Best upgrade for the $

[UZI]

I have been reading a lot of posts about folks upgrading their graphics cards. I am trying to figure out if it is worth the investment based on my current system. Folks mostly seem happy with their upgrades, but I don't know how bad off they were when they upgraded.

My Current System:

Dell Dimension 4400 with a Pent. 4 at 1.9 GHZ

I have 256 MB DDR SDRAM

64 MB NVIDIA GEForce2 MX

40 GB ATA-100 7200 RPM

Now I know I am weak on RAM, so I just ordered another 512MB memory upgrade and am anxiously awaiting its arrival (I am cheap and took the free long lead time shipping).

I don't think I could get myself to spend more than $200 - $300 on any one upgrade component. So, if I were to upgrade to say a Radeon 9600XT 128 MB would I really see a huge difference when I play on-line or would I only notice a small difference? Would it help the lag I see? How hard would it be to install. I am not the greatest at debugging if problems are typical, so it will be some challenge for me to make this upgrade. When it is all done, will I go WOW!! or will I say hummmm, I think its a little better?

Thanks in advance

[DiTomasso]

I think it will improve a lot. First your memory and then the 9600 wich you can oc with rivatuner (both for nvidia and Ati)

It worked for me :wave:

[JIMINATOR]

type this in the sam console... /hud_bShowNetGraph=1;
then run the game, and it will show the frame rate at the top right
if you play a lot, and the frame rate often gets below 30 and
you are lagging, then yes, a new graphics card will help a tremendous
amount, especially with large levels like yodeller, red station & compound.
but with GF2, that card is going to be waaay weak.
otherwise your cpu is good and the memory will help. the size of the
drive kind of sucks, but if it is large enough for you...
note that you may want to see if you can find a radeon 9500 pro or a
radeon 9700 pro. the 9700 pro is at least 2/3 as fast as the current
fastest radeon, and may be available cheap... :thumbs:

[Death-Dude]

Yeah, if your frame rate is being crushed, then it can really put you at a disadvantage. It's not classic 'lag', which is ping/server related, but if your machine isn't drawing fast enough to keep up, things in-game are occurring while you are a step or so behind...which usually means you're dead. I put m UT up to take screenshots, and forgot to put it down in a little tourney, and it was like walking in sand, and I was everyone's target. Even when I saw people, they'd get to me first.
The 9700 Pro, for example, is so far above the GF2 mx that you would see a huge difference. Look at video card head-to-heads for a feel of where they stand with each other, then weigh out the price-vs-performance for what you are comfortable paying.

[He Is Legend]

The graphics card wont help lagg, it will run your sam and ut2k3 and all other games you had, will run them completly diff from your Nvidia chipset

Differences will be faster map load for unreal and you can set your resolution higher to about 1280x1024 depending on your monitor i think...

The memory will be a big upgrade to on your comp performance, if you got the radeon 9600 and just had 256MBSDRA it would load the maps on unreal hella slow, cause i got a radeon 9500pro and 256mbsdram and it takes about 1 full minute to load a map, yea it stinks, but the hertz and if you get that 512MB it will load faster and your computer will have a better performace, anyway

512MB + Radeon 9600 = Very good gaming ;)

[FASTway]

I have a 9800 pro but still get 25 fps on levels like Yodeller, Hole and Fortress if more than 6 people join. Not sure why that is, maybe has something to do with network lag as well.

[He Is Legend]

Originally posted by FASTway@Dec 28 2003, 03:07 PM
I have a 9800 pro but still get 25 fps on levels like Yodeller, Hole and Fortress if more than 6 people join. Not sure why that is, maybe has something to do with network lag as well.
Yep

[Death-Dude]

Originally posted by Chaotic+Dec 28 2003, 02:24 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Chaotic @ Dec 28 2003, 02:24 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-FASTway@Dec 28 2003, 03:07 PM
I have a 9800 pro but still get 25 fps on levels like Yodeller, Hole and Fortress if more than 6 people join. Not sure why that is, maybe has something to do with network lag as well.
Yep [/b][/quote]
I don&#39;t have Sam, but those must be some big-ass levels to bog that card&#33; Isn&#39;t there a way in Sam to allocate more memory for loading maps, like /seta com_zoneMegs in Quake3 engine games?

[EXEcution]

An 9600 card would make a small impact on the amount of lag in sam.
I just upgraded from an GeForce 4 MX-440, to a Radeon 9600XT, and i play on a higher resolution, but the lag&#39;s still there.
On the other hand the card had a TREMENDOUS impact on UT2K3, and a couple demos i re-downloaded.

[UZI]

Thanks for all of the input, it has been extremely helpful. :thumbs:

These GM forums are great. Its like always having a team of experts there to help. What used to take weeks to find out and trial and error through, I now get in one day.

Thanks again for taking the time to input.

:wave: :wave: :wave:

[ME BIGGD01]

uzi---i have done some testing with the swap file in windows to see how lag can occur with a decent system. with 256 mb of ram, the hard drive is being used as virtual memory and then creates something that feels like lag but isnt. you definetly need more ram in your sysytem but also suggest getting anew video card. that gforce2mx card is harsh and wouldnt suggest it unless you just play pogo :P . serious, serious sam and ut should not be played on anything less than a geforce3 ti200 or ati 8500.

even if you stick another 256 in which could be bought for under 40 bucks and a decent video card 140 bucks, you will be pretty set and your game play will improve due to the performce differences.

[|SCK|Sephiroth]

i prefer my 1GB RAM and 9500 pro :D

[Grimmy]

9600XT I have seen around for under &#036;200. Great card, mucho bang for the price. If money isn&#39;t an issue, 9800XT ATM, but then new vid cards are due out soon, well is is matter of patience and how long you can hold off. :cool: