how good is a good pc?

[richnsue]

everyone seems to want a fast efficient computer whatever it is they are using one for, but after all the hype and new technology and never ending upgrades, just how good are they? i suppose i have an average system, 1.4g athlon, asus a7v266mb, and geforce 2 pro 64 , but i am not really happy with the performance when i play games, and feel that any average system these days should be able to cope easily with the latest software, i mean surely hardware is developed ahead of software? i run what seems to be the standard 3d benchmark programme, and often wonder if the very best systems can run all the tests comfortably. or are the tests deliberately made 'impossible' so that figures can mean something even with really powerful machines? and with other applications, it seems they take longer to load up and respond to commands than a few years ago. is the software just too complex and bloated now? what if you went out and bought the fastest cpu, loads of rambus, the dearest graphics card, quickest hard drive, latest monitor, watercool it all, overclock it to about 3gig, now would you really have something that ran all software effortlessly, booted up and shut down in a few seconds, and never needed upgrading for at least a year. i've got my doubts, even after spending several thousands, i would probably find fault with it and want more. i'd be interested to hear from people who have really whizzy systems and whether they think it was worth the money and effort.

[deadkenny]

IMHO the fastest systems available will really only 'show their worth' in benchmarks. Most of the software lags behind the current bleeding edge hardware. If you're not happy with the performance of the most recent games, it's probably because they are optimized for the GF3 and with the GF2 you are missing some of the features necessary to run the games really efficiently. Additional RAM might help, also if the Athlon you mentioned is a Tbird the additional features of the XP would help (the clock speed itself isn't really a limiting factor there). But for the most it's the video card that's the limiting factor.

[durock]

I have an athalon 650 and have played with some machines similar to yours. The difference, to me, was very small indeed.

[gibsinep]

On my 3rd system a Duron 750mhz geforce 2 mx and 256mb ram I still can play almost any game on lower settings. However that isnt my gaming computer though. Games lag way behind PC's. Look most games requirements are still well under 1ghz 256mb ram and a geforce 3 ti 200.

Really buying a good fast computer will only save you in the long run of not having to upgrade so fats toplay the current game titles.