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Dr_Faulk · 12-07-2005, 03:51 PM

My computer is respectable. Middle of the road, I would say, in terms of performance. However, I'm a gamer, and there's a bottle-neck somewhere, and I need help in defining it:

Biostar Motherboard: U8568Pro, VIA P4X266E Chipset, 2.4Ghz P4.
Standard 7200 RPM 80 gig HD, nowhere near full.
4x AGP with a 8x AGP Radeon 9800Pro (128).
512 RAM (SD RAM, 133Mhz).

Now, from photoshop and video rendering, I believe my CPU is fast enough. Loading times are alright, also. My biggest problem is in the framerate. I've been told that the diff. between 8x and 4x AGP is almost unnoticeable, which is a big relief, because I was worried that I'd have to upgrade my motherboard to one with 8x AGP.

I can't help but think that upgrading from 512 SD ram to 1 Gig DDR (266Mhz) RAM will make a big difference, especially for games. (I'm a big CS junkie, and my frame rate is consistently hovering below 30fps at the best of times, even though performance is set to optimum. Battle Field 2 was definitely unplayable, even on the lowest graphical setting, at which point it looked like an N64 game... I put it down to lazy programming).

Any suggestions? Should I boost my RAM or will it not make a jot of difference?

many thanks!

12-07-2005, 03:51 PM	#1 (permalink) Top
Dr_Faulk Geek Trainee Join Date: Jul 2005 Age: 26 Posts: 3 Status: Offline	What Should I Upgrade? My computer is respectable. Middle of the road, I would say, in terms of performance. However, I'm a gamer, and there's a bottle-neck somewhere, and I need help in defining it: Biostar Motherboard: U8568Pro, VIA P4X266E Chipset, 2.4Ghz P4. Standard 7200 RPM 80 gig HD, nowhere near full. 4x AGP with a 8x AGP Radeon 9800Pro (128). 512 RAM (SD RAM, 133Mhz). Now, from photoshop and video rendering, I believe my CPU is fast enough. Loading times are alright, also. My biggest problem is in the framerate. I've been told that the diff. between 8x and 4x AGP is almost unnoticeable, which is a big relief, because I was worried that I'd have to upgrade my motherboard to one with 8x AGP. I can't help but think that upgrading from 512 SD ram to 1 Gig DDR (266Mhz) RAM will make a big difference, especially for games. (I'm a big CS junkie, and my frame rate is consistently hovering below 30fps at the best of times, even though performance is set to optimum. Battle Field 2 was definitely unplayable, even on the lowest graphical setting, at which point it looked like an N64 game... I put it down to lazy programming). Any suggestions? Should I boost my RAM or will it not make a jot of difference? many thanks!