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need....more....POWER!!!

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by norehca

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i remember a few years ago when id piss myself over 768mb of sdram @133mhz! I had a 1.4ghz Athlon and an ATI radeon 9200. Ah my first computer. Now ive got an Athlon 64 3700+, 1gb RAM, and my all mighty Radeon x1950 that alot of you gave probably herd too much about. But why cant i put my games settings on full stll? My question is more about what gives your computer the most power. Is it the RAM? The CPU, and GPU? I know that its a combination of both, but what makes the biggest difference in performance in both games and general performance. Im thinking of upgrading a bit, and i dont know if i should upgrade my CPU to a 3800+ (1000mhz FSB, current 800MHZ), or get an extra GB or 2 of RAM. I keep my PC in tip top shape, always keeping it clean of dust, and keeping it free of adware etc. got the virtual memory synced @ 2048mb, so that snot the problem i know. Help is much appreciated, you guys are great.

4 replies

by jamesrl

When I asked a similar question some time ago in a games forum, the answer was in order 1) GPU (Video card), 2) Memory, and 3) CPU.

My favorite game really needs 2 GB of RAM to be happy. A faster video card helps too. I doubt you will see any difference at all between a 3700+ and a 3800+, unless the 3800+ is a dual core.

You have a great video card. That should not be the problem, if you have the right drivers. I use the Omega drivers.

It is difficult to guess the proper settings for virtual memory as this varies depending on the game.

James

by hal 9000

A lot really depends on the game in question, if it's optimised for a NVidia Video Card that will naturally work better than the ATI card ever could but having said that the NVidia Games are in the minority and if it's just the one game you may have to live with the problem.

While I'm no big games player my son is and he's currently using a Intel Duo with 2 GIG of RAM and a 512 MEG ATI Video Card made in December 2006 and he's yet to find a problem with any game that he plays ranging from the oldest that XP Pro will run to the newest available.

The OS in use here may be playing a part in your problem as well.

Col

by ghostbrowser

The Mother board is the most important
All the others plug in to it
EG AGP vs PCI Express
Ram access speed
Processor support
If Money is short Get the best you can afford buy small ram add more later
If the motherboard has dual gpu slots
You can install 2 Video cards
eg nvidia & ati with a monitor on each
and switch from 1 to the other
A slow cpu on a fast mother board can be upgraded later
And if you change the mother board windows may have to be reinstalled
Changeing the cpu ram and video will make this less likely
Most of the devices are on the mother board
eg usb sata ide

Hope that helps

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