Athlon 64/PCI-E Upgrade Path

[pickle965]

My rig is at a point where it is no longer happily trucking through the latest titles at decent settings (Oblivion anyone?) and quite simply I'm a poor bastard who can't afford to move from the 939 platform or even really upgrade more than one component at once.

MSI Neo4 Platinum
Athlon64 3000+ s939
MSI Geforce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E
2x512 Patriot PC3200 2-3-2

Between $300-400 what's going to be the best bang for the buck upgrade for gaming performance - upgrading my video card (say 7900gt or similar) or a new CPU (X2 dual core... I guess, unless the singles perform the same gaming wise)? I would normally go right for the video upgrade but I'm thinking the 3000+ might actually be the bigger limitation at this point.... Also, I'm not big on OC'ing so that's not really a deciding factor for me. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ultralight]

I'd definitely go with the GPU. When it comes to Oblivion and other latest games the emphasis has been on the video card. I think only one game right now really utilizes the dual core processor. Between $300 - $400 is a really nice budget to work with for a new video card.

Also, another Gig of RAM. I've read enough posts by players that say for Oblivion 2 Gigs is the way to go. 2 Gigs are the way for the future anyway.

 

[furballi]

Bump the 3000 to 2.25GHz, then retest. Buy a better video card if you need more speed.

 

[Geomagick]

Going for a 7900gt would have a huge impact on performance. The 3000+ although not the fastest processor on the block will be adequate to drive this card along. The 6600gt is very much the bottom end of what a gamer would want in their system now.

 

[TanisHalfElven]

7900gt ftw.

 

[PClark99]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
7900gt ftw.

definitely.

 

[SparkyJJO]

go for video card, your CPU is a bit slow maybe but there is so much emphasis on GPU it would get you more of a performance boost.

Also at this point dual core doesn't do much for games, that's why I saved myself a hundred bucks or so and just got a fast single core CPU.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: PClark99

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
7900gt ftw.

definitely.

Or maybe an X1800XT if you are specifically interested in Oblivion (the 7900GT and X1800XT are pretty much neck and neck at stock speeds). But yeah, a new video card is definitely the way to go.

An extra gig of RAM wouldn't hurt, either, but that 6600GT is holding you back in newer games.