need help upgrading?

[unarmdragon]

i was wondering what should i do to be able to play doom 3, hl2, and those newer games at acceptable fps.

this is what i'm using right now:
Antec SLK1650B 350W
msi k7n2 delta 2
athlon xp2100+
3 x 256mb pc2700
geforce mx440 128mb (need to upgrade)

will only upgrading to a radeon 9700 pro or 9800 pro help or do i have to get something else too? i don't want to spend over $150, so is it even possible? can i overclock my cpu? i don't know anything about overclocking either.

thanks

 

[xsilver]

a graphics hard will help immeasurably... a 9700 or 9800 will do nicely... you'll get about 30-40 frames on medium settings
overclocking may help as I think you mobo supports it but not sure of what generation your cpu is.... if its the thouroughbred, you may be able to hit 2400+ speeds or so
to do this you have to increase the fsb setting in the bios.... you may have to reduce the memory speed though if your ram doesn't like being overclocked

if you dont want to mess with the overclocking, its not really nessesary as it will give you a max improvment of about 3 frames on your setup

 

[unarmdragon]

so if i were to get 3 sticks of 512mb pc3200 then will i be able to get a better improvement correct? also how do i find out if mine is thouroughbred? sorry for so many questions. thanks

 

[SlitheryDee]

CPUZ can tell you what core you have. You can get it at www.cpuid.com. I would suggest no more than 1gb of memory. Use the cash for that extra stick to get tighter timings. If you're question is whether you'll get more improvement from a new video card or from more (better, faster) RAM, then I definitely say go with the new video card, cuz while memory does affect gaming performance it's not as evident as the boost you'll get from a new GPU.

 

[unarmdragon]

useful program, thanks. my cpu is a thouroughbred. so if i get 2 sticks of 512mb pc3200 or pc2700 will i be able to overclock my cpu to 2400+ speed? i'm going to get a 9700 pro also. so i think this should be good enough to play games right? if someone think i'm just wasting money doing this then let me know.

thanks

 

[xsilver]

you'll be wasting money on the ram.... just use a divider if you want to overclock..... look in the overclocking thread to see more tips on memory while overclocking.... too tired to type

you should be able to hit 2400+ speeds on your cpu (2.0ghz) try changing the fsb to 140-150mhz depending on stability and temperature.... if it hangs the reduce the memory speed to isolate the problem

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: unarmdragon
useful program, thanks. my cpu is a thouroughbred. so if i get 2 sticks of 512mb pc3200 or pc2700 will i be able to overclock my cpu to 2400+ speed? i'm going to get a 9700 pro also. so i think this should be good enough to play games right? if someone think i'm just wasting money doing this then let me know.

thanks

No guaratees on the overclock, it varies from cpu to cpu. Quality pc3200 memory is a good investment because you can still use it when you eventually decide to upgrade your CPU/MB. Also, it would be good to make sure you can run your memory at the same speed as your FSB (front side bus) for the best performance. Since your planning to overclock you may have to increase you're FSB to reach the peak stable clock speed that your system is capable of, PC3200 gives you a little headroom in that department. As for your GPU, the 9700pro is a good card, but it's getting a bit dated. Look into the geforce 6 series entry level offerings.

 

[imported_whatever]

Originally posted by: xsilver
you'll be wasting money on the ram.... just use a divider if you want to overclock..... look in the overclocking thread to see more tips on memory while overclocking.... too tired to type

you should be able to hit 2400+ speeds on your cpu (2.0ghz) try changing the fsb to 140-150mhz depending on stability and temperature.... if it hangs the reduce the memory speed to isolate the problem

WRONG
the Athlon XP generally does VERY BADLY with a divider. However, you already have PC2700 RAM and (I think) your FSB is only 133MHz, so you should have a bit of headroom with the RAM.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: whatever

Originally posted by: xsilver
you'll be wasting money on the ram.... just use a divider if you want to overclock..... look in the overclocking thread to see more tips on memory while overclocking.... too tired to type

you should be able to hit 2400+ speeds on your cpu (2.0ghz) try changing the fsb to 140-150mhz depending on stability and temperature.... if it hangs the reduce the memory speed to isolate the problem

WRONG
the Athlon XP generally does VERY BADLY with a divider. However, you already have PC2700 RAM and (I think) your FSB is only 133MHz, so you should have a bit of headroom with the RAM.

