Help me out

[Unheard]

I've been out of this game so long, I have no clue what I'm dealing with any more. I have both cards sitting in my lap at the moment. Which is going to be the better performer when it comes to games? The 256 vs 512 seems to answer that for me, but heck it might just be a completely different story. Thanks in advance.

Scott

 

[Denithor]

x800 most likely, especially for older games. Neither is really very fast by today's standards though, don't expect great things.

 

[Unheard]

So the extra 256 MB of RAM on the 8400 really doesn't matter?

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Unheard
So the extra 256 MB of RAM on the 8400 really doesn't matter?

512mb on an 8400gs is 100% USELESS for games. an 8400gs is ungodly slow so you can forget about playing many modern games on that thing. an 8600gt is more than twice as fast an 8400gs and even it is too wimpy to utilize more than 256mb for games.

to be honest Im not sure if the really old x800 is much better though.

 

[Unheard]

So I am seeing these 8800's go up on FS/FT left and right, would that be the way to go?

 

[vj8usa]

What are the rest of your specs, and what's your budget?

 

[Andrew1990]

The X800 would murder the 8400GS. The X800 would be in the 8500GT range, maybe a tad better.

The 8800s are great cards for the money and would smack both the X800 and 8400GS around.

 

[Unheard]

It's a basic machine, I bought some parts from a guy off of FS/FT.

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
SKT 939 3200+ (Yes I know, old tech)
2gb DDR-400
320GB SATA
X800 PCI-E

Don't want to spend what it would cost me to buy a barebones, but after returning this 8400GS, I'll have a budget of around $150.

Edit: For the record, I didn't spend $150 on the 8400, I would just be adding cash.

 

[Andrew1990]

Well for that system, I would be looking at the HD4670 or the 9600GT/9600GSO. Either can be had for under $80 and are near 8800GT performance levels.

 

[Unheard]

Originally posted by: Andrew1990
Well for that system, I would be looking at the HD4670 or the 9600GT/9600GSO. Either can be had for under $80 and are near 8800GT performance levels.

Ok I will check the FS/FT forum for one, and see if I can snag one of those.

 

[Unheard]

I found a 8800GTS for $85, is that decent?

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Unheard
I found a 8800GTS for $85, is that decent?

with your current system no decent card is going to perform well. even a 4670 would be severely hampered by your old single core cpu. I guess just get whatever you can afford but realize that you are not even going to get half the performance a mid to high end card can deliverer in modern games with that 3200 A64.

 

[Unheard]

Would an X2 series CPU help out? Or should I just go ahead and start piecing together a new setup?

 

[Andrew1990]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Unheard
I found a 8800GTS for $85, is that decent?

with your current system no decent card is going to perform well. even a 4670 would be severely hampered by your old single core cpu. I guess just get whatever you can afford but realize that you are not even going to get half the performance a mid to high end card can deliverer in modern games with that 3200 A64.

If he overclocks his processor a tad to maybe 2.5 or so it wont be that bad. He wont be able to max every setting, but every game should run ok on it.

The Athlon X2 will only really benefit in games that benefit from dual cores. Also, the 939 X2s are way overpriced. For the price of an 939 X2, you can buy a Am2 X2 and a cheap motherboard.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Andrew1990

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Unheard
I found a 8800GTS for $85, is that decent?

with your current system no decent card is going to perform well. even a 4670 would be severely hampered by your old single core cpu. I guess just get whatever you can afford but realize that you are not even going to get half the performance a mid to high end card can deliverer in modern games with that 3200 A64.

If he overclocks his processor a tad to maybe 2.5 or so it wont be that bad. He wont be able to max every setting, but every game should run ok on it.

The Athlon X2 will only really benefit in games that benefit from dual cores. Also, the 939 X2s are way overpriced. For the price of an 939 X2, you can buy a Am2 X2 and a cheap motherboard.

overclocking that single core cpu isnt going to do much. also even most of the X2 cpus are pretty darn sluggish in modern games and are quite inferior when paired with a card like an 8800gt.

 

[Unheard]

Is AM2 the most up to date socket?

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Unheard
Would an X2 series CPU help out? Or should I just go ahead and start piecing together a new setup?

if you have the money then I would go new setup because that pc is extremely weak for current games.

 

[Andrew1990]

Hmm I never noticed my athlon X2 slow down in any game, except for crysis.

It all really depends on what he is expecting from his system. If he plays at 1280x1024 and doesnt play the most demanding games, he doesnt need the most up to date processor.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Andrew1990
Hmm I never noticed my athlon X2 slow down in any game, except for crysis.

