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Maximizing performance out of a dying AGP system

minmaster

minmaster

Platinum Member
okay, i am trying to squeeze the last bit of performance out of my AGP system which I plan to replace later this year. last week, i got a X1950 PRO XGE to replace a broken down X800 GTO and i was rather disappointed by the minimal performance gains on games. upon testing several games and trying resolutions as high as 1920x1200, realized that the performance is same at high resolutions as low and my video card is being held back by a system bottleneck.

this PC started as an prescott 2.8/533/1MB dell dimension 4600 about 4 years ago. i later upgraded the CPU to a northwood 3.2/800/512k after hearing northwood runs cooler and is better with games despite half the cache. i upgraded to 2GB of 800mhz memory, added a SB X-Fi Xtreme Gamer card, and upgraded the PSU to accommodate the video card upgrades.

my game of choice is Battlefield 2142, and I have never been able to achieve satisfactory performance with my system. the X800 GTO struggled with the game in crowded servers and when i replaced this card with the X1950 PRO, i noticed i was getting almost the same performance in terms of fps on the same settings. lowering and raising resolutions gave me almost the same fps, as well as lowering other video options. i have noticed the same thing on call of duty 4.

so what can i do with this system to make it utilize the new video card better? how can i alleviate the bottleneck? i believe there isn't much better i can do with the CPU on this 478 socket system, and wouldn't be worth the money. would raising the memory to 3GB help? or am i pretty much maxed out on this system and move on? i am starting to think any more money spent on this system would not be worth it, but if anyone has any advice i would appreciate it. thanks in advance.
 
thanks, but i can't overclock it. it's a dell mobo. i thought about replacing the mobo so i can overclock parts, but that means i also have to buy a copy of Windows XP, which decided was not worth it.
 
yeah you're right, but i'm also wondering if there is anything i can do with what i already have to get more out of it.
 
huh? its 2x 400 = 800. i had to throw out another memory i previously had because it was only 2x 266 = 533.
 
Another option is a new motherboard which supports the c2d processors with an agp slot, which lets you run your agp card with the better cpus, but with this method ur agp card will be the bottleneck, but you'll notice big performance increase.

This is what i did when i upgraded, i'm using q6600 with radeon 1950pro agp, and its pretty impressive.
 
not sure such a beast exists.
i just know any agp boards are pretty old by now. old chipsets and all that, and unlikely to be discounted enough to be worth it.
 
interesting, i forgot about those. but thats pci-e 4x, not 16x. its worthless.

well its still a poor deal, its an old under performing chipset, even for its time. its a 2004 speed board. at that price its not worth it as i said.
 
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
interesting, i forgot about those. but thats pci-e 4x, not 16x. its worthless..
Click to expand...

Umm, who cares what the PCI-E bus runs at? He'd be buying it to use with a new CPU, and his new AGP video card, and the AGP bus on that board is 8x.
 
Originally posted by: minmaster
yeah you're right, but i'm also wondering if there is anything i can do with what i already have to get more out of it.
Click to expand...

Maybe turn it into a home server/NAS? I feel your pain, got a 9800 XT so I am buying old games that I never played while I save money for a new shyshtem.

You can defrag a few times and set up your virtual memory to be optimal.

You should make sure that only the minimal set of processes are run at startup in run>msconfig>startup tab
I think I have about 16 processes in TaskManager, incl PunkbusterA


Check : http://www.tweakguides.com/


 
Originally posted by: myocardia
Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
interesting, i forgot about those. but thats pci-e 4x, not 16x. its worthless..
Click to expand...

Umm, who cares what the PCI-E bus runs at? He'd be buying it to use with a new CPU, and his new AGP video card, and the AGP bus on that board is 8x.
Click to expand...

err..the main reason to care about any pci-e compatibility when upgrading an old system is the potential to add a new video card soon to match the new cpu!!!!
buy that board and you'll just have to buy another!
 
it's not a big deal with the card. i got a good deal on it from a fellow board member here and i plan on selling it in few months when i replace my system.
 
could CPU not be the bottleneck here? i ran the game (BF2142) with a CPU meter on and was rather surprised that the CPU wasn't being taxed 80-99% during gameplay as I expected. or does that not matter?
 
Get this:
Originally posted by: Roguestar
e2180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116052 $70
9600gt http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814500038 $120AR
2GB Mushkin DDR2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146773 $38
Gigabyte P35 DS3L http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128059 $90

___
$318
Click to expand...




Originally posted by: Blain
You should have opted for the X1950 XT. You got what you paid for in the "Pro" version. 😛
Click to expand...

I love my X1950XT :heart:

 
Originally posted by: Roguestar
Get this:
Originally posted by: Roguestar
e2180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116052 $70
9600gt http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814500038 $120AR
2GB Mushkin DDR2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820146773 $38
Gigabyte P35 DS3L http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128059 $90

___
$318
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

QFT, a new system will be 10x better than trying to invest any $$ into a dead platform.
 
yeah, i am going to get a new system later this year. not sure yet whether i'll build one or jump on one of the good deals from dell. this crappy system will have to do till then. thanks.
 
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