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[SpeedingUptoStop]

I was watching Gamespot's Battlefield 2 video review and simply put: I NEED THIS FUCKING GAME.

My Problem? aside from the Sims, I've never been a PC gamer. Yes, late to the party, yada yada yada, I know. I need your help. What will it take to get this game to look reasonably good? Graphics cards, sound cards, whatever it is I need to get this game working smoothly.

I don't have the exact specs for the computer I would be running this game(I will give full specs tomorrow night, when I'm using it), but I know I don't have a good enough graphics card because I just have the one that came with the computer which is about 8 months old.


I'm sorry I'm so vague at the moment, but if you guys could please educate me on the basics PC gaming, I would REALLY appreciate it.

 

[Lionheart]

Basically the most important things for PC gaming are graphics card, processor and memory.

I can run Battlefield 2 smoothly on Medium settings with this system:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+
1024 MB DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 XT

Because you have a PC that's about 8 months old, your processor is most likely fine and faster than mine. If you didn't build your PC for gaming, you probably have 512 MB RAM, which is enough for BF2, but I'd recommend at least 1024 MB for the game. I'd also recommend at least an ATI Radeon 9800 PRO as your graphics card and a Geforce 6600 GT if you want to spend a bit more.

Memory isn't very expensive, but you do need to look up which memory (speed) your motherboard supports. An extra 512 MB Ram probably costs you about $40 I think and an extra 1024 will cost you about $90 or so.

The video card will cost you a bit more, an ATI Radeon 9800 PRO is about $120-130. If you're willing to spend about $170, you should definitely get the Geforce 6600 GT.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Thanks for the help so far. I'm pretty sure my computer has a processor that is atleast as good as that and is at 512 mb. Why exactly would I need more? And where would I buy something like that?

I know where I can buy video cards, but is there any-where/way to get them cheaper?

 

[mrklaw]

I have an athlon 64 3400, and put in a 128MB 6600GT graphics card. That ran BF2 ok, but when i upgraded from 512MB to 1GB it really helped.

I just bought a 512MB stick of ram from pc world in the UK, but you can get it online from somewhere like newegg.com in the US or scan.com in the UK.

Make sure its the same stuff as you have. When you look at your PC tonight, have a quick look inside to see how many sticks of ram you already have in there (long thin things), and how many slots it looks like you have free.

 

[Lionheart]

I don't know of stores where you can get them, since I'm not from US, but I assume you can get the memory at most stores that sell the video cards. I got the prices from newegg.com, which seems well-known in US.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

I have another question about ram. Does it matter what type of OS you have when installing new ram? I'm looking at some of these user comments on some of the ram sticks at newegg and I'm reading a lot about specific computers these people use them for, like the mac mini at that one. I'm probably wrong, but I just wanted to make sure.

 

[Ferrio]

I have another question about ram. Does it matter what type of OS you have when installing new ram? I'm looking at some of these user comments on some of the ram sticks at newegg and I'm reading a lot about specific computers these people use them for, like the mac mini at that one. I'm probably wrong, but I just wanted to make sure.

Matters what kind of motherboard you have.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

How would I find out what kind of motherboard I have and which stick it would work with? I'm sorry for the questions, but I am a pretty big noob when it comes to the innerworkings of a PC

 

[Slo]

Assuming that you didn't find this computer in a ditch next to a gravel road, you could probably find out what your system is composed of by checking with the manufacturor. Is this a Dell? Can you find a link to your specific model?

Also, it runs fine on my old machine at 1024 @ medium details.

AMD 2100+ XP
1GB DDR ram
9800 Pro

You REALLY need a gig of ram for this game, despite what MAF says.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

How would I find out what kind of motherboard I have and which stick it would work with? I'm sorry for the questions, but I am a pretty big noob when it comes to the innerworkings of a PC

My advice is to find someone locally who knows computers well to help you do all of this. If you are a newb, it's probably not a good idea for you to be opening your system by yourself and working on it.

On another note: I recommend nothing less than 1 GB for a gaming PC. Anything less is just not enough these days.

 

[bill0527]

The best way to find out exactly what kind of RAM you need for your computer is to go to Crucial.com and put in the make and model of your computer. It will pop up with recommendations on the type of RAM they sell. Get the information they list regarding the exact specifications of the RAM and then go to Newegg.com and compare price.

