Do I need to upgrade my 8500? need advice please

[Johnbear007]

I was wondering how much of a performance gain I would get by upgrading my 8500 to a 9500 or 9700

Right now I have:

Athlon XP 1700+ on ECS K7S5A
512 MB Crucial Pc2100 + 512MB Crucial PC2700 = 1 GB DDR
120GB WD SE 8MB HDD
Audigy 2
Antec 1080AMG W/430w TruePower
52x24x52 Lite on CDRW
Radeon 8500 128MB With BGA memory. Clocked at 275/275(retail) but can fo 300/300 with no problem

I was just wondering if with this system a new video card would help much. Im pretty happy with current performance, but I would give the 8500 to my wife who is running a P3 800 with an original Radeon 64MB DDR

I wont be upgrading the MB/Proc anytime soon

 

[Schadenfroh]

your pretty much balaned there, you might want to pick up a nforce2 mobo from abit/asus/epox. What kind of core is your 1700? also, i reccomend not getting crucial memory if you plan on o/c, get OCZ, corsair XMS, kingston or something. The 8500 will run any game on the market, but if you got money to burn, a 4200 from a 8500 would be only a small increase when compared to going to a 5900 non ultra for 250

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
your pretty much balaned there, you might want to pick up a nforce2 mobo from abit/asus/epox. What kind of core is your 1700? also, i reccomend not getting crucial memory if you plan on o/c, get OCZ, corsair XMS, kingston or something. The 8500 will run any game on the market, but if you got money to burn, a 4200 from a 8500 would be only a small increase when compared to going to a 5900 non ultra for 250

When I bought the 8500 I considered a 4200 but rejected it for the 8500's ansiotropic abilities. I would never consider a 4200 now. I also would not consider anything nvidia offers at this moment. I am by no means an ATI fanboy, but the price / performance ratio is not there at the moment for nvidia.

I prefer crucial ram because of its stability. I do not overclock anyway, and I got extremley good deals on the ram. I'm a budget gamer. I would go high end if I had the cash but I dont. I have to keep 2 systems reasonably current with a very short budget (im a student)

Anyway, the hardware in this PC will go to the other when it is upgraded, but essentially what I am asking is would it be better to keep the vid cards I have now and upgrade my processor/mb first thereby passing the athlon 1700 down to my wifes p3 machine, or would upgrading the video card and passing the 8500 down be better?

 

[ponyo]

Your system seems fine as is. Considering you're on a budget, I would only upgrade if my system felt sluggish in games/apps I ran.

8500 is still fine card and better than what most people use.

 

[Tseng]

I upgreaded from a 8500LE to TI4200 then 9700Pro.

Several months ago I bought a 20" LCD for a real cheap price. The native resolution of my Philips 200P3 is 1600x1200. Although 8500LE looks great in 2D, but the 3D performance just not enough. Back then the 9700 was expensive and driver needed improvement. So I traded my 8500LE for a Ti4200. I was pretty happy because I was able to play most of the games in 1600x1200 with decent FPS. One month ago, I saw another opportunity. A guy was selling a PowerColor 9500NP 128MB. This card is guananteed to be softmodable. Naturally I bought it cheap and sold my Ti4200. The upgrades cost me around $USD70 each time.

The first upgrade I was impressed by the performance. The second upgrade I am impressed by the new funcations. Since I use DVI, image quality look very much the same to me.

 

[INemtsev]

ATI Radeon 9500 Pro is a great price/performance item

 

[Johnbear007]

But if I upgraded my 8500 how much would putting the 8500 in the P3 system benefit it? Or would upgrading the cpu and mobo be more beneficial for the P3 system than a vid card right now?

Is there a good program that will show me FPS in a game, or do I have to use a native function in each game?

 

[tenoc]

You haven't mentioned a budget or what the P3 system consists of.

For $300 you could get a 2400+ and a 9700np for the K7S5A and move the 8500 to the P3.

To upgrade the P3 to P4 plus mobo plus RAM is more than that and no high-end video card.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: tenoc
You haven't mentioned a budget or what the P3 system consists of.

For $300 you could get a 2400+ and a 9700np for the K7S5A and move the 8500 to the P3.

To upgrade the P3 to P4 plus mobo plus RAM is more than that and no high-end video card.

Sorry for not mentioning the budget. My budget is tight, so it will either be mobo/cpu or vid card. I dont want to just upgrade my CPU because then I would have this 1700+ just sitting here and it could be in her machine.

So my budget is less than 200$ rather I go vid card or mobo/cpu

Would it be a better performance gain for me to just get a mobo/cpu and move the 1700+ the ECS into her system?

Her system is currently

P3 800
512MB of SDR
Radeon 64 MB DDR VIVO
80 WD SE 8MB Cache 80GB HDD
Creative labs Soundcard (like the 512 or something, whatever came before SBlive. But it works FINE for her)
48x lite on burner
420w PSU (I know it will run the 1700, it ran it for a long time before I got my antec 1080 tower and 430w truepower)

Those are the main specs

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: Johnbear007
But if I upgraded my 8500 how much would putting the 8500 in the P3 system benefit it? Or would upgrading the cpu and mobo be more beneficial for the P3 system than a vid card right now?

Is there a good program that will show me FPS in a game, or do I have to use a native function in each game?

