pc upgrade

[fred_123]

Hi all!

I'll hopefully get my paycheck soon, soo i was thinking of upgrading my ol pc.

I was hoping some of you could give me a tip for what kind of pc i need to play lomac on max setting and get smooth gameplay ;)

Is it even possible?!

My current pc is a amd64 3000+, geforce6800gt(agp), 2gig ddr kingston and a Asus motherboard(k8v se deluxe).

 

 

fred_123

[Guest IguanaKing]

I'm not sure if its even possible yet. The Core 2 Extreme just came out though, so maybe somebody here will be getting one and will let us now.

[fred_123]

I see, but can lomac really use the 2 cores ?

[warthogmadman987]

that is pretty good as it is. I would consider maybe a new graphics card though, imo.

[Jay]

I see, but can lomac really use the 2 cores ?

 

Conroe isn't all about two cores, but mostly about new (ok I know it's a good old pentium upgrade) platform which is way more poweful than anything available at this time. Visit some HW sites and look for tests - Conroe simply outperforms everything including the most powerful AMDs. So if you're goin' to build a brand new system, there is nothing else to think about.

[Guest IguanaKing]

Speaking of upgrades, I just recently did a very small upgrade to my rig after I realized that my video card was overheating. I removed the stock HSF from my 9800XT and mounted a Zalman VGA cooling kit. Wow, what a difference that made! No more random video glitches, and the video is actually brighter and clearer. Another plus is that the fan is so huge, it actually assists in cooling my CPU and chipset on the MoBo.

[hitman]

2 things you might want to consider. One is the cpu. The 3000+ isnt as good as it can be considering I can pick up a new one of these for under 100 bucks. You might want to invest in a 4000+ chip, preferrably a 4400+ if you want to stay single core, 4800+ if you want to go dual core. To do that upgrade though, you will have to get a soc939 motherboard, and I would recommend DFI at the moment. To answer your question, LOMAC is NOT dual core supported. The second would be the video card. A 6800 is a good card, but pci-e makes it even better. A 6800 XT is better, a move to a 7950GTX would be the ideal way to go.

[Jay]

Speaking of upgrades, I just recently did a very small upgrade to my rig after I realized that my video card was overheating. I removed the stock HSF from my 9800XT and mounted a Zalman VGA cooling kit. Wow, what a difference that made! No more random video glitches, and the video is actually brighter and clearer. Another plus is that the fan is so huge, it actually assists in cooling my CPU and chipset on the MoBo.

 

Yeah, Zalmans are great, I have one on my CPU. Arctic Cooling fans are good too. Speaking of cooling - It's interesting that when they tested a Core 2 CPU they realised that the default fan's RPM were only 2400 instead of P4's 4500 RPM under load...

[fred_123]

2 things you might want to consider. One is the cpu. The 3000+ isnt as good as it can be considering I can pick up a new one of these for under 100 bucks. You might want to invest in a 4000+ chip, preferrably a 4400+ if you want to stay single core, 4800+ if you want to go dual core. To do that upgrade though, you will have to get a soc939 motherboard, and I would recommend DFI at the moment. To answer your question, LOMAC is NOT dual core supported. The second would be the video card. A 6800 is a good card, but pci-e makes it even better. A 6800 XT is better, a move to a 7950GTX would be the ideal way to go.

ok, thanks for informative answer:)

I may go for the dualcore tec even though lomac doesn't use it. i just found this sweet baby: AMD Athlon64 x2 5000+:cry:

But can you give me a link to where i can get the 7950GTX ?

[fred_123]

Conroe isn't all about two cores, but mostly about new (ok I know it's a good old pentium upgrade) platform which is way more poweful than anything available at this time. Visit some HW sites and look for tests - Conroe simply outperforms everything including the most powerful AMDs. So if you're goin' to build a brand new system, there is nothing else to think about.

I see, ill check it out !

[Guest IguanaKing]

Yup, its best to go as big as you can afford if you're going to be spending the cash. Besides, as I understand it, Black Shark will have dual core support.

 

Jay, this is the first Zalman product I have bought, and I'm definitely a believer now. I've had really good results with Thermaltake also. I think a CPU HSF change might be next. I have a Volvano on there now, and its great...but OMG is it loud. I built a P4 server for my office recently and I used a Big Typhoon on that. I had to kept looking inside the case when I first started it up to check that the fan was actually running. Its almost completely silent and keeps the CPU in the low 40s under load.

[Pilotasso]

One thing I would like to share with you:

 

I came to the PC world in 1990, I was 14. I had my first PC at age 17, a bit late if you compare to todays techno-kids who are born burping bits and bytes. :D To me PC time had at first a purely entertaining aspect. Over the years I learned new (and better ways) to take more productivity than that from it. Sometimes it strikes me how much money I had spent in upgrades to have this or that game running up top notch. Not only how much I had spent in one go but how frequent the upgrade habit had begun to be. I later realized I could have waited because in the end I would have gotten a new PC anyway and be in the same situation I was at a given time, except I had spare alot of money if I hadnt made so many upgrades that had impact only in a short period.

