Getting Crysis to run on my PC

[Shando]

Hi, I was wondering if you could help me. My system specfications are as follows:

AMD Sempron 2800+
MSI Socket A motherboard
2gb DDR400 RAM
ATI Radeon 9250 AGP Graphics card

I am an avid gamer, and realise that I will need to upgrade my computer quite soon in order to handle the latest games.The games in particular I want to run well when they are released are Crysis and Unreal Tournament 2007. I was wondering if there is anything I could upgrade on my current system in order to run these games well?

Thanks in advance

Shando

 

[Venomous]

Well you will need to upgrade, both your video and cpu/motherboard.. Pick up a E6300/6400 and a good clocking P965 board.. you will need ram as well.. Looks like a serious upgrade.

I dont know how well a top tier AGP card will do for you... If you want to play those upcoming titles, youre going to need an up to date system.

 

[JEDIYoda]

if you had to only upgrade one item it would be the video card...

A good video card is essential to having a positive gaming experience!

 

[kuqdew]

get a new $500 system when the new games release

 

[Shando]

Venomous, If i get a conroe board and cpu, I could still use my DDR ram couldn't I? or would i have to upgrade to DDR2?

 

[m21s]

You would have to upgrade the RAM also to DDR2

 

[Shando]

so we're basically talking about another rig?

 

[InFeXiOn]

Or you could take the alternate route and keep your existing RAM. Go with maybe a X2 4200+ and keep the DDR1 and just grab a decent board and a good PCI express card if you want to keep costs down. No one says you have to go with Conroe, for Crysis I'm assuming it's going to be more so dependent on your video card than anything else so just grabbing like I said a 4200-4800+ somewhere in that range should do just fine.

 

[Shando]

.

 

[Niv KA]

You could probably play those games with that rig at VERY low res.
Im talking 640X480.

My recomendation to you though would be wait for now untill a game comes that doesn't work well. When that arives then get yourself a serous upgrade that will last a few years. RAM prices are sky high at the moment so if you were to build now, you could go for that Conroe Asrock DDR1/2 board that was reviewed not long ago(seems like ages now). Unless you are going for the 3800 X2 you will get a better bang for the buck on Core2Duo and Dual core is the way to go now anyways.

By then I also hope new GFX cards will come out, like probabily the G80 series

 

[Ike0069]

If you want to reuse your RAM, I would go with a S939 system. You'd have to replace everything but the RAM (including a new PSU I'm guessing), but it will be much cheaper than upgrading to Conroe.

If you want to go budget, you can get a good single core CPU/MB for $150.
An X1900XT 256 is $240.
A decent PSU is ~$75-100.
Reuse drives and case, use on board sound, and you have a nice gaming system for <$500.

You just first need to decide a hard budget, then look to see what you can get.

 

[Waylay00]

Ike's plan sounds like the way to go.

 

[shabby]

Assrock has ddr1 conroe boards, no reason to go with a slower 939 setup.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Shando
Venomous, If i get a conroe board and cpu, I could still use my DDR ram couldn't I? or would i have to upgrade to DDR2?

Yes you could get a Asrock motherboard and use your DDR memory. Try this motherboard Asrock 775Dual-VSTA

This Mobo has both DDR and DDR2 slots so you can use your current memory, it also has AGP as well as PCI-E x16 so you can use your current video or upgrade to the latest PCI-E card.

It's not an overclocker's mobo, but it's a very very good solution to keep costs down by reusing old components while still being able to use the latest CPU (C2D), Video and memory.

It's also under $60 which is unbelievable.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Shando
Venomous, If i get a conroe board and cpu, I could still use my DDR ram couldn't I? or would i have to upgrade to DDR2?

Yes you could get a Asrock motherboard and use your DDR memory. Try this motherboard Asrock 775Dual-VSTA

This Mobo has both DDR and DDR2 slots so you can use your current memory, it also has AGP as well as PCI-E x16 so you can use your current video or upgrade to the latest PCI-E card.

It's not an overclocker's mobo, but it's a very very good solution to keep costs down by reusing old components while still being able to use the latest CPU (C2D), Video and memory.

It's also under $60 which is unbelievable.

I personally like Asrock MB's (I'm using one right now), but I don't see the point in this MB for a gaming rig. It does not have a true PCI-e x16 slot. It's a PCI-e x4 slot. Current high-end VC's can use more than a 4x slot, and DX10 cards will definitely need more. Yes, it does let you keep you DDR RAm until you can buy some new DDR2, but the PCI-e slot is a deal breaker for myself.

