need opinions on my budget gaming PC

[JoeJ615]

well to start with im an admitted PC noob as i have only owned 1 PC before and made a bad decision when i bought that, it was a HP 2.0Ghz celeron system with 512 MB SDRAM and a 40GB 7200 RPM HD, it burned out about 7 months ago as it didnt even have a CPU fan and i have been dieing to get another PC for awhile now (currently using an older laptop i borrowed from my brother) and i just got my UPS tracking number on my budget gaming PC and am very excited about it .. but im wondering how well it will play the "next gen" games such as HL2, Doom3 and Far Cry ... any opinions on what my limitations may be would be welcome, as well as advice on future upgrades that wont cost me an arm and a leg lol, i put the PC together prebuilt online (like i said im a PC noob and doing the build myself is still a bit intimidating) and ordered the video card seperately, all together after tax and shipping it's costing me about $800,new system specs are as follows, and again thanks in advance for any feedback

RaidMax Cobra Gaming Case Black w/420W PSU
Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M Athlon 64 MOBO
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU
2x 512Mb DDR 400 PC-3200 RAM (1Gb Total)
WD 120GB 7200RPM HDD w/8MB Cache
Sony DW-D26A 16X DVD±RW Black Oem
Onboard Audio
Radeon 9600 Pro Advantage 256MB GPU
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

 

[TipsySmile]

hmm the only thing i wouldve changed would have been the Graphics card, the 9600 is showing its age, would have tried to get a 6600 gt.

And maybe a new PSU, but thats just me.

other than that nice comp

 

[JoeJ615]

yeah but the GT6600 was way out of my price range i really couldnt afford to put over $100 in a video card and still get the core system that i wanted, my friends convinced me on the Radeon 9600 as a few of them have it and seem very happy with it, but then again they dont play the demanding FPS games im hoping to play (already ordered far cry from amazon and should be here this weekend) if i can run far cry and half life 2 fairly well i'll be happy i guess but just curious as to how well will i be able to run them? and will i be able to run doom 3 at all? lol

 

[truebe]

ATI doesnt go well with Doom3, you might be able to play it on low settings, if you are able to save up some cash after a while the 6600GT would be a nice shoice and should be able to play HL2, FarCry and Doom3 no problem at all.

 

[Harper]

Save up some cash, get yourself a better video card.
In the meantime, play DOOM III on a lower setting.

 

[JoeJ615]

well everyone seems to be focusing on doom 3 mainly but doom 3 is on my "not quite sure" list as i dont want to get too many FPS games (im a big RPG AND MMORPG fan as well) but how will the system handle HL2 and far cry?

 

[hu_xu]

You can OC a 9600 Pro to a 9600XT. You should be able to get around 40 fps for HL2 at 1024*768 on DX9 8X AF no AA with that card. I have seen it go as high as 100 against a wall and as low as 20-25 in lots of action and as low as 15 is ton of smoke. But it is very playable. But this is IF you OC it to 9600XT. As for Doom 3, ATI cards play horrible although early news is that Cat 5.6 will improve Doom 3 performance A LOT. HL2 is far less taxing in terms of GPU I find than Doom 3 or Far Cry. It relies more on RAM and Processor.

Seriously don't skip out on buying a good GPU. Wait a couple more weeks (another pay check or allowance if you don't work) and get a 6600GT. The 9600 Pro is basically a bottleneck for a system with a AMD 64 3000+ and 1GB RAM (dual channel I presume?).

 

[Mr. Switch]

a 9600 pro can run doom 3 medium at 800x600, HL2 high 1024x768 no AA/AF, and far cry on medium.

 

[Harper]

well everyone seems to be focusing on doom 3 mainly but doom 3 is on my "not quite sure" list as i dont want to get too many FPS games (im a big RPG AND MMORPG fan as well) but how will the system handle HL2 and far cry?

Give us some examples of what are playing then?
WOW?
KOTOR?
EQ2?
Fall Out?

 

[JoeJ615]

well asides from HL2 and far cry i plan to play Star Wars Galaxies, possibly WoW, deffinately NeverwinterNights Platinum edition, also looking at warcraft 3, and im already hooked on Guild Wars even though everyone looks like Tron or the silver surfer on this laptop ( example http://clan-teq.net/main/images/uploads/GW.JPG ) note the armor and the sky in particular, pretty sweet huh? lol, not so worried about the RPG's and MMO's because i have friends who play SWG and GW and WoW with settings maxed out on a 9600SE, but i have been looking at Morrowind Elder Scrolls III as well but surely i can run that fairly smoothly, i know the 9600 Pro seems pretty ghetto to most of you guys but you have to understand it's my FIRST step into dedicated video, i gamed a bit with my old POS HP PC and it had integrated video and i play GW religiously on this laptop and the integrated video is HORRIBLE as you can see lmao (another SS a friend with a 9600SE took of some guys in our guild http://img290.echo.cx/img290/5540/gw0184va.jpg ) .. so even though it's not a GT6600 the 9600 Pro is a HUGE step up for me at least