Broad hardware recommendations

[Taskmage]

Either my processor or my motherboard is kaput, and the rest of my hardware is so out of date that practically everything will need to be replaced to be compatible with a new motherboard, so I'm looking at buying a whole new setup with my tax return. It's been a long time since I was anything resembling hardware savvy, so I need a lot of help picking new pieces.

Performance-wise, I only have two concerns at the moment: dynamis and fraps. I'd like to be able to maintain a decent framerate when there are a lot of characters on screen and when I'm capturing video. What pieces do I focus my money on to get the best performance out of FFXI under those conditions? Beyond that I don't really demand much from my machine. What I've got is sufficient for the hobby graphics work that I do, and for what few hardware-intensive PC games I play I'm generally content to play at whatever settings I can manage so long as the game runs.

The other issue is compatibility. I don't like this situation I'm in now where in order to upgrade one thing I have to upgrade everything since so many standards have changed. I know I'm not alone in this boat. That's just how it is right now and I can suck it up without complaining, but whatever hardware I get I want to make sure it will stay compatible for as long as forseeably possible.

[Caspian]

Re: Broad hardware recommendations

I think the two things involved in running smooth are your vid-card and processor. (Maybe only one, but when I upgraded a few months back, those are the two I upgraded and I could tell a HUGE difference.)
Those are the two I'd look at, anyway. Good processors are cheap now, and a higher end vidcard is only 200 or so. (The really high end are like 600, so unless your tax return is much > mine, you might just stick with a 7800 series or something.)

EDIT: Oh, one other thing I'd recommend, get a friend who knows a lot about computers. It helped me a lot. I'd still be on my old POS if it wasn't for him.

[Mhurron]

Re: Broad hardware recommendations

Core 2 Duo, but for FFXI probably not a SLI video card, get a good single card.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Broad hardware recommendations

Definitely Core 2 Duo. I wouldn't bother trying too hard on future compatibility.

For a game as old as FFXI, just about any computer with Core 2 Duo and a (supported) graphic card (with its own memory) you can buy on the market will do just fine. (Just don't do anything as silly as putting in only 512MB RAM.)