What is best for BF2?

[Fullforce]

I wasn't sure where to put this, but i plumped for general. Mods/admins, feel free to move this if you feel it is in the wrong place.

In the near future, I will be making my own PC from scratch, and I wanted to know from you lot whether these components are the best things to use for BF2, as that is mainly what I am making this for.

i will be buying an AMD Athlon 64 - is this good for BF2?
whats the most cost efficient graphics card that is great for BF2?
should i buy a massive hard drive (2x 120gb)?

if you have any comments, say them below. i want advice and stuff, every little helps!

[Dangerboy]

the fastest and most expensive components you can afford.

[PBAsydney]

the AMD64 is very good for BF2, get a 3000+ - 4000+ and you should be in good hands. Vid card, i recommend the Radeon X850XT or GeForce 7800 / 6800

[Cotizi]

athlon 64 will be fine. get a good card and 2 gigs of ram. youll be good to go. a serial drive helps 2. a raptor is jsut a bonus.

[ODBoy]

Some UK PC hardware sites for you:

http://www.aria.co.uk/

http://www.scan.co.uk/

AMD 64 will be fine
GEFORCE 6800 or ATI x800/850 series Grfx cards (may want to go PCI-E if you want cost effective, may cost a little more initially but youll be set for a while at least. Make sure your mobo has the requirements)
You dont really need a massive hard drive unless you have lots of apps/music/vids etc that would require such HD space..

[imported_WarGasm]

if your new to the hardware market, check out www.sharkyextreme.com, he usually has some good guides for low, med, and high end systems with good explanations.

[Shroom420]

2 gig of ram is a must.
Go for a 256mb 6800/x800 or better.

my 1 comp (p4 3Ghz 2gig o ram and 256mb 6800 pci-e) runs BF2 like a dream on 1024x768 all high 4xAA.
my other comp (p4 3Ghz 1.5gig o ram 128mb 6600GT agp) finds me wanting better performance during certain scenarios on 64 person maps on 1024x768 med/high settings.

[Zucko]

I think AMD is better than Intel for gaming puroposes, and for the video card, IMO the
GeForce 6800GT is probably the best deal right now ... obviously not as powerful as
the 6800 Ultra / OC or the 7800 GTX but certainly your best shot for the money ...

For BF2, make sure to have at least 1Gb or more system memory, and you'll be all set !

[Fullforce]

2 gigs of RAM? phew, thats a load! my current pc runs on a Nvidia Geforce 5500, 512mb Ram and measly 40gb of memory. it sucks, you should see the graphics of my minigun on the black hawk! its basically a grey tube!

but thanks for the help guys, im checking out those sites now!

i use www.ebuyer.com for cheap stuff

i will be saving money on speakers and going for some headphones with a mic attached, a nice but cheap joystick too for flying, my current one is total crap and the two buttons dont even work!

but the ultimate thing i want is low price but good power.

is a Zboard good? ive heard good and bad things about this, i wondered if anybody uses it? it it better than using a normal keyboard? is it worth £40 + £10 for BF2 Keyset, for £50 i could get a nice keyboard and wireless mouse bundle!

[Helms]

Re: What is best for BF2?

What about sound card? I have integrated soundmax audio and am purchasing the audigy 2 zs since battlefield/dice promotes it, does anyone have this audio card that it actually sounds much better? especially since you can take advantage of EAX. i am getting 7.1 speaker setup hopefully it makes a difference. supposedly you can hear exactly what direction every sound comes from ... that sounds like a huge advatage for sure

[shadow_wolf]

Re: What is best for BF2?

2 gigs of RAM is hardly needed. 1 gig will more than do the trick.

[DrunkenPirate]

Re: What is best for BF2?

www.overclockers.co.uk also for a good UK site, they have a lot of weekly deals too, all my stuff is from there.

The only reason you need 2 GIG's is if you want smooth game play on high detail settings since the total memory used is ~1120MB's If you don't play on max settings then yes 1GB is sufficient.

[ConscriptVirus]

Re: What is best for BF2?

ram to me is the most important thing because u cant run good graphics without enuff ram and rambus ram is good

[aRedEyeJedi]

Re: What is best for BF2?

thank you DrunkenPirate
finally someone who knows
you really only need 2gbs when running a high resolution
I checked my systems, its uses 1.27 gbs when running BF2 in 1680x1050.
So i guess you would really only need the ram to load to game faster and run a high res, 2gbs of ram helped more the running raid 0
Now with 2gbs Im normally in the game withthe 1st 6 peps
I would go with a 6800gt or 7800gt for the video card

[Eddy01741]

Re: What is best for BF2?

To the threadstarter, give us your budget, we'll give ya a system, and BTW, this belongs in hardware, this is the minimum you should shoot for:

Mobo: PCI-e mobo that's socket 939. or Intel PCI-e Socket LGA775.
CPU: 2800+ or more socket 939, or 2.8ghz or more LGA775 processor.
RAM:At least 1GB.
Hard Drive: At least 120GB.
Sound Card: Not needed, but if you're getting one, get a Audigy 2ZS or better, otherwise, not much better than regular integrated sound.
Video Card: At least a X800GT or 6600GT. X800XL or 6800GT at least for max settings.
PSU: At least 400watts from a trusted brand like OCZ, Antec etc.
Monitor: If you don't already have one, a CRT if you can handle the space, a LCD with 12ms response time or less, note, CRTs are always better than LCDs, but LCDs are a tons smaller and it also puts less strain on your eyes.
Keyboard And Mouse: Keyboard doesn't really matter, at least an optical mouse.