I currently have a P3/500 with a GEForce3 card and 384 mb ram. Every new game that comes out now has minimum specs at or above that and of course you need better than the minimum specs to run anything decently.

With EQ2, Doom3, Horizons, etc. coming out later this year (maybe) I'm looking to get a new system over the next couple of months. Looking at the screenshots for those games, I'm gonna need it :)

I like the GEForce, so I'll probably stick with that family of video cards and just get the best one available at the time.

But I'm looking for suggestions on the rest. It's been a while since I upgraded, and technology has changed. I'm looking for opinions on the best motherboard, processor and type of memory to get.

If anyone has any information or links or opinions to share, please do :)

*edit* oh, I'm also curious about monitors. I see flat panel monitors are getting popular now. How are they for gaming?

Well no specifics but you know with history of games your going to need the highest end PC and Graphics card you can get...well afford to run it at the rate which its been designed. Look at eq..even high end PC's struggle in some zones / situations.

Basically look at your budget and then maybe say how much you can afford...then people can base that price of whats around...personnally i think thats the best way to advise someone. Rather than 100's of boffins replying to this post saying ooh get the 34.231 bios update of a GFfx 5 bah bah


Tils

If you want a good system for EQ2, wait until EQ2 actually comes out. Technology will improve and be cheaper by then.

I agree that the longer you can wait the better. New tech will come out and old tech will get cheaper.

If you want to spread out your upgrades I would suggest getting an Athlon XP "Thoroughbred" (not thunderbird) chip. These are the newer AMD chips that run much cooler than the thunderbird chips. You can get one for about $50-$75 for a 1700-2100+ speed and as long as you make sure the motherboard you buy can take the newer "Barton" AMD chips you can always "pop" in a new chip next year when the "Barton" chips get cheaper and faster.

I would recommend www.newegg.com for any and all computer related purchases. Not only is their service among the best on the internet but their prices are VERY fair and they allow people to post comments on their items for sale - good or bad!

I have learned more about potential products from reading the comments from people who have already bought the part.

Make sure you get DDR 2700 memory and at least 512meg. One chip of 512memory is better than 2 sticks of 256meg as some board, while having 3 banks for mekory expansion) run more stable with only two banks filled. By using one 512meg bank you are open to adding more later without issues.

Get an ATI Radeon 9700 or 9700 Pro. If money is an issue the 9500 Pro is good also (do NOT get a non-pro version of the 9500 as it's a crippled chip running at half speed)

If you want to stick with Nvidea get a Geforce 4 4200 - not ANY verson of "MX" - The 4400 and 4600 version are faster but those cost close to the 9700 which is much faster.

Make sure you get a hard drive with an 8meg buffer. The standard drives only have a 2meg buffer and make sure it runs at 7200rpm.

If you play on a modem make sure you get a "real" modem and not one that is a "soft" modem - these el-cheapo soft modems run off your systems CPU and while computer speeds are now such that the slight performance drop is not noticed the real modems are only $20 or so more so why bother.

That's about it. Good luck!

Thanks for the info Cassea - that's the type of info I was looking for.

I'm on cable, so no modem worries :)

Look for end-of-the-year or holiday specials. (Not just Christmas holiday specials) Both games are slated for the last half of the year (Doom III in the fall/late fall and EQ II maybe winter or delayed a bit longer).

Although...

Some places might be offering buy now/pay later deals due to bad economy. If you can buy and make no payments for a year, I'd grab that deal.

If you're after a good system for EQ2, the answer can be summed up in one word: Wait.

I don't think you'll find one yet... I suspect it'll be targeted to require one of the highest powered beasts available when it comes out, which might not be for a while :)

If you have a computer that runs EQ "ok", with all expansions, it should run EQ2 "well." You won't have all eye candy turned way up but should be okay. The main requirement is pixel and vertex shading, meaning a geforce 3 or geforce 4 FULL(no mx cards)

Their minimum is a pentium 3 700 right now, 512 meg ram, etc.

People are using EQ1 as a benchmark for the system you will need for eq2. The two are unrelated since Eq1 is a six year old engine with new stuff pasted into it making it run rather horribly.

As cloudien said waiting is good. I got a celeron 1.8ghz, new motherboard and case + PS for 200 bucks a while back. Around the time of EQ2 it would probably be 3 ghz.

EQ was playable for me at 1024x768 even with new models. During raids I still had to use old models and have particles off though.

In a case like that, what would help more? More memory on the Graphics card? Or more system ram? I'm guessing video memory would make the difference there, and my GEForce is only 32meg I think.

For EQ2 the models and particles are even more complex, so I know that'll be a priority in the upgrade.

When I upgrade I'm thinking of going with the best GEForce card I can find, get 1 gig of ram, and then get the best processor/mb combo and hard drive I can get with my remaining budget. Is that a good way to prioritize the upgrade?

IMHO there is nothing wrong with upgrading now if you want to spread it out but make sure that any upgrade you do will be for the long term.

IE

Any memory upgrade should be DDR memory. This type of memory requires a motherboard that supports this type of memory. (DDR memory runs twice as fast as the old stuff)

IMHO do not lock yourself into the Nvidea only mentality. While there Geforce3 and 4 (non-MX cards) are great values for the money they dropped the ball BIG TIME on the FX.

The FX is already being panned as an expensive overclocked card that runs red hot and takes up two card slots! While it may run slightly faster than the ATI 9700 cards it was a mistake IMHO much like 3DFX dropped the ball with the V4/5.

I have been a big Nvidea supporter owning many of their cards and I still recommend their Geforce3 and 4200 as great cards but I would not touch the FX cards with a ten foot poll - I ended up getting a ATI 9700 Pro for $299 (OEM version are cheaper) and they run EQ great using the new 3.2 drivers.

As far as EQ being a patch on top of a patch. This is correct as far as the game code but the graphics engine is new and I'm sure that EQ2 is running off a modified version of the Luclin graphics engine. If anything EQ2 should require less horsepower than EQ1 (with full graphics turned on) due to the fact that EQ2 is being designed from scratch around that engine and not added on.

Verant has already stated that they are designing EQ2 around the Geforce3/4 and ATI 8500/9500/9700/9800 cards.

Here is what is most important IMHO:

1. Fast CPU (P3 800+/AMD/P4)
Note that I did not include celeron chips. These chips run about 20-30% less than the real P3's.

2. DDR Memory

3. 7200 rpm hard drive (bonus if it has an 8meg cache)

4. Either go cheap on the video card (ATI 8500/Geforce3) with full intent of replacing it when EQ2 comes out or get a Geforce4 4200 (NOT NOT NOT MX!) or the ATI 9500 Pro (NOT NOT NOT a 9500 non-pro) / ATI 9700/9800

Now mind you alot of video power goes to running the game at a certain resolution. My recommendation:

640x480 = Geforce2 (non-MX) or better
800x600 = Geforce3/ATI 8500 or better
1024x768 = Geforce4 (non-MX)/ATI 9500 or better
1280x1024 = Geforce4 4600/ATI 9500pro/9700/9800/FX

Keep this in mind. The resolution makes your video card work MUCH harder. Look at the pixels needed for each resolution:

640x480=307200
800x600=480000
1024x768=786432
1280x1024=1310720

Your video card works it's @#%$ off at the higher resolutions.

BTW if you intend to use and form of FSAA (full screen anti-aliasing=smooths jagged edges and makes the picture look much better) then your choice is easy....

ATI Radeo 9700/9700pro/9800

While the Geforce FX can pump out pixels as fast or slightly faster than the ATI cards the ATI cards runs rings around Nvidea if you turn on these graphic features.