It all really depends on what he is expecting from his system. If he plays at 1280x1024 and doesnt play the most demanding games, he doesnt need the most up to date processor.

well its not like your pc is going to come to a screeching halt but yes a decent core 2 duo would make a huge improvement over an X2. sometimes you have to find out for yourself like I did. anyway if he is going to build a new pc there is certainly no need to even consider an A64 X2 cpu. Phenom X3 or X4 for amd and E8400 or Q9400 would be arond the range I would look at at if the budget isnt too tight.

 

[Andrew1990]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Andrew1990
Hmm I never noticed my athlon X2 slow down in any game, except for crysis.

It all really depends on what he is expecting from his system. If he plays at 1280x1024 and doesnt play the most demanding games, he doesnt need the most up to date processor.

well its not like your pc is going to come to a screeching halt but yes a decent core 2 duo would make a huge improvement over an X2. sometimes you have to find out for yourself like I did. anyway if he is going to build a new pc there is certainly no need to even consider an A64 X2 cpu. Phenom X3 or X4 for amd and E8400 or Q9400 would be arond the range I would look at at if the budget isnt too tight.

I agree with this, especially with the new Phenoms or Intel equivalent. He may even be able to find a Q8200 deal at a Frys if he looks hard enough. They seem to go pretty cheap with a POS ECS Board.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The X800 will trounce the 8400GS.

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Andrew1990

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Unheard
I found a 8800GTS for $85, is that decent?

with your current system no decent card is going to perform well. even a 4670 would be severely hampered by your old single core cpu. I guess just get whatever you can afford but realize that you are not even going to get half the performance a mid to high end card can deliverer in modern games with that 3200 A64.

If he overclocks his processor a tad to maybe 2.5 or so it wont be that bad. He wont be able to max every setting, but every game should run ok on it.

The Athlon X2 will only really benefit in games that benefit from dual cores. Also, the 939 X2s are way overpriced. For the price of an 939 X2, you can buy a Am2 X2 and a cheap motherboard.

overclocking that single core cpu isnt going to do much. also even most of the X2 cpus are pretty darn sluggish in modern games and are quite inferior when paired with a card like an 8800gt.

I beg to differ. If his CPU is a bottleneck, which it will be with any current mid-range card, then overclocking will provide noticeable gains. However a complete system upgrade is in order to even play the latest games, although his "legacy" system could get by playing games that came out 2 years ago or earlier.

 

[PingSpike]

x800 aged pretty well...the 8600 cards were crap when they came out and that 8400gs is even slower. My gut says the x800, particularly in older games will win out.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: cusideabelincoln
The X800 will trounce the 8400GS.

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Andrew1990

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Unheard
I found a 8800GTS for $85, is that decent?

with your current system no decent card is going to perform well. even a 4670 would be severely hampered by your old single core cpu. I guess just get whatever you can afford but realize that you are not even going to get half the performance a mid to high end card can deliverer in modern games with that 3200 A64.

If he overclocks his processor a tad to maybe 2.5 or so it wont be that bad. He wont be able to max every setting, but every game should run ok on it.

The Athlon X2 will only really benefit in games that benefit from dual cores. Also, the 939 X2s are way overpriced. For the price of an 939 X2, you can buy a Am2 X2 and a cheap motherboard.

overclocking that single core cpu isnt going to do much. also even most of the X2 cpus are pretty darn sluggish in modern games and are quite inferior when paired with a card like an 8800gt.

I beg to differ. If his CPU is a bottleneck, which it will be with any current mid-range card, then overclocking will provide noticeable gains. However a complete system upgrade is in order to even play the latest games, although his "legacy" system could get by playing games that came out 2 years ago or earlier.

overclocking that cpu will do little to nothing for modern games. its basically futile like overclocking a 6100 integrated video. going from 10 fps to 12 wont help anything.

 

[Andrew1990]

Actually, if you get a decent clock on it it will run even crysis at decent fps. If he is going to run the source engine and perhaps even the Unreal 3 engine games, then it should run fine as long as he doesnt overstress the settings.

My friend was running a 3700+ before he got his Phenom II and he played crysis on it along side a HD4870. Now I must say I was surprised at that.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Andrew1990
Actually, if you get a decent clock on it it will run even crysis at decent fps. If he is going to run the source engine and perhaps even the Unreal 3 engine games, then it should run fine as long as he doesnt overstress the settings.

My friend was running a 3700+ before he got his Phenom II and he played crysis on it along side a HD4870. Now I must say I was surprised at that.

well he should have his examined for sticking a 4870 in there with a single core cpu. lol. he may have "played" Crysis but I bet he had minimums in the single digits at times and did not even average much over 20 fps no matter how low the settings. http://www.gamespot.com/features/6182806/p-6.html

also he certainly would not have been able to play games like Far Cry 2 or GTA 4 because the cpu is vitally important there. a decent gpu can never make for an old and slow cpu but of course you know that. its all about having a balanced machine if gaming is your thing.