FRAPS!

id keep the 8500 for now, the only reasonable upgrade for that system is a 4200 i would say.


hmm, for 200 bucks
get a 2400+ (78) asus a7n266 (64) and a radeon 9100 64mb (61) , thats $203 @ newegg

the 9100/8500 are basically the same (the 9100 is likely a tad slower if the 8500 is a retail and not LE), so the video in each machine will be about the same and youll have a better cpu/mobo in your box. i liked my 8500le when i had it, have a gf3 now...atis windows drivers suck as it is, and i didnt want to test them on linux (which im starting to use more and more)

if you really need to save a few dollars, you can get a radeon 7500 or a gf4mx440 for the slower system and keep the 8500 for yourself

 

[BaboonGuy]

Going the CPU/mobo route will increase overall performance a LOT. Your computer will be a little faster, hers will be much much faster. It'd be the better route to go if you really want to benefit your wife, but it'd be a very worthless upgrade for you. On the other hand, the video card route will be very very beneficial to you (go with a 9700NP or 9800NP or 9500Pro) and very worthless for her (that is if she doesn't game, if she DOES game then i'd definetly go the video card route).

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: BaboonGuy
Going the CPU/mobo route will increase overall performance a LOT. Your computer will be a little faster, hers will be much much faster. It'd be the better route to go if you really want to benefit your wife, but it'd be a very worthless upgrade for you. On the other hand, the video card route will be very very beneficial to you (go with a 9700NP or 9800NP or 9500Pro) and very worthless for her (that is if she doesn't game, if she DOES game then i'd definetly go the video card route).

So they 8500 on even the P3 would be a good upgrade? Also you are sayign that upgrading my 1700+ to a 2400+ of say a 2500+ barton would be a worthless upgrade for me?

In the long run I will have to upgrade both anyway... so what should I upgrade first?

 

[Johnbear007]

As a quick update, I guess let me ask this:

What would benefit her machine more for playing Neverwinter nights:

Upgrading to the 1700+ I have and keeping her radeon 64MB DDR Vivo (I think that is the 7500)

Or

Keeping her P3 and getting my Radeon 8500

 

[robcy]

Best upgrade all around would be a new vid card. Your 8500 will not run much faster in games with a faster processor, but your 1700+ will run games faster with a 9700np. Your wifes computer will run games faster with your 8500 than it currently can. If you are looking for system preformance (non-3D) then go with the MOBO/CPU combo, and give your wife you current set up.

Neverwinter nights plays great with a 8500.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: robcy
Best upgrade all around would be a new vid card. Your 8500 will not run much faster in games with a faster processor, but your 1700+ will run games faster with a 9700np. Your wifes computer will run games faster with your 8500 than it currently can. If you are looking for system preformance (non-3D) then go with the MOBO/CPU combo, and give your wife you current set up.

Neverwinter nights plays great with a 8500.

Thanks. I think I will go with the vid card upgrade for now. Im looking more for better NWN performance for her, for the most part.

 

[JammingJay]

My personal 3dMark2001SE numbers:

Running on a 2.4ghz P4(533 mhz) with PC1066 memory

with a Radeon 8500DV (LE type clock speeds) scored 9367
with a Geforce 4 Ti4200 scored 11383
with a Radeon 9700pro scored 14316

all at stock speeds, nothing on the system overclocked.

Definitely a good performance boost if you're upgrading.

 

[Johnbear007]

Ijust put the 8500 in the P3 and the Radeon 64 MB 7200 in the 1700+

The 1700+ still runs all my games just fine with the 7200 (NWN, battlefield etc.)

However there was almost no performance gain on the P3 with the 8500, suggesting to me that it is the CPU that is the limiting factor in this setup.

 

[mflacy]

I'm in the same boat as you, so I bit the bullet and upgraded my Video Card and CPU.

Have a ATI 64 meg 8500LE (250, 275) which I love, but it's past it's prime. It won't give me the eye candy or performance I want for Half Life 2, Call of Duty, and Max Payne 2. I've ordered a 9800 Non-Pro for $249 which I will flash to a 9800 Pro.

Have a 2000+ XP which is not a good overclocker. I'm upgrading to a 2500+ Barton for $90 which is supposed to be a great overclocker.

My current 3Dmark2001 score is 9104. 3DMark2003 is 1302. I'm sure they will improve greatly by the end of the week.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: mflacy
I'm in the same boat as you, so I bit the bullet and upgraded my Video Card and CPU.

Have a ATI 64 meg 8500LE (250, 275) which I love, but it's past it's prime. It won't give me the eye candy or performance I want for Half Life 2, Call of Duty, and Max Payne 2. I've ordered a 9800 Non-Pro for $249 which I will flash to a 9800 Pro.

Have a 2000+ XP which is not a good overclocker. I'm upgrading to a 2500+ Barton for $90 which is supposed to be a great overclocker.

My current 3Dmark2001 score is 9104. 3DMark2003 is 1302. I'm sure they will improve greatly by the end of the week.

I noticed something interesting today.

When I took out the radeon 8500 in my 1700+ box and added the radeon 64 mb (7200)

3d mark fell by more than half. However, when I actually ran it in games, everything still ran great. Even battlefield 1942 with most of the visuals on.


I guess the point being, synthetic benchmarks can be misleading.

I dont think im going to upgrade anything at this point. Everything is running pretty great as is. Both video cards are doing fine. I probably wont upgrade them till next generation. (I'll wait and see how they do with HL 2 and Doom 3)