pythonfan

My Feedback: (1)

this is what i got in my pc for gaming, also my pc is a few years old but i can play these high graphic games fine but some could be better so i was thinking of upgrading a few thing, like got to another 80g of hard and 1-2g ram, a better graphic card, and maybe if my games will work with it the mac os operating system?





Dell Dimension 8400
Pentium 4
3.00ghz
Radeon x300/x550
160g hard
512ram
and DSl

So whats my pc rate for gaming?

1troy7

My Feedback: (28)

You need more RAM. A gig or two would help you out alot. You could also get a new graphics card. Still won't be at the top. But in 6 months or less everything is outdated anyway.

-Inverted-

As far as I know you cant run Mac on a Windows PC, just the inverse?

Nathan9492

You can run MAC on a Windows Pc, its just not legal

Foxy

Your PC rates a low 2 in my opinion. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but your video card is crap, you have almost no RAM and an ancient CPU. Bear in mind that I am in the tech business, so my standards are pretty high. I would venture that you are not even able to play the Crysis demo. To call yourself a gaming PC, in my opinoin the minimum requirement is that it can at least 'run' the Crysis demo at lowest settings. Consider that my spec listed below, in my opinion, needs a SERIOUS upgrade urgently.

Athlon64+ 3000+ (running at 3003mhz, 800mhz overclocked)
4GB DDR400 RAM
Audigy 2 sound
NV80 (nvidia 8800GTX 756MB) graphics.

I'm looking at a serious motherboard, processor and RAM upgrade. I might even get another GTX

With the current spec I can play Crysis demo at 1600x1200 on Directx9 (XP) with most things on high and get around 30-40fps. That's just not good enough if you ask me, and it's my CPU that's letting me down. My graphics card spends more than half it's time twiddling it's thumbs waiting for the CPU to catch up.

Foxy

Your PC rates a low 2 in my opinion. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but your video card is crap, you have almost no RAM and an ancient CPU. Bear in mind that I am in the tech business, so my standards are pretty high. I would venture that you are not even able to play the Crysis demo. To call yourself a gaming PC, in my opinoin the minimum requirement is that it can at least 'run' the Crysis demo at lowest settings. Consider that my spec listed below, in my opinion, needs a SERIOUS upgrade urgently.

Athlon64+ 3000+ (running at 3003mhz, 800mhz overclocked)
4GB DDR400 RAM
Audigy 2 sound
NV80 (nvidia 8800GTX 756MB) graphics.

I'm looking at a serious motherboard, processor and RAM upgrade. I might even get another GTX

With the current spec I can play Crysis demo at 1600x1200 on Directx9 (XP) with most things on high and get around 30-40fps. That's just not good enough if you ask me, and it's my CPU that's letting me down. My graphics card spends more than half it's time twiddling it's thumbs waiting for the CPU to catch up.

Wide Open

I'm a little bit nicer than foxy in that I would maybe give that set up a 4. This is because the pentium 4 can still hold its own in some games. However, with anything new coming out it will either struggle greatly or not run it at all. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars requires a huge amount of processing power alone, but unfortunately I can't remember what it is at the moment. I just remember thinking "no way" at Best Buy.

boltech

I would have to agree with Foxy, Your PC is not that great. But you don't have to break the bank and nerd out your pc either

- 512MB ram is too low, XP on it's own will gobble up most of that ram not leaving much for your games, HDD swapping during a game will affect your frame rates big-time. Go a full 1GB of ram, more is better.

- Definitely get a better video card, your system supports PCIe 16x so go as high as your wallet will allow

- You can upgrade your CPU, Pentium 4 540 processors can be had for cheap, depending on your motherboard you may be able to go dual core.

- I'm not sure if your system is SATA II 3 GB, but if it is make sure your HDD is SATA II 3 GB also, some manufacturers skimp out by giving you a SATA I 1.5 GB drive.

- If your system is not SATA II 3 GB then you can also look into SATA II 3 GB PCIe cards.

Anomie

Foxy, does your XP machine recognize all 4 gigs of ram? At my work we have several PCs running XPP, and they will only see ~3.4G of ram, even though there are a pair of 2G modules installed. We were told by the IT fella that only Vista will properly utilize more than that. [&:]

I don't meant to troubleshoot, but I'm curious.

boltech

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/...m/331006081831

Foxy

No it doesn't recognise it all (3.2 iirc, and I've noticed that apps won't use more than 1.9 generally, but I am unsure if that's all they need or if it's some kind of limitation of my board or XP). Fortunately/unfortunately, depending which way you look at it, I am losing touch with current hardware technology as I am more involved in IT strategy and SOX auditing these days. My win2k3 server recognises it all though. [8D]

Anomie

Thanks to both of you for the info. At least I know I'm not crazy (well, not in that way, anyhow)

Foxy

This thread spurred me into action. Tomorrow I'm going shopping.

I will buy...

EVGA Nforce Ultra motherboard
2GB (4 was just not necessary, but I may add another 2 when I upgrade to Vista) DDR2 800mhz RAM (as 2x1GB DIMMS)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 (Conroe) @ 3Ghz... (hm, not for long! Mwahahahaha)
150GB Western Digital Raptor (10,000rpm, 8MB cache) - I'll use this for primary Windows XP/Vista/2K3 drive, I already have half a tera of storage in regular 7200rpm drives. This drive should be ultra fast, it's the most expensive one on the shop!

