)

Graphiccard: Radeon X1650 Series (512)

3D Acclerator: ATI Radeon X1650 Pro (RV530)

Moniter: Dell 2001FP (Analog) [20"LCD] (C088155O060L)
----
DMI

DMI BIOS Producent*: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
(Producer, maker,creator?)
DMI BIOS Version: 6.00 PG

DMI System Producer: blank
DMI System Product: blank
DMI System Version: blank
DMI System Serial Number: [TRIAL VERSION}

DMI Motherboard Produkt: nForce

DMI Total / Free memory sockles: 2 / 0
---

Really hope that was enough, and i really appreciate all the helpfull posts so far

EDIT: forgot, the idea was to use about 570-770USD cirka on my little baby

[Mosh]

What I've been concluding in my research is that although AMD processors are quite a bit cheaper, they don't really come close to the current Intel processors? Looking at http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/...07/page17.html it's quite clear that Intel is on top atm. Then again, the price difference is pretty big and that table makes a difference of 10fps look like a lot more than it is...

And no I don't want to make this an Intel VS AMD discussion, I'm just going through the process of considering an upgrade myself =)

[Art_illery]

Let´s just wait until he drops in and hopefully gives us some more info on the techspecs of his System, then we can help him decide if it is worth upgrading single parts, or if he is better off buying a complete new system (if he has the money anyways that is)

[re8]

Let´s just concentrate on helping that guy who started this post instead of getting to those boring AMD vs. Intel fights shall we...There are so many different paths you can choose from today and with each new generation of Hardware there are new complications on the road to upgrade your System, that you have to take into account, that in my opinion as a rule of thumb it is not really viable to upgrade single parts of a system that is older than 2 years. ...

And for Weehuuu, it all comes down to upgrading the CPU first, this is his main bottleneck in his system right now.

Yes, his graphics cards are good, so a AMD x2 would put his system in the "good+" range, then an extra GB into the "very good" range.
I wouldn't buy another MOBO if possible.

[Art_illery]

Let´s just concentrate on helping that guy who started this post instead of getting to those boring AMD vs. Intel fights shall we ;o).

As i see it, we need a lot more information on the technical specs of the System you are running right now. Which type of Socket is it, which type of Graphics Card Slot. Sadly, upgrading a Computersystem nowadays isn´t as "easy" as it was about 10 years ago. There are so many different paths you can choose from today and with each new generation of Hardware there are new complications on the road to upgrade your System, that you have to take into account, that in my opinion as a rule of thumb it is not really viable to upgrade single parts of a system that is older than 2 years. The PC Architecture is laid out to be very configurable, yes, but with all the technical improvements and incompatibilities that arise from new Technologies faster and faster each generation of the Hardware, it is very hard to upgrade single parts without compromising too much.

In most cases it is much better to just get rid of the old System as one (sell it on ebay or something) and take that money, put some new money on top and go out to buy a completely new Rig.

That is the reality today, sad as that may be. Don´t ever make the assumption that you are buying a System that you can upgrade for years to come, you will get disappointed very badly.

And for Weehuuu, it all comes down to upgrading the CPU first, this is his main bottleneck in his system right now. If it proves to be too hard to upgrade the CPU with the Socket he is using, than he will be needing nearly a complete new system (Harddisks and DVD Drives could be worth upgrading too, if they are still IDE Types, as S-ATA is becoming the new standard rapidly). His only chance at getting away real cheap is if it is a S939 Mainboard, which he could upgrade with one of those remaining S939 Dual Core Athlon X2s on the market, but those will vanish till the end of the year/beginning next year too, would be my guess

[Jovas]

If your mobo supports a dual core processor, then go get a solid one which fits your socket..