Your advice on new PC ( for VSK3/4) - advice pls?

[tornado1]

Will getting a new pc with a dual core chip; two good graphics cards; and SLI result in tangibly faster play with all the highest VSK settings?

Does VSK 3 and vsk4 has to have been written for all the above to exploit what they offer? Will the game be better with the above than a fast single core chip with top line card and lots of RAM (1 - 2 g)

Does 32 bit vs 64 bit enter into the picture at this time?

We have cable broad band. This is the only internet game I play.

Any advice from you technocrats greatly appreciated.

rgd

[CAN Knot]

Will getting a new pc with a dual core chip; two good graphics cards; and SLI result in tangibly faster play with all the highest VSK settings?

You bet. In fact I would say that you would have way more horsepower than VSK3 can use. I don't know about VSK4 as I haven't seen it yet, but I would think you'd be able to sail with the highest settings with no problems.

Also, 1-2GB of ram isn't considered "a lot" anymore. 1GB is standard for entry level systems, and 2GB will be the standard soon.

Does VSK 3 and vsk4 has to have been written for all the above to exploit what they offer?

No, but you would get better performance if it was optimized for dual cores. However, you will still get a bit better performance as most people have other programs running at the same time as VSK. So Windows would use one core to run VSK and the other core to run TeamSpeak, chat programs, or other programs that you might have running in the background.

And no otpimization is required for running two video cards in SLI mode. The SLI motherboard and drivers make it look like one really fast video card to Windows, so no applications have to change to take full advantage of the SLI.

Does 32 bit vs 64 bit enter into the picture at this time?

No. You would have to buy 64 bit version of the programs you are using, and I don't think anyone is producing 64 bit programs yet. However, make sure you get the 64 bit version of Windows XP if you get a 64 bit processor.

[conchitage]

I had a 2003 pc with Intel 3.0G with hyper treading, a ATI 9800Pro video card and 1Gb of ram.I tried with 2 Gb of ram, and nothing was better.But i saw the difference between 512 Mb and 1 Gb.
Like 60-70 fps(fraps per second) with 1 Gb.
The double core(HT) make the difference for other program in background like Antivirus,defrag ,Messenger,TeamSpeak,or others programs.You can play without problems with these programs in background.
My new pc is a Athlon 3800 x2(double core),a PCI-E ATI X800XL 256 ,and 1 Gb of ram. The new one is not much better then the old one for playing. Similar fps with similar configuration,between 60-70 fps.Very fluid.
I dont know the specs of vsk4. I dont know if the sli card will be better.I dont think that for now.
It is a better investment: more $$$ in a good internet(fast connection).
For my personal experience,its much better a medium video card and a good high speed connection,then a top video card and a slow connection. My boat have the same speed with my old 2001 laptop and his bad video card ,then my new one pc .
If you can buy the top video card,a good cpu, a lot of ram and a high connection, you are a lucky guy.
But the more important is.....................much practice with fairplay :beer: