I want a gaming perfomance boost for cheap...

[MegaVovaN]

Hello all!
I got a 22" monitor on Black Friday, and now at it's native resolution, 1680x1050, I have to lower eye candy in games like CS:Source to get playable frame rates. I used to play at 1024x768 on my 19" CRT with more eyecandy.

System I have currently:
AGP 6800GT 256MB
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (socket A)
2x512mb DDR400 RAM
320gb Seagate 7200.10
Thermaltake Silent PurePower 480w PSU with 20 pin and 18A on +12v rail
1 DVD drive
2x120mm and 1x92mm case fans
X-fi sound card
win xp pro

I would really like to up the eye candy. I will eventually build myself a new PC when I couldn't play games even on low settings, but for now, I am wondering if it's possible to get a boost in gaming performance? I thought about picking up AGP 1950XT 512mb for $170+$14tax in microcenter, and selling my 6800GT, netting upgrade a bit over $100 - but people are saying I must buy a better PSU with 30A on +12v rails, and that even then I will be seriously bottleneced by RAM/CPU...

Can you guys suggest what to do to get a boost? Or should I just suck it up and wait till I build a completely new, $1000 system?
Thanks for your input!

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Your upgrade options are very limited, I would just suck it up until you can completely rebuild.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

For pure gaming performance just upgrading your GPU will suffice. For the money that Card you listed is a great deal, and will well suit your needs.

 

[Tbirdkid]

The only option i see you getting out of that is that the gpu be upgraded. sure a bit more memory would help, but nowhere near like a fresh gpu. i think you can get a 7800gs that is agp. thats the route i would go.

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Your upgrade options are very limited, I would just suck it up until you can completely rebuild.

thats what i'd do as well.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
Hello all!
I got a 22" monitor on Black Friday, and now at it's native resolution, 1680x1050, I have to lower eye candy in games like CS:Source to get playable frame rates. I used to play at 1024x768 on my 19" CRT with more eyecandy.

System I have currently:
AGP 6800GT 256MB
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (socket A)
2x512mb DDR400 RAM
320gb Seagate 7200.10
Thermaltake Silent PurePower 480w PSU with 20 pin and 18A on +12v rail
1 DVD drive
2x120mm and 1x92mm case fans
X-fi sound card
win xp pro

I would really like to up the eye candy. I will eventually build myself a new PC when I couldn't play games even on low settings, but for now, I am wondering if it's possible to get a boost in gaming performance? I thought about picking up AGP 1950XT 512mb for $170+$14tax in microcenter, and selling my 6800GT, netting upgrade a bit over $100 - but people are saying I must buy a better PSU with 30A on +12v rails, and that even then I will be seriously bottleneced by RAM/CPU...

Can you guys suggest what to do to get a boost? Or should I just suck it up and wait till I build a completely new, $1000 system?
Thanks for your input!

Grab a 7900gs/7950gt Agp and overclock your cpu. Your power supply will be fine. Should get a 40% boost for gaming.

 

[manimal]

Grit it out for a while and save for a full upgrade. Dont pour more money into AGP and DDR if you dont have to since you cannot migrate those parts into your new build. Since the days are numbered on this rig buy a nice universal air cooler that you can take with you to a new rig ie Tunic, 120 or a Ninja and overclock the CPU for a bit more headroom. If your card temps are ok OC that gfx card too since you can also buy a relavatively cheap aircooler for your graphics card and get about 20 percent more out of it. for about 45 bucks _Freezer pro and VGA cooler- you can get about 40-50 percent more performance from the CPU and about 20-30 from the GPU.






M

 

[MegaVovaN]

Eh, tough choices
I want to note that I can not overclock CPU, no matter how good cooling is - 32bit Socket A AXP 3200+ are the fastest of the line, and it's K7 (?) architecture is simply incapable of going significantly faster.

 

[oynaz]

I would definitely upgrade the GPU. If people tell you you PSU is not powerful enough, telll them they are wrong.

 

[eggrolls]

save up for a new one. spend $x on upgrades now means you have $x less for a new system later.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: oynaz
I would definitely upgrade the GPU. If people tell you you PSU is not powerful enough, telll them they are wrong.

I have an X1950XT 256 and my old generic 500W PSU wouldn't even turn it on. It's quite particular about getting enough juice. I'd be worried that the OP's PSU might not cut it, let along pouring more money into AGP. It's a close call but I think with a system that old I'll have to side with the "wait a bit then try a full upgrade" crew.

 

[oynaz]

If your 500W PSU could not power an X1950XT, it did not deliver 500W.

