Need Advice For Upgrade

[batch]

The problem being:

youre most certainly going to have to upgrade your power supply for any major changes

if you upgrade the mobo you must also upgrade the cpu........ thats a socket 478.... if  you buy a pcie mobo for a socket 478 cpu then your just throwing money into the wind because theres no future upgrade to that cpu

youre already at the top end cpu for that mobo so you cant upgrade just the cpu

youre using ddr400 so any mobo upgrade youre also going to have to upgrade the memory

and then you also have the video card to purchase on top of that

you said money was super tight but didnt give a $$ amount of what you might be able to spend so I will assume not much at all

realistically your best bet is to tweak the current system and limp along

if by supertight theres some wiggle room....... I would say you could upgrade mobo, cpu, psu, ram, video for as little as $350 and give yourself components that will allow future upgrades reasonably ........ and still be able to play the game with great performance

[OOZ662]

Geez, people I appreciate taking the time to respond, but NOT ONE OF YOU made a suggestion on WHAT to buy to improve my system.

Seems to me you didn't read our posts...mine was pointing out that, unless you have something more taxing than AH in mind, there's absolutely no need to spend the money you say is so rare on computer components.

[Getback]

We understand.

Intel:

E8400 $162
Gigabyte MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 $75
Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136298 $65
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703019 $130
Memory 1066: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227456 $72
Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131163 $125



Amd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103678 X2 7850 $80

Mother board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128376 $75
Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136298 $65
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703019 $130
Memory 1066: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227456 $72
Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131163 $125


I omitted the OS, optical drives, sound card, and case.

You can even go lower in price. For instance PC 800, Different power supply etc.

So the Intel comes to $629 and the AMD is $547.

I did this in a hurry so review everything. This will get you started.

[guncrasher]

The P4 is a bottleneck now - and the video card is at the lower end too. Make absolutely sure that you aren't running anything you don't need to while playing the game.  (There's a tool by iobits called "Game booster" that works wonderfully for shutting everything you don't need down before you start the game).

Also, make sure that there isn't a fan that's going bad on either the GPU or as often as not on the motherboard chipset - I can't count how many times I've seen "increasingly poor performance" on a system and opened the case to find that one or the other is moving only grudgingly.

At time's too, Windows will just sort of meltdown, getting slower and slower for no really apparent reason. Some of the more recent patches seem to hit performance on low end systems, too. 

If it were my system, I'd install XP again (to the other drive this time) if you've got the room and see if that new installation performs better.  Even better, install XP to the other drive, and just the bare minimum of anything else you need to play the game - and then dual-boot - using that partition only for AH.  If you are behind a hardware firewall from the Internet, don't have a wireless access point on your network, and are not at risk from other systems on your network, I'd even shutdown automatic updates on that partition and run with just the original installation and not update it.   Caveat - you have to have an idea what you are doing and be pretty careful not to ever get "lazy" and use it for browsing, etc. to not end up at risk, however.

Othewise, I believe the guys who answered before are spot on.   Plan on a mobo, cpu and video card at a minimum.  Or given the relatively minimal cost of a case, DVD, floppy, memory, sound card and a harddrive, keep this one intact, build a second machine and use this one for something else.

ALL IMHO of course.

<S>

I did this prior to upgrading mine.  it helped a lot.  iobits has several utilities that will help you, but before u use them make sure u do lots of system restores, just in case.  If u decide to upgrade then most people on the forums believe that an e8400 system (or similar)should be more than enough for the next few years.  that's what I am upgrading mine, and it is a little at a time, like it was suggested. as I can afford another component, I'll buy it.

semp

[Sloehand]

Seems to me you didn't read our posts...mine was pointing out that, unless you have something more taxing than AH in mind, there's absolutely no need to spend the money you say is so rare on computer components.

Oh but I did read your post OOZ.  In my second to last post I said quote...

"My problem is either something internal as OOZ has suggested OR, a need to upgrade to a PCI-Express Mobo, and/or a more powerful CPU and/or video card, and/or more RAM."

It's not yet proven that I have a malware problem that's limiting my performance, but this was a very good suggestion and something I had planned to check.  In fact, do to some other, minor irregularities, I'm planning to wipe and reload my hard drives and see what that does.  However, it will take some time to get properly prepped for that. 

