Hi all. I know this is a similar question to the "whats my bottle neck" thread but i didnt want to ask in there.
Ive always played games on consoles but since lfs ive played pc, so i dont know much abou pcs.

At the minute i run a
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3000+
WinFast PX6200 TC GeForce 6200 TurboCache 128 MB
512 MB RAM

With low detail i can average 60 fps which goes down to about 30 fps with a full grid. Its still playable at 30 fps but i want to upgrade my pc and as being a pc noob im asking - what should parts should i upgrade? and suggestions on what replacement parts to get.

All help is appreciated.

Edit: I will be adding more another 512 Mb RAM sometime soon hopefully.
Also if makes any difference - PC is for work and gaming so an all out gaming system isnt what im looking for

Hi Greboth,
You should definately replace your graphic cards which is a huge bottleneck in your system.
I could recomend you some graphic solutions but I need to 1st know how much budget you have for it.

EDIT:be aware that with your new graphic card the minimal FPS at start will be not much better(LFS is very CPU heavy aplication)...around 40FPS but you will be able to have full details and AA+AF which makes the game looks very nice.Something like the screenshots I have attached.I think this is what your are loking for.

Well you definately need the extra 512 ram. I would say your processor is fine for now but your graphics card is rather low end these days. I say look at the GeForce 7900's and the ATI 1900's for a new card although they are mighty expensive and i guess too much for what you want :P.

Ignoring the cost of ram i was looking at spending around £200 maybe slightly more on a graphics card.
As for the fps still being quite low at the grid thats ok as 30 fps is playable so thats ok
Sil3ntwar - I will look into those cards, although as you said they may be expensive.

Thanks, Greboth.

Overclockers are doing ATI 1900 GTs for about 130+vat at the moment, should allow 1600x1200 all singing all dancing as long as you have PCI-E slots.

Quote from Bean0 :

Overclockers are doing ATI 1900 GTs for about 130+vat at the moment, should allow 1600x1200 all singing all dancing as long as you have PCI-E slots.

i dont know, i really am a computer noob. I bought my current pc from novatech as i needed a computer quickly, but have only started to get interested in PCs in the last couple of months.
Is there anyway to find out? if not it doesnt matter

Thanks for the help

Quote from Greboth :

i dont know, i really am a computer noob. I bought my current pc from novatech as i needed a computer quickly, but have only started to get interested in PCs in the last couple of months.
Is there anyway to find out? If not doesnt matter, if not it doesnt matter

Thanks for the help

I just googled your card and if this is it it seems you have PCI-E.

Take a look in the System Devices section of the device manager in XP, you should see some references to PCI-Express somewhere.

Atis X800 and Nvidias GeForce 6800 series should be enough for you to play S3. They are cheap too.

Quote from kompa :

Nvidias GeForce 6800 series

Or SLI 6600GT's.

It would seem that i do have PCI-E, although to be sure ive included a screen shot as mentions PCI-Express and PCI-Standard.
I feel so stupid asking all these questions, but oh well got to learn sometime

Yes, you got both PCI-Express and just plain PCI slots, they are older and slower.

This might be a good choice for you.

Quote from kompa :

Yes, you got both PCI-Express and just plain PCI slots, they are older and slower.

This might be a good choice for you.

Thats good to know that i do have PCI-E

Looked at link but i would have to pay for shipping as its a US company. Ill look at some of the other suggested cards.

Thanks alot for your help Hopefully wont be too long before i get my new gfx card

Just look for the prices of that same card on your region, just make sure it's a 256MB 7600GT(PCI-E obviously).

Get that with the additional 512MB of ram and you won't need another hardware update in a few years...Gamingwise at least.

@Greboth

Please wait untill the end of this month.ATI will be announcing new products so every other cards will then fall down quite a lot.

With your machine I would buy GF7900GT or ATI1900GT or but wait please it will be worth to do it as you will get more powerfull card for less money after this annoucement from ATI.
I heard that X1900XT could cost around 200GBP after the ATI annoucement of new product in the late August but considering you are not going to have the PC mainly as a game machine then NVIDIA 7900GT could be really the best choice.

HIS ATI Radeon X1900 GT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 - has really nice cooler which is really very quiet.The standard one is sometimes very loud. - (£158.57 Including VAT at 17.5%) at http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1900_Series.html

or

MSI NX7900GT-VT2D256EZ - have passive colling so there will be 0 noise which is always welcome. - should cost around 190-200GBP in your country.


Very important is also your PSU power because ATI X19xx products are quite Power hungry.How much powerfull is your PSU?Try to opne the case and look at the sticker on your PSU.What is says at +12V about A(amper)?

It was going to be a couple of weeks at least before i can afford to get a new card but thanks for the advice about waiting

As for my PSU its 230V, 4A, 47 - 63 Hz - so it seems 4A.

The "HIS ATI Radeon X1900 GT ICEQ 3 SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3" as well as the card Kompa suggested seem reasonable cards that i will be able to afford.

Quote from overlockers :

- Crossfire compatible - Master Edition ATI/HIS X1900 card required!!

