Minimum upgrade required to play WARHAMMER at decent resolution?

dubcat · 14 Sep 2008 at 13:32

Chaps - My PC is only used for watching divx's, listening to mp3's, browsing the web, and 99% of the time playing Warcraft. I am moving over to WARHAMMER and i have realised that my system is not capable of running this game at even a reasonable resolution with my current set up based on my experience in the open beta. I want to enjoy the graphics in *** game and have a smooth framerate. Ideally I would love to play at 1600x1200 on my current monitor moving to 1920x1200 when i upgrade to the ocuk 28" monitor - but i know this might be a bit of a stretch.

I would prefer to tweak my system with a few upgrades rather than having to change a whole bunch of stuff in one go. This is what I have.

My current system is :
MSI K8N diamond socket 939 mobo
1 GB 200mhz DDR ram (mobo only supports ddr - using 2/4 slots)
ATI xt850 (not the ultra one)
AMD 3500+ winchester cpu cooled by a big zalman flower
OS is XP

Where are the biggest bottlenecks? I can swap out the ram for 2gb for starters and I know I would need to do that.

If I change to a 4870 or 4850 graphics card would that make the game playable at a decent res or is the CPU and ram speed too big a bottleneck?

Is this system just a lost cause that requires a new mobo/cpu/gfx card/ram?

Love to hear your opinions.

Dub

Edward01 · 14 Sep 2008 at 13:41

How much you planning on spending on upgrade?

The CPU dual or single core? If single see if you can pick up a dual core one cheap in the MM or elsewhere on net.
2gb of Ram
4850 would bottleneck your sys but, not point spending 50 quid on a cheap GPU if your upgrading the whole sys in the near future. If you do want a cheapo GPU tho get a 3650 or a 3870 or somthing. Might even be ok with a nvidea 8800gt!!

Snooble · 14 Sep 2008 at 13:42

Hey,

I'd drop the 200mhz ram full stop.

Put in 2 gig of 400mhz. drop in a 8800gts. or even a 8600gt.

you'll find 939's are reasonable expensive for what they're worth. You might get away with keeping the 3500. Have you OC'd it? Because with the custom cooler it might be worth a shot.

sort out the ram, followed by the processor. (and then a new GPU)

dubcat · 14 Sep 2008 at 14:37

Hmm there's an auction for a AM2 mobo, x2 5000 cpu and 2mb ddr2 ram at the moment for same price as upgrading the 939 processor I have.. I wonder if I should go for that instead or am i just throwing good money after bad?

BTW my proc is single core and I agree about swapping out the ram.

flinco · 14 Sep 2008 at 15:38

you could go for the auction you said, and get a 4850

Richdog · 14 Sep 2008 at 15:42

What's your budget? If you're looking to play at 1600*1200 (never mind 1920*1200) then you're going to need to spend a little extra and get a Core2/4850 I think.