Help!!! only have £500 but need to drive a 24" Dell!!!

deadsquirrel · 25 Oct 2006 at 11:41

Hi All,

Ok, I just received my brand new 24" dell and realised that my [email protected] with 1 gig of ram and a geforce 6800gt (AGP) is not enough to drive CS:Source at 1900x1200!

So, could you please help me come up with a CPU/MOBO/RAM/GFX combo to enable me to play CS:S and Generals (and upcoming C&C3) on this monitor? Those are the only games I really play but would not mind it being able to play BG2 in case I want to give it a go when I have a spare hour. The only problem is that I would like to try and keep the cost to around £500.

Is it possible????

Was considering the Asrock mobo and getting a 6600 duo2 while keeping all the other bits? will it give me a boost enough to play the mentioned games with the 6800gt?

semi-pro waster · 25 Oct 2006 at 12:08

This should just about do it, however if you need a new PSU as well(and it is a distinct possibility) then you will be over budget.

CP-135-IN Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM (CP-135-IN)
£97.99 £97.99
HS-017-AR Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) (HS-017-AR)
£12.99 £12.99
MY-034-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£139.99 £139.99
MB-004-AK Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-004-AK)
£45.99 £45.99
GX-045-OK OcUK GeForce 7900 GS 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-045-OK)
£119.99 £119.99
Subtotal £416.95
VAT £72.97
Total £489.92

deadsquirrel · 25 Oct 2006 at 12:34

Thanks Semi-pro...

How much faster would the 7900 GS be compared to the BFG OC 6800gt?
Will that board enable any overclocking at all?

The reason I ask is that im half considering the following:

775Dual-VSTA £40
E6600 Duo 2 £225.59

Total: £265
and keep all my existing bits? would that play the games ok do you think? Also, anyone know what the mutiplier/fsb of the 6600 is?

Thanks and sorry for the nooooob questions.

nicRob · 25 Oct 2006 at 12:52

E6600 is 266*9

bilston · 25 Oct 2006 at 13:24

deadsquirrel said:
Thanks Semi-pro...

How much faster would the 7900 GS be compared to the BFG OC 6800gt?
Will that board enable any overclocking at all?

The reason I ask is that im half considering the following:

775Dual-VSTA £40
E6600 Duo 2 £225.59

Total: £265
and keep all my existing bits? would that play the games ok do you think? Also, anyone know what the mutiplier/fsb of the 6600 is?

Thanks and sorry for the nooooob questions.

You could try this route, I did and Im happy with it. I dont really think, however, that your 6800GT (which I had before I upgraded to a 7900GTO) will handle 1900*1200 in anything. I may be wrong though and theres nothing stopping you from trying

You could always get the GTO aswell as what you suggested and still be in budget, but keep your existing ram, which will work amazing with that board

Im still using 1GB of 3200 stuff on mine, runs everything sweet ;D

Edit: I would NOT get the 7900GS especially at that price. Few more quid will get you a GTX Speed card!

The $6m Dan · 25 Oct 2006 at 14:07

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ 2.00GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail (CP-166-AM) £97.99 £97.99

OcUK MSI GeForce 7900 GTO SILENT 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-041-OK) £153.99 £153.99

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL) £139.99 £139.99

Subtotal £391.97
VAT £68.60
Total £460.57 +

There are a few boards around the £50-£60 mark, but that still puts you a little over budget, and I'm not sure how they compare to the more expensive boards.

If it was me I'd try and go for 2GB RAM, and a 512MB 7900GTO (or similar).
The large res likes memory and pixel processing power. The CPU will make a difference but not as much as a more powerful GFX card, which is why I selected an AM2 3800X2, which should overclock quite nicely

deadsquirrel · 25 Oct 2006 at 14:35

thanks guys. Is there a chart somewhere showing the fps differences between the differing model numbers of graphics cards?

fobose · 25 Oct 2006 at 15:10

Does the Dell 2407WFP not have 1:1 pixel mapping? I can play CS:Source fine on 1680x1050 aslong as I have everything on low with a 6600gt. Maybe try it at a lower resolution.

The $6m Dan · 25 Oct 2006 at 16:21

Indeed it does

Lolcb · 25 Oct 2006 at 16:38

deadsquirrel said:
thanks guys. Is there a chart somewhere showing the fps differences between the differing model numbers of graphics cards?

go to www.tomshardware.co.uk

they might have reviews there on graphics card.

Bludgeon · 25 Oct 2006 at 22:10

hi
ive been using the dell 2407WFP with my agp 6800gt@ 1920x1200
with no problems at all, the card should be able to drive that monitor
unless ive missed somthing

The $6m Dan · 25 Oct 2006 at 22:33

I'm sure your card is fine, but you'll not be running all the settings at max in the latest games. I assumed the OP wanted to get as much performance for his money as possible

deadsquirrel · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:16

Bludgeon said:
hi
ive been using the dell 2407WFP with my agp 6800gt@ 1920x1200
with no problems at all, the card should be able to drive that monitor
unless ive missed somthing

What games do you run on it mate? Like I said, as long as CS:S and Generals, and maybe the new C&C3 runs ok, im happy. I don't spend much time gaming, so those are really the only ones I play. If the 6800GT can handle it then I think I will go the Asrock 775Dual-VSTA route with a E6600 and keep the rest of my rig for now. maybe even swap the 6800 GT for a PCI-E card a few months later when C&C3 comes out.

Gunda · 26 Oct 2006 at 12:17

one thing to bear in mind with the Asrock 775Dual-VSTA is that the PCIe slot is only x4 where as the AGP is the full x8, when you finaly get a good pice card you may well want to change your motherboard too.