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General discussion

Am I spittin in the wind??

Jan 21, 2007 7:45AM PST

I have been told that anything more than the bare requirement in CPU or Gamecard, for playing an ON-LINE game is a waste, AND I've been told the opposit, i.e. a more powerful CPU and Gamecard will indeed make a difference.

I plan on going FROM a 64bit 2 gig Athlon CPU and an Nvidia 5700 fx card TO an Intel dual core-2 6800 xtreme and an Nvidia 8800gtx. I'll upgrade some memory and whatever else I must to make it all go together too.
Am I spittin in the wind, all advice will be appreciated...

Discussion is locked

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Depends on the game...
Jan 28, 2007 12:01PM PST

Take racing, for instance. Your race car may meet the bare minimums for entering but your competitors will mop the floor with you. On the other hand, if you have finished in the top 5 of every race then unless you're striving to be the very best there's not much sense in buying a new car.

Same goes here. Yes, an upgrade will produce better results...that's almost a given. However, the magnitude of the increase depends on many facts, with the most important being the game itself. Then you need to factor in the amount of RAM, what other software you run in the background, the speed and quality of your internet connection, etc.

I wouldn't say you're spitting in the wind, but fill in all of the details, as well as how serious you are about gaming, to get a feel for whether you're going for the $1 instant win ticket or the million dollar jackpot.

John

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more details
Jan 28, 2007 1:12PM PST

Thanks John
There is nothing on this computer except what is normally loaded with XP, however I run spybot search and destroy, lavesoft adaware, and spyblaster. I have stopped all of the background stuff I can think of as per another post on Cnet "what slows a computer". I have a gig of ram and my hardrive is 96% free space. I'm on cable with about 13000kbps down and 600kbps up. My game doesn't freeze but slows alot sometimes.
I have pretty much made up my mind to get the nvidia 8800gtx but am not so sure about an intel duo-core 2 x6800 rated at 2.93 Gig or a single core rated at MUCH higher. I've read in many publications that the x6800 is the fastest CPU for gaming and can be easily overclocked to about 3.4 with only normal cooling. I also plan to get whatever other stuff I may need(power supply, mobo, more ram, etc).This online game, Tanx on flyordie, is the only game I play but I may take up others as time goes on. Also, all the Mags say that possibly in the near future Dual core will "the thing" cuz single core will sooo outdated.????.. I don't wanna have to do this again too soon... I've read about the million dollar jackpot machines, about $3500-7000, maybe a 1/2 million upgrade will do??!!...
Thanks for any help/suggestions you can offer.