Reply 40 of 123, by kanecvr
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wrote:Games to run on this system include: Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Doom 3 Half-Life 2 F.E. […]
Games to run on this system include:
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Doom 3
Half-Life 2
F.E.A.R. (barely meets hardware requirements)Gaming Resolution: 1360 x 768 x 32bit (16:9)
Most of these games would benefit from a newer machine and windows XP. Since these games are pretty old now, I'd suggest building a rig that can run them all-out. Also, be weary that some of these games either don't support widescreen naively or at all, so a 4:3 or 5:4 monitor is a good investment - something that can do 1600x1200. Personally, I recommend a socket AM2 or 775 machine with a nvidia 8800 card, or better yet - a radeon 4870 / 5850 / GTX 460 (depending on what framerate you're comfortable with - I personally don't like it when it dips under 60, and prefer 100+) and windows XP SP3. While Morrowind and HL2 will run fine on your socket A machine with a X850XT, FEAR will struggle and Doom 3 won't be as enjoyable as it would be on a much faster card.
These parts are old / outdated and very, very cheap now. You can pick up a Radeon 4870 for like 10$ (at least where I live) and a 5850 for about 30. A good AM2 board + CPU should be about 20$ - same for a LGA 775 setup with a lower-end core 2 duo. A good 4:3 1600x1200 LCD monitor (something from 2008) is anyware between 35 to 100$, depending on make, model, age and specifications - but you can also use a CRT (I personally am not a fan of CRTs) witch most people give away for free.
Seriously, don't bother with socket A unless you want to build a really fast win98 machine (and the X800/X850 is win98 compatible, but that 1800+ is far to slow for them).
Good luck with your build.