Pentium 4 1.5 Ghz; Best video card before CPU bottleneck?

[Tamanee]

The question is as the topic says. I'm basically looking for something to tide me over while I get the funds for a new rig. I've currently got a Radeon 9600 Pro as well as 768MB of SDRAM.

What are my prospects for, say, getting a decent framerate in HL2 at higher resolutions? Or just playing F.E.A.R?

 

[StrangerGuy]

I hope you don't find this offensive but it's the truth. The original P4 1.5GHz is dog slow, and it is even slower with SDRAM.

So the best advice is to buy a new computer if you want to play HL2 and FEAR.

 

[velis]

I would second StrangerGuy. Your gfx is pretty much adequate if not too powerful for your proc.

 

[Tamanee]

Ha ha ha. I guess I didn't have a full appreciation for exactly how mediocre my pc really is. Oh well, time to ebay some stuff to get that new rig.

 

[jlbenedict]

You don't want to invest a dime into that current system.

Whenever you have the funds saved up, you are going to want to go PCIe, so don't even think about buying an AGP now to tide you over (Since you obviously have the intentions of doing a full rig in the near future).

 

[Geomagick]

Your 9600Pro is already pretty much eclipsing that CPU and RAM combo as it is, save those pennies and change the whole thing.

 

[imported_rod]

Just like everyone else has said - the 9600Pro is already maxing out that CPU.

RoD