Best upgrade for High Graphics Performace?

[Flitred]

current System :
AMD 400mhz
64meg Ram (100mhz)
20.5 Gig HD (7200 rpm)
3dfx voodoo3 3000 (16 meg)
SB Live Xgamer


My goal is to be able to play newer games on the highest graphical settings possible, before they become obsolete.
Should I Upgrade . . . .
a) CPU and MOBO to AMD ~1Ghz ($500)
128mb Ram ($60),

b) current system with +64-128mb Ram ($40)
video card to 3dfx voodoo5 5000 (64mb Ram)($180)

c) or do something completely different.

I'd appreciate any and all suggestions on upgrading my gaming machine.
Thanks. . .

[GroundZero3]

More RAM what os you running??

JaYsin

[Flitred]

Win 98

[Warthog]

Do b first.

Except, get a 128mb stick because they are only a little bit more http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/Forum10/HTML/000910.html

Also, get a Geforce2 or an ATI Radeon (my choice). A Voodoo5 won't help you much because your processor will become a serious bottleneck. I have a 64mb Geforce2 GTS. I wish I had got the Radeon though because of the features it has.

Do a as soon as you can after that. A 400mhz processor is not great at all for gaming.

The memory and video card are most important for speed, IMO.

Warthog

[This message has been edited by Warthog (edited 12-12-2000).]

[Techie Dude]

More Ram!

The Voodoo 3 isn`t too bad at the moment, but I reckon the ram is probably your biggest bottleneck right now.

I`d say get 256mb if you can. Ram is cheap right now! Well, it is here, lol!

TD.

[Flitred]

Well fellas, i took your advices (-1 sp) and purchased a 128 chip. . . . and well. . . OMG!!!!! What a difference it made. It totally brought my computer to life. Thanks Guys.

Thanks, I really appreciate the help.


-Flitred

[Wilan Wong]

Techie Dude, I dun think you need 256Mb RAM for gaming!! The main points for good performance gaming is a moderate amount of memory, fast cpu, fast video card, medium speed hard drive...

[Barney]

64mb memory does NOT have to be a bottleneck!

My system:

PII-300 @ 540mhz
Elsa ErazorX GeForce256 sdr
64mb RAM running at 120mhz

3Dmark2000 score: 3600.

Score with same system,but 128mb: 3800.

Btw,the 3800 score is a great score,I compared it with other systems with the same setup (also with 128mb) on madonion.com and the highest was something like 3950.

Since the memory isn't very expensive at the moment,I would get a 128mb stick and the 1ghz processor (or a Duron/T'bird overclocked to 1ghz) +mobo.Wait with buying a new videocard until the price of the GeForce2 GTS starts to drop.

Ronald

[Aleph1]

Since you already got the ram...I'd skip the vid card for now and get a new mobo/cpu. Not only will your fps increase, but normal usage (not gaming) will improve a lot too. If you upgrade to a video card now, you will NOT get the full potential out of it without the faster cpu. V3 3000 isnt THAT bad, its not great...but you can live with it for a bit more.

BTW- I suggest an Abit KT7 (or RAID) and a AMD Tbird 800+

[Undertow]

I wouldn't recommend the Voodoo5. My friend has it and performance isn't all that great. He also too is extremely limited by an AMD K6-2 400, so maybe that's just the problem. I would say upgrade your mobo and CPU next. Anandtech.com just did a review of all the best Socket A mobo's, you should read it. I would take their advice and get the MicroStar K7T-Pro2. Also, slap a fan on that Voodoo3 and overclock it. You'd be amazed at what the V3 is capable of. On my old machine I run games like Unreal and Quake2 at resolutions as high as 1280x1024. I can definitely see its limitations in Quake 3 though, I wouldn't dare set it higher than 800x600 in that case. So do the mobo + CPU first, then the video card. I bought myself a Hercules Prophet2 MX for $150, half the price of the Voodoo5, and the performance is amazing. Keep in mind that when you get a new mobo and CPU you're going to have to invest a signifigant amount of money in cooling. I spent about $150 on my cooling system and I'm already going to replace it for water cooling + a peltier, which will again be about $150, so plan carefully, and good luck!