Recommendations?

[Americanforest]

Hi, I have a 2.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 and my new goal in life is to make this computer run Elder Scrolls IV. First off, I was wondering how much RAM you recommend as minimal, obviously the 256 mb is not nearly enough. I have three more slots available for RAM. second thing i would like to improve is my crappy video card. I currently sport a nVidia TNT2. I would like to get a GeForce but am not sure about anything specific. I figure the processor is OK as is. Here are some specs on the motherboard so that you know what's compatible:

Motherboard:

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P4S533-X REV 1.xx
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software, Inc. ASUS P4S533-X ACPI BIOS Revision 1004 02/24/2003

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated as I have no experience in buying parts.

 

[anons]

Try using at least a gig of RAM

 

[Americanforest]

OK, so I checked out a few of the deals on NewEgg. Are there any compatability issues with the specs I gave you and any of these things:

Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144309

Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121216

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145450

These are one-day sales so please tell me of any issues you think might come up.

 

[xenium]

a gig of ram and at least a 6600gt video card. mine runs oblivion at 1024x768 with 2x AA with very little lag. gfx arent perfect, but its the best gfx to FPS ratio Ive found. It also runs nfs: most wanted with everything on and at 1024x768 with little/no lag in FPS.

seing as how your FSB is 133mhz, this also means you need pc133 ram. Im not 100% sure on this so if anyone alse cna verify that please do so.

dont forget to check how much ram you can run. you dont want to buy 2 gigs and turns out it can only handle 1.

if you want cheap/reliable ram get some gigaram. I put my trust into gigaram http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820221041

or for some ram w/ a heatspreader http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820221042

 

[macdude425]

Hard drive: good.

Video card: this would be better, even though it is a little more expensive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130267

RAM: not sure; it is possible that you have PC133 RAM, but I don't know. I'd download CPU-Z and run it to make sure.

 

[Americanforest]

how about 2X http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145024

It is PC2100 so it should be OK and it's Corsair so it should be good.

 

[reggie_da_man]

I'd PC3200 ram. Actually the one you posted is good, but I would get some corsair value select and save a few bucks and upgrade the graphics card to a 6800gs. DON't get PC2100, the minimum is PC2700 to have it a 1:1. The reason I said PC3200 is for future upgradeability.

 

[Americanforest]

I'd PC3200 ram. Actually the one you posted is good, but I would get some corsair value select and save a few bucks and upgrade the graphics card to a 6800gs. DON't get PC2100 the minimum is PC2700.

Would it be OK for me to get PC2700 if the one I have now is PC2100? How do I know if it would be compatible?

 

[reggie_da_man]

Sure it would, but just get PC3200. Your computer will just downclock the ram to run at PC2700 ram in your case. When you upgrade later on you can still use the same ram and wont have to buy new stuff. This will work flawlessly: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

 

[Americanforest]

Sure it would, but just get PC3200. Your computer will just downclock the ram to run at PC2700 ram in your case. When you upgrade later on you can still use the same ram and wont have to buy new stuff. This will work flawlessly: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

Ok, just bought this one. Thanks for the suggestion and hopefully it will work well.