PC2700 = 166mhz

I agree about the divider. Definitely want to run your memory 1:1 with FSB.

 

[xsilver]

my recommendation was not to buy more ram....
even if his overclock was sucessful enough such that his ram couldn't hack it anymore....
I know its not best to use the divider but its better than spending $100 for some more ram which would give him little improvment.... the OP already has 768mb, which is enough

 

[andy nowotny]

of course you should upgrade

at least change your MX440, and get a 9800pro or 6600gt

 

[unarmdragon]

i acutally don't have pc2700. its only pc2100. i just tried overclocking right now by raising the mulitipler to 16 and i'm able to hit 2600+ (2.13ghz). i hit 2800+ but windows won't load so i think 2600+ is max.

so when i ran cpuz this is what it shows

core speed 2133mhz
multiplier x16
fsb 133.3mhz
bus speed 266.6mhz

like i said i'm new to this, so is this normal? i probably have to buy more ram since its only pc2100 nto pc2700.

thanks for all your help so far.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: xsilver
my recommendation was not to buy more ram....
even if his overclock was sucessful enough such that his ram couldn't hack it anymore....
I know its not best to use the divider but its better than spending $100 for some more ram which would give him little improvment.... the OP already has 768mb, which is enough

Agreed, If you're going to stick with your current system for a while. Upgrade your video card first, memory second.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: unarmdragon
i acutally don't have pc2700. its only pc2100. i just tried overclocking right now by raising the mulitipler to 16 and i'm able to hit 2600+ (2.13ghz). i hit 2800+ but windows won't load so i think 2600+ is max.

so when i ran cpuz this is what it shows

core speed 2133mhz
multiplier x16
fsb 133.3mhz
bus speed 266.6mhz

like i said i'm new to this, so is this normal? i probably have to buy more ram since its only pc2100 nto pc2700.

thanks for all your help so far.

That's not a bad overclock on air cooling with a thoroughbred. You might be able to squeeze some more out of it. There are overclocking guides all over the internet. It's always good to do lots of research before you try anything too ambitious. Pay careful attention to your cpu temperature. Motherboard Monitor is a program that's good for that, otherwise you can check it in your motherboard bios. You can run programs like memtest86 and prime95 to really stress your individual components and reveal any instabilities that could be related to overclocking. Read up and don't get too crazy with voltages and you should do fine.

 

[Conky]

Definitely need a new videocard before any other upgrade.

 

[xsilver]

Originally posted by: unarmdragon
i acutally don't have pc2700. its only pc2100. i just tried overclocking right now by raising the mulitipler to 16 and i'm able to hit 2600+ (2.13ghz). i hit 2800+ but windows won't load so i think 2600+ is max.

so when i ran cpuz this is what it shows

core speed 2133mhz
multiplier x16
fsb 133.3mhz
bus speed 266.6mhz

like i said i'm new to this, so is this normal? i probably have to buy more ram since its only pc2100 nto pc2700.

thanks for all your help so far.

hey if you can get that speed stable.... that's very good.... that's probably the limit of the thoroughbred core anyways... the newer barton core can go higher but your core tops out at around 2200mhz
didn't know your cpu was multiplier unlocked.. maybe you did the pencil trick ?

what you already did is great; just keep an eye on the temps
oh and you REALLY do not have to buy more ram.... save your money for when you change your whole mobo/cpu...

 

[stevty2889]

Thats a pretty decent overclock you got. As for your upgrade, definatly need to get a better video card before upgrading anything else, since you are doing it for playing games. If you upgraded anything else and kept the video card, you wouldn't get much of an improvement..

 

[unarmdragon]

don't know what the pencil trick is, but i just read the overclocking guide on this forum and went to bios to raise the mulitplier. and my temperature is around 44-48 C. thanks everyone for helping a newbie out.