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Need Help With RAM
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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1. April 2006 @ 01:01 |
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Well you'll get some people saying ATI, some nvidia, often it's a matter of personal experience and preference.
I try to take an objective view, and in reality I think ATI are better. They've far more experience in the industry, and while they may not always be faster than nVidia cards, Radeons provide a significantly better picture quality than their geforce equivalent.
I refer you to this picture which I posted in another thread. I don't claim it to be the be all and end all statement of the fact, and I'm sure some Geforce fanboys will try and tell me that it's an irrelevant test for this that and the other, but the image really does speak for itself.
May I also point out that while these cards are obviously different (that's the point of the test), they are the exact rivals in the industry, one card does not have an unfair advantage being a higher end card than the other.
As for RAM, a 1GB stick is the way to go, you'll have enough memory to play a fair few games well (with the exception of FEAR however). Put it this way, I'm running an X800pro GPU which is the equivalent of a modern day X800GTO. They're $147 at newegg.
With this GPU and 1GB of RAM (note I'm not using an outstanding CPU) I can run UT2004 at max settings, 1920x1200. Yet with FEAR I can't run the game properly at any setting, not even 640x480 minimum. This is all due to RAM.
Not that I'm forcing money out of you, but top titles are going to see need for more than 1GB eventually, but by buying one single stick of 1GB it allows you to easily and inexpensively upgrade when you need more. For the money it's a wise choice.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 1. April 2006 @ 01:06
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timmy42
Junior Member
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2. April 2006 @ 03:48 |
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ok
thanks
i have seen two gpu i like:
a ati 9600 256mb
or
a ati 9800 128mb
what do you link i should go for i cant efford a 9800 with 256mb
so this is what i can efford.
also
if i get a gig then how limited would i be to games.
i play games like halo and i am wishing to play san andreas, and may be halo 2 when it comes out on pc so tell me my situation.
thanks.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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2. April 2006 @ 06:07 |
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Halo and San An should be OK with 1GB, but for Halo 2 you'll need at least 2GB, more likely 4GB, if you have a 64-bit processor at all.
The 9800 128MB is better than the 9600 256MB but they're old school cards, how much is your budget? You may be better off looking at something newer.
Halo 2 is looking to be a Vista only game, so that's at least $150, plus you'll need a GPU at least of the caliber of that 9800, maybe more, and then you'll need a bare minimum of 2GB of RAM, and a 64-bit CPU. Suddenly the game seems a bit more than $50!
I'm not certain the game will require a 64-bit CPU, but I know it will require vista, and the only logical reason I can think of for that is running a 64-bit kernel, which will of course need the 64-bit processor. Why so much RAM? If the game does only run in 64-bit mode, then that'll need more memory. 64-bit processing requires exactly twice the amount of RAM for the same programs as a 32-bit CPU. Why twice as much even in programs that don't use 32-bit?
Imagine every binary word that the processor has to deal with. Let's pick a random one - 11000010010010101110011101100111
This is what would pass through the CPU in one clock cycle normally. However, 64-bit CPUs must use 64-bit words, so if that's a 32-bit application that doesn't support it, rather than adding the next word it would use in front of it processing two words at once (running twice as fast) It will just add a load of noughts, in effect, making
0000000000000000000000000000000011000010010010101110011101100111
Clearly this double-length word uses double the memory to store it. So if Halo 2 used up 900MB of RAM on your system, in 32-bit you might get away with 1GB, but in 64-bit that's 1800MB, and hence 2GB is a necessity.
I hope that hasn't gone all over your head!
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. April 2006 @ 06:15
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timmy42
Junior Member
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2. April 2006 @ 10:01 |
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ok so halo 2 is out of the question
i am going to get a pair of 1 gig ram
and i will get the 9800 ati because that is what i can efford.
thanks.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. April 2006 @ 10:02
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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2. April 2006 @ 12:30 |
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A pair 1GB? So 2x512 to make 1GB or 2x1GB to make 2?
I assume the former because if you can afford two 1GB ram sticks you can go above a 9800 GPU.
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timmy42
Junior Member
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2. April 2006 @ 13:16 |
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i am getting 2x1gig
so what do you sugest for my gpu?
i want ati, what is the best gpu i dont want to spend loads
as i am only 16 last month and do not have the money i have a part time job but thats in the holls so every 6-7 weeks.
thanks
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2. April 2006 @ 13:40
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timmy42
Junior Member
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2. April 2006 @ 13:39 |
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i have found this is this gpu ok
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON X1600PRO 256mb
for £130
witch is about 225.8815$
so do you think this is ok??
please tell me what gpu you think i should buy.
i am open for sugestions
thanks.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. April 2006 @ 02:05 |
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timmy42
Junior Member
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3. April 2006 @ 07:00 |
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thanks iam going to get the X800GTO from dabs what one is better?
there are three results when i search?
another thing is why do they all use pci express i haveit i think
my mobo box says
"pci express 16x"
is that ok?
thanks
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3. April 2006 @ 07:01
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timmy42
Junior Member
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3. April 2006 @ 07:17 |
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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3. April 2006 @ 07:18
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. April 2006 @ 07:35 |
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The X800GTO was only ever released on the PCI express platform, since it's a new generation card, and generally newer cards only go on PCI express since it's a newer bus.
