Can this Computer handle it?

[Paco)))]

Hi, I was thinking of getting this computer & was wondering if anyone knew if it should play UT3 just fine. Here's the specs:

Windows Vista Home Edition PC Tower.

The tower was built by Cyberpower Inc and includes:

GIGABYTE M57SLI-S4 AM2 NFORCE 570 Motherboard
Athlon 6000+ X2 Dual Core Processor
3GB DDR2 Ram
2x EVGA GEFORCE 8400 GS 256MB 16X PCIE Video Cards
160GB Hard Drive

Thanks,
Paco)))

[Lunarbunny]

It will run, but I'd really recommend finding something with at least an 8800GS nowadays. 8400 is going to cripple you a good deal, even in SLI. Also, comparably clocked Intel Core 2 CPUs are better than anything AMD is putting out at the moment. I will however say that DDR3 is not worth the price hike at the moment; stick with DDR2.

[Paco)))]

Originally Posted by Lunarbunny

It will run, but I'd really recommend finding something with at least an 8800GS nowadays. 8400 is going to cripple you a good deal, even in SLI. Also, comparably clocked Intel Core 2 CPUs are better than anything AMD is putting out at the moment. I will however say that DDR3 is not worth the price hike at the moment; stick with DDR2.

Even though it has dual vid-cards do you still think it will be a little slow? Will I be better off with a single 8600GS?

~Thanks

[Lunarbunny]

There is no 8600GS, there is an 8600GT and SLI 8400GSs may be faster in some situations but really, rather than the $80 for 2 8400GSs, look at the 8800GS ($110-145 on Newegg), 8800GT (~150 on Newegg), or [maybe] 8800GTS 320/640 (discontinued, nobody wants them so they're cheap, a PNY 320 is $120 on Newegg)

[JoystickMonkey]

Your video card sounds like the bottleneck for your system. You will probably be ok with the processor for some time, and upgrading that would require a new motherboard on top of the cost of the processor.

If I were you, I'd go with an 8800GT, especially because they just went down in price due to new high-end cards coming out.

[JoystickMonkey]

So to further answer your question, I've played UT3 on a quad core processor with a 7900 Gs with 256M RAM, and I've played on a dual core processor and an 8800GT with 512 RAM. The one with the 8800GT runs the game waaaay better.