Computer upgrade to play GTR2

I have a Dell 4700 (Intel 530 HT 2.8GHz) with 512 MB and ATI Radeon X300SE. It seems like the CPU is about what GTR2 recommends. I plan to bump the memory to 2GB of PC2-4200. Is that large enough and fast enough? The system supports up to 4GB of DDR2 PC2-6400. For the Graphics card, I'm considering either the 8800 or 8600. How would 8600 compare to say Forza on the Xbox? Is there anything else I should get? I have a Sound Blaster Live 64 from a couple of years ago that I figure should get good enough. Thanks, Freddie

I just found a good deal for PC2-6400 memory on Amazon, so I'll be getting 2GB of that instead of the PC2-4200.

"Freddie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... >I have a Dell 4700 (Intel 530 HT 2.8GHz) with 512 MB and ATI Radeon > X300SE. > It seems like the CPU is about what GTR2 recommends. >It is right on the edge actually. The architechture of the I500/I600 processors is not anywhere near the Core 2 Duo/Quad processors as far as performance per clock cycle. An E6600 at 2.4 Ghz ouperforms my I630 OC'd to 3.6 Ghz by a great margin. I then overclocked the E6600 to 3.4Ghz and there is no comparison. My I630 at 3.6Ghz runs GTR2 fairly well. > I plan to bump the memory to 2GB of PC2-4200. Is that large enough > and fast enough? The system supports up to 4GB of DDR2 PC2-6400. >The extra memory won't hurt you, but you probably will not see much improvement in GTR2 overall performance. > For the Graphics card, I'm considering either the 8800 or 8600. How > would 8600 compare to say Forza on the Xbox? >I am not a console gamer so I can't comment on Forza. I will say that there is really not much of a comparison between the 8600 and 8800 series cards. The 8800s are much better than the 8600s in games/sims. An 8800GTS should match up fairly well with your processor. > Is there anything else I should get? I have a Sound Blaster Live 64 > from a couple of years ago that I figure should get good enough. >That should be fine. Ed

"Freddie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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>I have a Dell 4700 (Intel 530 HT 2.8GHz) with 512 MB and ATI Radeon > X300SE. > It seems like the CPU is about what GTR2 recommends. > > I plan to bump the memory to 2GB of PC2-4200. Is that large enough > and fast enough? The system supports up to 4GB of DDR2 PC2-6400. > > For the Graphics card, I'm considering either the 8800 or 8600. How > would 8600 compare to say Forza on the Xbox?

Get the new 8800GT. Much faster than 8800GTS And cheaper Martin.

"Marni" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:47488edb$0$2091$[email hidden]...

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> > "Freddie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:[email hidden]... > >I have a Dell 4700 (Intel 530 HT 2.8GHz) with 512 MB and ATI Radeon > > X300SE. > > It seems like the CPU is about what GTR2 recommends. > > > > I plan to bump the memory to 2GB of PC2-4200. Is that large enough > > and fast enough? The system supports up to 4GB of DDR2 PC2-6400. > > > > For the Graphics card, I'm considering either the 8800 or 8600. How > > would 8600 compare to say Forza on the Xbox? > > Get the new 8800GT. > Much faster than 8800GTS > And cheaper > > Martin.

Does this card require the PCI 16x slot to run? Plus a couple of the HD power plug spares from a 400w minimum PS I think.

Hi, I built my new pc about 6 months ago, mainly to play the new car racing sims, DiRT, GTR2, TOCA RD3, etc. These games all play really well, at fast frame rates, with most graphics options turned on, using the following pc spec: Intel Core 2 Duo e6600 cpu (default speed 2.4Ghz, mine is clocked at 3.1Ghz) Arctic freezer pro 7 heatsink and fan 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 ram (800Mhz - PC2 - 6400) in dual channel mode. Abit AB9 pro MB (wifi model). GeForce 8800GTS 320mb graphics card (DDR3 mem). Jeantech Arctic 600w PSU (modular cables). 2 x 250Gb SataII HD drives (each with 16mb cache). 19" LG FlatTron LCD screen. Jeantech NIX gaming case with 3 x 120m case fans (low rear, high front, and side) using rounded compact internal cables to aid airflow. Bear in mind windows (32 bit) OS's are limited to 4Gb memory, but that includes any used from graphics cards, so effectively 3Gb is the useful max. > Radeon X300SE. > It seems like the CPU is about what GTR2 recommends. > I plan to bump the memory to 2GB of PC2-4200. Is that large > enough and fast enough? The system supports up to 4GB of DDR2PC2-6400. > For the Graphics card, I'm considering either the 8800 or 8600. > How would 8600 compare to say Forza on the Xbox? > Is there anything else I should get? I have a Sound Blaster Live > 64 from a couple of years ago that I figure should get good enough. *Peter*

On Nov 25, 7:14 am, [email hidden] (P Gagg) wrote:

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> Hi, I built my new pc about 6 months ago, mainly to play the new car > racing sims, DiRT, GTR2, TOCA RD3, etc. > > These games all play really well, at fast frame rates, with most > graphics options turned on, using the following pc spec: > > Intel Core 2 Duo e6600 cpu (default speed 2.4Ghz, mine is clocked at > 3.1Ghz) > Arctic freezer pro 7 heatsink and fan > 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 ram (800Mhz - PC2 - 6400) in dual channel > mode. > Abit AB9 pro MB (wifi model). > GeForce 8800GTS 320mb graphics card (DDR3 mem). > Jeantech Arctic 600w PSU (modular cables). > 2 x 250Gb SataII HD drives (each with 16mb cache). > 19" LG FlatTron LCD screen. > Jeantech NIX gaming case with 3 x 120m case fans (low rear, high front, > and side) using rounded compact internal cables to aid airflow. > > Bear in mind windows (32 bit) OS's are limited to 4Gb memory, but that > includes any used from graphics cards, so effectively 3Gb is the useful > max.

