Lady Rowena on 26/8/2009 at 23:07
I am intentioned to buy a new computer. It should be capable to support all the latest games, with only one limitation: it MUST support Thief 1 and 2.
These are the components I have in mind:
GPU
Sapphire 4870 toxic 1GB
or
Sapphire VAPOR-X 4870 1GB GDDR5
CPU
INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q9650 3.0Ghz 12MB Box
or
INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q9550 2830Mhz 12MB Box STEP E0
or......maybe an AMD is better? I always had Intel.
Power supply
CORSAIR 550W CMPSU-550VXEU
HD
SEAGATE Barracuda 7200.11 320GB SATA2 16MB
I have no idea about the motherboard and memories. I don't need one with integrated graghics, of course. But I would like to have a floppy.
About the OS: I don't know. From what I've heard on Vista, I will avoid it like the plague. But if I will keep XP 32 I will be memory limited, right? I could put 4GB anyway and then change to Windows 7...what do you think?
Please give me some good advices. Thanks. :)
Enchantermon on 27/8/2009 at 03:34
Any 32-bit OS is limited to using approx. 3 gigs of memory (no matter how much you actually install), it doesn't matter if it's XP, Vista, or 7.
If you look in the right place, you can find Vista with upgrade options for 7. I think Newegg does this. I haven't seen any similar offers with XP, but of course, you could always go with XP and buy 7 separately.
As far as floppies go, you can either buy an internal one or a USB one. USB is probably the best option so you don't have to worry about finding a motherboard with a floppy input.
bikerdude on 27/8/2009 at 11:02
Hi LR
Ive replied to your PM, and I see from your post your budget must be quite high then. Does newegg trade in italy..?
biker
Brian The Dog on 27/8/2009 at 11:38
If you're worried about the RAM limit in XP, and don't want to go for Vista, you could always choose the 64-bit version of XP. Just check your hardware comes with drivers for it - they used to be rubbish at making 64-bit drivers but Vista-64 have made it more common-place. I use XP-x64 and it works fine, you just have to make sure before you buy a piece of hardware that they make drivers for it.
64-bit will not let you use 16-bit applications (most things made before 1994-ish), so you'd have to use an emulator such as DosBox to get them working. Thief 1 and 2 are both 32-bit, so they should work fine.
If you're not planning on installing Windows 2000 or earlier, then you won't need an internal floppy drive, so as Enchantermon has said, I'd get an external USB one for those occasions.
Lady Rowena on 27/8/2009 at 23:32
Thank you all for your replies. :)
My last question then is: can I play the latest games with a 32 bit OS and with "only" 3 Gb of ram?
I'm just having problems playing STALKER SoC with my actual comp, which ha 2 Gb of ram...but I'm going OT, I'll probably open another thread about it)
Enchantermon on 28/8/2009 at 01:44
I don't know of any games that require over 2 GB of RAM, and that's probably being generous, so you should be fine in that respect. And you can usually tweak graphics settings if you have to.
Are you sure it's your RAM and not your graphics card that's hindering your current rig? I have 3 gigs (four, really, but three usable) in my laptop which is plenty for Thief: DS, but it lags horribly because my graphics card is older than what is required.
Brian The Dog on 28/8/2009 at 09:39
Yes, you should be fine - at the moment, the 64-bit OS is purely there for future-proofing your PC into the long term (>6yrs). 3Gb of RAM is easily big enough for just about anything out there - the main thing modern games require is a beefy graphics card rather than lots of RAM.
Since RAM is quite cheap these days and Biker hinted that your budget is not too small, I'd recommend getting 4Gb of RAM - Windows 32-bit will see about 3.5Gb of it.
One thing I would also recommend, if you're willing to spend a bit of money and want to enjoy Thief to the max, is a good soundcard & speakers. Thief 1 & 2 sound good with on-board sound, but a dedicated Creative or Asus soundcard makes Thief sound amazing! Plus you can then also enable EAX in the games.
Lady Rowena on 29/8/2009 at 04:36
Thanks again for the suggestions. :) As for the sound card I always had a good one, with EAX. :)
Regarding games and memory and whatnot.... I'm going to post the odissey I'm having with STALKER..... :sweat:
Lady Rowena on 29/8/2009 at 23:49
What about AMD Phenom II X4 955 4x512KB (3.2 GHz) 125W Black Box? Here in Italy it's quite popular, everyone prefers it much more than Intel.
Is it better than INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q9550 2830Mhz 12MB Box?
Most important, is there any incompatibility with Thief games?
Again about memories: if I install 4 gigs of ram (an unuseful one wth a 32 bt system/OS) may it cause a malfunction or problems?
(Ehhhm, sorry Bikerdude, I didn't want to bother you again with my PMs....:o)
bikerdude on 30/8/2009 at 10:37
Quote Posted by Lady Rowena
What about AMD Phenom II X4 955 4x512KB (3.2 GHz) 125W Black Box? Here in Italy it's quite popular, everyone prefers it much more than Intel.
Is it better than INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q9550 2830Mhz 12MB Box?
Most important, is there any incompatibility with Thief games?
Again about memories: if I install 4 gigs of ram (an unuseful one wth a 32 bt system/OS) may it cause a malfunction or problems?
(Ehhhm, sorry Bikerdude, I didn't want to bother you again with my PMs....:o)
Yes thats a very good CPU and it will be faster than the Q9550 in some games and programs. Dont forget you`ll have to change your selection of motherboard.
Regarding memory, 32bit version of windows will only see 3.25-3.5Gb but thats fine and normal. I have 3 computers(Xp/Vista/Vista) all running 4gb :cheeky:
