To upgrade or not ...
By
El_Toronado,
Posted on: 2010-02-26 04:45 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
Honestly in order for some one to give you an honest answer they would need to know a few things.
1) How much ram can your motherboard handle?
2) What slots does your motherboard have for video card slots.
Most MMO games are more video card an memory intense then cpu intense.
An if your motherboard can handle more then 6 gigs an your not running a 64 bit OS your going to need to upgrade your OS.
Kittens Club Supergroup Leader@Savannah (Freedom)
Sorry didn't make that quite clear. The mobo is as antiquated as the rest of it - AGP slot only for graphics. I think it would take a ram upgrade to 4GB but to be honest I'm pretty resigned to the idea that any upgrade is going to involve replacing the mobo and everything on it. The only things I'd be looking to re-use are the case, monitor, hard drive (if poss - it's newer than the rest of it) and peripherals.
This is a the problem I have really. I can't see a way of doing a cheap upgrade, it's a new system to play coh on or nothing.
I have no idea what kind of budget you are looking at, but I recently built a new "budget" computer from scratch for right about $800 US. It handles CoH with everything turned up with no stuttering.
I don't think that you will be able to save the case. My old computer case wasn't compatible with any mobo on the market (that's what I get for keeping a Win2k computer this long).
I would say it is possible to build one for less that will handle anything CoH throws at you. I built mine with LOTRO in mind, and that's far more graphically intense.
It all comes down to your budget. How much you are willing to spend for a dedicated CoH computer will tell you where you can go with your upgrade options.
"Cheap" upgrades can be done, but what actual budget would you be working inside of?
I would suggest a barebone package from tiger direct to be honest.
That is assuming you ether know how to build a PC or have a friend who can.
If you do not know how to build one then your highest cost is going to be labor.
I have used the company before an would highly recommend.
They offer a wide range of prices an specs.
Ps: About keeping the case i would say that is the easiest part since most parts are interchangeable an keeping the hard drives would also be easy since if your not running them off the motherboard you can buy an IDE card or IDE raid card assuming there IDE.
Kittens Club Supergroup Leader@Savannah (Freedom)
Find a post by Father Xmas. His signature has links to a $600 build and a $1200 build. You can also see his signature, with the links, here on his profile page.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Hi All,
Thanks for the responses. I'm still very undecided whether to go ahead with an upgrade or not but have been pointed in the direction of this http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fea...647?page=0%2C0 which has some very useful info. I've been pricing it up in pounds (with minor tweaks such as not needing a case and some slightly upgraded parts to make it quiet 
) and it's going to be around £500.
All in all sounds like very good value. Now all I have to work out is if CoH is worth it!
Hi All,
I have a real dilemma and would appreciate any opinions or advice you could give me. My pc is showing it's age a little (ok a lot: AMD Athlon 2.2GHz, 2GB ram, 6800GT AGP, Win XP etc) ... *Pauses for the laughter to die down* ... and I have to admit I'm a little frustrated with it's performance.
No brainer to upgade right? Well the real issue is that the only thing I use it for is playing CoH. I have a laptop that runs rings round it that I use for pretty much everything else and all my other gaming is done on consoles. I only play the one MMO (how the hell do people find the time?!) and I do love it dearly, and would really like to make it look good in particular with the graphics update coming, but can it be done at a justifiable price?
I have an antec sonata ii case that I'd like to re-use if possible (if up to date components will fit in it) but my current power supply is I'm sure a little anaemic at 450w. So at a bare minimum I suppose I'm looking at motherboard, processor, cooler, ram, gpu, power supply. I also have to admit I'm a little fussy about noise (my current rig may be underpowered but it's certainly quiet - with upgraded cooling fitted to the gpu).
So any suggestions for good value, quiet components? I've had a quick look but it's been so long since I looked into this stuff that I've got no idea what goes with what anymore!
Thanks for your time.