Upgrading Computer for Battlefield

m00ch0

m00ch0

m00ch0

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Joined
29 Aug 2003
Posts
701
Location
West Midlands
I Currently am running

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3 GHz socket 775
Ram 512mb
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500
Motherboard: Abit AS8-V

I would like to keep my processor as I know this isn't the problem its more the ram and graphics card but in order for me to get a top class graphics card I need pci-express on the motherboard (i think)

so any help on picking some items out would be great :D

budget is about 300 - 400 maybe more
 
if your dead set on keeping your cpu, im assuming your agp
i would get something like a gainward 7800gs with 512mb ram, or an ati agp card, i think ati make some great agp cards but i dont know much about ati cards so cant suggest one

then i would really reccomend getting up to 2gb of ram, it makes a massive difference to bf2 especially if you are cranking the detail up
 
Assuming you're on AGP.

MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL)
£139.99 £139.99
GX-030-GW Gainward BLISS GeForce 7800 GS SILENT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (AGP) - Retail (GX-030-GW)
£214.99 £214.99

Total £426.51 Delivered.

Think that would be my selection. BF2 uses about 1.5gb on high -inclusive of operating system stuff so a 2gb kit is perfect. And that card is about the best you can get on AGP from my understanding.
 
The 7600GT is quite a nice cheap AGP card at around £110 and performs almost as good as the 7800 but with only 256mb memory. Depends if you want the slightly better performance and memory size for twice the money.

Bang for buck you can't beat the 7600GT.

If you want to change your mobo then you could get:

Asus P5B (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-151-AS)
£111.61

HIS ATI Radeon X1900 GT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-057-HT)
£150.39

GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) (MY-034-GL)
£164.49

£426.49 incl VAT.

That would give you DDR2 RAM, a good PCI-E graphics card and a good mobo that will support conroe for future upgrades.
 
The P4 3Ghz is a fantastic cpu though. You should be able to overclock it to 4Ghz on that board if you have a good CPU cooler. A C2D would still beat it even at 4ghz but it would be another £120 even for just the E6300.

If my P4 was a 775 socket I'd have kept that going for another 6 months atleast. :(
 
thanks for all the reply's I'm abit confused on if I should keep my CPU now I could just change the whole lot and sell my things i have now!
 
Depends on what you want, cpu is good enough for battlefield 2, but it would be good to get a new mainboard and ddr2 ram, and a pci-express mainboard, to get ready for future core 2 duo upgrade.

Lets say asus p5b + 2 gig ram kit + 7600GT would be more than enough for battlefield 2 with your current cpu, and it gives you the chanse to upgrade to core 2 duo when the pentium becomes really obselete (as in not able to run something without lag).

If you just wnat bf2: get a cheap ddr kit and 7600gt agp.
If you want a future proof + bf2: get a conroe board, ddr2 kit and a pci-e 7600gt, then when your cpu becomes too slow, you can get a core 2 duo.

Regardless if you get ddr or ddr2, you need 2 gb if yu dotn wnat it lagging on start on maxed gfx options, ( 1gb is fine after a few mins , but takes ahwhile ingame to put stuff into ram and remove unneeded stuff from ram)
 
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7600GT on high in BF2 ?

I don't think so. After using one the other day I just don't think it's powerful enough. What frame rates will that get? 30 or 40 if it's busy? Maybe less. Get the 2Gb ram as that's what BF2 needs. Look at the 7800 GS card or maybe wait a little while for the AGP X1950 ( http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17640391 ) to appear. But avoid the 7600GT, it just won't cut it in newer games with a 3GHz p4.
 
im playing bf2 on 1248x1024 , everything else maxed, 4x AA & 16X AF with a 6800gs @ 50 ish fps, bf is mainly ram dependant, just 1st 2 mins of playing on larhge maps its a bit jumpy (read, not low fps, jumpy, due to still not havign some stuff in ram but still using hdd,), after 2 misn it usually removed the junk from ram and uses almost 950mb for bf alone.
Back when i had 2 gigs bf2 was smooth from start (atm borrowed 1 gig to somone , because the ram itself was a bit too slow for my liking, pc3200, wich was limiting my oc...)

