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Thread ID: 57277	2005-04-28 08:35:00	Need help, as am retarded.	scratta (7982)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
349821	2005-04-28 08:35:00	Hi, basically i want to be able to play the steam half-life games at the same fps as before won got take away, as i used to get decent framerates. Unluckily, due to being a student i don't have the finances for a proper gaming computer yet so have to do what i can with the current computer. Anyways, please don't laugh: 733 mhz celeron 66 mhz fsb etc..... asus cusi-m motherboard (socket 370) 256 mb pc133 ram on-board sis 630 e video card onboard sound and lan windows me Just wondering if upgrading the video card to a pci one (doesn't have agp slot) would make any difference? Maybe a pci tnt2 ultra? Or would the onboard video be faster cos pci is only running at 33mhz???? The confusing thing is though the on-board video has the agp type support for direct x 9 but something like the video card i mentioned only supports direct x 6, would this cause any problems? Also, what performance improvements would i gain by upgrading the processor to a 700 to 800 mhz pentium 3? Would the the fact that the fsb runs at 133mhz as opposed to the celeron's 66mhz make much difference? Lastly, would it be worthwhile to put in a standalone pci sound card? Would this take the load off the processor and allow the cpu to put it's cycles to better use? I have an old sound blaster 16 from a 486 i could put in, but i don't know if it's worth it, or if it would work. Thanks alot in advance for the help	scratta (7982)
349822	2005-04-28 08:44:00	what frame rates did you have before ? and what frame rates do you have now? what versions where you running before and what one are you useing now? with onboard your proberly only running in software mode which sucks. find a pci vid card, 2nd hand gf2 is proberly best bet for speed vers cost.	tweak'e (69)
349823	2005-04-28 08:44:00	Upgrade your video card to a decent PCI one, and maybe double your ram, you will be able to run the first Half life/cs ok but Half life 2/css will be hardly playable. A nice pci card is a Radeon 9200 256mb, quite a rare card, i had one quite a while ago, but then sold it on trademe for $200 :D	Rpg_pro (5689)
349824	2005-04-28 09:29:00	what frame rates did you have before ? and what frame rates do you have now? what versions where you running before and what one are you useing now? with onboard your proberly only running in software mode which sucks. find a pci vid card, 2nd hand gf2 is proberly best bet for speed vers cost. Um, counterstrike 1.5 under WON used to be about 20 fps, slow but playable. But steam and counterstrike 1.6 just obliterated that down to about 5 to 10 fps max @ 640 x 480, and thats after massive tweaking including using high-fps models for the ct's and t's as well as reducing texture detail etc etc. On-board is running in direct3d for steam, as software mode and opengl don't run well at all. Direct3d was used for WON as well. SO a pci card does make a difference? Upgrade your video card to a decent PCI one, and maybe double your ram, you will be able to run the first Half life/cs ok but Half life 2/css will be hardly playable. A nice pci card is a Radeon 9200 256mb, quite a rare card, i had one quite a while ago, but then sold it on trademe for $200 Again, does a pci definitley makes a difference over onboard video, even with the pci bus at 33mhz? So you're saying i need 512mb ram to play counterstrike? I just doubled the ram recently from 128 mb to 256mb and it hasnt made any difference to fps etc. I'm not worried about anything on the source engine as it's not going to be even near close on this computer. Thanks for your help though guys.	scratta (7982)
349825	2005-04-28 09:34:00	AGP card would be better but i assme your pc dosn't have one so PCI is thenext best thing. it certainly will be better than onboard. 256 meg ram is fine with winME, going to 512 will gain little or no improvement. BTW at 20 fps i proberly wouldn't even bother playing.	tweak'e (69)
349826	2005-04-28 10:26:00	RAM - 256MB is fine and it's about as much as WinME can handle. CPU - If your motherboard supports the 133MHz FSB then I would get the PIII-800 if I were you. It shouldn't cost that much and you'll probably get an extra 7-9 FPS. Performance gains will be especially noticeable if using onboard video. GFX - Well. An SiS 630e Chip definitely won't support Direct X 9. It would be at about the same level of Direct X support as any PCI Card would be (around DX7). This won't make a huge difference to Half-Life/Counterstrike anyway as these games are about ~DX7 I think. I would get a PCI Geforce 4 MX 400 Card. These can be had for about $90-$120 including GST. It's definitely not worth spending any more on a PCI video card unless you're going to be sticking with it for 2 years or more. I hope I've answered your questions.	Aurealis_ (7897)
349827	2005-04-28 10:30:00	Adding a soundcard won't make much difference. Especially a Soundblaster 16. I would probably disable sound altogether just to suck that extra 5% of the CPU back into your frame rate.	Aurealis_ (7897)
349828	2005-04-28 10:36:00	Upgrade your video card to a decent PCI one, and maybe double your ram, you will be able to run the first Half life/cs ok but Half life 2/css will be hardly playable. I agree, upgrade the card and add a bit more ram. However, contrary to what seems to be popular opinion, Half-Life 2 does NOT require the latest and greatest hardware. Doom 3 does. Far cry does. HL2 runs very well on older hardware. Your current setup is stretching it a bit but my last PC was 512mb, and a Ti4200 and it ran it very well even with most things turned up to high. (Just not 1600x1200) A friend runs it on a AMD 1.2, 512 (266mhz), and a MX440. Not as well, but without crashes or any hassles.	pctek (84)
349829	2005-04-28 11:01:00	I agree, upgrade the card and add a bit more ram. However, contrary to what seems to be popular opinion, Half-Life 2 does NOT require the latest and greatest hardware. Doom 3 does. Far cry does. HL2 runs very well on older hardware. Your current setup is stretching it a bit but my last PC was 512mb, and a Ti4200 and it ran it very well even with most things turned up to high. (Just not 1600x1200) A friend runs it on a AMD 1.2, 512 (266mhz), and a MX440. Not as well, but without crashes or any hassles. Well, I have a Athlon XP1600+, G4Ti4200 64mb and 512MB PC2100 DDR and it runs pretty badly. Only about 40 fps with everything on low at 1024x768. Any ideas why? I reckon I should up the CPU to a AthXP 3000+ and a G6600GT for the GFX. First I need about $500. Donations anyone? pmsg me for a bank account :thumbs:	Aurealis_ (7897)
349830	2005-04-28 11:13:00	Well, I have a Athlon XP1600+, G4Ti4200 64mb and 512MB PC2100 DDR and it runs pretty badly. Only about 40 fps with everything on low at 1024x768. Any ideas why? I reckon I should up the CPU to a AthXP 3000+ and a G6600GT for the GFX. First I need about $500. Donations anyone? pmsg me for a bank account :thumbs: I too have massive problems with HL2, i have a 3000+ (32 bit) 1gb of ram and a 6800gt and i only get around 40-50 fps even with settings turned down lower than recommended... :badpc:	lagbort (5041)
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