I am going to be getting a new graphics card soon, and I wanted to know if my PC will take full advantage of the card. It is a Sapphire Radeon 9600PRO with 128 mb DDR from www.newegg.com. This is my current system:


P4 1.5 Ghz
256 mb RAM @400 mhz

I know I probably won't be able to take full advantage of the card, but what about, say, near-full? I've heard that a good video card doesn't mean much if the processor isn't any good, and I'm afraid this might be the case with my system. If anyone could help me with this I would deeply appreciate it.

Hm... all right, well, the first question, I guess would be, what are you going to be doing on your computer? Vidoe editing? Gaming? If gaming, then what kind? MMORPG? FPS? Stategy? RPG? Name a few genres.

If you plan on Gaming, especially for things like FPSes and other fast-paced action games, I'd gt a bit more RAM. This'll allow some of the environments to be pre-rendered more easily. Also, if you're video editing, get more RAM to have the video load faster.


As for your CPU, you should be OK for today's games. The RAM is the thing you ought to upgrade. Also, what is your monitor? Make? Reccomended/Highest Resolution? Reccomended/Hoighest Hertz Rate?

Last thing: What OS are you running (Kinda Off-Topic, but may be significant)

I want to run FPS's and other graphics-intensive games. Oh and btw my monitor is an utter piece of crap. But I plan on upgrading my monitor and RAM later on. My main concern right now is that the processor might act as a bottleneck, limiting the effects of the video card. If not, that's awesome. If so... well, I guess I'm SOL.

On a side note, is a lower or higher hertz better?

I think that your CPU is fine, it's not the fastest in the world, but if it runs the latest games, then it's all right... I think that Ut2K4 has a system req. of 993 Mhz, so you're well ahead of that.... Don't quote me on that oen though....

A higher hertz means that thescreen will refresh more often, therefore it;'s better. Beware though, old monitors won't run higher hertz rates, my oldone couldn't even run 60....

Your processor is fine, but you definatly need to upgrade your RAM - 512MB is the minium for decent gaming these days, and more is better.

Thanks guys. Well, RAM will definitely be my next upgrade. Maybe I'll get a job this summer...

you should be able to take full advantage of card in most games. actually, better said, card will allow you to play some games at higher detail level. even the fastest card and the fastest cpu can have trouble running some games smoothly ( Halo, Deus Ex 2). These two are not optimized well for anything.

True enough... There are some games that are just unoptimized, for some they run great (Halo for me), and for some they run like absolute "ceran-wrap" (Dues Ex 2 for me). And I've got a preatty good CPU and Vid card, and a decent ammount of RAM.