A 7600 gt is better than a 6800gs, so 7600gt should be more than enough, i bet you'd get around 60 to 70 fps on it...Obviously you are understimating p4, its just as fast as a 3000+ venice, a64 is only a lot better due to high overclocks, bf2 is totally not cpu dependant tho, anythign higher as a 256 mb 6800/ x700/7600 is overkill if you dont want to spend too much...

Bf2 isnt a new game, its from pre geforce 7 series...





EDIT : now i realize i cnat see anywhere its about bf2, are you talking about 2 or 2142?

Also to get to ** 300/400 budget:


MB-061-GI Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (MB-061-GI) 1
£89.99 £89.99
MY-063-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 800MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB6400DC) (MY-063-GL) 1
£154.99 £154.99
GX-025-BG BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG) 1
£84.99 £84.99
Subtotal £329.97
VAT £57.75
Total £387.72




Then start saving up for a c2d... ( use p4 in meantime)
 
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ns400r said:
7600GT on high in BF2 ?

I don't think so. After using one the other day I just don't think it's powerful enough. What frame rates will that get? 30 or 40 if it's busy? Maybe less. Get the 2Gb ram as that's what BF2 needs. Look at the 7800 GS card or maybe wait a little while for the AGP X1950 ( http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17640391 ) to appear. But avoid the 7600GT, it just won't cut it in newer games with a 3GHz p4.
Click to expand...


That's just not accurate. My 7600GT AGP is overclocked to 666/780 and it can run Oblivion on highest settings at 1280x1024. It could even do that with my old P4 3Ghz. The 7600GT is a fantastically powerful card for the price and it will run BF2 without a problem.
 
Darg said:
That's just not accurate. My 7600GT AGP is overclocked to 666/780 and it can run Oblivion on highest settings at 1280x1024. It could even do that with my old P4 3Ghz. The 7600GT is a fantastically powerful card for the price and it will run BF2 without a problem.
Click to expand...


God, had a senior moment there. I read 6600GT and then talked crap about the 7600GT, sorry.
 
ns400r said:
7600GT on high in BF2 ?

I don't think so. After using one the other day I just don't think it's powerful enough.

But avoid the 7600GT, it just won't cut it in newer games with a 3GHz p4.
Click to expand...


I'm sorry this is absolute tosh.

A 7600GT is more than capable of running BF2 @ high settings (dynamic lighting off or on low).

This is @ 1280x1024 4xAA and 8x AF

This is exactly as I ran it on a 6800GT and also on a 6800Ultra.

Perfectly playable.

Heck my laptop (dothan 1.6 / 64 mb 9700 pro mobility (9600pro)) can run it fine on medium settings (1280x720, medium textures etc, 2x AA, 4x AF).

The thing that holds people back in BF2 is not the Gfx card its the lack of ram (especially if you set dynamic lighting and shadows too high).

1gb is fine if you keep the dynamic lighting and shadows to a minimum and 2gb is perfect if you want them enabled / high.

However from what I could tell they make sod all difference to how the game runs / plays so I turned them off even on a 7800GTX SLi setup.


EDIT: Just seen your edit! Thought you'd made a typo ;)

:)
 
oweneades said:
I'm sorry this is absolute tosh.

A 7600GT is more than capable of running BF2 @ high settings (dynamic lighting off or on low).

This is @ 1280x1024 4xAA and 8x AF

This is exactly as I ran it on a 6800GT and also on a 6800Ultra.

Perfectly playable.

Heck my laptop (dothan 1.6 / 64 mb 9700 pro mobility (9600pro)) can run it fine on medium settings (1280x720, medium textures etc, 2x AA, 4x AF).

The thing that holds people back in BF2 is not the Gfx card its the lack of ram (especially if you set dynamic lighting and shadows too high).

1gb is fine if you keep the dynamic lighting and shadows to a minimum and 2gb is perfect if you want them enabled / high.

However from what I could tell they make sod all difference to how the game runs / plays so I turned them off even on a 7800GTX SLi setup.


EDIT: Just seen your edit! Thought you'd made a typo ;)

:)
Click to expand...

LOL, and I was just about to mention that I had ! :eek: :D
 
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