Upgrading Question from a newbie...

[WindKnight03]

I recently realized that my current system probably isn't going to be able to run some new games at a decent speed if at all. In fact, some older games don't even run that well on it. Here are the general specs-

Pentium III 733 MHz
128 MB PC133 SDRAM
32 MB NVidia Riva TNT2 Video Card
Sound Blaster Audio PCI 128
Win98 SE
16X DVD-ROM Drive
No idea what motherboard, all I know is it's by VIA Technologies. I don't know how to find out. If anyone can tell me, that'd be great.

Anyway, the games I want to play are Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Star Wars Jedi Outcast. Screenshots of the games can be seen here:

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

I want to upgrade for this one especially because the final game will dozens of people walking around those levels.

and here:
Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

I was thinking, in order to make my system a bit more suited for these games, of getting the following upgrades-

Visiontek GeForce3 Ti200 64 MB video card (One of the programmers for Tony Hawk 3 says he uses a GeForce3, so I figured it'd be a good choice)
An extra 128 MB RAM (or perhaps more)
And a Creative Labs Audigy Gamer card

However, I've never upgraded a PC before, just gotten new ones when my old one finally was too old (ie. finally going to what I have now from a 133 Mhz Pentium... Argh). So I'd like to know: would this be enough, or would it be better to upgrade the processor, too? Thanks for any help!!

 

[AkumaBao]

Well, if it was built by Compaq, Dell, HP, etc, forget about even upgrading. Buy a new disposible PC, or make your own that you WILL be able to upgrade.

 

[brianp34]

<< Well, if it was built by Compaq, Dell, HP, etc, forget about even upgrading. >>



Why? I've upgraded my mom's compaq and 2 gateway's with more ram, new video and new sound cards. Everything went fine. The only problem i ever had was that a pci radeon card i bought wouldn't work on the intel 810 mobo that was in the compaq. If you do some homework and pick quality components, there's no reason you won't be able to upgrade a OEM pc.

brian

 

[optimistic]

<< However, I've never upgraded a PC before, just gotten new ones when my old one finally was too old (ie. finally going to what I have now from a 133 Mhz Pentium... Argh). So I'd like to know: would this be enough, or would it be better to upgrade the processor, too? Thanks for any help!! >>



That setup should serve you well. I might even suggest getting a GeForce2 GTS-V for $49 because I didn't really "see" any gains from going from a GeForce2 GTS to a GF3 ti200.

But if you still want to go GF3 you might want to check Fry's (if you live near one). They have their MSI GF3 selling for $99 after $30 rebate occasionally. I saw this was back again last week since it was first feature on the Grand Opening Sale.

 

[optimistic]

Getting more ram will give you a definet boost in speed! You might even want to consider getting a 256mb stick because the more ram you have, the less your computer has to rely on your hard drive for more memory. And you know how slow hard drives are.

Don't worry, upgrading is easy. Just remember to uninstall the devices you are replacing, from the control panel or device manager before you remove anything.

And don't upgrade the CPU unless you are willing to commit another $300+ to your budget because in upgrading the CPU you'll need a new motherboard to support the new CPU -and new memory to go with the new motherboard (assuming that you get the fastest chipset for that new motherboard). And upgrading to a P3 1GHz for approx $120 is not very practical being that it's an aging platform.

Also last thing about upgrading...
be sure to keep yourself grounded and your peripherals in static bags. STATIC IS YOUR ENEMY It will damage your computer. And don't forget to unplug your computer before working inside it

Good luck, and welcome to ANANDTECH!

 

[Fireman]

Check out http://www.tomshardware.com/ for all sorts of how to articles.
Up your ram, Get a GF2 or 3 (a good GF2 would play those games fine) and correct me if I'm wrong fellas, but the sound card upgrade won't help the games play any better, just sound better.
Your PIII733 should game ok with a decent vid card and ram.
Upgrading is easy like Optimistic said.
And welcome to the forums.

 

[ThaGrandCow]

The upgrades you listed should be fine. A 733 processor is still fairly decent for games

 

[brianp34]

<< and correct me if I'm wrong fellas, but the sound card upgrade won't help the games play any better, just sound better. >>



But they'll sound better. Sound is a big part, especially if you can get set up with 4.1 or 5.1 sound. If you're going to stick with 98 se, 256 megs or ram will be enough. The geforce 3's are getting cheaper (you might wanna look through the fs/t forums to find a good used one) so you might as well go ahead and grab that over the gf 2 to be a bit more future proof. Don't worry about adding some new cards, it really isn't a mystical process or anything, and we'll all be happy to help you should you have trouble.

brian

 

[DaiShan]

unless you are going to get some really high quality speakers or run a surround system, I wouldn't worry about the sound card, instead I would get another 256 megs ram, as far as the video card, I have a geforce 2 ultra and I get 85-90 fps in every game at pretty high resolutions (1280X1024), the RAM you just need to plug in, the video card is pretty much the same, just make sure uninstall everything before hand fron device manager and install it fresh. Also do it one at a time, not all at once.

 

[WindKnight03]

Wow, thanks for all the help, everyone! Just some comments from me:

Video Card:
Hmm, now I'm kinda stuck on the video card. Anything would be a significant improvement right now, and a GF2 for $50 sounds quite appealing.

Sound Card:
Ack, stuck here, too. Upgrading to an Audigy would mean having to buy a new set of speakers to take full advantage of it. My current speakers are Altec Lansing ACS33 2.1s.

Processor:
Ouch, an extra $300 for a new processor... kind of what I was expecting so I wasn't considering it too much. I could upgrade to another Pentium III, but I agree with what Optimistic said about it not being practical.

RAM:
I'm definitely getting this. At least 128, possibly 256.

Oh, and thanks for the welcome!

 

[cholley]

wait on the video card for a bit, the gef4 ti 4200 will be out soon and the gef3 line should slip in price a bit,
get more ram of course, check the specs of your hard drive and see if you could use a faster one, your processor should be good for a while yet , but as for your sound i think the sb 128 is still a good card but the sb live can be had on the cheap also

 

[zobskyX]

The cheapest and most visible performance gains cam be had if you

Try these one at a time

A. Your PC isn't that slow. If I were to make a wild guess, you may have a whole bunch of junk installed on it.
Try speeding it up by
1. run adaware (from www.lavasoftusa.com/ )
2. go to start ->run ->type msconfig ... or is it mscfg (been a long time : ) ), go to the start up tab and remove any suspicious programs (onyour own here, don't delete anything important)
3. set the swap size to a fixed amount = the amount of RAM in your system
4. defrag your system

B. Increase your RAM (buy another 128 or 256 MB stick)

C. try running at 16 bit color.

D. If these don't help, then go get a GE FORCE 2 GTS for $50. I've had one for a year and it runs pretty much anything pretty smooth upto 1280 x 1040 resolution (the only games I found to tax it are Wolfenstein and MS combat flight sim II - where the picture starts getting choppy)

that should be your cheapest upgrade for $100 - $150 ........... plus you will be able to use these in your next system (assume you use SDR)

if you want more, look at the GE FORCE 3 series or maybe the kyro 2

 

[brianp34]

To find out about your mobo, try sandra

brian