best thing to buy

[linkfreak]

hey guys yea my comp suks really bad and i get kiked alot and have average of 180 ping with low quality and lowest display... lol yea its that bad, im getting road runner in september.


So erm ..my question:nod:

What would be the most bang for my buck upgrading to 1 gig RAM(or 1.512 cause i might get a gig and combine with my 512 card) or get a new ghaphics card i think mine has 265 MB and is Ati Radeon xpress 200. So what would be the BEST for gaming cause in my opinion RAm is just if your comp runs out of space, how would that make your comp faster please answer that also :yay: . And ghaphics card would be for display (hence gaming is displaying). So yea thats just my opinion so dont mind lil ol me:shakehead: .

What would be the best upgrade for battlefield2.

[Kodakk]

Re: best thing to buy

ram isn't part of your hard drive buddy.
Logically, why would they sell a 1gb stick of "harddrive space"

Ram is your computers memory, more memory means you run faster.
Computer boots more quickly, Battlefield 2 loads more quickly, etc.

Each program, including windows, requires memory to run, so the more of it you have the more of it is available.

Graphics card will only improve maximum video capability, which most likely won't affect your ping at all.

I don't know anything about ATI cards, so I'm not going to say anything about the one you listed.

Your ping is related more to your memory (ram) and internet speed.

Ram would be a much better choice, in my opinion.

*However, I recommend upgrading your whole computer lol.
With new games coming out requiring newer components just to run them, it would be well worth it to do a full system upgrade....

That's what I'm doing at least.

[ConscriptVirus]

Re: best thing to buy

id say upgrade both. theyre like tied together. u cant really use all the ram that u will buy if u have to play on low settings with that crappy video card and u cant really play on high settings with a good graphics card if ur stuttering from not having enuff ram, but id say go for a video card.

[Iron_Weasel]

Re: best thing to buy

Short version:

Given the choice of only being able to obtain one, I'd go for a video card over more RAM.



Long Version:

Although, you should also include the rest of your system into the equation when trying to determine the best "bang for the buck". If you have a rather low end system, then adding a new video card will help, but not as much as it could. i.e. Your CPU will not be able to feed the video card fast enough so you wouldn't be using the GPU (not CPU) to it's full potential.
A newer, and more powerful GPU will be able to handle everything your CPU can throw at it and then some.

On the flip side....
RAM does not make anything load faster in the same sense that a CPU would, it just allows more information to be stored at one time in one place. When your system runs out of room in the physical RAM, it starts using virtual RAM which is stored on your hard-drive. No HDD is as fast as RAM, so when a program, in this case, BF2, fills the available RAM (which already has other information already stored in it), it will then look to the paging file on your HDD. This is why having more RAM makes it seem like things load faster or move faster, but in reality they don't.

[ichangedmyname]

Re: best thing to buy

I would screw it all and buy a really nice waffle-maker.

But if I had to buy one or the other I would buy a videocard.

Cheers

[SyDuS]

Re: best thing to buy

yea the Xpress200 is a bloody piece, i mean its worse than a 9250 if possible, newer but worse, i am surprised you can play at all, 512 is nothing for memory, especially with Bf2, but defo get the vid card, even though ram is hella cheap, 50 bucks for a 1gig stick.

[Rob848]

Re: best thing to buy

I'm in very much the same boat. I've got low-mid range system and a bad internet connection (I usually have a ping of ~160), and I'm looking to spend a little bit of cash (less than $100) on some upgrades.

My specs:

Intel pentium IV 2.8 GHz
1 Gig Ram
Ati Radeon x600 256 hypermemory


I know that the gfx card is the weak link here, but I'm thinking about getting another gig of RAM instead because it would be a lot cheaper. Do you think this help the game run a lot smoother or will it not matter because of my bad internet connection and video card?

[linkfreak]

Re: best thing to buy

defo what does that mean? o.o

[SyDuS]

Re: best thing to buy

defo what does that mean? o.o

definately

[troybob]

Re: best thing to buy

Short version:

Given the choice of only being able to obtain one, I'd go for a video card over more RAM.

I disagree to an extent. He has LESS than 1gb of ram. He needs ram before a new video card.

If he had at least a gig, then I'd go for the vid card.

[SyDuS]

Re: best thing to buy

I disagree to an extent. He has LESS than 1gb of ram. He needs ram before a new video card.

If he had at least a gig, then I'd go for the vid card.

256 megs of his Ram is onboard, hence the Xpress part of 200, if he got a new vid card he would free up half his ram(the Xpress200 is one of the lowest grade ati chipsets btw) i agree 512 is nothing but its better than 256 with a retardely crappy vid card

[Iron_Weasel]

Re: best thing to buy

256 megs of his Ram is onboard, hence the Xpress part of 200, if he got a new vid card he would free up half his ram(the Xpress200 is one of the lowest grade ati chipsets btw) i agree 512 is nothing but its better than 256 with a retardely crappy vid card

Precisely. By using an add-in card, you're freeing up other system resources by using the RAM and GPU on the video card rather than using the CPU and system RAM to do graphics as well as all the other system functions.

But, he also has to look at the cost of upgrading vs. a new machine as well.
Diminishing returns come into play here....if he can get a "decent" video card for say, $50 and then later on down the road, maybe in another month or two, add more RAM for say, another $50, then that's not too bad of a deal.

Then again, would that $100 be better spent by saving it towards an entirely new machine?

Thoughts to ponder. :laugh:

[DesertFalcon]

Re: best thing to buy

Video card will allow you to play better graphics RAM will increase load times. But they are both really interlinked so try and get at least 1 gig of ram before shelling out 150$+ on a video card.

[Rob848]

Re: best thing to buy

I'm in very much the same boat. I've got low-mid range system and a bad internet connection (I usually have a ping of ~160), and I'm looking to spend a little bit of cash (less than $100) on some upgrades.

My specs:

Intel pentium IV 2.8 GHz
1 Gig Ram
Ati Radeon x600 256 hypermemory


I know that the gfx card is the weak link here, but I'm thinking about getting another gig of RAM instead because it would be a lot cheaper. Do you think this help the game run a lot smoother or will it not matter because of my bad internet connection and video card?

Anyone care to respond, please?

[Kodakk]

Re: best thing to buy

To be honest,
if you have a computer that can hardly run Battlefield 2, I recommend just saving up your money and doing a whole system upgrade.
Ram, video card, motherboard, processor, the whole shibang.

and To Rob, your ping is mostly affected by your internet connection. Dialup or a bad wireless connection will leave you with a terrible ping.

But, before you upgrade, try playing on some other servers, to make sure it's not the server you're playing on.