In the mean time, I continue asking about component upgrades just in case that doesn't work, or I decide I want further improvement anyway.  <like I win the lottery or find pirate treasure in my back yard.>   

[Sloehand]

We understand.

Intel:

E8400 $162
Gigabyte MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 $75
Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136298 $65
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703019 $130
Memory 1066: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227456 $72
Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131163 $125



Amd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103678 X2 7850 $80

Mother board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128376 $75
Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136298 $65
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703019 $130
Memory 1066: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227456 $72
Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131163 $125


I omitted the OS, optical drives, sound card, and case.

You can even go lower in price. For instance PC 800, Different power supply etc.

So the Intel comes to $629 and the AMD is $547.

I did this in a hurry so review everything. This will get you started.

This is good and what I wanted to know.  I'm definitely in the Intel camp.  Don't need the HD so that saves a few bucks.  I'm assuming you either have, or somehow know this system works well on AH.

[Sloehand]

I did this prior to upgrading mine.  it helped a lot.  iobits has several utilities that will help you, but before u use them make sure u do lots of system restores, just in case.  If u decide to upgrade then most people on the forums believe that an e8400 system (or similar)should be more than enough for the next few years.  that's what I am upgrading mine, and it is a little at a time, like it was suggested. as I can afford another component, I'll buy it.

semp

Sorry, I may be slow (well I am "SLOE"-hand) or just a bit ignorant, but I'm not sure what e8400 is referring to.  A system type? A video card?  A little more detail would be helpful.  Thanks.

[Skuzzy]

E8400 is an Intel Core 2 CPU.  It is considered to be one of the better bang-for-the-buck CPU's.

[OOZ662]

If you'd like some hands-on help with process cleaning both in and out of game, let me know. Welcome to the Großdeutschland Division, by the way. Gotta get you ready.

[Dragon]

Another option: Still sticking with the 8400 from Newegg

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?MfrId=665&CatId=106
PSU $124.99
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4410105&CatId=1533
MB 64.99
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4631368&CatId=3585
Vid Card 89.99
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2938112&CatId=2531
RAM 2 GB 37.99

This is a steal on the memory, but only till they run out.

[Getback]

Sorry, I may be slow (well I am "SLOE"-hand) or just a bit ignorant, but I'm not sure what e8400 is referring to.  A system type? A video card?  A little more detail would be helpful.  Thanks.

I use the intel E8500 CPU, an abit mother board, and a ATI Radeon 3850. Seems to run the game quite well. The CPU is overclocked to 3.5 ghz. TD uses Gigabyte although I'm not sure which one. I built my mom a comp using one of the Gigabyte boards and it is, like the E8400, good bang for the buck. I did use the PC Power and Cooling Power supply. Nothing like a good power supply. The ATI Radeon 4850 seems to be a solid performer. I tend to lean towards ATI. Some say they run hot. I have 2 machines with ATI cards, 3850 and 3870, and both run quite well.

My goal was to get you to thinking about the possibilities. The E8400 overclocks really well. I think you will find you won't need to. It would be a stunning performance change going from your current system to the ones I suggested. Duo cores make huge difference.

[AirFlyer]

Geez, people I appreciate taking the time to respond, but NOT ONE OF YOU made a suggestion on WHAT to buy to improve my system. 

Could of swore I did in my last post, I think the way I typed it was just a bit misleading. The GPU I suggested will do better then a 7800, I'm just not sure if it will be enough to make it worth your while. With that said, the 3850 is said to be one of the best ever put on the market for AGP so after that you would need to do a fairly large overhaul of your computer.

[Sloehand]

OK, now we're cooking.  Lots of good things to check out.  Appreciate all the suggestions.  Just one thing, I hope you all realize.  If I do get my machine to the point where I don't have so many screen stutters, etc., all of you are gonna die a whole lot more.   Muuuuhahahahahahaha! 

   and thanks for the help.

[Getback]

OK, now we're cooking.  Lots of good things to check out.  Appreciate all the suggestions.  Just one thing, I hope you all realize.  If I do get my machine to the point where I don't have so many screen stutters, etc., all of you are gonna die a whole lot more.   Muuuuhahahahahahaha! 

   and thanks for the help.

We, who are about to die,  you!