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At some point in the near future I am going to upgrade two computers so that they can run modern games with a good frame rate and moderate graphics. The problem is that there are so many different options I could choose and I find it hard to understand which ones are best value for money.

Just to clarify, components need to be as cheap as possible but capable of running modern games smoothly and at moderate graphics.

1. What graphics card and CPU would you recommend meeting the criteria mentioned earlier?

2. Windows Vista or Windows XP? 64 or 32 bit?

3. DirectX 9 or DirectX 10? I've read a number of debates suggesting that DirectX 10 actually performs worse than DirectX 9, but is this true?

Well. I am not an expert. I did build a machine for development, and here is my opinion:

1. nVidia's 9600GT is the one I like the most in the comparison price/benefit. Search for reviews on it and any others of your interest. You can find useful information on youtube, for example. I bought it for around U$210, which is impressively cheap, in my opinion.
2. If you want DX10, vista is a must. I shall keep with XP, because I do not need DX10, and I like OpenGL better for development. With no doubt, 64bit is better, mainly if you want more than 4gb of RAM. Even if you do not need, I recommend moving on to it. It supports 32 bit programs. I do not know of any compatibility issue.
3. I can not help.

I hope that was useful. Wait for deeper informations, because that was just my opinion and experience. And watch some reviews on youtube.

Cheers.

AMD Athlon X2, Pentium Dual Core.
Nvidia 9600GT, I've heard good things about it.
Vista 64-bit or XP 32-bit, XP 64-bit has some compatibility issues.
Newer games come with both modes. DirectX10 runs faster if it's a core part of the game, i.e. no old DX9 code mixed in.

A cheap solution is to get an Intel Core 2 Duo E8200/E8300 and a 9600 GT. If you want some additional power, I would suggest a Core 2 Duo E8400 and an Nvidia 8800GT.

Both the 9600GT and 8800GT will handle DirectX 10 games easily, so I'll say go for Vista.

i thought it didn't support older installation programs, so you can't run all installations

Simple answer - copy down the recommended system requirements for crysis and go get that.

(JK)

just fyi, games these days are all in the RAM and graphics card, the CPU makes very little difference until you want to go into photoshop or video editting.

i accedently discovered this myself and it was quite a revelation. i got myself a ATI HD3850 256mb, and 2GB DDR RAM. i wanted to get the phenom processor too but coudlnt afford it just yet, so i went out and got the cheapest socket AM2 cpu i could find, which happened to be the X2 3600, with a standard heatsink and fan.

plays crysis on high detail (DX9, i'm on XP), on 1680*1050 just fine, and most other games on highest settings.

the FSB of the CPU was 2/3 that of my RAM, so i overclocked my CPU from 2ghz to 3ghz (increased FSB and voltage, decreased multiplier) so my ram could operate at full capacity, and the it still runs at room temp and stable as anything (possibly thanks to my case's cooling though).

so i figured, i'll stick with this, i dont need a CPU upgrade just yet...

so, dont go spending £100 on a cpu + £50 cooling for a gaming rig when you can get just as good performance with a £35 near-obsolete (the shop doesnt sell 3600's any more) cpu + £10 for standard heatsink and fan, thats just my advice.

as for the GPU, my HD3850 is lovely, though i did have a problem of artifacts even though the GPU was running at very low temp, but the new cooler i got for it is rather awesome, the gpu ran even cooler and the artifacts disappeared 99% of the time, i recommend the cooler to anyone, (its also compatable with NV cards). i got the card when it was first released on the market, since then the standrard cooler has been improved aswell as the card itself.

i'm sticking with XP for now. apparently the arguement is that vista does perform better than XP as long as you have recent hardware, and my hardware is pretty new so i should in theory be getting vista. however, i have an XP disk, im perfectly happy with xp, so dont see why i should throw it away for vista. i heard vista really sucks when it comes to "nannying" the user, asking 50 million times if you're sure you really want to open the email attachment, and that really puts me off, as much as i hate linux, i think i'd rather switch to that than vista.

it is possible to crack DX10 for XP, its not even that hard, all you do is copy and paste a few DLL's. I've done it, and i noticed after i did it, DX10 enabled games gave me graphics settings that would only be enabled if i had DX10 installed, so it seems the crack worked, except when i pay the games i only see an increase in framerate, but not much else in terms of eye-candy..


so there, my 5 cents, glad to have been of help.


edit: forgot to include the link to my thread about the cooler.
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=124778&b=2

"5" cents?

it's 87, I believe.

1) well, its easy to trade money for power and vice versa, but if you want a good deal, i would recommend the 8800 GTS nVidia graphics card (if you want the next step up, 8800 GTX) and and Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz processor (next step up: 3.0 GHz)

2 and 3) this one i think is just a personal preference. i have both XP 32 bit and Vista 64 bit and i run games on both. i dont notice any slow down issues with Vista. i think what you are referring to is just some people complaining about a slight FPS drop with Directx10 (Directx10 can only be used with Vista, just so you know) if you want to play all of the newest games, i would go with Vista. also, remember, that DBPx10 will be out sometime soon, which will only work on Vista

lol

ROFL!