Lookin' to game

Elite

I am looking to start gaming a bit on the PC, I am thinking I don't have the power to do it, however I would like to possibly try, can you guys make any suggestions based on my hardware?

Intel E4700 2.60GHz (C2D)
4GB RAM 5-5-5-15
Sapphire 4650 1GB DDR2

DaemonDraxx

WTF kind of ram is that? 5-5-5?

My old P4 board has the fastest DDR500 I could find and I got timings like 3-3-3. My AM3 board has the fastest DDR3-1600 available and it's only stable after 7-7-7. Is your memory right between these two generations?

Elite

It's GEIL RAM, not sure what it is, I will try and find out.

Edit:
Its this ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=kpcz4ilzdnl0

However the Timings are different.

DaemonDraxx

Oh it's DDR2. That explains everything. You might want to get onto a newer platform. The new computer I have was built in late 2008 for about $400 and that's when things were expensive. They kind of still are but that gives you an idea of how much everything has improved since the DDR2 stuff.

Elite

No, I don't want to do the hardcore gaming thing like sti here for hours on end and game, just looking to game a few hours aw week at most, I don't have the cash to really do a massive upgrade to an i7 and 8gb ram etc, just lookin to play some games lol

DaemonDraxx

Who cares about the i7? I still reject that unfeasible garbage now that it's common place. O_o

Look, the newer stuff is really fast but if you don't want it, that's fine too. I'm currently on said older computer right now and I actually prefer it to my newer system for gaming. I know that doesn't really make sense but consider the backwards compatibility with everything and you'll understand pretty quickly.

I still don't like the direction the Core2Duo stuff has taken though. I'm on a 3GHz hyperthreaded single core and I think the dual core isn't that significant a change. Here's what I've got:

Intel 3.00E
ABit IS7 board
2x1GB DDR500
ASUS AH3450 8X(yes that's a low pro 512M AGP card...)
Intel Pro/1000 GT

As long as you have fast hardware that can handle the games and a decent network card, the rest is cake. The last upgrade I'm going to make for this computer will be something along the lines of a RAID card to handle more SATA disks and allow me the ability to start putting cheap SSDs in here to replace the classic platter disks. Adding another 2GB of memory is pointless as I only reach half that usage when I start opening browser windows on this machine. Hosting game servers might increase the requirements though.

SacredTbag

Nothing wrong with dated hardware. I'm still on ddr2 and I play new games with no problem.

With your setup you could easily play games like UT2k7. Probably anything from 2010 on back or newer games at lower settings.

Fire up Steam and kill bots in CC:S. That's what I do when I'm bored.

Elite

I actually have a P4 3.00GHz HT 64bit all that sitting in the closet still in the board it was bought to be put in, it just got switched out for the one I am using now, love that thing, it's so solid.

I am looking at something mainstream, like a COD of sort or something, I like the First Person Shooters.

cyclonite

Off topic slightly ~ you can get into a respectable AM3 system that will play ALL new games on Med-Med/High settings for a little over $400.

On topic ~ the setup you have should run anything from 2009/2010ish FPS games. Games like BF3 requires a DX11 gfx card, not sure of the newer COD series games. My son plays the hell out of APB, and one other Free2Play game he just got into, and he runs an Intel E6600, 4Gb of Corsair DDR2, and a nVidia 8800gt.

Elite

I really don't like AMD, I simply do not like the way their CPU's run at all, had an AMD based laptop and while it ran goo, it just didn't run like I expected a Dual core CPU to run.

I believe the 4650 is DX 11 compatible, however I may be wrong.

Edit: Sapphiretech says DX10.1

SacredTbag

Well, any new cod game is still viable. They still use the same basic engine from 4 years ago I think. Just beefed up now.

DaemonDraxx

No. Mine is a 32-bit CPU. The jump from the Socket 478 platform made the next design Intel's introduction to the ordinary consumer market as their first widely available 64-Bit series CPUs. That's how old this thing really is.
The chips are great. My 955 Deneb rocks ass but the boards that were made for these chips are so shitty that every time I get USB compatibility issues or network/video instability I want to claw my eyes out. ASUS really dropped the ball on their premium boards. Since my board is fried and I'm looking to expand into more modern technologies, I'm still waiting on an appropriate replacement to show up in the market. So far I've been waiting more than a year.

Elite

Damn socket 478, just got rid of some Pentium D's in the 478 variety lol.

Its all a personal choice really, some people like AMD others are right :P

I got my hands on a copy of CS:S so may look into playing a bit of that later!

cyclonite

That is so very true.

I have flipped back and forth over the years; AMD, Intel, AMD, Intel...from the K5, to the PII, to the famed Barton 2500+, then onto Intel's Core2 to what I am running now; an i7 860 (yes indeed first edition i7 and it will clock all the way to 4.2ghz)

So yes it truley is that of personal choice.


But hell if you are interested in a socket 775 intel let me know I have 2 of them sitting right here that I would be willing to ship to someone that wants them; one is a SL7Q2 (x86), and the other is a SL7Z7 (x64); just pm me your address and I will ship it to you. They both worked when I pulled them, but I dont have a 775 mobo to test them that is why I do not want anything for them.

Elite

I have never seen a CPU burn out, ever so no reason for them not to work.

Is the SL7Q2 an OEM part? noticed that on the Intel site there there is not retail price so I assumed its an OEM part.

SacredTbag

You must have had a bad AMD experience. I've used all AMD cpu's except for one p4 and have never regretted it.

Actually no, I did mess up and get a first generation 9600. Oops.

Grez

Yeah, you really need to re-think your opinion on AMD. It's the best way to get lots of power for not too much money. The reason your upgrades are expensive is that you're insisting on that overpriced Intel stuff. Outside of laptops, I've been running AMD exclusively for about 4-5 years now, and haven't regretted it for a second.

My opinion on that aside, your biggest issue gaming-wise is the GPU, although it's not bad. You should at least be able to run most things at low-med settings. But, if you can save up some cash for a better GPU, it will help immensely. And, that is something that is easy to move forward if you decide to upgrade the rest of your hardware later.

furball zen

DX11 on ATI starts with the 5000 series which are still commanding high prices vs. the 6000 series. Not sure why...

Seriously on the AMD. 2 chips in a row that rock, and the 5000+ BE is rocking hard in Carbide after 4.5 years of use at 3.3ghz. My ex wife is in love with that PC and im slightly jealous that it works so damn good with SSD's on the 1.5mbps SATA 1 ports. Heck transferring to the platter drive from SSD is silly fast.

Elite

What I would love to do is get a crossfire or SLI setup, but only having 1 PCI-e x16 slot doesn't allow that.

Jamesc359

Given your current processor that'd be over kill and your CPU would bottleneck the multiple cards in a very bad way. Depending upon your budget a $100-$150 video card should give you the ability to play most older games with a good frame rate at max settings.