Need advice,Please

[Guest]

I want to get a new video card to improve FPS now and still have room to increase them with later upgrades.
My current: PIII 600E,abit BE6II,128MB Ram,Voodoo3 AGP.
I'm leaning towards a GF2 64 which right now is more card than my system can use(I THINK?)but I plan to upgrade some other things in the future.
The only other thing I can afford to do right now is add more RAM.(it's cheap)Will upping to 256 from 128 help??
I like racing sims and thats where I need the FPS. Currently,with only one car on the track I'm seeing anywhere between 30-55fps.When there is a bunch of cars on the track with me that will decrease.
In what order would you make your upgrades?

 

[Ncogneto]

1) video card
2) processor
3) motherboard
4) Ram

this is based on the info you gave and what you want to accomplish. More ram will not to much at all for your FPS and at 128 you have enough for now or at least should address other issues first. You will See quite an improvement going to a new video card. Right now I think for the money the best bet is the gforce 256 ddr only a little slower than the gforce 2 and a whole lot cheaper. Then a fast processor will give you alot of help also. Options 2 and three will need to be combbined if you decide to switch form intel to amd.

A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing!

 

[toonces]

i agree with ncogneto. i just read that going over 128mg of ram doesn't offer any significant performance increases. your best bet would be to look at pricewatch.com and pick up a leadtek geforce ddr card (rev. b) for @ 130$. that should offer you significant gains in fps. a GF2 64mg is really more than any system needs right now. unless you're playing games @ 1600x1200x32. i think most people don't do this. i also would then (later) move to a thunderbird/athlon system (mobo/cpu). 1. because those systems cost SIGNIFICANTLY less than pentium systems (when i say less i mean 1/2 as much $)and 2. because their performance is at least on par if not better than pentiums across the board. and AMD has been able to put out it's product in quantities large enough for people to be able to buy them.

your 600 PIII on pricewatch = 134$
for 134$ you can get an AMD thunderbird @ 800mhz and it'll spank the PIII's behind all day long. but i would recommend waiting til you need to upgrade your mobo and go all the way.

<font color=red>booyah, grandma, booyah..</font color=red>

 

[LTJLover]

the GF2 will help you out a lot I'd say. I am still running a K6-3 400 and I just got the Asus V7700 deluxe. Very nice and I can play all the new games pretty well. The Asus card was only $223 with video in/out and it helps a lot.

Jon
"Water-Cooled CPU Runner"