 

[Vlad]

Well, it looks like BF2 may be dragging me kicking and screaming into an upgrade, as well, so this looked like the good place to ask.

For everybody's amusement, the current PC's specs:

Athlon 1.4Ghz
256MB DDR Ram
Radeon 7500 All-In-Wonder

Thus, the BF2 demo kind of just sits there and chuckles at my computer instead of even attempting to run.

My main problem is that my motherboard is maxed out as far as the processor goes. It only supports up to 1.4Ghz, so I'm kind of stuck with that for now (trying to keep the costs down).

That leaves me with the memory and the video card. I noticed that deal in the other thread for 2 512MB sticks for 80-something dollars, but the ram is something like PC 3200, while my mobo can only handle up to PC 2100. Will the PC 3200 sticks just plain not work in my system, or will they be able to run at the slower speed?

And what's the difference between unbuffered and registered RAM, anyway?

As for the video card, I'm really not looking to spend much at all (anything more than $100-120 would be stretching). I'm perfectly fine with turning everything down but the draw distance, and I don't need 60 fps or anything, so what would be a good choice? I haven't kept up with the video card market at all since maybe the Voodoo3 days, so it all looks like just a bunch of numbers to me, and I have no idea what's "good", and what would just be a waste of money.

 

[Borys]

Well, it looks like BF2 may be dragging me kicking and screaming into an upgrade, as well, so this looked like the good place to ask.

For everybody's amusement, the current PC's specs:

Athlon 1.4Ghz
256MB DDR Ram
Radeon 7500 All-In-Wonder

You know if you could get 1 GB of RAM and a decent $120-$150 vid card you would have a good time with BF2 (of course in low to low-mid settings).

That CPU is really ancient, though.

Just for kicks I tried BF2 demo with LOW settings, draw distance = MAX and 4xAA, 4xAF.
Looks, uhh like anti-aliased BF1 but plays great.

 

[sammy]

Hey guys, I've downloaded the demo as well - and I'm trying to figure out what has rough edges in my rigg ---

I upgraded less than a year ago --- but HL2 always hickupes ... and in general most games hickup when new textures etc are loading in (Farcry, Doom3, etc.) ......

Athlon 2.4Ghz
1.3g RAM
X800 pro

I've honestly never been able to figure out what's wrong ( new drivers, defrag, ccleaner, XPtuner, etc .... everything save for overclocking.... )
------ I mostly have my rigg setup for digital artwork/photoshop/painter (no duel-screen right now... )

Any advice please, or a way to check and see if my RAM is working properly ------ my 3d is great, i get a solid solid framerate at 1600 with Battlefield ....... things chugg when physics/AI are introduced (for example HL2 will pause as I shoot a barrel near a buncha wood...)

thanx : ]

 

[Slo]

Vlad, I think it's time to junk that thing. :-( At this point, there really isn't an upgrade path that would let you keep any of those component without them being a huge bottleneck. Here's a quick upgrade that I put together at NewEgg.

- MSI K8N Neo4-F Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$88.00

-ZALMAN CNPS7000B-AlCu LED 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
$31.99

-CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System $85.00

-Antec NeoPower ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail
$110.00

-AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model $190.00

-CHAINTECH SE6600G Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card -
$169.00

Total - $673.99

 

[Vlad]

You know if you could get 1 GB of RAM and a decent $120-$150 vid card you would have a good time with BF2 (of course in low to low-mid settings).

Yeah, but what's considered a "good" card in that range. For kicks, I did a search on NewEgg for cards in my price range that are DirectX 9 and have 128MB of ram, and there are just a ton of results, with a whole lot of them looking pretty similar. For example, there's a "Rosewill RW96XT-128D Radeon 9600XT", and a "POWERCOLOR R96E-TC3 Radeon 9600XT". From the specs, they look to be pretty much identical, so what's the difference?

That CPU is really ancient, though.

Just for kicks I tried BF2 demo with LOW settings, draw distance = MAX and 4xAA, 4xAF.
Looks, uhh like anti-aliased BF1 but plays great.

