So everything on this blog here-to-for has been about the WDTV... and I plan on getting back to that again but I wanted to take a quick break...

I'm a computer nerd, plain and simple, and I like to play games :). However I am also on a "nice" tight budget. So I was pleased to discover that I can finally afford to play Crysis :)...



I recently upgraded my videocard from an ATI Radeon 3650 512mg card to an ATI Radeon 5770 1gb. Like I said, "always on a budget". I have an old rig (as you can tell).

I am currently running Crysis perfectly smoothly (aside from brief stuttering when a level first loads) on Maxed Out settings with No Anti-Aliasing. My saving grace is my small monitor. It's max resolution of 1440x900 is relatively low by today's standards, and I'm OK with it. I was having some major trouble when I first installed Crysis because the big limiting factor on my system is my low amount of Ram. I had smooth gameplay that was constantly interrupted by short freezing because my page file was getting accessed constantly. However, I turned off Aero and bumped all my Windows settings to basic. I also killed a few unnecessary services and shutdown all other programs. I was able to free up a total of 1.3 GB and everything now runs silky smooth and looks gorgeous.

Here is My Current Rig:

Proc: Athlon 64 X2 5200+
Mobo: Foxconn A74MX-K
Ram: 2GB DDR2 800 (I believe it is 800)
Video: PowerColor ATI Radeon 5770 1GB (v3)
HD: 1x300GB Seagate 7200rpm, 1x160gb 2.5" Laptop drive
PSU: PC Power and Cooling 350 watt (that's right... only 350, but it is a good brand)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate (Student discount :)...)
Sound: Mobo Integrated
Monitor: 17" Hanns.G @ 1440x900


So, for those of you out their running on an antiquated rig like me, I just wanted to tell you that Crysis runs quite wonderfully with an upgrade to one of today's low-mid range video cards such as the Radeon 5770 which I picked up used from Amazon for $130. I've been very happy because it has torn through everything I have thrown at it (like Fallout 3) on my low-res screen.

Oh, and my whole system is running at stock speeds with no overclocking.

There is hope for nerds/gamers on a budget yet :)...

I was originally going to upgrade my Processor next to a Phenom II X2 Callisto but I think I am going to probably go with a 64gb SSD Hard Drive as that will really improve my day-to-day experience. I had also wanted to upgrade my memory... but DDR2 prices are steep these days and I want to upgrade my mobo first so I can use DDR3.