CPU speed and GF4

[Asfy]

before I start here's my computer. It's is fairy old:
cpu - Pentium3 800mhz
ram - 516mb
mother board - Asus CUSL2
sound card - sound blaster live

since my previous 3Dcard(which was GF2 GTS 32mb) went wonky, I decided to buy a new one and came up with
"MSI GeForce4 TI 4200 128MB DDR"
however I came across with few questions:

would this card be too much for my cpu? should I just go for GF3 or GF2 instead?
and my brother said my mother board can't use DDR memory rams, does it mean it cant use DDR rams on 3Dcards as well?

[Switch]

Originally posted by Asfy
before I start here's my computer. It's is fairy old:
cpu - Pentium3 800mhz
ram - 516mb
mother board - Asus CUSL2
sound card - sound blaster live

since my previous 3Dcard(which was GF2 GTS 32mb) went wonky, I decided to buy a new one and came up with
"MSI GeForce4 TI 4200 128MB DDR"
however I came across with few questions:

would this card be too much for my cpu? should I just go for GF3 or GF2 instead?
and my brother said my mother board can't use DDR memory rams, does it mean it cant use DDR rams on 3Dcards as well?

The only problem I'm seeing is that the CPU would be bottlenecking the video card. Meaning you'd get lower performance from the card than if you had say a 2GHz or something. For your money, you're better off with that GF4 Ti4200. DDR support for your motherboard is totally independent of the video card.

[TheOneKEA]

Sorry to say this, but your system is old enough that your shiny new vidcard would spend most of its time grilling steaks on its RAM. You really ought to upgrade the CPU to at least 1GHz and get some CL2.5 SDRAM. By all means, buy the card now if you really want it, but be warned that the CPU, mobo and mem will kick off well before the card does when you stress the system.

[pelly]

Actually, I'm going to have to disagree here...

With a GF4 Ti4200, most 3dMark2001 scores using your CPU are 6000-6500....

Even with a GF3, the average scores are only around 5000...while the GF2 Ti comes in at a low 3400-3600

Getting a good GF4 will allow you to keep this card for a longer amount of time and carry it into your next system when you are ready to upgrade the system...

One thing to consider is the following....You can go out and buy a new AMD XP with a good motherboard and DDR memory for under $200!

( Ex config at newegg.com )

ECS K7S5A DDR mobo $54.99
256MB PC-2100 Crucial DDR $68 ( can get cheaper through Crucial )
AMD Athlon XP 1600+ $52.99

Total: $175.98

Regardless of the route you pick, you are sure to see an enourmous increase in performance....good luck and let us know if you have any more questions!

Have a good one!




Edit: Your best option ( if you can wait a month or two ) would be to snag an nForce2 board. For roughly $250 ( mobo, CPU, and mem ) you could have ( high-end mobo, high-end sound card, good graphics, insanely-fast memory, and a host of other features......The great part is the onboard graphics b/c you can wait and see what NV30 does to current GF4 prices once it comes out...You might get an insane deal on a Ti4200...

[LORD-eX-Bu]

Originally posted by Asfy
before I start here's my computer. It's is fairy old:
cpu - Pentium3 800mhz
ram - 516mb
mother board - Asus CUSL2
sound card - sound blaster live

since my previous 3Dcard(which was GF2 GTS 32mb) went wonky, I decided to buy a new one and came up with
"MSI GeForce4 TI 4200 128MB DDR"
however I came across with few questions:

would this card be too much for my cpu? should I just go for GF3 or GF2 instead?
and my brother said my mother board can't use DDR memory rams, does it mean it cant use DDR rams on 3Dcards as well?

I have a computer almost identical to yours, click on my 3d mark score thing to compare it, it has a Visiontek GF4 Ti 4200, umm.. I just ordered parts for a new computer today! whoo hoo! next week when they come in my comp is gonna rock!