As for that specific card, it's good if it does what it says on the listing. £90 is cheap for a card of that calibre, but I don't believe the seller's 100% feedback rating. People who blab about it are usually faking it. Not always, but often. By all means though, buy that it's a very fast GPU, especially for that price.
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timmy42
Junior Member
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3. April 2006 @ 09:01 |
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ok thanks i will take that into consideration. if i dont get it from ebay then witch of the dabs gpus do you recomend
thanks
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. April 2006 @ 10:40 |
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Which of any of them???
Well I have you that list of three, pick the best you can afford. If you can go higher then go for the X1800XL but that may start to get a tad pricey.
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timmy42
Junior Member
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3. April 2006 @ 13:47 |
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ok thanks
i m going to get the X800GTO
and 2x1gig
i am going to work in easter and i will sell my old ram and gpu and get the money.
thanks again.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. April 2006 @ 14:04 |
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Go for it, you'll see the difference.
TO put it into perspective, I run an X800Pro which basically goes like an X800GTO. I can play 16-player Deathmatches on Unreal Tournament 2004 with the big maps without slowdown at 1920x1200 with FULL detail. The only reason I can't play 32-player matches is because I'm restricted to 1GB of RAM.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3. April 2006 @ 14:10
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timmy42
Junior Member
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4. April 2006 @ 10:51 |
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i was just wondering if you know of any good pc cases
i want one with a power supply and atleast one 3.5 bay.
thanks
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 4. April 2006 @ 10:52
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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5. April 2006 @ 00:28 |
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i want one with a power supply
No you don't.
Buy a case without one and get a decent power supply with it. You'll only end up replacing that PSU within 6 months anyway. I know of no power supply that comes with a case that's good for anything, 'cept the Asus terminator case.
Even a £90 aluminium case will come with an underwear-munching Power supply... "500 Watts!" Yeah right.
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timmy42
Junior Member
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5. April 2006 @ 08:08 |
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thanks so what do you recomend for a ps and have you seen any good cases that are work the money i want to pay about £50 for my case.
thanks
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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5. April 2006 @ 08:16 |
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For power supplies I'd recommend Enermax, Tagan, Antec and Hiper.
For cases, you can't really go badly wrong, but if you want something that won't tear you to pieces when you assemble a PC, then go for something quality made. Quality cases also look better.
The NZXT Trinity is a pretty well made case, failing that the Emermax (Yep, a typo just so they could have that name) Verre. Just avoid cheap stuff that has any form of door or hinge, because it will snap off just by you looking at it.
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timmy42
Junior Member
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10. April 2006 @ 14:22 |
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i have been reading about vista and i have heard that it will need specialist hadware like direct x 10 gpu's. is this true and how mutch would it cost. i am running xp pro witch is ok
i am working next week and will have enough for my 2 gig of ram. but my gpu will have to wait untill i can sell some stuff.
thanks.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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10. April 2006 @ 14:52 |
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DirectX 10 compliance isn't exactly required, just a card that will run it. No GPUs currently are DX10 marked other than the 7900 and 7600 series. The only GPUs that won't be acceptable are old Pre-8X (2x, 4x) AGP and 1x PCI cards, and integrated graphics. Everything else should pretty much be OK.
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timmy42
Junior Member
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11. April 2006 @ 01:25 |
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ok so i could just buy it when it comes out but i never do that as there are always problems and even thought they said they were going to improve it and test it themselves.i would prefer to wait till vista sp2 comes out.
do you agree?
thanks
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 11. April 2006 @ 01:25
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AfterDawn Addict
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11. April 2006 @ 08:42 |
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Absolutely. Maybe not two service packs (In fact never get a service pack when that first comes out either, they suffer the same, most SP2 installations were unbootable within 3 days) but I'll be waiting a fair while before I get Vista.
Any modern GPU with deidcated memory (i.e. not integrated, not turbocache/hypermemory) should be OK, so really I'd expect these to be all fine:
9600,9700,9800,X600,X700,X800,X850,X1600,X1800,X1900...
5700,5800,5900,5950,6600,6800,7600,7800,7900...
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timmy42
Junior Member
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12. April 2006 @ 04:42 |
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yer i agree but i realy want halo 2 do you think it may be released without needing vista?
i have it on my xbox but i want to play it on my pc because you can make maps.
thanks.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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12. April 2006 @ 06:22 |
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no, you'll need to buy Vista.
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