Advice for the uninitiated

[Decimus]

I've recently gotten addicted to UT. 'nuff said.

My 16MB TNT card and Celeron 366 aren't quite getting the job done, although I do have 448MB RAM. I'd like to upgrade without spending more than I have to. Can I get away with getting a decent video card? If so, what would you recommend? Or should I knuckle down and spring for a new mainboard, CPU, and video card.? Again, what is recommended? Thanks.

[Tiretool]

If you only intend to play UT, you could get away nicely by purchasing a Voodoo 3 and playing UT in it's native Glide API. If you decide to stay with an nVidia based video card, you'll need to get a new motherboard, processor and video card.

Whichever choice you make, you'll be very surprised at how much more enjoyable the game is with a system that will run the game at or above the display quality and speed at which UT is meant to be played at. It will blow your TNT card's performance away.

[Decimus]

I've been playing on my friends Athalon 800, TNT2 machine. So I've seen a glimpse of what the game can be. But he's getting annoyed with me coming over to visit his computer.

[Xayd]

The processor speed will make a big difference.

Then again you can find a Voodoo5 for about a hundred bucks probably, which would make a difference as well ;).

The budget you have to work with is key. If you already have an ATX case, you could pick up a mobo, Duron, Voodoo5, and RAM for about 250 bucks, making it a complete upgrade. When you outlast the Voodoo5 you could then get another vid card later.

Abit KT7A-- 90 dollars (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=22&manufactory=1283)
Duron 800-- 34 dollars (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=41&manufactory=1028)
256 megs RAM-- 29 dollars (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=148&manufactory=1455)
Heatsink-- 17 dollars (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=62&manufactory=1406)
Voodoo5-- around 100 dollars (http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&query=Voodoo5)
SoundBlaster Live 5.1-- 32 dollars (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=57&manufactory=1137)

Comes to about 300 dollars even, basically a whole new machine if you have the case, monitor, drives, etc. already.