What Contributes to FPS

[GBubonis]

What up, all.

Quick Question: What hardware contributes to having good frames per second? These are my specs and I STILL get slow downs on a lot of games. Except for Max Payne 'cause it runs off of D3D.

Specs:

PIII Intel Pentium MMX 500mhz
128 RAM
ATI Radeon 64mb ViVo

_________

Oh btw, where does MMX stand opposed to a Celeron and (if there are) other types of processors?

[sho.gun]

You should definitely get more RAM first, then upgrade CPU...

[Heihachi]

You have the video card to get faster performance...

but your cpu and ram doesn't let your video card to work it's magic.

Upgrade your motherboard, cpu and ram...
i'm assuming it's pc100 ghetto ram!
Now's the time to go DDR and AMD!
If you look around.. your upgrade should cost about
400

[GBubonis]

Thanks a lot guys. What would you guys consider to be an okay cpu to get right now? I actually have 400 bucks to spend and I've been thinking about upgrading for a while now.

How much RAM is good, also?

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by GBubonis
Thanks a lot guys. What would you guys consider to be an okay cpu to get right now? I actually have 400 bucks to spend and I've been thinking about upgrading for a while now.

How much RAM is good, also?

Well, first off, I'd like to say that the Radeon 64 is not a great gaming card. You aren't going to see real high frame rates on it, but still, it should hold its own.

Now, and maybe some of the other guys on this forum could correct me on this if I'm wrong, but here is what I would suggest: Get an NForce 420 board (I'll get to the processor and ram later), so you can have a choice of videocards. The Radeon VIVO has a lot of great aspects, but you might see an improvement in framerates using the GeForce2 chip onboard.

Anyway, as for CPU, some might call me crazy, but this is what I say: forget about Athlons/XPs. Just get one of the Durons (1 GHz +), hunker down, and wait for the Thoroughbreds to come out.

With the money you save on the processor, you might actually be able to afford some DDR ram to go with the system! :P

Anyway, here are the prices (more or less) that you will be looking to pay:

256 meg of PC2100 ram... $75 for one... $150 for 2 (I'd say go with Crucial)

Duron 1 GHz $52 or 1.2 GHz $75 at newegg.com

MSI K7N420 PRO $146 at newegg.com

Pick your fan... shouldn't be more than $30

All told, the most expensive would be just over $400.

[Heihachi]

If you're on a budget... then don't get the nForce board. It's quite pricey and you already have a video card to get decent frame rates...(about a gts)

I say get one of the regular KT266a boards... and yes... I've tried out all of these boards.

Shuttle AK35GTR - VERY inexpensive board... performs well too.
EPoX EP-8KHA+ - Same thing... I believe it's VERY reliable too(I like the box it comes in.. haha)
ABIT KR7-RAID - Comes w/ onboard Raid... always a plus
Soyo SY-K7V Dragon Plus! - It's got EVERYTHING! Including sound, raid, and LAN

If you're gonna go KT266a.. then you're gonna go DDR for RAM. Stay away from SDRam!

For a fan... If you don't mind the sound... get the Vantec copper fan.. not sure what model.

Now for the CPU.. I say get the XP 1600... cuz Anandtech says so.. =]

[GBubonis]

I ended up going today and upgrading :D!

I bought:
AMD Athlon XP 1600+
256 DDR RAM
EPoX something motherboard

That adds on to my ATI Radeon 64mb ViVo, and now I don't get any more slow downs on any games!!!! Yay!!

Thanks everyone for all your help.

Satisfied Customer,

GBubonis

[Heihachi]

I really hope you got the EPoX EP-8KHA+

kt266a is VERY important!!!!

Did I tell you guys.. I love AMD!

[cross56]

I myself upgraded from an HP P3 500 and 256mb of ram to my now T-Bird 1.4 with 512mb of ram. I will never go Intel ever again, Ever, Ever. Long live AMD
Lets all say it again!!!! Long Live AMD