FX 5600 XT help

[recce41]

Hello All
I have just picked up a new computer. It was rated as a med range gamer. The computer shops sell this combo all over here in NB, Canada. They sell ether FX5200-5700 or the AtI 9000. I work with a fello that biulds and sells computers. And that is what he sells also. No I bought it from another ( better price).I have owned computers before. But am on a tight budget, for my kids. They pay IL2, Sims and other, I play Il2, C4, and some older ones. But am looking to pickup some new.It's as follows:
AMD 2500 XP
ABIT NF7 ( drivers are 4.24)
350 w PS
512 ram DDR ( more when I can pick it up)
FX 5600 XT 256M (Apollo) Drivers 65.73s
Samsung 80 G HD
LG DVD Combo
GNC 92V modem, no high speed here.
Rest just basic.
What imfo I would like is how good is this system for some of the newer games. And also I haveing trouble with crashing to DT with the Sims ( ever one loaded up), and my stuff if I take it off of med settings. Don't knock it, please just rate it. For a Med range system. And what I could upgrade next yr. And If more ram would help. I am have the shop look at it next week.
Thanks alls.

[ragejg]

Welcome to nvnews, recce41...

If the 2500 can be clocked a little higher (preferably 200x11) and if you can get almost 400 out of the core of the 5600, and around 600 on the memory, you definitely have a worth it system... my experience with nv31's has shown me that they only feel how they're supposed to @ speeds of at least 380/580...

Is there any way you can get a 5700NU instead of a 5600XT? Or a 5700LE? They are much better and more future-proof cards which will run games a bit better... I really wouldn't get a 5600 with 256mb ram either, as the extra memory is usually worthless, and usually doesn't run at any good speeds...

...and yes, you want a gig of ram, and you want that right off the bat, somehow... 512 just doesn't cut it in games like BF: Vietnam, Doom3, and other newer titles...

[recce41]

Thanks
I have had this system for about a month. It is a lil better than my old one. But freezes up or crashes to the DT on some games. I hope someone my have the same setup with some ideas. I should have added a poll. Would have have to change my PS to go up to a 6000 level?

[Gamer1]

do you have proper cooling for your computer? maybe that's causing the freezing...

as that solved my athlon 1ghz thunderbird lock up issue, just changed the heatsink cooler to something better, and viola, my computer is working fine.

same with my 9700, powercolor decided to use thermalpads as the interface between the gpu and the heatsink. and i get random freezing in games when i use my 9700 (i know my system was stable as my ti4200 ran all the games stable, i reformatted to see if it was a driver conflict issue). so, i got rid of the heatsink and thermalpad and replaced the cooler. and my computer is lock up free.

[ragejg]

If you want something for next year, honestly if you want at least a midrange gamer system in Jan 2k5, you'd have at the very least an Athlon64 3000+, 1gb ram, and a 6600GT or 6800NU, a pATA 8mb cache HD, PSU with a 21A 12v rail...

So basically I'm saying SELL SELL SELL!!!

Hanger-onners with AthlonXP's @ ~2.6ghz will be floatin by around that time, but they'll wane quickly... the big switch is on!!

[bosox188]

21A+12V rail psu? That's a little high, doesn't sound midrange to me.

[ragejg]

http://www.amamax.com/35055ulp4amd.html

Bah... teh 500's and above by PowerMagic have 21A 12v rails... I've been using Powermagic PSU's for a couple years now with GREAT results...

[Pantherman]

Ragejg, you DON'T Have a 3000+ Clawhammer. You have a 3000+ Newcastle A64. There's no such thing as a 3000+ Clawhammer. I have a Clawhammer because these CPUs have 1MB of L2 cache. The Newcastle comes with 512K L2 cache.

[Rytr]

Yes, there is such a thing as a 3000+ Clawhammer. It's made for DTR notebooks.

Specifications -

Model: AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Core: ClawHammer
Operating Frequency: 1.8 GHz
FSB: Integrated into Chip
Cache: L1/64K+64K; L2/1MB
Voltage: 1.5V
Process: 0.13Micron
Socket: Socket 754
Multimedia Instruction: MMX, SSE, SSE2, 3DNOW!, 3DNOW!+
Packaging: OEM(Processor Only)

Model#: AMA3000BEX5AP

[ragejg]

the first 512k A64's were Clawhammers with partially disabled cache...

[ragejg]

... sorry to hijack, really...

[Pantherman]

There were no A64 3000+ CPUs with 1MB L2 cache like the ClawHammer. These CPUs were originally ClawHammers with half the L2 cache disabled. I wouldn't consider them ClawHammers because they don't have 1MB L2 cache.
I don't know mych about the mobile market.