I bet it does, considering you can run it at higher detail at a good framerate

I've always preferred having a better framerate to a prettier game, anyway. All my stuff in BF1 was turned down, too. Heck, in some cases it even made it a bit easier, as turning off the lightmaps make it so that you could actually see inside the huts and stuff, instead of them just being dark.

And I don't think I've ever turned on anti-aliasing in a game, ever. Every time I try it, it seems to bring the framerate down to about 2 or something, which really isn't worth it.

EDIT:

Vlad, I think it's time to junk that thing. :-( At this point, there really isn't an upgrade path that would let you keep any of those component without them being a huge bottleneck. Here's a quick upgrade that I put together at NewEgg.

....

Total - $673.99

While I appreciate the pricing, I think you missed the part of my post where I said I was trying to keep costs down .

Isn't a 3+Ghz processor pretty much top-of-the-line nowadays?

See, the absolute only reason I'm even considering an upgrade is because of BF2. I don't care if it looks ugly, as long as it runs at a playable framerate. I'd be happy with a constant 30 at 1024x768x32 with all the other details turned completely off.

The thing is that there's absolutely no other PC games that I'm interested in in the future, or from the last few years that I've missed, so upgrading for anything but just squeaking by on BF2 would really be a waste

 

[Slo]

Well, I did try to keep costs down. For what it's worth the current top of the line is the AMD Athlon X2 4800+, but it costs about $1k just for the chip.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

Well, it looks like BF2 may be dragging me kicking and screaming into an upgrade, as well, so this looked like the good place to ask.

For everybody's amusement, the current PC's specs:

Athlon 1.4Ghz
256MB DDR Ram
Radeon 7500 All-In-Wonder

Heh.. Up until a few months ago I was running a P4 1.3 Ghz, 128mb ram, and a Radeon 7000. :lol I ditched it all and just built a new one.

Slo's machine will do you good though. If you want to save a few more bucks, you could go with a socket 754 machine. But it wouldnt have much upgrade options, and the $$ difference isnt enough for me personally to justify it. Plus the 754 processors dont OC as well. But right now itd give you comparable performance.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

finally got my official specs:

Processor AMD Athlon(tm) XP/MP/4 2083MHz
Display Card VIA/S3G KM400
Memory 512MB
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP
Free Disk Space 53.93GB
Display Card Memory 64MB
Display Driver Version 6.14.10.194
DirectX Version 9.0c
Optical Drive CD/DVD
Sound Card Realtek AC97 Audio


Pretty shitty, I know.

 

[seismologist]

If I were you I'd start with the gfx card. You can get a 6600gt for like $140. Then see how it runs after that.

 

[teh_pwn]

Hmm....Not sure what that processor is. I'm guessing around 2500+ AMD XP or so...

Upgrade advice, listed in order of importance:


6600 GT
512MB of RAM (I'd need to know the exact CPU to determine this. And if you need one stick or 2x256 and if you even have the capacity for it.)
Audigy 2 ZS Sound Card


The sound card may be too much for your speakers, so you may want to just get something cheap. Right now you're running on motherboard audio which consumes CPU resources. Having a soundcard will free up your CPU a bit, which will likely become the bottleneck in the setup that I suggested.


Edit: Sad to see newegg fall into the rebate BS.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Thanks for the help so far. Here's the actual computer:

HP Pavilion A500N Desktop PC (2.08 GHz Athlon XP 2800+, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Combo)

a little more description of the computer here (i think one of the customers describes the motherboard a bit too, if that helps)


Also, are you saying that my speakers won't handle the soundcard? I can't seem to find a pic or spec for those, but I'm searching the harman/kardon site right now...

 

[seismologist]

6600gt

If you dont mind buying refurbished you can get this one.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Cool, thanks.

And this is all I could see to find on the speakers:

Name: " Harmon Kardon Subwoofer w/AC adapter (120VAC, 60Hz)"

Pic:

 

[Aurora]

Well I might aswell ask here too.

My PC is just a little over a year old. Here are some of the specs I can remember:

Pentium 4 HT
Win XP
GeForce FX 5200
512mb RAM
80 Gig HD

I downloaded the demo and have been playing it on the default settings, not sure which that is (I am guessing it's med settings?). I have experienced only a little occassional lag which hasn't been much of a problem but I wouldn't mind decreasing the settings to have smoother gameplay.