I assume thats not a prior system requirement?

Quote :

As for my PSU its 230V, 4A, 47 - 63 Hz - so it seems 4A.

Seems you have been reading the sticker on the PSU wrong.Do you know at least how much WAT the PSU have.Like 350W,400W,500W ...etc but thats usually not really good indicator.
See attached picture for example.

Quote :

Originally Posted by overlockers
- Crossfire compatible - Master Edition ATI/HIS X1900 card required!!
I assume thats not a prior system requirement?

Dont worry.It only mean that this graphic card is compatibile with Crossfire master card.Crossfire is something like SLI from NVIDIA.

As im not sure exactly what you infomation you want off my psu, heres it all.

AC Input : 230 V, 4A, 47-63Hz
DC Output:+3.3V === 20.0A (ORG), +5V === 30.0A (RED), +12V === 15.0A (YEL)
+5Vsb === 2.0A (PURP), -5V === 0.5A (WHITE),12V === 0.5A (BLUE)
FUSE RATING: 5A, 250V- (+3.3V & +5 =185W Max)
MAX OUTPUT POWER: 300W

I dont know if any of that is what you want to know but thats all the infomation on my PSU.

Edit: "===" is wat ive used for the DC output symbol.

The nVidia GeForce 7600GT is the best Card for your system!
The nVidia GeForce 7900GT is to powerful for your CPU. You have with an 7900GT a BIG-CPU-LIMITATION

Look for an XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX it's the fastest 7600GT and its cheap(core 590MHZ/ Ram 1600MHZ) about ~ 160€
http://www.hardwareschotte.de/ ... ce+7600GT+XXX+PV-T73G-UDD

Quote from WIGGA :

Look for an XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX it's the fastest 7600GT and its cheap(core 590MHZ/ Ram 1600MHZ) about ~ 160€
http://www.hardwareschotte.de/ ... ce+7600GT+XXX+PV-T73G-UDD

I will have a look for that card from a uk supplier as looking at information it seems very similar to other cards but is cheap.

Edit: It seems looking through this thread the choice is between -
nVidia GeForce 7600GT 256MB
HIS ATI Radeon X1900 GT ICEQ 3 ... pe 256MB GDDR3 (7th down)
XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX

Can anyone suggest which to buy when ive got the money available.

Thanks alot for all your help

ok, you will no doubt get alot of fanboy nvidia > Ati and likewise. If you have a preferance then go with that otherwise pick some games you play and look for benchmark comparisons for the cards you have selected and choose the best price performer. The cards you are looking at are fantastic and will easily play most games at pretty decent settings (rest of computer dependant).

EDIT:- Get a new PSU right now! Have a look for Tagen/Sparkle or something similar you'll need a 400W PSU to be on the safe side.

Yes a new PSU is a very good idea! A Seasonic S12 380W or 430W is the best choise for you and its not expensive!

But you don't must buy an nVidia GeForce 7600GT(XXX) !
ATi cards runs with LfS better than nVidia Card's. So an Radeon X1800GTO
is a good choise and it is cheap! But when you have more money buy a 1900GT. But only when you buy a better PSU (min. seasonic S12 430W)!

Ok, reading whats just been said -

Seasonic S12 500W
512MB RAM
Radeon X1900 GT 256 MB

That an ok combination to get?

Edit: Is there any specific reason to get a seasonic PSU? Or will any 430W + PSU be ok?

Quote from Greboth :

Ok, reading whats just been said -

Seasonic S12 500W
512MB RAM
Radeon X1900 GT 256 MB

That an ok combination to get?

Edit: Is there any specific reason to get a seasonic PSU? Or will any 430W + PSU be ok?

Dont look at W nowdays as some manufactures cheat with this info.Look at the +12V output.It should have at least 25A to be on the save side as ATI product are way more power hungry then NVIDIA cards.Get some quality brand PSU.

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

Dont look at W nowdays as some manufactures cheat with this info.Look at the +12V output.It should have at least 25A to be on the save side as ATI product are way more power hungry then NVIDIA cards.Get some quality brand PSU.

Well just took a long look at detail given on overclockers and ebuyer and they dont give the information like that, so maybe a trip to PC World or somewhere to look for the infomation. As long as it is 25A or more the PSU, the ram and the gfx card mentioned above are a good upgrade?

Quote from Greboth :

Well just took a long look at detail given on overclockers and ebuyer and they dont give the information like that, so maybe a trip to PC World or somewhere to look for the infomation. As long as it is 25A or more the PSU, the ram and the gfx card mentioned above are a good upgrade?

Seems 30A is more correct info:
http://sg.vr-zone.com/?i=3646

Quote :

Power supply notes :
• Connection to the system power supply is required:
• 450-Watt power supply or greater, 30 Amps on 12 volt rail recommended (assumes fully loaded system)
• PCI Express compliant power supply (recommended). Connect directly to the power supply with a 6 pin PCI Express power connector

I have written oriiginally in my post 30A but I thought its really too much so I have changed ot towards 25A but it seems the X1900 series from ATI are really hungry.