Better gaming upgrade for Cel400+Xpert128: P3-700 or GeForce 2?

[Pete]

I currently have:

BH6 | Cel266@400 | 128MB CAS2 PC100 | ATi Xpert 128 | SQ2500 | Quantum Fireball LM Plus | 3C905TX

What would be a better upgrade for me to get better framerates for games, a P3-700 or a GeForce 2? I play TFC, Q3, NFS, and RTS's. I've looked at Q3 HQ 10x7 benchmarks at Firingsquad and saw that a GF2 on a 450a will give you 65fps, while a TNT2 on a 800e will give you 32fps. In this case, it makes more sense to get the GF2. But will I benefit more overall from a new CPU? I'm thinking of RTS's here, as I suspect they'll appreciate a faster CPU than a faster GPU (😉).

 

[mcbiff]

I think you will notice more overall if you get a new cpu. A Geforce 2 on a cacheless celeron seems very unbalanced. I'd say get the cpu and a new gfx card when you can afford one. Or even better, get a cheaper CPU and a new gfx card. That way you get both.

 

[da loser]

yup, what he said. just get a cheapo cel2 566 for $100 and a v3 2000 pci & oc 🙂 ~$50-70, maybe a geforce mx if that comes out soon for $120-200.

 

[MadRat]

Yeah, his L2-cacheless CPU is definitely a bottleneck in his system. GeForce DDR's really help lower end systems that have alot of L2 cache, but perform poorly on no L2 caches and also the small L2 caches of Celeron-A's.

 

[Pete]

Well, here's the deal: I have a $100 credit at Onsale/Egghead, so I can get the 700 for $130 or the GF2 for $160. I'm thinking I'd rather get the 700, then maybe add a $40 V3 2K if necessary while I wait till this winter's new batch of 3D goodness.

 

[kaz]

sounds like a good plan pete 🙂 I did a similar upgrade from C366 @ 550 to a CuMine 650 @ 910 with my G400. I noticed a lot of FPS increase, but that's to be expected for the G400 since it scales highly with CPU. I am holind out until the next gen of 3D acclerators come out 🙂