My Upgrade Thread

[stampede96]

I'm hoping you guys could dispense some advice. I research parts and upgrade options and the like about 2 hours each day, and it's driving me nuts. I have an XP 2500 with 1.5GB of PC3200 Kingston DDR (running at 333FSB at CL 2.5). My current video card is a 9600 Pro, and it could use a little more horsepower (though I love it because it is fanless).

I would love a Conroe but I don't want to buy at launch so as to allow time to find out what boards and RAM work well and such. If I don't do a major upgrade this year I'll buy a E6400 next year.

I have a few options, but they require a few questions...

If I got a 6800GT (AGP) to go with my current system, would I be able to run UT2007 and Quake Wars at 1280 with medium settings, no AA/AF? I know that is speculation, but I don't play too many games, and those are the two I am looking forward to...everything else I want to play I think would run fine on that (Blood Money, Titan Quest, Guild Wars)

The other question I have is can I run my 1.5GB (3x512MB) in a 939 board? Everywhere I read makes it sound like it's a bad idea. Will it even run? And how much of a performance hit will I take not going dual-channel? I'd be willing to buy another 512MB and make it 4x512MB, but then I heard timings fall (not sure of the impact of that).

Oh, and just to throw it out there...a guy at Best Buy told me that Nvidia has better dual-monitor features than ATI. Is this true? (no flame wars please, just experiences)


Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[unfalliblekrutch]

Yes, you can run 3 sticks of ram in with a s939 cpu. a 6800gt will be a decent GPU, and could possibly run those games at the settings you want. I can't predict the future though...why ask about an unreleased game?

Concerning the dual monitors: It should be about the same between both brands. ATI has more features, in fact, than nVidia as far as dual monitor is concerned with their theater mode features.

 

[jlbenedict]

Honestly, I wouldn't do any upgrading to your current rig.
Wait until you have the funds to do the complete overhaul.

As a gaming platform:
Socket A is dead
AGP is nearing death
Socket 939 will eventually be gone, along with DDR (less demand, high prices)



You could run those three 512mb dimms in a socket 939 board, but I'm sure it would run in single channel mode, which is nice little performance drop. You could get another stick, and then run in dual channel mode, but on AMD platforms, as you've mentioned, the timings will be effected as a result.


What kind of budget do you have? Or do you plan to have?
I mean.. you could invest in an AGP solution, if you truely needed the extra horsepower until your new build, but I would seriously just hold off with what you have, and keep those potential funds for the future build.

 

[stampede96]

Quick responses! (class isn't even over yet!) As for a budget, no more than 900 (how much I could build a E6300 system for when they are released) but as little as possible preferred until I graduate grad school next year.

To unfalliblekrutch, I ask about unreleased games to see if an upgrade I make now like a 6800GT could possibly work well in a few months in addition to just today. I know no one really has the information, but some games I would like to play need that upgrade. It would be nice if it could work for games I would like to play later.

jbenedict, I don't really need the horsepower. Halo and UT2004 run well enough, and I should be doing other things besides gaming. When those timings drop, what kind of performance difference does that make? Like 5%? I suppose I should define what I mean by timings first. I've heard some boards would run them at DDR333, but then I've heard some can handle it at full DDR400 with 4 sticks. But I've also heard of RAM dropping to 1T (I think instead of 2T)? I'm more curious what that means.

I'm thinking I could wait til the anticipated 939 price drop, pick up a mobo, X2, PCIe card, and an extra 512MB ram to give me a X2 3800, 2GB RAM, and a 7600GT (maybe 7900GT). Would that be foolish? Should I just build a new system?

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: stampede96
Quick responses! (class isn't even over yet!) As for a budget, no more than 900 (how much I could build a E6300 system for when they are released) but as little as possible preferred until I graduate grad school next year.

To unfalliblekrutch, I ask about unreleased games to see if an upgrade I make now like a 6800GT could possibly work well in a few months in addition to just today. I know no one really has the information, but some games I would like to play need that upgrade. It would be nice if it could work for games I would like to play later.

jbenedict, I don't really need the horsepower. Halo and UT2004 run well enough, and I should be doing other things besides gaming. When those timings drop, what kind of performance difference does that make? Like 5%? I suppose I should define what I mean by timings first. I've heard some boards would run them at DDR333, but then I've heard some can handle it at full DDR400 with 4 sticks. But I've also heard of RAM dropping to 1T (I think instead of 2T)? I'm more curious what that means.

I'm thinking I could wait til the anticipated 939 price drop, pick up a mobo, X2, PCIe card, and an extra 512MB ram to give me a X2 3800, 2GB RAM, and a 7600GT (maybe 7900GT). Would that be foolish? Should I just build a new system?

When I previously had my AMD system, I ran 4 sticks of PC3200. My timings dropped to 2T from the 1T that is usually set to when running two sticks. Honestly, I had nothing to compare the performance to since I rarely perform any benchmark testing.

$900 could get you alot of computer nowdays. Do you already have a monitor and speakers, soundcard, etc??

 

[stampede96]

Yes. I have two 17" LCDs and speakers. If I built a new computer, my socket A wouldn't need a monitor or anything, as it would sit in a closet til I found a use for it. I also have a SB Live! 5.1 sitting in a tower in my closet. For $900 I can get something like https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wi...r=3794803&WishListTitle=ThrasherReborn">this</a>. Granted adjust the motherboard for a Conroe compatible one and a E6300 to hold the 930's place (about the same price point). Honestly, the 7900GT is overkill for me, and I would probably get a 7600GT instead. The truth is I don't really play games all that regularly anyways. The only thing worthwhile about a new setup would be dual-core so I could run a VM while using Skype to video conference. It would be cheaper to just find an alternative to Skype. In addition, I'd rather not be building a new computer with loans and would like to wait til I got a job next year.

I happened to notice ATI was selling a X800XL with a year warranty for $113 shipped, so I picked one up about two hours ago. I'll see how long I can ride this out, and then go build a Conroe when reviews and the like are complete, and when I have the money and/or absolute need.

Besides, no point in building a new system to play games that aren't even out yet. It seems like we could be waiting a while (possibly 2007) for UT 2007 to be released, and by then who knows what will be the standard. 🙂

Thanks for the help.

 

[Aluvus]

To the subtitle: Very dead (at least in terms of upgrades; you're at the practical end of that rope), and yes.

You can run your 3 sticks on a Socket 939 motherboard, and in most cases be fine. You will lose dual channel, yes, but that is not a dramatic performance hit for an Athlon 64. It's probably not in your best interest to buy another stick of memory on top of that, as this generally means dropping down the command rate (from 1T to 2T; T refers to "time period", 2T means it takes 2 time periods instead of 1).

As to multi-monitor stuff: with older drives and software, 100% absolutely. ATI's Hydravision was utterly terrible for some time. I haven't had occasion to use it recently, so I don't know what it's like these days.