Need temp boost.

DizzyEgg · 15 Feb 2006 at 23:53

The PC im currently using at my GFs house is a shed, celeron 2.6ghz, 512 ddr3200, radeon 9600.

The only game I play on this is counter strike source and it really hard, im getting like 40fps max and dropping to 15 which you can imagine is a pain in the a**.

It gets unplayable at times, i want to spend the least amount of money but boost my fps up higher.

I am only using this pc for another few months so dont want to spend much cash.

Thanks

Dizzy

Street · 16 Feb 2006 at 00:06

Overclock the hell out of it!

nikebee · 16 Feb 2006 at 00:21

Street said:
Overclock the hell out of it!

imo certainly the best option available

the main thing thats holding you back mate is the Celeron... to be blunt, they are not meant for gaming... or... anything other than looking on overclockers to buy a better CPU

if you upgrade the CPU (whether its s478 or s775) your looking at around £100

is the 9600 a Sapphire model? they're made out of fairy dust you know... they are much, much faster than they should be IMO

the 9600 sapphire's seem to be a lot faster than they actually are... despite them being a couple of years old now... so it wont hold you back THAT much...
a fair few people on here have commented about them on here in recent months.

DizzyEgg · 16 Feb 2006 at 02:01

if i got a 6600gt or something would that make cs run at about 70fps or would i have to update the cpu?

bearing in mind im running at 800x600 with everything on low.

Street · 16 Feb 2006 at 02:28

You could pick up an extra 512 RAM for around £30 for value stuff probably. That would help it no end. I should think a 6600GT could run it ok. You could probably get one off ebay for quite cheap nowadays. My old 9800Pro used to run it quite well and I think they can be had for about £50.

Like nikebee said, the main thing holding you back is your CPU, the source engine seems to be fairly CPU limited and your main gain would be from upgrading that.

DizzyEgg · 16 Feb 2006 at 12:21

so to improve fps i need to swap my lame celeron for a p4 2.6 or something?

I dont mind doing this because when I go uni next year I can take it out and put it into a file server I am thinking of.

When I do that my gfx card will be holding me back tho, what fps do you think I would be getting with a p4?

DizzyEgg · 16 Feb 2006 at 22:59

anyone? just come off cs with fps of like 12 at time, grrr

nikebee · 17 Feb 2006 at 00:08

DizzyEgg said:
so to improve fps i need to swap my lame celeron for a p4 2.6 or something?

I dont mind doing this because when I go uni next year I can take it out and put it into a file server I am thinking of.

When I do that my gfx card will be holding me back tho, what fps do you think I would be getting with a p4?

google some benchmarks of a Pentium 4 (at the speed you want), 9 times out of 10 they'll be using Half Life 2 in the benchmarks so you can compare it to that (as CS:S using the Source engine as does HL2... of course).

only thing then is to add on or take off a few FPS depending on what graphics card they use during the benchmark.

before rushing off to an auction site for a 6600, check out the Members Market on here... i've seen a couple of AGP 6600 models going on there in recent days. Brand new your looking at around £85 - £100 or so though i think.

what kinda cash are you looking to spend on it?
overclockers have got a 3GHz P4 Prescott for £100 here

still may be out of your price range if your looking for a little quick fix.

little thing for you:
Upgrade : Result
CPU : Boost in frame rates
Ram (to 1GB?) : load times faster - steadier FPS (not quicker, just steadier)
GFX : Good boost if buying a good model, but wont do much without a new CPU

the problem with upgrading just one part of the machine, is that the others hold it back. there's no point having a £200 or even £100 graphics card if the processor can't keep up with it. same goes the other way around, you could be running an FX57, 2GB of ram and using a old Geforce MX card... and of course it would be terrible because the graphics card is out dated.

DizzyEgg · 1 Mar 2006 at 16:59

I have fixed my problem.

I got myself a Biostar TForce 6100, and an Opteron.

Just gonna bang them in for now, keep them old parts and swap them back when i move out, lol. I think the 6100 should perform better than my 9600, if not im sure i can get a decent pci-e card.

Just looking for some ram now,