Trying to get the most performance out of an older rig

[schdaddy]

Friend wants to play Far Cry but his current setup chokes at the lowest settings.

The rig:
Athlon 1Ghz Tbird
Asus A7V133
256MB PC133
Radeon 9200
80GB 7200RPM
Windows XP

Is it possible to get a decent frame rate w/o spending more than $200?

Also I've read that this board supports Athlon XP's w/ a BIOS upgrade but I can't find how far you can take it. Anyone here own this MB w/ an AMD XP installed? I would assume the old heatsink & fan will work on a XP?


TIA,
chris

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: schdaddy
Friend wants to play Far Cry but his current setup chokes at the lowest settings.

The rig:
Athlon 1Ghz Tbird
Asus A7V133
256MB PC133
Radeon 9200
80GB 7200RPM
Windows XP

Is it possible to get a decent frame rate w/o spending more than $200?

Also I've read that this board supports Athlon XP's w/ a BIOS upgrade but I can't find how far you can take it. Anyone here own this MB w/ an AMD XP installed? I would assume the old heatsink & fan will work on a XP?


TIA,
chris

I started with a look at Asus's CPU-support page and it appears that if the board has PCB revision 1.05 and the 1007 or later BIOS, then it can support the Palomino-core AthlonXP's up to a 2100+. That would undoubtedly help a bit

Secondly, it's a safe bet you'll want another 256MB to 512MB of RAM in there. Also, a faster video card is going to make a difference, but it becomes a question of how much your friend can afford. And then there's the question of whether his power supply is geared up to propel a ~50-watt video card, and whether the case's ventilation is going to handle the heat production. And down the slippery slope we go :evil:

Hope that's some help, anyway

 

[schdaddy]

As for power & cooling he has a great Antec case so I'm sure he's covered.
The board revision is 1.04 (figures).

So I guess the question is now will a Athlon XP 1400+, 512MB RAM, & say a Radeon 9600 Series run Far Cry in a playable manner?

 

[CaptnKirk]

Try a Memory Boost program (PCWorld - FREE)

 

[schdaddy]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
Try a Memory Boost program (PCWorld - FREE)

No offense but I don't see how RAMBooster will help.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Some systems usually don't have a large memory capacity.

For example - the E-Machines, even some Compaq or HP max out with 2x sticks of 128MB PC100
for a total allowance of 256MB with no other option to add memory.
If you have a way to 'Flush' the cache without needing to return to that data - they speed up.
The 'Flush' clears whats on the stick by moving the cache to the hard drive - the slowdown would
be in having to retrieve it back from the hard drive - still beats the option of: 'Illegal Operation'
where the cache is gone and the system wants to shut down.

Try it - you'll be suprised.