Power Hungry

[Vinny]

I want more f-ing power so i can play lots of games at high setttings. There is one thing....i am poor, oh so poor am i. Now given my system specs. amd 2200+, nforce mobo, 512 pc2100 ddr, nvidia gf4 4600. What is the thing that will make my games run all the better (the reason im asking is HL2 is coming out and i want to run it at 100% everything.....I will cry ::tear::) I was thinking buy one of them gf5 cards....like the best one and i would be fine. But like...is it REALLY that much better or is like when gf4 came out and everyone was like, "WOW gf4 is the ****, it makes you forget about all your worries....and it can fly too." when really it was only....better (like truly 1/3 more power). or should i buy faster ram....or maybe my power little 2200+ is getting old. I CAN ONLY DO ONE THING, for once more, i am poor.....oh, how poor i am.

[DaddyB]

First of all swearing is frowned upon here, try to keep it out of your posts.

If you are asking because of HL2 then you should be aware that there is a problem with HL2 and Nvidia hardware, you can read more about it in the link below:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=216320

Basically you wont be able to use AA with the GFFX cards, I am not sure about the GF4 Ti series so if you are going to upgrade the card look at ATi, valve (the company that makes HL and HL2) has a kind of partnership with ATi anyway.

The best advice is to wait until september since the game won't be out until then and any hardware upgrades you will be doing will be cheaper. When the game comes out see whether the card or the CPU is more important.

That said, your system will play HL2 fine but you may not be able to run it at high res especially with AA and/or AF on. Keep in mind that they want to sell the game to the largest market possible so the game will be playable on low end CPUs and vid cards and yours are not low end.

[]-[itman]

If you are willing to chance it, you can buy a 9500 non-pro for about $140 and try to softmod it to a 9700non-pro(maybe even get it up to 9700pro speeds if it will overclock that high). If it works, you'll be able to play HL2 and even Doom3 just fine, if not, you're left with a card that won't perform as well as your Ti4600, but is DX9 compatible and will probably be faster than the 4600 if you use AA and AF. Otherwise, I'd do as DaddyB suggested and wait until the game actually comes out and see what the prices for current cards are then. I would stay away from the GFFX cards personally, they are still a bit buggy right now.