Upgrading for gaming

[jiremi_kitakaze]

I've been considering upgrading both my RAM and my video card for gaming. However, I'm going to have to do one first and wait a month or two to do the other.

Which should I upgrade first? My RAM or video card?

I have 512MB of RAM and I want to go up to a gig.

I have a Geforce FX 5200 with 128MB of memory and I'm not sure what video card to get, although I want one with 256MB of memory.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!  

[MetalMilitia]

Video card first. you will see a much higher performance increase from that than more ram. 9800Pros are pretty cheap these days and still very powerful.

[Raptor]

There is more to look at than the amount of Megabyte when it comes to videocards. I suggest you have a good look on specifications of a videocard before you buy it and then compare it to other videocards you had on your mind.

Upgrading your MB RAM can be a good idea, but only if your videocard is working properly and you feel the need to reduce your loading times. Ofcourse, if you buy a new videocard, and you are low on RAM, you will face another bottleneck.

As for the Ati/Radeon 9800Pro, I own one myself and I definitely recommend one - it can handle the latest games so far with ease (The rest of your system has to be up for it, ofcourse)

[jiremi_kitakaze]

Thanks a lot for your replies.

One other question...about bottlenecks.... I have a 2gig processor. Is that going to be a bottleneck for the newer games coming out, even if I upgrade my card and ram?

[Raptor]

What kind of processor? What bus speed is it running at?

You may wish to look into your CPU specifications to determine if it will be ready for the next generation of games.

[MetalMilitia]

hmm, 2Ghz (or 1.7ish if its a Athlon xp2000+) shoudl be ok for a while. A 2ghz processor, 1 gig of ram and a 9800pro would be fine until games using the unreal3 engine start appearing.
But ofcourse if you have the cash to spend an Athlon 64 3000+ or Athlon FX51 would be a definate improvement over whatever you have.

[Raptor]

That would also involve buying a new mainboard.

[jiremi_kitakaze]

Thanks all,

I have a Intel Pentium 4.

The main games I'm waiting for are Half-Life 2, Vampire: Bloodlines, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I also want to be able to play through games like FarCry, Thief: DS and Deus Ex: IW with a little more graphics options instead of bare bones...although the last two games have choppy framerates no matter what you do.

I might consider upgrading to a better processor or just getting a new computer when I actually have more money....

[Raptor]

Fary Cry and Doom 3 run very well on my system:

Both in 1024x768 and most effects enabled.

Gigabyte 7N400Pro
ATI/Radeon 9800Pro (Standard driers)
1024MB DDR RAM (333) (Dual Channel)
80GB Maxtor 7200 RPM (8MB cache)
Athlon XP +2800 (2079MHz, 333 FSB)

I used to play Far Cry on my Athlon XP +2600 (2079MHz, 333 FSB)

This might give you an idea of what you should be looking for. I recommend Pentium because I donot like AMD's high temperatures (Finally have it resolved with a Cooler Master cooler)

I expect Half-life 2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R to run good on this machine, but not superb.

[jiremi_kitakaze]

Thanks for the system specs so I can compare them to my own.

About the ATI 9800pro...you said:

The rest of your system has to be up for it, ofcourse

Looking at your system and mine, I'm still not sure what that means. Is how the 9800 works with the rest of the system?

The reason I've been getting Geforce cards is because they're easy for people that don't know what they're doing. I've heard that ATI cards can be a lot more work to get to run with games.

[Roy]

 Hey, who here with a 9800 pro has played doom3 and farcry, what you get when you put the graphics on max, what is your fps?

[Raptor]

Is how the 9800 works with the rest of the system?  

I mean that, if you buy an expensive videocard, you should have the rest of your system ready to properly use it so that you will not stress yourself over other computer components that are, compared to what your (new) videocard can/has to offer , suddenly outdated.

The reason I've been getting Geforce cards is because they're easy for people that don't know what they're doing. I've heard that ATI cards can be a lot more work to get to run with games.

Install the videocards, install drivers and it works. If it doesn't, well, then you may have caused a problem. Most likely the result of 'not knowing what you're doing'

Refer to the manual(s) and articles concerning videocards when installing and configuring a videocard.  

Nvidia and ATI cards both work that way. However, you can choose to install the software found on the CD-ROM and/or found with the drivers that may offer different options.