Korean Job Discussion Forums

[travis]

I'm a noob to gaming, haven't played any FPS since Quake 1 was new. So last night I got Quake 3 and it just barely runs on my computer. I have a TG Celeron(R) CPU 2.93GHz 480mb RAM some crappy sound and video card. What I want to know is what I could do to upgrade this computer to an awesome gaming system (please don't tell me buy a new one) Specifics would be appreciated. Thanks............travis

[Giant]

Fist thing you need to look at is your CPU, dont even think of playing Q3 on a celery CPU.

You also left out a second most important piece of info and that is what VGA card do you have? If it came with a celeron CPU most likely its crappy as well.

The sound card will not affect performance, just quality.

Your RAM also is most likely slow, you need to get at least 1GB of DDR/DDR2 RAM, the faster the better. (PC3200 at least!) What do you have?

What I would do if I was you would be to sell that system and buy a total new system. But since you dont want to do that, upgrade your CPU (P4 3.0Ghz at least), RAM and VGA card.

There are other motherboard factors as well but thats getting more technical and and if you want to go there you may as well buy a new system.

Cheers
Giant

[Giant]

Just a thought.

If you have 480MB of RAM that means that you most likely have onboard VGA, and thats bad. Get a decent Nvidia FX series VGA card to handle games.

[travis]

Thanks for the replys and the PM's your tips were very useful. Now I just have to figure out if I should upgrade or buy. Thanks again.........travis

[Bulsajo]

Agree with Giant, and would go in this order-
get a better video card
max out the RAM
swap out the celeron for a P4

You might get away with not needing to change the CPU for Quake 3 (that's from what- 2000? 2001?), but if you hope to play newer games you will.

[Giant]

I agree, VGA card, RAM and then CPU.

[Demophobe]

Buy a new one.

Sorry, but there is no stronger system than it's weakest link and when one starts going along the chain, repair soon becomes useless in the face of re-purchase.

[Giant]

I agree with getting a new system, but demo what are you talking about "repairs becoming useless"? Whats that got to do with anything? A repair is totally different to an upgrade.

[Gord]

Upgrading to a graphic card like a ATI 9800 will solve all the problems as that is the current bottleneck. Modern Celerons, while slower than the P4s sold today, are still much faster than is required to play the game on high detail on a moderate resolution (1024x800).

[stloutom]

Go to a PC��, fr'chrissakes.

[Bulsajo]

[stloutom]

Some basic math:

PC�� - W1300 / hr

PC capable of not being outdated before the next game comes out, what... W1300000?

(drop three zeroes)

1000 hours of gaming?

When you get to hour 100 and realize that you're wasting your life, you've saved yourself a considerable sum.

Alternatively: Download MAME*.* and forget about teh suxxor FPS garbage, keeping the computer that you've got and not spending a single won.

P.S. Bulsajo - STFU.

[Bulsajo]

Basic math?
What about basic logic?
The OP didn't say "Please help me find the nearest pc bang."
Your 'time vs. obsolescence argument' could be applied to every computer on the planet. And then of course there is that lovely pc bang ambience...

Look, here's what the OP wanted:

[stloutom]

Your linear thinking astounds me, sir!

An example of how to think laterally:
"Where is the nearest Popeye's chicken?"
"I'm not sure, but the KyoChon over there has great stuff."
"Gee, I've never eaten there [read: never contemplated such an option], thanks!"

Sometimes, the REAL answer lies outside the scope of the question.

This can be applied to many different situations. Explore your newfound freedom with my warmest wishes.

[Bulsajo]

Well, I guess we can let Travis decide if your 'fer chrissakes just go to a pc bang' advice is better than the other advice offered to him. You make it sound as if participating in this thread is an unpleasant chore which you are forced to do.