 

I also came to learn when NOT to buy stuff for the PC, such as getting a given PC part of a new wave pf thechnologies that was suposed to be the way of the future when they were nothing more than market acceptance experiments. I bought the first PowerVR card for nothing less than 250 Euros when it was widely reported its architecture was going to surpass the popularity of the 3DFx chipset, then 3 weeks later the price had droped to 75 Euros and the card was soon replaced by a new (but not much different) card only to see it vanish from the scene a year later without much game support.

 

I Vowed never to invest as frequently as I used to, specialy on the first gen of a new technology item for PC. I started to build my machines to last without the need for frequent upgrades. You might think you will be saving money, by buying a strong base for future upgrades, but you will end up paying more money and take less perfomance than a new system. If you buy a mid or a high end card every 6 months you can easely spit out 1500$ just for the GFX not to mention if you buy anything else to make the rest of the PC try to keep up. In the end I have realised I could have bought a whole new PC for the same money, Albeit with a not so good card but better overall system responsiveness. These days upgreadibility of the new PC's aint what it used to be in the DOS times or even in windows 95 times, where you didnt have much hardware accelerated graphics options and buying more memory and a new CPU overdrive would be enough to breathe new life into games. These days CPU, GFX sockets change every year leaving no realistic advantage for upgrades. Its even worse when the new components clearly cannot be matched by its host machine for best perfomance.

 

I have also realised how much money I could have used for other things without compromising the perfomance of your current system if you refrain from buying new upgrade parts and starting to plan ahead for cost efective solutions over time.

 

I have bought my machine 23 months ago and the only thing I had changed from then was an aditional GIG of RAM, wich cost me 84 Euros (kingston 400 DDR). I had watched some die hards easely spend 10 times that on upgrades or new PC's in the same time span only to get slighly better perfomance than me. I and those guys will probbably end up having similar systems 1 year from now withou much perfomance difference bettween the machines we have right now, Only I will have spent only a small fraction of the money.

 

My advice:

Buy a new PC every 3 years only, buy it with certain strategic upgrades, like memory and GFX, because you dont need extreme horsepower right at the start of the new PC's life but rather later on. Buy a strong GFX then, but dont buy one that will outpace the rest of the system (for example I would get a X850 for my system, not an AGP version of any of the newer cards, should they even exist).

 

Youll end up saving money for more durable investiments and not notice much of a hassle by not having an absolutlely top notch system that many of you have, perhaps who knows, only for pure personality reasons.

[Guest IguanaKing]

I couldn't agree more, Pilotasso. I just happened to be in the market and with a need at a very good time, right when the last Northwood was produced. So, I got it at a steal of a price, it was faster than its successor, and based on a tried and true architecture. I'm coming up on the 3 year mark, and there's still not much out there that taxes it.

 

I remember getting screwed by buying a Voodoo 5 card. It didn't live up to any of its rumored capabilities and support for it was completely gone in less than 3 months. It sure was nice to have a machine that supported Glide though, it made some of the old classic sims look SO much better.

[Gunja]

check out 80% (impossible?) overclock on intel's new cpu http://forum.lockon.ru/showthread.php?t=17652

[hitman]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125035

7950 GTX video card...youll notice the hefty price tag on it.

 

If you decide to go Pci-E and think you can do it on the cheap, I recommend 2 of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122209R

 

and:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131568R

 

All this should come to about the same price as a 7950GTX.

 

IF your working on a large budget then by all means dont spare any expense, however if your married or have kids, this will burn a hole in your pocket. My computer that I am currently designing will cost upwards to 4K in parts alone, with 1 terraflot of harddrive space, all the zip bam kabangs, a coaster and a cigarrette lighter to go with it! All that just so I know that if my hair (what little hair I have) isnt on fire yet I can persue that objective immediately! But its a long way off from being complete yet. Lot of others around here that will say the same thing like Pilotasso just said, but you might also think about how long this computer will stay current. A few years ago this would have lasted over a year. Nowadays it lasts over a span of 2 months if not less than. Go for moderation unless you can actually afford it. THEN I will show you a killer computer that can be put to use at NORAD.

 

Edit: Correct me if I am wrong but isnt the 5000+ chip the new AM2 architecture? If so and you want this you WILL have to upgrade your motherboard, as its not socket 939.

[bflagg]

I agree with Pilotasso completely... My older PC was 3 years old and when LO

came out I stuck in a AIW9800 (more for the TV stuff...and good gaming for that time frame).. I waited approx another year before I fully upgraded and take the PCI-E architecture plunge....

 

I ususally milk my current hardware for years and just replacing what I can on the board itself...

I'll probably be upgrading in another few years and riding on the same

Asus A8N-E motherboard until then....

[Slammin]

ok, thanks for informative answer:)

I may go for the dualcore tec even though lomac doesn't use it. i just found this sweet baby: AMD Athlon64 x2 5000+:cry:

But can you give me a link to where i can get the 7950GTX ?

 

 

Go conroe. As was said, nothing on AMD's radar can even touch it.

 

You should do some real research.

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

If building a new system, Core 2 Duo is the only way to go.

 

In my case, I have a good motherboard and I can plug dual core AMD processor for cheap. So, after I finish building my Yak-54 gasser, I will get me 3800+ X2.