If you want to go Conroe, my suggestion would be to try and sell your current parts, including the RAM, and get a nice Conroe system. If your budget does nto allow, go with a very capable S939 rig and use the money saved for a better VC. And definitely don't skimp on your PSU either.

 

[SparkyJJO]

You have plenty of ram, at this point I wouldn't go anything that would make you have to buy new ram considering the prices.

You can get a decent Gigabyte s939 board for $68 and X2 3800+ CPU for $175. You could get a X1900GT for just under $200 or a X1900XT 256MB for $250.

So for around $450-$500 you could get a really decent upgrade.

 

[imported_goku]

Originally posted by: Niv KA
You could probably play those games with that rig at VERY low res.
Im talking 640X480.

My recomendation to you though would be wait for now untill a game comes that doesn't work well. When that arives then get yourself a serous upgrade that will last a few years. RAM prices are sky high at the moment so if you were to build now, you could go for that Conroe Asrock DDR1/2 board that was reviewed not long ago(seems like ages now). Unless you are going for the 3800 X2 you will get a better bang for the buck on Core2Duo and Dual core is the way to go now anyways.

By then I also hope new GFX cards will come out, like probabily the G80 series

He quite simply needs to upgrade the video card, he couldn't play the game at all at this point because he has a 9250 and the requirements for Oblivion are 9600...

 

[secretanchitman]

C2D, 7900GTO/GS/GT/GTX or an equivalent ati card, 1GB-2GB of DDR2 ram, a good 965/975x chipset motherboard, etc.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: Ike0069

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd

Originally posted by: Shando
Venomous, If i get a conroe board and cpu, I could still use my DDR ram couldn't I? or would i have to upgrade to DDR2?

Yes you could get a Asrock motherboard and use your DDR memory. Try this motherboard Asrock 775Dual-VSTA

This Mobo has both DDR and DDR2 slots so you can use your current memory, it also has AGP as well as PCI-E x16 so you can use your current video or upgrade to the latest PCI-E card.

It's not an overclocker's mobo, but it's a very very good solution to keep costs down by reusing old components while still being able to use the latest CPU (C2D), Video and memory.

It's also under $60 which is unbelievable.

I personally like Asrock MB's (I'm using one right now), but I don't see the point in this MB for a gaming rig. It does not have a true PCI-e x16 slot. It's a PCI-e x4 slot. Current high-end VC's can use more than a 4x slot, and DX10 cards will definitely need more. Yes, it does let you keep you DDR RAm until you can buy some new DDR2, but the PCI-e slot is a deal breaker for myself.

If you want to go Conroe, my suggestion would be to try and sell your current parts, including the RAM, and get a nice Conroe system. If your budget does nto allow, go with a very capable S939 rig and use the money saved for a better VC. And definitely don't skimp on your PSU either.

It has been shown that 4x vs 16x is no difference. Refer to the latest Anandtech article of enabling crossfire on the P5B Deluxe. Asus provided a way to change the P5W-DH to 16x/4x like the P5B and noticed no reduction in speeds vs 16x/16x. It's more to do with the BIOS and drivers.

 

[ebeattie]

939 is not slow. Granted, this...Conroe as I have heard may be the shizzle right now, but to say that a 939 is slow is......sad.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: ebeattie
939 is not slow. Granted, this...Conroe as I have heard may be the shizzle right now, but to say that a 939 is slow is......sad.

Depends how you rate "faster" for gaming you're right...it's really close. For video it's a difference.

 

[obeseotron]

Regardless of what you choose to upgrade, there is no reason to do it before Crysis and UT2K7 if that is the reason you are upgrading. By the time those games are out there will probably be better or at least cheaper hardware available.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

Get an x800 series AGP, run on low resolution and medium quality settings.

 

[D22]

vote for the e6300/ASRock/x1900 combo. But yea, wait for the upgrade until later. x1900 might go down another $100 by then

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Shando
I was wondering if there is anything I could upgrade on my current system in order to run these games well?

While Crysis and UT2007 will be fully dual-core enabled, it isn't a requirement. It's actually possible to make your current system more than able to play both of them, at higher resolution than you're able to game with your 9250 now. Just grab one of these 2.4 Ghz Skt. 754 A64's (about twice as fast as your current processor): A64 3400 w/free motherboard for $119, plus either an X1600 Pro for $103, X800GTO for $125, X850 Pro for $140, if you're wanting to stick with ATI, or Gf 6800XT for $103, 7600GS for $125, 6800GS for $170, or the fastest AGP card, the 7800GS for $260.

Note that the more you spend on your video card, the better your gameplay will be, always.