A $100 - $120 upgrade will give performance to last another year, so I would go for it.

 

[Roguestar]

Indeed I know that, but it was weak in amps. (Ah right I didn't notice OP had a decent PSU already... my bad!)

 

[Netopia]

Don't do anything! Wait until you can rebuild and then do it all.

I have a Shuttle box with an Athlon-XPM overclocked to 2.4GHz (about 3400-3500+ speeds). I had a Geforce 5900Ultra in it and upgraded to a GeForce 7600GT and was VERY DISAPPOINTED. There was almost NO increase in performance. BTW, this shuttle box has a very high quality 250W power supply, which was more than sufficient to overclock the CPU, power the AGP 7600GT (molex connector) and a 200GB hard drive... if you want to learn about power supplies, Google "jonny guru" and power supplies.

Since I had invested almost $200 in the AGP 7600GT, I didn't want to move to PCIe immediately, so I waited and found a deal on a Athlon64 3400 + motherboard for $99 from NewEgg. I overclocked the CPU from 2.4Ghz to 2.64Ghz, but other than that, everything was about equal... same amount of memory, same exact 7600GT video card. Performance was WAY better! I was able to run at 1280*1024 with all settings on max in the two games I play the most of (CoD2 and CS:S) whereas before, with the same video card, I was only able to pull off 1024*768 and had to turn some of the settings down.

If you move forward, you're going to be CPU bottlenecked. Do yourself a favor and don't add much money to that system. I still have my Shuttle box, and it kills me that it's a really good computer in all other ways, but I simply can't use it as a gaming box any longer... it's day has come and gone.

Joe

 

[MegaVovaN]

Alright, thanks very much to you all!
I will try my best to grit it out and save for a full system from scratch!

Edit: I could go to MicroCenter, take X1950XT, and plug it in. IF I'm disappointed, I'll simply take it back!

 

[SynthDude2001]

I remember seeing a boost in gaming performance when I still had a 6800GT and went from a 2.4GHz Athlon XP (faster than your 3200+) to an Opteron 170, even at the 170's stock speed. So I'd have to agree...you're going to be severely CPU limited if you just upgrade the video card. I wouldn't even bother trying out a faster AGP card in that system...

 

[IlllI]

i personally just wouldnt invest more money into a system that wouldnt allow me to transfer any of those parts to a new system when i feel like upgrading later in the future.

 

[f4phantom2500]

what you could do is look for a cheap s754 cpu/mobo combo with an agp mobo, that way you could reuse your vid card and ram, and overclock that processor. you could probably get an a64 3400 with an nf3 board for under $100.

 

[bigpow]

set your game resolution to a lower resolution like 1024x768, and tell the NVIDIA driver to do monitor scaling.

It won't look as crisp as native resolution, but just consider that another level of anti-aliasing

 

[betasub]

Originally posted by: bigpow
set your game resolution to a lower resolution like 1024x768, and tell the NVIDIA driver to do monitor scaling.

It won't look as crisp as native resolution, but just consider that another level of anti-aliasing

LOL! Anti-aliasing for free... or just blurry images, YMMV

 

[s44]

I would suggest doing the PSU upgrade now, and then the video card switch. You'll need a new PSU on your next build anyway, and getting it now won't hurt.

 

[bob4432]

personally i would wait. moving up the res w/ a new gpu will probably mean you need more ram, so this build is going to get expensive fast, especially when you can get 2GB of ddr2 for ~$110 or so

swap over to a budget c2 - 4300/4400, 2GB ddr2 667, pci-e x1950xt and you will be good to go

 

[ch33zw1z]

Originally posted by: clandren

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Your upgrade options are very limited, I would just suck it up until you can completely rebuild.

thats what i'd do as well.

:thumbsup:

 

[natto fire]

I was in this same situation, except that I had a slower processor (Barton 2500). I decided to wait until I could go with PCI-e, and have not regretted it. The performance to price ratio for PCIe is already so much better than AGP and gets more so every day. I am kind of regretting not going to DDR2, but this system will have to last me for a good 4 years, like my last one did, and I already have 2GB of RAM, which I think will last me for a while. I do not need to crank settings up, though, and only game at 1280x1024.

 

[Cogman]

Though upgrading the video card may be cheep, you might be kicking yourself for getting another AGP card. I would seriously consider getting a cheep motherboard that supports PCI Express and a cheap CPU (Conroe L is due out soon). RAM is about as cheap as it will get (I just got 2 GB for $114 DDR2 800 YEAH!!). If you go for a slightly slower system that has more upgradability you wont be sorry.