Because there are some tech-heads here, answer me this...(UT 2007 related)

I don't jack crap about my PC. I know this guy called '3DMark' (good friend of mine) and I know he keeps talking about this ATI thing my computer has.......yeah, I'm THAT out of touch. Anywhoo....

I know this isn't directly SW related, power of gaming is going up and up and up. I want to experience such awesome titles like Bioshock andUT 2007on my PC, butI don't know what I need. HOWEVER, Epic games have said that you won't need to latest tech to experience Ut 2007 as they have a 'knack' of making the most out of older technology.

My computer was roughly high-end back in the start of 2005. Don't laugh at me, as you spend $500 on your 6 month upgrade, but does anyone know........

1. What I could get away with to run UT 2007? What's the minimum requirements?
2. DoesUT come withany DirectX software for my PC to run it?
3. Do you reckon that PC's are TOO high maintanence given the cost of a rig just to handle titles such as Crysis, and the stable power of consoles powering all of its games?
4. How much are we looking at (I live in Australia, but I'm happy with U.S costs) if I were to upgrade so it can handle UT 2007 smoothly? What are the best options?

I've chucked in q3 to make more SW related. Thanks!

No one can really help you with an upgrade if we don't know what you already have. Do this first:

Go to start --> run --> type dxdiag ---> on the first tab there is some info about your processor and ram, on the second one, you can find info on your video card.

In Aus, you can get a whole new pc that will run games for $1000 or less (not including peripherals or monitor because I would assume you already have those since you said you already have a computer). All these prices come from MSY

Under $800
A decent gaming rig for cheap!

AMD Based:
Motherboard:Asus M2N8-VMX $65
Cheapest board. It's 940pin too, so if you need to drop in an AM2 DualCore 6000+ as an upgrade later on, you can.
Processor:AM2 DualCore 4800+ $145
Mid-level AMD dual core
Graphics:256MB 8600GTS Generic $226
Mid-level DirectX 10 compatible video card.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM:2G Kit-667(2X1G) OCZ System Elite $109
Any serious gamer wanting to play recent games should have at least this much RAM
Hard Drive 1: Seagate SATA 160G $65
Decent amount of storage for a system at this price.
Optical Drive 1: Pioneer IDE 18x 112D $38
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case:Cooler Master Elite RC-330/331 $79
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply:Coolermaster Extreme 500W $69
500w of good solid power.
TOTAL - $796

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-S3 $159
Supports Quad Core and RAID.
Processor: E2160 $112
Overclock to get the most out of this core
Graphics: 256MB 8600GT Generic $144
Mid-range card, mid-range price.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 2Gig OCZ System Elite DDR2 667 $109
Minimum amount for any serious gamer wanting to play the latest games.
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 160G $65
Decent amount of storage for a system at this price.
Optical Drive 1: Pioneer IDE 18x 112D $38
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case:Cooler Master Elite RC-330/331 $79
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply:Coolermaster Extreme 500W $69
500w of good solid power.
TOTAL - $775


Under $1000
Gaming with a bit more to spend.

AMD Based:
Motherboard: Asus M2N8-VMX $65
Same motherboard as the above systems. Upgradeable!
Processor: AM2 DualCore 4800+ $145
Mid-level AMD dual core
Graphics: 320MB 8800GTS Generic $383
Your games at fast speeds, with good quality image.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 2G DDR2-800 Generic $116
Any serious gamer wanting to play recent games should have at least this much RAM
Hard Drive: Seagate SATA 250G $82
Good storage for a system at this price.
Optical Drive 1: Pioneer IDE 18x 112D $38
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case:Cooler Master Elite RC-330/331 $79
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply:Coolermaster Extreme 500W $69
500w of good solid power.
TOTAL - $977

Intel Based:
Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-S3 $159
Supports Quad Core and RAID.
Processor: E2160 $112
Overclock to get the most out of this core
Graphics:320MB 8800GTS Generic $383
Your games at fast speeds, with good quality image.
Sound Card: Integrated
Onboard sound will suit the majority of people as most provide support for 7.1 speakers.
RAM: 2Gig Generic DDR2 667 $96
Minimum amount for any serious gamer wanting to play the latest games.
Hard Drive 1: Seagate SATA 160G $65
Decent amount of storage for a system at this price.
Optical Drive: Pioneer IDE 18x 112D $38
Widely regarded as one of the best around.
Case: Cooler Master Elite RC-330/331 $79
Tool-free design. Air filter. 120mm fans. Nice case at a good price.
Power Supply: Coolermaster Extreme 500W $69
500w of good solid power.
TOTAL - $1001

All these pc's will get you set, or you could purchase the parts seperately.

I have to say _in3rtia_ has a pretty good list of PC parts there! If that list doesn't make any sense to you... well.. unfortunately that is the price of proper PC gaming, you need to learn the technology. Its not as hard as it seems, or maybe its just that I've been upgrading PC's since the 486 days...

The only thing I can assure you of is that the DirectX software will be readily included with the game, you don't have to worry about that.

Best of luck in building a great gaming PC!

I have to say _in3rtia_ has a pretty good list of PC parts there! If that list doesn't make any sense to you... well.. unfortunately that is the price of proper PC gaming, you need to learn the technology. Its not as hard as it seems, or maybe its just that I've been upgrading PC's since the 486 days...

The only thing I can assure you of is that the DirectX software will be readily included with the game, you don't have to worry about that.

Best of luck in building a great gaming PC!

Corvin

Yeah, it's a good list expect for 8600 since the card is pointless to use in Dx10 mode because it will slaughter the performance. I'd take a 7900GS over 8600.

Here are my details. Can I run UT 2007 with:

GFX: Radeon X1650 Series with 512MB oflocal videomemory
CPU: Pentium 4 CPU 2.80Ghz.
RAM: 1 GB
OS: Windows XP.

???

^^ I dunno about demos, I've borrowed them before for games like F.E.A.R and Timeshift going back early last year, and both demos lagged like hell - i dunno if it was the settings or the disc, but it was pretty crappy.

However, I've found out I have the minimum specs to run Bioshock and UT 2007. I pressume these are the minimum requirements to run the game smoothly.HOWEVER, they keep referring to Nvidia video cards rather than ATI ones. Does UT 2007 support the ATI range of cards?