Hey Colin

[Parachute]

<br><br><< <i>Okay, Im not sure what my motherboard supports exactly (celerons and P3s I think). But if I get a Radeon 9000 (or pro) what CPU and RAM would you reccomend? I know I'm also getting windows XP and a new maxter 40-60GB 7200 rpm.... yeah....</i> >><br><br><BR><BR>Well, I'm sure your current motherboard will not support a P4 based CPU. Even physically the new CPU won't fit. For your new computer you should get 256MB - 512MB DDR, PC2100 and if your choice is with a P4 Celeron, 1.7GHz orso should be fine.<BR><BR>But be sure to talk to others too, as they might give you other advice ...

[Max Power]

Should I still get a Radeon 8500 or get a 9000 now? There way cheaper and about teh same as the 8500, so should I get it?

[Parachute]

If this is your current system:<BR><BR>System Specs: <BR>850 MHz Celeron <BR>128 MB RAM <BR>Geforce 2 MX 400 <BR>Windows 98 SE <BR><BR><BR>You're better of spending your money on a vacation to Europe !! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>Ok, a Radeon 9x00 would be a pure WASTE OF MONEY with that system. But, why not get a GeForce 4 Ti ?? They're kind of cheapish and perform better than a Radeon 8500.

[Max Power]

Ummm, Arey ou saying my systems good or bad? And why would it be a waste of money? It's almost as godo as a geforce 4, I guess I could get one. I'm really an ATI fan cause there canadian (as am I). So why... Would the Radeon 9000 not be faster then my current card? I really just want to play NWN with everything on and GTA3 at a high resolution.... Oh! And Unreal 2003.... And Ill probably get another upgrade before doom3 but.... Well can you just explain what you mean please?

[revvy]

oem Radeon 8500 cards are actually cheaper than Radeon 9000 Pro's and the offer much better performance anyway

[Max Power]

well.... really? what are the canadian prices of em?

[Parachute]

<br><br><< <i>Ummm, Arey ou saying my systems good or bad? And why would it be a waste of money? It's almost as godo as a geforce 4, I guess I could get one. I'm really an ATI fan cause there canadian (as am I). So why... Would the Radeon 9000 not be faster then my current card? I really just want to play NWN with everything on and GTA3 at a high resolution.... Oh! And Unreal 2003.... And Ill probably get another upgrade before doom3 but.... Well can you just explain what you mean please?</i> >><br><br><BR><BR>Your current system and a Radeon 9x00 would be a pure waste of money. Even a GF3 in your PC would be a waste. For a Radeon9700 you should have at least a 2GHz P4 or XP2x00 and plenty of ram (like 512MB)

[Comixion]

lol <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">

[Max Power]

Uh huh. Well if you check out my other thread, what should I upgarde too. Then you'll know tha tI am upgarding this first. Then otehr stuff.

[Max Power]

So what CPU would I need to take full advantage of the 9000/9000 pro? (I use Intel)

[GNXtreme]

With todays fast CPUs anything slower than 1Gig and you are left behind.&nbsp; IMO to take full advantage of the 9x00 cards I would go with a minimum XP 1600 or P4 1.4G.

[Max Power]

... Well.... I WAS gonna get a 1.3 GHz celeron (please read other thread 'what should I upgrade too') But now that the 1.7 GHz celerons arn't that more expensive.... Should Iget the 1.7 GHz one? Would that ummm, help?<BR><BR>EDIT: if your to lazy to check the other thread then I'm getting the Vcard spetember-ish Windows XP and more RAM xmas-ish and new hardrive and CPU May or earlier-ish. And did colin die or something?

[Parachute]

<br><br><< <i>... Well.... I WAS gonna get a 1.3 GHz celeron (please read other thread 'what should I upgrade too') But now that the 1.7 GHz celerons arn't that more expensive.... Should Iget the 1.7 GHz one? Would that ummm, help?<BR><BR><BR><BR>EDIT: if your to lazy to check the other thread then I'm getting the Vcard spetember-ish Windows XP and more RAM xmas-ish and new hardrive and CPU May or earlier-ish. And did colin die or something?</i> >><br><br><BR><BR>The SDR-Ram memory you're using is pretty much useless with a P4 or Celeron at 1.5 or more MHz, and in combination with a new videocard like the Radeon 9x00, SDR will suck big time. You will have to get DDR, at least 256MB. Expensive, but that's the way it is.

