My computer is P3 750 Mhz 512 MB RAM, running xp pro. My vid card is an ancient TNT2.

I would like to play planetside, but system can't handle it. I know for sure that my vid card would need to be replaced.

Question: is my system easily upgradable enough to handle planetside? If so, what do I need to upgrade? What graphics card could I get that wouldn't be a waste on my system (ie: no point in getting an expensive card if there is a bottleneck that keeps it from performing)?

What kind of motherboard you have?

A GeForce 2 would probably be plenty for your system. Maybe GeForce4 MX or something. Don't bother with a GeForce4 ti4600 or anything newer.

Depending on your mobo, you may be able to upgrade your processor as well. Assuming you can, better chips are pretty cheap now.

Damned if I know. Lemme get back to you on that.

Meh - a GF2 is a 64 mb video card, as are the GF4MX range, so go for the cheaper gf2.

Not all GeForce2s are 64MB. I have a 32MB variety to prove it.

Piggie, is that an OEM computer, or did you build it yourself? Or have someone else build it? If it's OEM you can just feed me the make and model and I could probabyl figure out if you can do anything with the CPU.

Cool. Short of taking the thing part and actually looking at the part, I don't think I could tell you. It is a dell dimension XPS T800r. Service tag is fvg630b. Guess I could probably just find out from the service tag huh?

Manufacturer Intel Pentium III processor
Clock Speed 800MHz
L2 Cache Size 256

Processor

Clock Speed 800MHz

Memory

Memory Slot 1 Description [J6J1]: 128Mb
Memory Slot 2 Description [J6J2]: 128Mb
Memory Slot 3 Description [J7J1]: 256Mb
Available Memory 62.02 %
Page File Size 1504.0Mb
Available Page File 82.16 %
Virtual Memory 2015.5Mb
Available Virtual Memory 77.05 %

Memory

Memory Slot 1 Description [J6J1]: 128Mb
Memory Slot 2 Description [J6J2]: 128Mb
Memory Slot 3 Description [J7J1]: 256Mb

Memory


Memory


Network Card

Adapters 3Com 3C460B 10/100 Mbps USB Ethernet Network Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport
10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport

Storage

Drive Type Drive Size Total Available Space User Available Space
C: FAT32 19.00Gb 2.195Gb 16.80Gb

Storage


Hardware

Type Description
DVD/CD-ROM Drives SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-612
SONY CD-RW CRX140E
Disk Drives WDC WD204BA 19.01Gb
Display Adapters NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro 32Mb
Floppy Disk Drives (Standard floppy disk drives) Floppy disk drive
IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers Intel(r) 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Primary IDE Channel
Secondary IDE Channel
Keyboards Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mice and Other Pointing Devices PS/2 Compatible Mouse
Monitors Dell E770s - Dell Computer Corp.
Sound Devices Aureal Vortex 8830 Audio (WDM)
Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device
USB Controllers Intel(r) 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller

Software

Name Version
MySQL Control Center 0.9.2
WebFldrs XP 9.50.5318
McAfee Firewall 4.01.6000
Paint Shop Pro 7 Anniversary Edition 7.0.4.0000
MSN Messenger 5.0 5.0.0544
McAfee VirusScan Home Edition 7.01.6000

Software

Microprocessor type Intel® Pentium® III microprocessor that runs at 100 MHz externally
Microprocessor speeds 450 MHz internal/100 MHz external
500 MHz internal/100 MHz external
550 MHz internal/100 MHz external
600 MHz internal/100 MHz external
650 MHz internal/100 MHz external
700 MHz internal/100 MHz external
750 MHz internal/100 MHz external
800 MHz internal/100 MHz external
850 MHz internal/100 MHz external
L1 cache 32 KB SRAM (16-KB data cache; 16-KB instruction cache)
L2 cache
Dimension XPS Txxx
512-KB pipelined write-back SRAM on a separate chip on the processor card. The L2 cache runs at half the processor's internal clock speed.
Dimension XPS Txxxr
256-KB Advanced Transfer Cache that resides in the processor's core. The L2 cache runs at the processor's internal clock speed.
Microprocessor mounting SECC2 package connected to the system board contains microprocessor and cache circuitry
Math coprocessor internal to microprocessor

welp, from that it would appear that you could upgrade your processor to 850mhz. Not really a major jump, though...I dunno if you'd wanna drop the $$ to do that or not. Holy crap, just looked it up on pricewatch.com, $86. Not worth it, IMO. Damn Intel is overpriced...according to pricewatch, you can get an xp 2400+ (what I just built) for less. heh. 2ghz, or 850mhz? heh. Anyway...blah...

Looks like a vid card will be about the only thing that's really going to speed up your system. Unless you get a new motherboard. A 100mhz FSB is pretty crappy nowadays, especially considering Intel is unveiling an 800mhz FSB in the near future. Bleh, anyway, I'd recommend checking into the GeForce2 / Geforce4 MX lines, maybe do some price comparisons, check out some benchmarks, make up your own mind. I'm not an ATI person, but you may want to go that route instead if the price/performance ratio is worth it. And even if your current computer can't push the hardware properly, there's always the NEXT computer, eh?

how about a geforce 3 ti-500? their supposed to be good for the money. def better than a geforce 4 mx.

According to my mate who just put together a monster pc, ATI cards kick the living crap outta Nvidia atm. So i'm with Satis, mebbe go that way.

Other than that, i don't have useful info.

pardon my naivety, but how much would a decent mobo go for? Are their limitations on what mobo I could use, or is it one-size-fits-all?

heheh... mobo go for...

ermmm...is your computer a normal-sized case? If you hit the power button while windows is on, does it shut down? If yes to both, you have a standard ATX mobo, which is basically every motherboard out there. Well, mostly. Aynway...a really good mobo will run you about $150. You can find some for less, of course, but you really need to be careful what you buy. IMO, the mobo is the most important part of the computer, if you cheap out your computer will suck (speaking from personal experience).

Some good motherboards:
Any Dragon board
most nforce2 chipset boards http://www6.tomshardware.com/motherboar ... index.html

I went with Asus's nforce 2 board, but I think they're about all equally high performance...you could probably find a stripped-down version for around $100. The Dragon is a damn good series, but uses a slower chipset (VIA KT333 I believe). I forget who builds it.

ATI cards are more expensive than geforce series, and not worth the money in my oppinion. Unless you have some program, deciding by your old computer that you dont, that requires ultra performance card, then go for ATI. Otherwise GeF3 Ti500 64mb is very good, its actually better than GeF4 mx440. I'm a proud owner of Gef3 Ti500 and i must say that, i havent had any problems yet. Well there was a problem with shadowbane but that beta was so fu**ed up that....

Best card out now is the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra.

I have a Mobility Radeon 9000 Pro.

Hey since were on the subject...Is it reccommended overclocking my laptop GPU?