I'll probably wait until I can get a better complete system like what Peter has above. I don't want to blow a bunch of money and then find out I have to turn most of the graphics off. Thanks, Freddie

You might need to check me, but AFAIK, PCIE x16 is NOT a minimum spec, but if you have it it. From what I understand is will use it slower rated PCIE, like 4x should work as well just slower, and from what I read not that much slower in practice? My motherboard is AGP & PCIe and standard PCI, but PCIe is only 4x. So I cant say I know everything for sure. I dont know yet, Im waiting until after the holidays to see if the 88GT's will be sold at retail instead of right now it stands that street prices are high due to limited production/snafu. Supposedly lower power demands on the gt compared to the GS and GTS also, surely needs at least one powersupply-drive plug in and 400wats still. "DStamper" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:3U02j.114$[email hidden]...

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> > "Marni" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > news:47488edb$0$2091$[email hidden]... >> >> "Freddie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message >> news:[email hidden]... >> >I have a Dell 4700 (Intel 530 HT 2.8GHz) with 512 MB and ATI Radeon >> > X300SE. >> > It seems like the CPU is about what GTR2 recommends. >> > >> > I plan to bump the memory to 2GB of PC2-4200. Is that large enough >> > and fast enough? The system supports up to 4GB of DDR2 PC2-6400. >> > >> > For the Graphics card, I'm considering either the 8800 or 8600. How >> > would 8600 compare to say Forza on the Xbox? >> >> Get the new 8800GT. >> Much faster than 8800GTS >> And cheaper >> >> Martin. > > Does this card require the PCI 16x slot to run? Plus a couple of the HD > power plug spares from a 400w minimum PS I think. > > > >

For a 8800GT I'd go with at least a 600w psu personally. I have a GTS and use a 600w Antec PSU (modular)

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> > Does this card require the PCI 16x slot to run? Plus a couple of the HD > power plug spares from a 400w minimum PS I think. > > > >

On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:31:41 GMT, PG wrote: > For a 8800GT I'd go with at least a 600w psu personally. I have a GTS > and use a 600w Antec PSU (modular) >> My new system runs fine on a BeQuiet 450W PSU. Total power consumption under heavy 3d load (rfactor, gtr2 all maxed out) is around 140 Watts, so I'd say that 600W is way overkill, depending on what other periphals you plan to run. My system: Athlon 5000+ AM2 dual core 2 GB RAM GF 8800 GT pci-e 160GB SATA drive DVD-ROM ASUS-M2N-SLI mobo 2x 12cm case fans, Arctic Cooling CPU fan Cheers & HTH, uwe --

Uwe Sch�rkamp wrote:

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> On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:31:41 GMT, PG wrote: >> For a 8800GT I'd go with at least a 600w psu personally. I have a GTS >> and use a 600w Antec PSU (modular) > > My new system runs fine on a BeQuiet 450W PSU. Total power consumption > under heavy 3d load (rfactor, gtr2 all maxed out) is around 140 Watts, > so I'd say that 600W is way overkill, depending on what other periphals > you plan to run.

AFAIAA, Working out the total power load is not that simple Geeza? You have various power supplies coming from the same psu, to different parts of the system, for example via the 12v rail (maybe more than one?) and via the 5v rail (maybe more than one?) and also via the 3v rails. These will be supplying the m/b, the cpu, memory, the gfx card, the h/d's, the sound card, possibly also the monitor, and all the fans in the pc case. You then have to work out the theoretical max for each of these, which gives you the total max drain on the whole system (max drain on the psu). Just looked at the box for my GeForce 8800GTS and the min requirement is 400w, (we all know how well our pc's run on the "min" requirement don't we?) but the recommemnded requirement is 600w. So yes it will run on a 400w, but I'd much rather stick with my 600w thanks.... 8-)

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] (Uwe Sch�rkamp) wrote:

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> *From:* Uwe Sch�rkamp <[email hidden]> > *Date:* 16 Jan 2008 13:25:44 +0100 > > On Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:31:41 GMT, PG wrote: > > For a 8800GT I'd go with at least a 600w psu personally. I have > > a GTS and use a 600w Antec PSU (modular) > >> > > My new system runs fine on a BeQuiet 450W PSU. Total power > consumption > under heavy 3d load (rfactor, gtr2 all maxed out) is around 140 > Watts, > so I'd say that 600W is way overkill, depending on what other > periphals > you plan to run.

Hi, I just used this great site (its a free psu calculator, just enter the detailsfor your system in the webpage and click calculate)... http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp and my pc comes out at 403w min (I have a 600w psu installed) Remember, it is not just about what gfx card you have, its about the total power drain on the whole system that determines what psu rating you need. 8-) *Peter*

On Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:11:10 GMT, P Gagg wrote: > Remember, it is not just about what gfx card you have, its about the > total power drain on the whole system that determines what psu rating you > need. Understood, but what more power could the system use than what's drawn from the socket under full 3d load? The power meter showes around 140-150 Watts *sustained* load for my new rig, with a spike of about 160 when the system powers on (BIOS POST phase). Cheers, uwe