478 upgrading, CPU or GPU? Or moderate CPU upgrade + GPU?

[imported_Crusader]

i rebuilt my friends P4 rig, with the asus (865g), a XFX 6600gt AGP and he has 1gb of ddr400 now (in dual channel) and 512MB ddr333(?) in dual channel as well
so hes running 1.5gb total, his CPU is a 2.8ghz P4@400FSB.
but i need to know what will give him the most benefit in games moving forward from here with a rig like that

Heres the options from here:

Get a 3.4ghz Pentium 4 for $300
OR
$300 Geforce 7800GS

or if not one of those two:
2.8C P4 800fsb $100
PLUS
Geforce 7800GS $300 (this 3rd option isnt very likely though that I'll convince him to go this way)

But we're looking for the biggest bang/buck upgrade for gaming. Hes also on a 300watt PSU so I'm not sure the 7800GS will work too well with that for sure.

I'm thinking the FSB might even be holding back that 6600GT.. possibly? And I think the 7800GS without a 533/800fsb CPU will be silly as well.
I think before anything else, a 2.8ghz 800fsb P4 is necessary but I'm not sure on the P4/FSB issues and performance differences with a 6600GT.
We would pull out the DDR333 RAM of course if we upgrade to a 800fsb CPU..

Best way for this guy to go, P4 experts?
This guy isnt rich, so going with the 3.4ghz P4 + 7800GS isnt going to happen. The rig works beautifully right now. Need to add that hes on a 1024x768 analog LCD too so I dont think its necessary to get TOO crazy with this.. but Doom3@1024x768 kinda stutters a bit @medium settings and it'd be nice to clear that up and maybe get a bit of extra performance if possible.

As an aside, I've always loved the 478 HT platform, I think its head and shoulders above anything other than the A64 (including the AXP). Its also great to work with, with the heatspreader on the CPU :thumbsup: Much better than the Athlons of the time that had no HT.



Also, say you guys tell me the 800fsb is what we need really bad here.. then which 2.8? The Prescott (E) or Northwood (C)? Scotty is hot, but has 1MB cache..

 

[xtknight]

Stutters = skips around or just consistent but low FPS?

If it skips around I say there's an FSB problem. The 6600GT should do well (~70 FPS) in Doom 3 1024x768@HQ: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1716&page=10

I don't think it's worth getting the higher-clocked 3.4 GHz. I had a P4 2.6C that easily overclocked to 3.4C right out of the box with ASUS AI Overclock with the P4P800 Deluxe (i865PE). So I vote for 2.8C + 7800GS. But somehow you'll need to make sure the PSU is enough. If the other components aren't too demanding it should be fine, but I haven't seen power consumption figures on the 7800GS.

 

[Keysplayr]

2.8C for $100
Rip out that 512 333MHz DDR out of there as this will cause the faster 1GB of mem to run at 333MHz instead of 400.
For the vid, you might want to consider trying to find a used 7800GS in FS/FT or Ebay because they're still in the 280-290 range new.

300.00 is not a lot to play with when considering both a processor and decent graphics card.

You have a 2.8 with a 400fsb. The 2.8C would make a large difference with double the fsb speed of 800MHz.

I mean, the 7800GS is the fastes AGP card available today, so that would be the very best your buddy can do graphics wise. And the cost of changing platform to PCI-e would cost much more.

OR, he can just not do anything and save up for a more worthwhile upgrade if he wants to get any sort of longevity out of his rig. (I think this is the better of all the options, but it only works for the patient).

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I remember when i paid $189 for our 2.8C. But darn that HT just makes that system whip this 2.533 533FSB proc :laugh:

 

[imported_Crusader]

What happened here is that he wanted to play games better on his current rig.. a Gateway rig.
So I decided to be a friend and checked out his PC.. in the bios it listed AGP as a display choice.. so we ordered the overclocked XFX 6600GT (not bad for the $130 he paid) and 1GB of DDR400 Corsair for <$100 IIRC.

I thought that'd be a pretty decent and sizable upgrade for ~$200. But then we pop the case and no AGP port.. yeah I felt bad. So we ordered that microATX Asus 865 board and I rebuilt it for him tonight with all his stuff.
He got to use all 4 sticks of his RAM on this board so that was a bonus and this one has dual channel (I think his last one was a i825 and had no DC support). And he got USB 2.0 I guess.

Either way hes already spent $300 and got a much larger increase than he would have any other way with 300, he loves the rig. But I noticed stuttering in D3 (his favorite game) @1024 and I was concerned cuz I thought it was more powerful than that (and this was at medium settings..)

I told him it'd be a well-pieced together rig if he popped in a 2.8C (I double checked on Prescott.. wow those suck worse than I remember).
I'd prob pop the 2.8C in and leave it at that if it were me, considering hes stuck at 1024 max.. the 7800GS might be a tad overkill for that res.. but hes playing Oblivion too so

Thanks for your posts so far guys!!
On the D3 performance, I believe it is "stuttering" and not a constant low FPS rate. So that means FSB eh?

 

[imported_Crusader]

I told him to order the 2.8C and thats it.

I think with that 1024 LCD the 6600GT is more than enough, or at least at minimum.. adequate for all the games currently out.
The 3.4ghz CPU is overkill for a 6600GT as well IMO.

Thanks again to everyone who replied in a timely manner!!