would pairing a 6600 GT with a athlon xp 2400 run half life 2?

[The Internal]

Hiya.

I have everything but a motherboard, graphics card, and RAM to make a spare socket A system built around a Athlon XP 2400 (thoroughbred 2.0 GHz). I'm thinking about getting a ABIT NF7-S rev2, MSI Geforce 6600 GT AGP, and a gig of Mushkin value RAM.

Would that run Half Life 2 at 1024 x 768 or 1280 x 1024 with AA turned off okay? Suggestions on parts is welcome.

Be well.

 

[McArra]

I think so, but maybe CPU bottlenecked in intensive CPU scenes in HL2 (with lots of physics). You could OC it anyway...

 

[The Internal]

Half Life 2 runs well on my current system (with the older 9600 chipset) at 1034x768... has anyone else tried running half life 2 with a thoroughbred (not overclocked) and a 6600 GT yet?

 

[Brian48]

HL2 is more than playable at medium settings using a 1024x768 res with one of my backup machines using a 2200 Sempron + 128mb R8500. I would imagine you'd be in find shape.

 

[DarkKnight]

I'm sure it will run well, Hl2 runs ok even on slower systems

 

[genghislegacy]

yep it will run ok. 6600GT is powerful enough.

 

[imverygifted]

just dont max out the settings, run a low resolution w/ low settings and if your getting really crappy frame rates try running in dx8 mode

 

[Melchior]

Hl2 will run on just about anything relaly.

 

[kmmatney]

I have a thoroughbred XP 2400 (overclocked to 2800 speed), and will be getting my 6600GT on Mon or Tues. I'm expecting good frame rates at 1280 x 1024 or 1280 x 960, for all games. I'll post back how things go. I'm upgrading from a ti4200 64 MB.

 

[Insomniak]

Source is probably the best scaling engine I've ever seen, which can only mean it's just coded really REALLY well, to look that good and play that smoothly on older hardware.

Anyway, I'm sure it will be fine. That CPU will bottleneck that GPU a little bit, but it's nothing you'll notice. You'll already be above the playable threshold.

 

[imported_Computer MAn]

Originally posted by: Insomniak
Source is probably the best scaling engine I've ever seen, which can only mean it's just coded really REALLY well, to look that good and play that smoothly on older hardware.

Anyway, I'm sure it will be fine. That CPU will bottleneck that GPU a little bit, but it's nothing you'll notice. You'll already be above the playable threshold.

 

[The Internal]

k. by PLAYABLE, I mean at least 1024 x 768 Max everything with hardware audio enabled. None of this lowest setting rubbish.

 

[McArra]

It will play it great in that res with max settings.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: The Internal
k. by PLAYABLE, I mean at least 1024 x 768 Max everything with hardware audio enabled. None of this lowest setting rubbish.

Res and effects are taken care of by the GPU - you'll be fine.

The only thing you might see some stutter from is sound loading and physics calculations, done primarily by the CPU. All the GPU power in the world won't do anything for you there.

Bottom line, graphical power is not what you're short on, so you'll be able to max the visual pretty. But visual pretty isn't the only draw on modern PCs.

 

[HappyNic]

yup you should be able to max everything at the 1024 x 768, you should beable to up all the way to 1600x1200 too. But at that rez your frame rate will be at something like around 30.

I have the same ABit mobo, and 2400xp and 1 gig of ram,, but my videocard is a ATI 9800pro. Considering that the 6600Gt is a little bit faster than mine ,, you should have no problem.

 

[The Internal]

I guess the next question is... should I pair the 6600 GT with my Barton 3200 and move the 9600 AIW to the 2400? the 9600 runs hl 2 pretty well at 1024x 768 on my current system, but would it still be able to handle it with the 2400? I'd like to have the 2400 to be good enough to drag along to a LAN party for one of my broke ass college chums to play on.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: The Internal
I guess the next question is... should I pair the 6600 GT with my Barton 3200 and move the 9600 AIW to the 2400? the 9600 runs hl 2 pretty well at 1024x 768 on my current system, but would it still be able to handle it with the 2400? I'd like to have the 2400 to be good enough to drag along to a LAN party for one of my broke ass college chums to play on.

That would certainly match CPUs/GPUs much better.

 

[Jeff7181]

Sure it'll run it... I know someone using a 1.2 GHz Athlon processor, 384 MB of RAM, and a GeForce4 MX420 who plays HL2 and CS:S.

How well it runs it is a different story, and is a matter of opinion. That guy thinks HL2 looks awesome... ignorance is bliss.

 

[Pete]

I'm using a 2400+/266 and 9700P. While the 2400+ is a bit of a bottleneck, the 9700P still seems to be the main limitation at the default settings (10x7, no AA/AF, everything high, reflect world). My framerates are around 30-60fps most of the time: not the greatest, but definitely playable. A 6600GT should make it even more playable, even at 12x10, so that should make a good machine for your friend.

A 3200+ will be better b/c of both the added clock speed and the added bandwidth (PC2100 ain't so new anymore). It'd also be more balanced to pair the 3200+ with the 6600GT and the 2400+ with the 9600.

 

[The Internal]

now if anyone wants to suggest a good PCI TV tuner to route my PS2 through .... also, should I blow $250 on performance RAM on the 2400, or just get 1 GB Mushkin DDR400 2.5-3-3 RAM for around $150? Maybe I should just make a new post....

 

[zakee00]

Originally posted by: McArra
it will for sure but maybe CPU bottlenecked in intensive CPU scenes in HL2 (with lots of physics). You could OC it anyway...

there is your awnser

 

[zakee00]

Originally posted by: imverygifted
just dont max out the settings, run a low resolution w/ low settings and if your getting really crappy frame rates try running in dx8 mode

he wont have to, turn everything on high 12x10. no aa, but you can probably do 4xaf.

 

[zakee00]

Originally posted by: zakee00

Originally posted by: imverygifted
just dont max out the settings, run a low resolution w/ low settings and if your getting really crappy frame rates try running in dx8 mode

he wont have to, turn everything on high 12x10. no aa, but you can probably do 4xaf.

this might help
your rig will for_sure be able to do 10x7 2xaa 8xaf