[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunterboy55 yeah.. I guess... but i haven't upgraded in a while anyway. The earliest thing if upgraded is avideo card...

It's all about priorities. Sometimes one games or application sets the pace for the whole system. Same works for consoles. My friend likes Final Fantasy series so likes Playstation.

 

[luukas]

If anyone is interested, here's some D3 gameplay footage from Tech TV:

http://luukas.daug.fi/doom3ttv.avi

I'd appreciate it if this link would be restricted to head-fi...

 

[wallijonn]

Hunterboy55,

Fry Electronics had a Northwood 3.0 & mobo for $219 last week. They run the sale every few weeks. I bet the mobo was VIA, though. You may do better with an AMD64 3000 and a MSI Neo 2 Platinum. ~$350. One 'net dealer had a gig of Kingston matched for $170 a week ago.

Northwoods are better than Prescotts. Why do you think Intel stock tanked?
http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20040517/index.html
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1616030,00.asp

new math: Prescott = 423 P4. Or, as anandtech says, "2 steps forward, 1 step back".

You can always rationalise that you will just upgrade the cpu in a year - but by then the LGA775 will have a hold on the market. I bought a Northwood Intel D875PBZLK for $99.

 

[wallijonn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjg Am I the only one that feels that completly upgrading a system for one game is absolutely ridiculous?

I take it that you haven't played Halo at 30 fps and 800x600?

A GF3 & a 3.G proc should be enough.

 

[NPoet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallijonn AMD64 3000 and a MSI Neo 2 Platinum

the only problem is the old AMD 64 socket is craptastic when it comes to dual channel ram, and the new amd 64fx socket is pretty price restrictive...

most formidable suggest currently would be to just get a Barton 3200+ or overclock the Barton 2500+ to 3200+ speed, buy the 64 chips A. when the price on the good socket sets drop B. when there is actually a coming to of software that fully utilizes 64 bit chips. Oddly enough in this case, buying a mobo/cpu now and buying a new one in another year or two would probably be more cost effective.

 

[mjg]

wallijohn.

I'm pretty sure gf3 will choke with doom3 though, as did the 8500 i tried it with(ati leak). a 3 gig proc should be good enough though.

Still though, if you really wanted to play doom 3, you could buy it and play it on xbox. That is pretty cool to me.

 

[MichaelFranks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ayt999 mine either. but then, I hear Doom 3 has SMP support (to what extent, I have no clue) so my dual xeon 2.4Ghz @ 2.93Ghz should be great with that. 1GB of RAM too... though I would hope not all will be used since a game like that would be scary.

so did q3 but it was a botched hack job, no real dual cpu utilization whatsoever.

 

[wallijonn]

mjg,

you can probably play it at 800x600 and have a few of the bells & whistles turned on. For 1024x768 and above with all the bells and whistles you will probably need an X800XT or 6800Ultra.

XBox? Why bother? the new PS3 and XB2 are on their way.

I upgraded to a HighTech 9800Pro 128/256 just to play Halo. Halo is the type of game that 'only' does about 30 - 50 fps.

To tell you the truth I have always preferred Unreal to Doom. Heck, I still have Doom for my N64.

Now if they somehow have the Halo gameplay with Aliens vs. Predator theme...

NPoet,

I think MSI has come out with a 939. I'd rather have dual-channel. But not ECC. The problem with the 939 is that having 4 sticks will decrease performance. The problem with the P4 is that you should have 4 sticks for best performance. Until just recently 512MB sticks were slower than 256MB sticks. So you'd be limited to 512MB with the AMD and 1G with the P4 (if you use 256MB sticks).

I limit myself to the ~$200 CPU range, same for videocard and memory. If someone can afford a $400 video card, then they should be willing to match it up to a $400 CPU. If you are willing to pay $600 for a videocard (X800 or 6800) you probably already have a $600 CPU.

Chances are that if you wait a year you'll be able to buy a faster cpu for the same amount of money today.

 

[commando]

I've just managed to get hold of a GeForce FX Go5600 128MB for my machine. Will this likely be enough to run doom3?

System specs: Acer 1703SC desknote (laptop form factor, mostly desktop parts except for the graphics card), 2.66GHz P4, 768MB RAM, fast drive, 17 inch LCD.

 

[breez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjg I'm pretty sure gf3 will choke with doom3 though, as did the 8500 i tried it with(ati leak).

Well you shouldn't judge the final product by over two years old alpha build.

 

[Shizelbs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bootman I would pick up a MSI 9800 pro that has the XT core. Best bang for the buck for under $200. This is going to be a great game with the lights off and the headphones on.

I second that. I have this exact card. It automatically overclocks to the XT speeds after installing the MSI and ATI drivers. Pretty good way to get a $350 card for $200. Not to mention you get a ton of decent software and games with it. Its got a big ol' heatsink too, so, overheating is much less of a concern.

 

[D-EJ915]

Quote:

Originally Posted by breez Well you shouldn't judge the final product by over two years old alpha build.

iD says that it should run on a computer with a GF4mx, so a GF3 should have no problem handling it's automatic graphics-selection. (it automatically selects for the best performance/quality)

I'm waiting for:
A) good grades

B) 939 motherboards with X16 3GIO
C) Graphics card with X16 connector
D) 939 FX processor that isn't 800 dollars.

 

[jerry1130]

Ok, if work in computer retail and want to upgrade, go on retailaccess.com and get in on the AMD promotion, it includes the AMD Athlon 64 processor 3200+ and Asus K8V SE Deluxe motherboard all for $179 after rebates, really hot deal. The only catch is that you have to pass 3 quizes, make sure not to miss any questions, you get 3 tries, if you do you'll have to make up the points by selling an AMD system.

 

[mjg]

wallijohn;

I think the 600 cpus are bs. You are paying for the latest, and wasting a ton of cash.

You can succesfully achieve that 4 ghz clock rate by means of overclocking, why not get something more reasonable, overclock, then get a nice midrange card like an ati 9800 pro (what i did).

I think the 3.6ghz or so u can get out of a 2.4c for 150ish, is awesome. It's the best bang for the buck to be had. The only thing is u better have some nice ram to get there. My corsair 3200 xmms is h olding me back at 3.3ish ghz.

 

[dngl]

well, i preordered today and got the free pewter statue... that thing is tiny.

hope the linux binaries come out soon after the retail release.