A decent used system for A.H.2

[Bosch232]

I hesitate to post this, because it always provides a venue for people to rave about their latest-and-greatest high end computer system which is producing 100 frames per second, etc.

So let me be clear:  I don't have that.  And I don't want to pay for that.  

What I'd like to do is have a pc that gets respectable frame rates.  Something around 20 or so in F3 view.  Talking a little bit with others, it seems like a good graphics card is the key element since the other system requirements are not terribly demanding.

Thoughts?

[croduh]

I have a amd 1800 mhz, radeon 9200, 1.3 gm ram and i run aces high on mid settings 1280x1024, 1024 textures on over 40 fps in mas.These new updates(ships) are going to be a large fps hit though, if they don't work out the lods to a maximum.
Make any computer stronger than mine and you will have a nice ah machine.

[Rebel]

Dude- AMD x2 processors are cheap as hell right now- here's what ya pick up at newegg:

AMD X2 64 4200+ with a Gigabyte mobo that supports it (I've had great luck with those boards).

Pick up a 100-200 gig hard drive.

If you need it, a new case, maybe some extra fans.

Vid Card-- Go with a GeForce 7950GT OC.  This thing RULES and itsn't that expensive.

**Edit**- Memory's pretty cheap- pick up a Gig.  But make sure you get the right kind!!

[Krusty]

AH seems to require more CPU than GPU, but having said that it also requires significant GPU at times.

I mention this so that you don't go all-out on one and not the other, you have to balance it when looking for an AH2 rig.My 7600GTS gives me no problems with AH, and my Conroe E6420 is bloody dirt cheap and just plain rules in AH. Both are fairly cheap. My motherboard cost about $50-$60 and my 2x 1GB dual channel ram kit cost only $60.

Together that's:

7600GS ($60 on newegg) or 7600GT ($85 on newegg)
E4500 ($125 on newegg) or E6550 ($170 on newegg)
ASrock dual mobo (what I've got, in this case) $60
RAM: 1GB minimum is about $32 now.

Not counting case or HD or power supply, etc... That system will run Ah better than normal and that's only $277 to $347

[Major Biggles]

20 or so is NOT respectable...


a basic 600 dollar PC should give you far more than that.

my comp is over two years old now, cost me about 1000 dollars (500 pounds) back then and i still get a solid capped frame rate of 60 with full antialiasing, filtering and max textures and graphics settings in AH.

[jam83]

or you could pick up one of these   only $149

[Krusty]

Not many motherboards support PCIe x16 2.0, and those that do are quite expensive.

Not to mention if you spend the money to GET such a mobo, you wouldn't waste money on a POS vid card. The 7600GT performs better than the 8600GS, from reviews I've read. The 8000 line is terrible and almost a write-off until you get to the 8800GTs and above.

EDIT: Posts like this are usually supposed to go in the hardware forum.

[BaldEagl]

Originally posted by Krusty
Not many motherboards support PCIe x16 2.0, and those that do are quite expensive.

About the only PCIe x16 2.0 mobos right now are those that contain 2 slots to support Crossfire or SLI, they all use the latest Intel X38 or NVidea 780i chipsets (respectively) and they are all in the $200-250 range.  This is the latest technology right now and its priced like it.

[Krusty]

Sad, though. I really want a 3870, but don't want to get a new mobo if I can help it

[BaldEagl]

Originally posted by Krusty
Sad, though. I really want a 3870, but don't want to get a new mobo if I can help it

Well they are compatible with one another.  You could get the card now and wait to get the mobo when the prices come down or they start building single-slot x16 2.0 boards.  You just won't realize the double data rate until you do.

I'm in the same boat contemplating my new build.  I wanted the EVGA 512 8800GT but can't find a single slot x16 2.0 board.  I think I'm going to go with the EVGA 320 8800GTS and a Gigabyte Intel P35 mobo although I might still opt for the 8800GT.

[Krusty]

I asked ASRock tech support if my ASRock Dual775-VISTA would support it and they said it won't support the newer cards. Mine runs at 4x because it also has an AGP slot. So I can't just get the card then wait.


Will your idea even work? I would think sticking a 2.0 card into the basic x16 slot wouldn't run at all.

[BaldEagl]

Originally posted by Krusty
Will your idea even work? I would think sticking a 2.0 card into the basic x16 slot wouldn't run at all.

You may be right.  It depends on how you read this (from Wikipedia):

PCI-SIG announced the availability of the PCI Express Base 2.0 specification on 15 January 2007.[4] PCIe 2.0 doubles the bus standard's bandwidth from 2.5 Gbit/s to 5 Gbit/s, meaning a x32 connector can transfer data at up to 16 GB/s in each direction.

PCIe 2.0 is completely backwards compatible with PCIe v1.x. Graphic cards and motherboards designed for v2.0 will be able to work with v1.1 and v1.0, and vice versa. In some rare cases it is possible that a PCI-E 2.0 card will not work correctly on a PCI-E 1.0a slot. This is only limited to certain video cards.

The PCI-SIG also said PCIe 2.0 also features improvements to the point-to-point data transfer protocol and its software architecture.[5]

In June 2007 Intel released the specification of the P35 chipset which does not support PCIe 2.0 only PCIe 1.1.[6] Some people may be confused by the P35 block diagram[7] which states the Intel P35 has a PCIe x16 graphics link (8 GB/s) and 6 PCIe x1 links (500 MB/s each), for simple verification one can view the P965 block diagram which shows the same number of lanes and bandwidth but was released before PCIe 2.0 was finalized. Intel's first PCIe 2.0 capable chipset is the X38 and boards are already shipping from various vendors (Abit, Asus, Gigabyte) as of October 21, 2007.[8]


The only reson I say it may not work is that the P35 chipset wont support x16 2.0 but by the time the 1.x slot slows it down to half the bandwidth then I'm sure the P35 can deal with it.

[Tails80]

I have one of the slowest computers ever. (Not that bad...but not good). But whenever i join an arena i let it sit for about 10 minutes until i don't have any lag. Then i play. That can speed it up and stop it from lagging.

[alskahawk]

For about $500 you can build a decent AMD x2 system that will give you about 50-60 frames per second. Plenty good enough for Aces High.

 A thousand to twelve hundred bucks then your getting into SLI an good stuff might get a 100-150 frame rate.

Go to Newegg.com
 Use their wish feature to build a computer.

you can get AMD x2 chips for under $100 and 2 gig ram for less than $50. Plenty of good MBs based on last years technology







 My computer gets 350-400 frames and spikes up to 500. Over kill for AH

[Tigger29]

Originally posted by alskahawk
My computer gets 350-400 frames and spikes up to 500. Over kill for AH

Definitely overkill, considering your monitor might have a 75FPS refresh rate.  Turn on V-Sync.. might fix your rubber bullets problem.

Bosch232, howabout you tell us how much money you want to spend, and we'll see what we can find for you?