will my rig play HL2 and source online?

[rcmafia]

Building a rig and want to know if the specs are good enough for HL2 on a budget but let me know what I should upgrade and what to keep. Thanks for your help. Here are the specs.
# Motherboard: Abit AN8 Fatality
# Processor: AMD 3500+ Athlon 64 w/ "Winchester" 90nm Core
# CPU Heat Sink: Alpha PAL8150-M81
# Memory: G.SKILL 512 MB PC4400 (DDR550) Samsung TCCD - F1-3200DSU2-512LE
# Video Card: eVGA 6600 GT 128 MB PCI-Express - 128-P2-N368-TX
# Hard Drive: 160 GB 7200 rpm Samsung IDE
# DVD Drive: Sony DW-D22A-B2 16x Dual Layer DVD/RW
# Floppy Drive: Samsung 1.44 MB
# Card Reader: ArrowMicro 7 in 1
# Case: Antec Performance II Mid Tower
# Power Supply: OCZ Modstream 450

[Hans Voralberg]

You call this on a budget ?? Hell, this will for sure do well in HL2 and CSS, for sure. Just ditch the 6600 and get a X800XL instead, ATI is better in HL2, and you can't go SLI so why go with a 6600GT.
Also i think you need better cooling, and perhaps a NEC will cost less than a Sony as for the optical drive.

[Butcher]

Graphics card is the only obvious upgrade there, also you could save a few bob on memory if you like, it won't make that much odds.

[rcmafia]

Cant afford the x800 as I have one on my main pc this is a second pc for my lan partys so my 11 year old son wants to play with me and my buddys. Is this card good enough though i got a sweet deal on it.

[skuzgib]

I'd deffo get 1gb of memory

[rcmafia]

I'd deffo get 1gb of memory

Thats what I was thinking also not sure if the memory i have on the specs sheet would be enough.

[af3blue]

It'll play HL2 as is. no problem. But like people have said, you can save afew pennies with a slightly cheaper optical drive selection and shop around for the best prices. Then have a re-think on the RAM if you feel you need to. I'd say 1Gb of RAM is worth it.

[skuzgib]

Are you overclocking? Theres not point in getting anything higher than pc3200 if you're not.

[Hans Voralberg]

And no point getting GSKill if that's just for Lan, a couple of Crucial Ballistix is enuf if you really want fancy brandname.

[rcmafia]

Are you overclocking? Theres not point in getting anything higher than pc3200 if you're not.

Iv'e never overclocked before so I dont think i will annytime soon dont want to mess annything up, as far as memory goes am I spending to much on the name brand? Howabout the ammount? Do I have enough or will I NEED 1g? Optical drive I will look into thanks for the advise fellas. Also the most inportant of all is the card good enough to hold its own online and for lan? I think thats the most Im concerned because like I said I run a X800XL on a "24 monitor with everything turned up and im downgrading. As far as the PC I have its a p4 with AGP slots now Im giving the AMD64 a chanceon a "21 and pci slots which Ive never used so thats why I have all the Q as Im not familiar with them....... Thanks. Hope I make sence. lol

[Hans Voralberg]

Better off with something more affordable than GSkill if you don't overclock. And 1 gig is better than 512Mb if you play games frequently.
And the 6600GT is good enuf for all your gaming need as for the moment.

[YorkieBen]

Put it this way. My system runs HL2 and CS:S at 1280*1024 with damn good settings:

Athlon XP 3000+
768MB RAM
128MB 9800SE AIW w/softmod

So yes your system will run it fine.

[Firelord]

Patriot 3200 XL Blk I think its called and is ~£150 but is TCCD and gets quite good clocks

[cm_uk]

practically anything can play it...i had a duron 1200 with 256pc133 and a geforce4mx440 64mb and it played it on highest settings in 640x480 didnt go higher as the machine had a 14" monitor (lol) so no point in higher (or 800x600)... even with the 6600gt it would be fine,but with a ATi card will be nicer for HL2 and CSS...