Combined with the GFX card I already have, that should make for a fairly Ninja machine. I still may add another NV80 at some point. [>:]

Now I'm gonna go looking for a new case, bored with this one... [8D]

pythonfan

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks for the reply everyone, i got the pc setup from dell a few years ago for gaming but the most i did then was flight sim, but now someguy got me into half life 2, and now I'm getting into gaming and its starting to lag....

as for os on a pc my friend did it with this
http://www.apple.com/macosx/ he just put it in instead of xp. he uses his for more business and such, he's a computer tech in a way, and he built a pc from the ground up that walks all over mine.

I don't know if this will help but i got a price range of 300 maybe 400 it depends, the 400 is gonna be really hard to do, cause i have to let mom buy this for me and if she has that much trouble with my cars i can see it now with this.................

I buy from a few places like newegg, office max, office depot, a few small pc stores in my town. but whats a good place to find all this at for good prices?

oh side note, if i take a pic of the inside of the pc is it gonna brake anything? i know its a dumb question but my grandpa swears he broke his that way the pc.

DarkFire989

My current pc specs are:
Pentium D 3.4 GHZ
2 GB DDR2 RAM
nVidia 7600 GS 512 MB
160 GB HD
450W Power Supply
Stock Cooling
NZXT Nemesis Case

I'm thinking about over clocking it but not sure. Keep in mind though that this PC is just over a year old. I basically run a lot of current games on high settings and keep a good FPS. I have yet to play Cyrsis though. On 1-10 what would you give this PC? Right now I'm a Junior and highschool and I just started to work. So either this coming summer or next Im going to completly over haul my pc. Or just buy a new one. I heared a rumor that the new nvidia 9 series is coming out in april of 08, has anyone else heard this?

pythonfan

My Feedback: (1)

here are some pics of my pc i just took them a few min ago to see if it helps u guys/girls.

pythonfan

My Feedback: (1)

don't worry about all the dust, i grabbed my air spray and the light PC vacuum, and cleaned her right up. fans working again lol.

boltech

A cheap route would be to upgrade your video card, ram, and CPU.
The Ram and CPU won't cost much.. The video card will run some major coin.

Tigerdirect has some good pricing

http://www.tigerdirect.com

pythonfan

My Feedback: (1)

ok guys here's what I'm looking at, out of these what should i get, and if there's something better plz list and link it, if u have a better combo for 300 i would appreciate it if u could list it with links thanks.

Processor:
Intel Celeron D 360 Processor - 3.46GHz
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=2526011
Graphic Cards:
XFX GeForce 7600 GT XXX Edition
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...578&CatId=1558
XFX GeForce 8600 GT Fatal1ty Video Card
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...304&CatId=1558
EVGA GeForce 8600 GTS Superclocked Video Card
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...563&CatId=1558
XFX GeForce 8600 GTS Video Card
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...543&CatId=1558
HIS Radeon X1950 Pro IceQ3 Turbo
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...032&CatId=1558
piggy Back Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar 80GB Hard Drive
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...322750&CatId=8
Ram:
PQI 1024MB PC2700 DDR 333MHz CL2.5 Memory
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...0722&CatId=147
Ultra 1024MB PC2700 DDR 333MHz Memory
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...1019&CatId=147

so out of those choices, did i pick anything good or better then what i got now?

A.B.U

It basically all is..

i'd go for at least an 8300GT card for gaming.. at LEAST 2GB of RAM.. 200-300Gb of HD is always good, too..

boltech

Your system is SATA, don't bother with the HDD you chose.. go for either of these
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...8595&CatId=139
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...3393&CatId=139

RCtruckRacer

This thread got me thinking too...

A few years ago I built my PC out of top, or near top of the line components

Intel D875PBZ MoBo - this was the most desired one for overclocking at the time
Intel P4 3.4GHZ extreme edition. This was over $1000 at the time. Now you can get them on the bay for around $300
GeForce 8600 ultra - around $600 as it had just been released, now dirt cheap.
3G Corsair ram. I can't remember what I paid, but no doubt its much less now.
250G sata HD. Also just released and one of the largest sata drives available at the time. They are about half the price I paid now.
And a really noisy (but cool) Thermaltake tower.

My passmark score is around 650, which is fairly good - overclocking raises the score, but it sure makes the temps soar so I have just left it. Not bad for a computer that is going on 4 years old. But when I think how little it would cost to build it today, I get a bit depressed!

Anthoop

Ah no good getting depressed!Most things depreciate in value...electronics probably being the worst!Hey you could of always bought a painting instead.

pythonfan

My Feedback: (1)

ok guys will this make a good combo?

Intel Celeron D 360 Processor - 3.46GHz
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=2526011

XFX GeForce 8600 GTS Video Card
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...543&CatId=1558

PQI 1024MB PC2700 DDR 333MHz CL2.5 Memory
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...0722&CatId=147

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB Hard Drive
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...8595&CatId=139

ok with the hard drive, do i need to put windows xp on the new hard drive if i take the old one out and put the new one in? and if so, my disk i have is made for dell only i tried using it in my grandpa's pc cause he needed an xp refresh, and it would not work, but for me it does cause i have the dell, so how would i go about putting xp into the new hd?

Foxy

Yes, that will make a very good difference, good choices, assuming that is max budget. When it comes to PCs, money spent is money saved sometimes. It can mean the difference between needing another upgrade in 6 months, or 1 year. tell your mom that and tell her she can verify it with an expert. Maybe you'll get an extra few bucks if she thinks she won't have to shell out again for a good long time.