Hi, computer questions.

[MTGunNut]

I was really thinking about getting Half life 2 for the PC. I bought it for the xbox and really want it on PC. Only my PC is slow. I have a ATI Radeon 9600 with an AMD Athlon 2500 1.8Ghz processor. What would you recommend to me to get? I dont want to spend too much, but I want to spend enough to play the game in Hi res.

Also I dont have any of the Half life games, but I want them all. What is the cheapest way to get them all, And Id like to have the disks, so I dont really want to download them. Im pretty new at this whole gaming thing so go easy on me. :E Im just a humble gun nut.:thumbs:


Thanks,
MtGunNut.

 

[Acepilotf14]

A: Wrong forum.
B: In b4 move.
C: RAM, plz?
D: The only game you can get in stores in half life 2, and counter strike: source, unless you Ebay it.
E: Steam is the only thing that has the older games.
F: First post.

 

[Vegeta897]

Hi, welcome to hl2.net.

This thread belongs in the hardware forum: http://www.halflife2.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=6

(Don't repost it there, this thread will be moved when a moderator sees it)

I don't know much about hardware these days so any advice I gave would be outdated.

 

[Asus]

The 9600 actually does a very good job with HL2. Although Source games probably will be a lot slower if you enable the effects they have since added (HDR, lighting shaders etc).

What Monitor are you using to play and resolution do you use the most? With what you have you would want to stick with 1024x768 resolution. An Nvidia 7600GT would go a long way to improving FPS and you could up the resolution and quality too. You can get it in AGP if you want to keep your current system. Or PCI-Express if you decide to update your CPU and Motherboard. If you plan on getting Vista OS and a new CPU/motherboard then maybe get a 8600GT for DX10 (WinXP does not do DX10).

RAM is important too. You will want at least 1GB. No reason to have MORE than 2GB though.

<if i could i would move this thread>

 

[MTGunNut]

A: Wrong forum.
B: In b4 move.
C: RAM, plz?
D: The only game you can get in stores in half life 2, and counter strike: source, unless you Ebay it.
E: Steam is the only thing that has the older games.
F: First post.

512mb, sorry, Im new at this computer still. Anything else?
I found Halflife 1 at Walmart, and I could get the "orange box" set for HL2. At amazon I saw some bundle packs, like the holiday packs.

Hey, thanks for the help, and thanks all for the help also.

 

[MTGunNut]

The 9600 actually does a very good job with HL2. Although Source games probably will be a lot slower if you enable the effects they have since added (HDR, lighting shaders etc).

What Monitor are you using to play and resolution do you use the most? With what you have you would want to stick with 1024x768 resolution. An Nvidia 7600GT would go a long way to improving FPS and you could up the resolution and quality too. You can get it in AGP if you want to keep your current system. Or PCI-Express if you decide to update your CPU and Motherboard. If you plan on getting Vista OS and a new CPU/motherboard then maybe get a 8600GT for DX10 (WinXP does not do DX10).

RAM is important too. You will want at least 1GB. No reason to have MORE than 2GB though.

<if i could i would move this thread>

I found a "over clocked" (I think that is what it is called) 8600GT from newegg. I dont plan on using vista, (too freaking much).

Oh, and I have a SUN moniter.

so, if I bought the Orange box, and all the other Half life games, I would not be too disappointed with my current setup?

Thanks SINCERELY for your help.:cheers:

 

[Krynn72]

Your computer isnt bad for half life 2. My brother plays with almost the same setup on medium settings and it runs well. The only difference is that he has 1 gig of ram. I would recommend buying another 512, and you should be ok. And all the other half life games will run without a problem on your pc.

 

[Dog--]

I would recommend buying another 512, and you should be ok.

Nothing against you personally, Krynn, also kind of off-topic but... WHY THE HELL DOES EVERYONE SAY THAT? Every time I, or anyone else has a problem that can be solved with memory, people always say "well, why not buy more RAM?!" WE AREN'T MADE OF MONEY (atleast I'm not), AND NOT EVERYONE HAS THE SKILL TO INSTALL IT THEMSELVES! STOP SAYING THIS, PEOPLE! GAH!

*head explodes*

 

[Markdude]

RAM is relatively inexpensive and can benefit you a significant performance improvement pretty easily. And it takes absolutely no skill to install RAM. If you can buckle your seatbelt, you can install RAM.

 

[Llama]

Markdude speaks the truth. Going from 512 to 1 gig will be very useful in terms of performance. Also, Ram is REALLY easily to install. Just pull the connector thingies open, slot it in, and close them back up

It's also pretty cheap now. 512 won't cost you much (Less than ?20? )

 

[Dog--]

Well... This thread smells bad..


*head explodes*

 

[Jintor]

I concur with the RAMmers. An extra 512mB of RAM isn't unaffordable (Hell, I'm 16 and I got another 512mB last month) and is also quite helpful.

 

[Krynn72]

Every time I, or anyone else has a problem that can be solved with memory, people always say "well, why not buy more RAM?!"

We say that because its what you need. We could pussyfoot around the issue by giving you tweaks to push the performance ever so slightly, but it wont make a bit of difference if you dont have the right hardware.

Plus he said this:

I dont want to spend too much, but I want to spend enough to play the game in Hi res

Which makes me assume he has enough to spend some money on a small amount of ram.

 

[MTGunNut]

will that new DDR2 stuff work with DDR1?

 

[The Brick]

Nope, and you can't use an 8600gt if you don't also buy a new mainboard, which will mean you will have to get a new cpu too. I agree with the extra 512mb ram. Your pc will run hl2 pretty well.

 

[MTGunNut]

Nope, and you can't use an 8600gt if you don't also buy a new mainboard, which will mean you will have to get a new cpu too. I agree with the extra 512mb ram. Your pc will run hl2 pretty well.

thanks.
Hell, maybe ill build a new computer and not buy ammo.:thumbs:

 

[CyberPitz]

Agreed with everybody else, you're computer will play HL2 fine, just need an extra 512 meg of ram, and you'll be set. I've played it on worse specs *but had a 9600XT..*

 

[MTGunNut]

so then, what is the cheapest way to legally get all the HL and HL2 games?
Id really someday like to get everything related to half life.

I was thinking of getting the orange box and some othe bundles, but does the orange box have hl: deathmatch and lost coast?