Upgrade advice please!

[Akaz1976]

System spec as follows:

P2-266
128 PC100 RAM (Generic)
ATi Rage IIc 8 MB AGP vid card

thats my brothers systems key specs. He has $100 to spend. my advice is to get a good vid card. (preferably GF2 MX).

He wants to play couterstrike only

Do u agree with my choice of upgrade?

 

[dadx2mj]

Personaly I would upgrade the processor

 

[BDawg]

Invest or save the money until he can afford a complete overhaul. That's going to make the most difference.

 

[BreakApart]

Tough call...

I would have to say CPU (P2=450-600) unless the mainboard can handle the Coppermine CPU's Then(Celeron=466-700)...

You can also get the V3-2000 for like $60 now. That would be a nice "budget" video upgrade...

The MX would be too much card for that system, there are more games that require a powerful CPU(unreal tourney), then a powerful video card...

Good Luck...

 

[Akaz1976]

thanx guys.

He wants to play CS ONLY
He is gonna do a complete overhaul in summer but does not need these $100 for that, so this $100 is for a stop gap arangement till summer.

so he is just concerned with get best performance on CS that $100 can buy right now!

***Edit*** he just played CS for teh first time about 3 days ago and he is kindda....... emm........ hooked ***

 

[BlueAngel]

you got enough ram and the vidoe card is ok, i think the processor should be upgraded, but what do i know?

 

[BlueAngel]

actually, why dont u be a good brother and buy him something nice for his computer for christmas?

 

[Viper GTS]

Here's what I'd do with $100...

Go over into FS/FT, & pick up a Celeron 366 @ 550 & a slocket (est price $50 or so). Also pick up a 16 MB TNT2 Vanta, you can get them new for $60, I recently sold one used for $30. Get a $15 heatsink & fan, & you're in business.

That would get you a SIGNIFICANT increase in performance, for a relatively cheap cost. I've had two TNT2 Vanta's, they both did 150 core, 150 memory. Not a high end card by any means, but enough to pull 60+ fps in Q2, & very playable rates in Q3.

Viper GTS

 

[novice]

I also think that a processor upgrade would be in order, depending on what his motherboard would support. Then, depending on what he has left over, a Voodoo 2 (maybe $35) to supplement his ATI card, or a Voodooo Banshee 16 mb card (maybe $40) to replace his ATI card. Or if he stumbles into a little more cash, a Voodoo 3 card. ($50 to $70 depending on model) Let's face it, the ATI rageIIc card is not the 3D accelerator of choice and is probably the major bottleneck of his current system. I played counterstrike okay on a P-233 MMX with a Guillemot Maxigamer Phoenix Banshee card, and it would be even better on a PII 266 or a Celeron 366, even with the Banshee.
Chuck

 

[Shalmanese]

1. Buy/Borrow Quake2
2. Download/Borrow Action Quake
3. Install Action Quake
4. Watch your brother become even more hooked at the superb gameplay AND liquid smooth framerates
5. If he whines... Kill him
6. Get a laptop and a large gun
7. go out on the street and find all CS players
8. show them Action quake and watch their jaws drop at the superb gameplay and netcode which doesn't make you feel like a strangled fish
9. If they complain about the dated graphics, shoot them with your large gun as they dont deserve multiplaying gaming.
And all this for FREE! (price of Quake 2, ISP costs for downloading AQ2 and large gun not included)