To buy or not to buy?

[Alukardz]

I have a dell 4400 series, 1.6 megahertz processor, 256 ddr ram, and 64 mb. nvidia card that came with it.(I know my pc is obsolete dont remind me, sniff, sniff anyway I was wondering whether or not to get the new!! radeon 9600 xt card with half-life 2 for $199 sounds so good, dont ya think? anyway, I want an opinion whether or not the 1.6 will push it enough, and Im going to get another 256 stick o' ram with it. games Ive played so far with current config.: jedi outcast,MoH allied assault, spearhead, R.T.C.Wolfenstein, and Warcraft 3. now I know it is not ideal setup, but the games are playable or I would not play them at all, as we all know gameplay is king. Lemme know anything, any and all info. is greatly appreciated...Thanks!!!!!!

 

[ufo_warviper]

1.6 megahertz processor,

Here's your prob. I doubt Gabe Newell has gone to the levl of optimizing HL2 to run on the ancient 8086 Processor. You can try overclcocking it, but there's no way the current setup can take full advantage fo even a 64MB GeForce 2 MX400 SD-RAM card. Also, are you sure its not 256K of 32-pin RAM? How did you manage to get an Nvidia 64MB card into an ISA slot? THere were no nVidia ISA cards. Its probable that if you managed to fit that card in there, that the system is completely non-functional.

Now that my lunatic rant is over with, I'll come back with a more serious reply :tongue:

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[ufo_warviper]

Firstly, what is the 64MB nVidia card that You received in your system? My bet is that its either a GeForce2 MX 400 or a GeForce 4 MX 440.

Also, I'm wondering whether you 1.6GHz is a Northwood or a Willamette. IF it's a Northwood it is better not only at stock speeds, but has incredible overclocking potential. $199 for a Radeon 9600 XT isn't a bad deal, what kind of price range are you willing to spend BTW?

More memory wouldn't hurt, but a newer video card will probably impact performance the most. I wouldn't purchase anything higher than a 9600 XT on your system because you 1.6GHz processsor wouldn't be able to take advantage of the extra potential Video performance. However, if you do have a Northwood, & want to overclock it, then getting a better video card wouldn't hurt if you have the cash.

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[RRAMJET]

I think if you slot a new 9600 in your machine you will be as happy as a pig in shite. Your 1.6mhz chip will have plenty of grunt to push out some nice frame rates with that card. UFO are you seriously medicated today?

If he doesn't die, he'll get help!!!

 

[ufo_warviper]

Your 1.6mhz chip will have plenty of grunt to push out some nice frame rates with that card.

No, but it won't ya see! 1.6 MHz chip is too slow for a PCI card which wouldn't be designed in the Bus for that kind of chip.

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[Guest]

Captain Obvious applauds UFO on the UN-obvious spotting of the Mhz/Ghz typo!

<b><font color=red>Captain Obvious To The Rescue!!!</font color=red></b>

 

[ufo_warviper]

Why Thankyou Captain_Obvious! LOL, Twice in the SAME thread, & even on the same page. I swear, we've gone back 15 years man! Oh BTW, I still need a math Coprocessor for my 8088 & my 8086 machines.



My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by UFO_WARVIPER on 10/05/03 08:37 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Is it possible to overclock Dell machines?

----------------
<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86" target="_new">My Website</A></b>

<b><A HREF="http://geocities.com/spitfire_x86/myrig.html" target="_new">My Rig & 3DMark score</A></b>

 

[ufo_warviper]

I don't know why it wouldn't be. As long as you have Jumper setting that can adjust the Clock Multiplier & FSB, or at least a BIOS to adjust these, then it should be possible. If you can't upgrade the CPU, then you can't overclock. If the motherboards that DELL uses their sockets designed to where the CPU is removable & you can adjust settings for a new CPU, then I don't see why you couldn't overclock.

I did alot of repeating myself, didn't I? :lol:

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

possibly... though not very much.
Dell uses pretty stock stuff, so overclocking options are usually very limited.

Piles of crap really.

<b>I am not a AMD fanboy.
I am not a Via fanboy.
I am not a ATI fanboy.
I AM a performance fanboy.
And a low price fanboy.
Regards,
Mr no integrity coward.</b>

 

[Alukardz]

yeah thanks to all who took the time to read my post,and reply, greatly appreciated. the card is in fact a nvidia geforce2 MX/MX400, and it is in an AGP slot 2&4X max.so now what do ya say.....oh did I forget to mention anything else? Im getting closer to a decision thanks to all who replied with your wisdom....Thanks so much!!!!!!

 

[ufo_warviper]

My first reply was a joke of course. You did forget to tell us if you had a Northwood or a Willamette Processor. You also forgot to tell us if you wanted to overclock. As far as the AGP 2x/4x/8x mess, its really no big deal. THere is really not much perfomance gain at all from AGO8X. So, if you buy an AGP8X card, it will run about the same as an equivalent AGP 4X card of the same type.

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[Alukardz]

oh please try not joke with a noob like me i dont know any better, but as far as the processor type, i really dont know;(how can you tell which anyway?) overclocking? no way! that is another can of worms id rather not get into just.....yetbut please, what is your definitive humble opinion. Thanks again to all!!!

 

[cleeve]

Get yourself a nice 9600 PRO.

------------------
Radeon 9500 (modded to PRO w/8 pixel pipelines)
AMD AthlonXP 2400+ (O/C to 2600+ with 143 fsb)
3dMark03: 3586

 

[ufo_warviper]

Alright, you'll notice that my 2nd reply & others were all serious on the issue. I won't joke around anymore, I'm apologizing for that. The joke just had to do with your mislabelbing a 1600MHz Process as 1.6MHz, which should be 1.6 GHz. The 9600 Pro card, like Cleeve suggested would be the best your system could take advantage of since you do non plan to overclock.

My defintive Chip that you requested is the 9600 Pro in your case. But that's NOT the definitive card. Now we need to determine which manucfacturer of the card we prefere in your instance.
I would suggest the Hercules, Gigabyte (NOT GIGACUBE!!!!), or the "Built By ATi cards" as your top choices. Also, since you are not into overcocking, the Sapphire Atlantis 9600 Pro would be a good choice too since its cheaper. Just report the Memory & CPU specs of what you find to us & we'll tell you if everything is up to par for whaterver you get.

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[Alukardz]

yeah thanks Cleeve, but dont ya think radeon 9600xt, with half-life 2, for same price sounds/is better?

 

[ufo_warviper]

9600 Pro should be much cheaper than the 9600 XT

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[Alukardz]

UFO i greatly appreciate your and the community's help here.i still think the 9600xt is better buy overall, but i prolly get the pro. oh, processors are measured in MHz and storage in GHz no? oh, i prolly still have a lot to learn, heres to being a noob THANKS Everyone!!!!!!!

 

[ufo_warviper]

<b>Processor Frequency</b> is mesaured in <font color=red>Hertz</font color=red>; ie kilohertz, MegaHertz, & Gigahertz.

<b>Data capacity</b> is measured in <font color=red>bytes</font color=red>; ie kilobytes, Megabytes,Gigabytes, etcs.

The 9600 XT isn't a bad buy, the 9600 Pro should be between $130 - $160. If you see advertised for more, than their prices are too high, or they have forgotten to update. Now the 9600 XT would be a good deal as well @ $200 I imagine, but you Pentium 1.6 GHz CPU won't be able to take advanted of the extra horsepower that the 9600 XT offers. If you had a 2 GHz system, then I'd say go for the 9600 XT.

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!