So with that information can anyone tell me how well my PC will handle the retail BF2?
And also if I'm looking to spend no more than $200 what would you recommend I get with that much?

Thanks in advance.

 

[teh_pwn]

To the Original Poster, you need PC3200 RAM, apparently it can handle a stick of 512 MB according to crucial.com.

So get something cheap from a decent brand:

(Holy crap, RAM is cheap these days)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145026

Get that and the 6600 GT and a sound card.

You're speakers would work with the Audigy 2 ZS. However, you're not going to hear the awesomeness that card can produce because you're speakers are far too limited.

If you really want great audio, Klipsch makes the best PC speakers. I have the 5.1 Ultras. They outperform a lot of home theater sets. Quite expensive tho at $350. Their 2.1 set runs at $150.

Logitech makes some decent speakers at a more reasonable price. But they also make some really junky cheap ones so don't assume because it's logitech that it's okay.




However, I'm afraid you may have power issues because your power supply in your PC is likely limited.

Does anyone know how much power a 6600 GT sucks up? Considering he has a PC built without a video card, chances are it has a crappy Power Supply. And I'm not sure if it can be replaced with something more powerful because HP likely uses some custom made garbage of a PSU.

This is why you never buy pre-built PCs.

 

[teh_pwn]

So with that information can anyone tell me how well my PC will handle the retail BF2?

I don't know. Your CPU should be fine as it appears to be a 2.4 C Northwood or faster.

However a 5200 blows. It may work slowly.

Give it a try. If not, get a 6600GT (I'm assuming you have a AGP slot) ($160) and 512 MB ($40) of RAM. Fits your budget just right.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

To the Original Poster, you need PC3200 RAM, apparently it can handle a stick of 512 MB according to crucial.com.

So get something cheap from a decent brand:

(Holy crap, RAM is cheap these days)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145026

yes, I've had my eye on that one, I'll probably get that.

Get that and the 6600 GT and a sound card.

You're speakers would work with the Audigy 2 ZS. However, you're not going to hear the awesomeness that card can produce because you're speakers are far too limited.

If you really want great audio, Klipsch makes the best PC speakers. I have the 5.1 Ultras. They outperform a lot of home theater sets. Quite expensive tho at $350. Their 2.1 set runs at $150.

Logitech makes some decent speakers at a more reasonable price. But they also make some really junky cheap ones so don't assume because it's logitech that it's okay.

Do I need a sound card? What would I be Missing out on without one? Also, if I got that sound card, what would I be missing out with the speakers I have?"


However, I'm afraid you may have power issues because your power supply in your PC is likely limited.

Does anyone know how much power a 6600 GT sucks up? Considering he has a PC built without a video card, chances are it has a crappy Power Supply. And I'm not sure if it can be replaced with something more powerful because HP likely uses some custom made garbage of a PSU.

would a program like this one help?

This is why you never buy pre-built PCs.

heh, tell me about it

.

 

[Aurora]

I don't know. Your CPU should be fine as it appears to be a 2.4 C Northwood or faster.

However a 5200 blows. It may work slowly.

Give it a try. If not, get a 6600GT (I'm assuming you have a AGP slot) ($160) and 512 MB ($40) of RAM. Fits your budget just right.

Awesome thanks.
I just ordered the RAM - looking into the graphics card now.

 

[teh_pwn]

Iamthegamer, honestly you would be missing out with those speakers. But that's just extra icing on the cake. You don't need a sound card. I just recommended one because some games will use up to 15% of CPU resources for audio, and having an audio card would prevent that. I was just trying to recommend a setup to balance your CPU with Video.

So you can either get no sound card. Get a cheaper sound card than I recommended if you're keeping the speakers. Or you can go all out and buy speakers and the sound card. If you're not a huge PC gamer, I'd recommend the first two options.

I don't think software is going to help your power supply issues, if there are any. Video cards consume a lot of power, and it's likely that HP made that PC without a video card in mind.

Actually, you should check to see if you can even put in an AGP. Look for an AGP slot in your machine. It's typically below the CPU heatsink and above PCI slots, which you either have 3 or 5 of.

 

[SpeedingUptoStop]

Thanks for all of your help teh_pwn, I really, really appreciate it.