[CHE]

Colin's fine. Don't you read the news on the front page? <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif" border="0"><BR><BR><img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"><BR><BR>He frequents the forums when he can, depending on his workload. Plus he had an internet thing recently that has made it more difficult for him to spend a lot of time here, he's presumably been working offline a lot and uploading when he gets the chance.

[Max Power]

Okay, Im not sure what my motherboard supports exactly (celerons and P3s I think). But if I get a Radeon 9000 (or pro) what CPU and RAM would you reccomend? I know I'm also getting windows XP and a new maxter 40-60GB 7200 rpm.... yeah....

[Max Power]

Okay cool... Do I really need DDR ram? And will my motherboad even support it? I'm having no luck of finding the box soo....

[GNXtreme]

Do you have the model number for your board?&nbsp; I would recommend DDR to anyone over the old stuff.&nbsp; If your MB doesn't support it you can find one for less than $100.00 that will be upgradeable, for a while anyway.

[Parachute]

<br><br><< <i>Okay cool... Do I really need DDR ram? And will my motherboad even support it? I'm having no luck of finding the box soo....</i> >><br><br><BR><BR>Your current motherboard does not support DDR RAM. You should get a new motherbord for your Pentium 4 or new Celeron which supports bith SDR RAM and DDR RAM. This way, you will be able to use you're old SDR RAM for a while, and switch to DDR RAM after a while when you have enough money.

[Max Power]

Hmmmm, well what I'm now thinking is I'll get a 1.3-4ghz celeron (it's based on P3 right) cause the 1.7 is based on p4 I think. And my mbored wont support p4 celerons... I think. And would the 1.3 or 4 Ghz celerons take full advantage of a 9000 pro? or should I just get a Radeon 9000 (not pro)? Also what RAm would i need for a 1.3 or 4 Ghz celeron? It says on my motherbored thing that it supports celerons upto 1.3 ghz, so would it support a 1.4ghz one? I want to make this upgrade right now and then get a new motherbored and everything for doom3.

[revvy]

maybe you should throw in your budget in order to give us an idea of what to recommend for you

[Avid6eek]

Max.....If you were to put a Radeon 9000 in your system you would see very little improvement in your gaming performance. For a Video Card to work correctly, it needs a good CPU/system memory behind it to help out. Some games, particularly Real Time Strategy games, will almost never even use the Video Card and be all CPU based, but most games are a mix of the two. For this reason, it is more important that you make sure your whole system is up to date if you want better performance. You didn't leave a certain budget amount but I looked around really fast to see what I could find that would give you an extreme performance boast, for only less than what you'd pay for a Radeon 9700 Pro. Here are my suggestions:<BR><BR>Biostar Motherboard M7VIP KT333...... $65<BR>AMD Athlon XP 1700............................ $58<BR>256MB Samsung PC2700.....................$70<BR>Maxtor 30GB 7200rpm.........................$70<BR>ATI Radeon 9000.................................$70<BR><BR>There you go....brand new computer for $333. I didn't even expect it to be that much, but I didn't realize how bad your harddrive was too. Of course your most likely going to have to buy a new case with a bigger power supply ($40), but for only $373, you'll see a huge leap in performance.

[computerfreke911]

y the heck do u still have a celeron? since ur a intel person get a P4. it doesn't have to be a superfast one with Hyper Threading support. go to pricewatch.com (as of 12-4-02) a P4 1.8 socket 478 is only $100. you can also find almost any comp part as well as electronics there. a mobo will run u $80 maximum for a pretty good one. Radeon 9000 is $63 for regular, $81 for 9000 pro wit 64mb, and $95 for 9000pro w/ 128mb. and powersupplies cost as little as $24. (all USD) Good luck

[computerfreke911]

sorry i meant to put Intel approved power supplies run as little as $24

[Avid6eek]

AMD Motherboards are cheaper, and the CPU's are also cheaper. When it comes to speeds under 2.2Ghz, AMD kicks the crap out of intel with the comparable PR rated Athlon.