New Processor or Radeon 9600 Pro

[tnguyen88]

My system specs are in my profile. So the question is... should I upgrade my processor or to a Radeon 9600 Pro. Basically I want to know if my processor would become the bottleneck if I were to upgrade to the 9600.

Thanks

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

The video card will give you more performance in games even with AA and AF making gaming even more fun but a cpu will give a larger speed overall, that is IF you do things other than games for the most part. Many people just use their computer for games, and that is fine, but for them a video card will do better. Also, go with a 9500 Pro if you can find one or a 9700 non pro which sells for about $200, both will give better performance.

 

[Vadatajs]

I would say the 9600, or even better would be a 9500 pro if you can find one (prolly not too hard), they're faster.

 

[tallman45]

I am not so sure that a 9600 would outperform a Ti4200. You may very likely get much more bang for your buck by doing a CPU upgrade and if there is money left add some more ram.

 

[Rotax]

I got a 9700 pro otw for my rig (see sig). Although all I do now is play EQ, so a vcard is most likley a better way to go for me atm. Few months a new proc / mobo / 1gb of memory will be going in it.. So, yeah depends on what you do most..hardcore gamer, prob better off w/ a vcard, imo.

 

[tnguyen88]

At the moment I run games at 1280x1024 resolution since I have an 18in LCD. Most games will run fine at that resolution, with no AA and AF. I'd like to be able to turn some of those up. I'm considering the 9600 pro since, after overclocking, it seems to perform better than the 9500 pro. I'd like to keep the price of the video card around 150ish. I can't really convince myself to spend more than that... god knows I want to though

 

[pelikan]

Going from a Ti4200 to a 9600 pro is not that big of a jump. I think it would be a waste. If you get a video card, go for at least a 9700 non pro. If you don't want to spend more than $150. just wait until a better card comes down enough in price. My .02

 

[Corporate Thug]

niether is gonna really gove u a huge performance increase, i would get the 9600 pro if i had to choose between the two

 

[bluemax]

This may come as a shock to those people who know me as an ATI supporter...
But that card is just fine. You'd probably see more difference from a CPU upgrade unless you plan on using AA/AF a lot.
If you're itching to spend money on something, how about quiet fans and a Zalman heat-pipe for that TI4200?

Don't bother upgrading your TI4200 unless it's AT LEAST to a Radeon 9700 or better.

 

[squidman]

9600 Pro = 4200. Need i say more?
If so then here: 9600 Pro < 9500 Pro < 9700 < 9700 Pro <9800 Pro.
I would wait i were u. Going from gf 4200 to ANYTHING right now (budget-wise, of course) is not that big of a leap. I wouldnt buy new cpu, either. They become cheaper day-after day. Wait 'nother year, get a new mobo, new CPU, and new VGA. I would overclock THE HELL out of that 4200 of yours! People easily score 14k + in 3dmark with your config.
Please, have patience (im not even talking about plain reason), and wait. In a year, ud get a 3000+, whatever-new-mobo-is-planned-to-come-out, and a 9700 pro for 300 bux.
I wouldnt even THINK about upgrading if i had pc like yours. I only upgraded, cuz my PIII (other PC in "my pc" link) and steam-powered GF2 GTS didnt cut it.

 

[optimistic]

You'd see faster load times, and smoother gameplay with an upgrade in the ram department. Lest say another 512MB PC2700?

 

[Schadenfroh]

your bottleneck is the CPU, 4200 is still a very very powerfull card. get a new cpu.

 

[Compddd]

Powerful, lol

 

[tnguyen88]

Thanks for the input guys. Yeah, part of what sparked my interest was an itch to buy something. The reasonable side of me is telling me to just wait till Doom 3 comes out to get a new video card. My video card already has a decent overclock, but... since it's in that tiny little XPC case, the airflow isn't too great. I kinda suspected that I wouldn't notice a huge jump unless I went for a 9700 Pro or above.

 

[gf4200isdabest]

A 9600 will barely be an improvement over the 4200 especially if you're running it at 4400+ speeds. I'd say you need to wait before upgrading either...

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: squidman
9600 Pro = 4200. Need i say more?
If so then here: 9600 Pro < 9500 Pro < 9700 < 9700 Pro <9800 Pro.
I would wait i were u. Going from gf 4200 to ANYTHING right now (budget-wise, of course) is not that big of a leap. I wouldnt buy new cpu, either. They become cheaper day-after day. Wait 'nother year, get a new mobo, new CPU, and new VGA. I would overclock THE HELL out of that 4200 of yours! People easily score 14k + in 3dmark with your config.
Please, have patience (im not even talking about plain reason), and wait. In a year, ud get a 3000+, whatever-new-mobo-is-planned-to-come-out, and a 9700 pro for 300 bux.
I wouldnt even THINK about upgrading if i had pc like yours. I only upgraded, cuz my PIII (other PC in "my pc" link) and steam-powered GF2 GTS didnt cut it.

i'm not so sure if 9600 pro is below 9500 pro, i have a 9600 pro and a 9700 pro. the 9600 pro is oced to 520/370 and performance is quite close to the 9700 pro

 

[Deuce24]

9700-np = best deal of them all in my opinion. $200 is a superb price, especially if you get an overclockable one that can be flashed to the 9700-pro bios and specs. Still haven't tried on mine yet, I'm keeping the warranty on the card till I actually NEED the increase in performance.

 

[randumb]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: squidman
9600 Pro = 4200. Need i say more?
If so then here: 9600 Pro < 9500 Pro < 9700 < 9700 Pro <9800 Pro.
I would wait i were u. Going from gf 4200 to ANYTHING right now (budget-wise, of course) is not that big of a leap. I wouldnt buy new cpu, either. They become cheaper day-after day. Wait 'nother year, get a new mobo, new CPU, and new VGA. I would overclock THE HELL out of that 4200 of yours! People easily score 14k + in 3dmark with your config.
Please, have patience (im not even talking about plain reason), and wait. In a year, ud get a 3000+, whatever-new-mobo-is-planned-to-come-out, and a 9700 pro for 300 bux.
I wouldnt even THINK about upgrading if i had pc like yours. I only upgraded, cuz my PIII (other PC in "my pc" link) and steam-powered GF2 GTS didnt cut it.

i'm not so sure if 9600 pro is below 9500 pro, i have a 9600 pro and a 9700 pro. the 9600 pro is oced to 520/370 and performance is quite close to the 9700 pro

In Anandtech's article on the 9600 Pro, they show that the 9500 Pro is in fact better.

 

[bgeh]

i'll go for the graphics card department. the t-bred b can still go higher

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: randumb

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: squidman
9600 Pro = 4200. Need i say more?
If so then here: 9600 Pro < 9500 Pro < 9700 < 9700 Pro <9800 Pro.
I would wait i were u. Going from gf 4200 to ANYTHING right now (budget-wise, of course) is not that big of a leap. I wouldnt buy new cpu, either. They become cheaper day-after day. Wait 'nother year, get a new mobo, new CPU, and new VGA. I would overclock THE HELL out of that 4200 of yours! People easily score 14k + in 3dmark with your config.
Please, have patience (im not even talking about plain reason), and wait. In a year, ud get a 3000+, whatever-new-mobo-is-planned-to-come-out, and a 9700 pro for 300 bux.
I wouldnt even THINK about upgrading if i had pc like yours. I only upgraded, cuz my PIII (other PC in "my pc" link) and steam-powered GF2 GTS didnt cut it.

i'm not so sure if 9600 pro is below 9500 pro, i have a 9600 pro and a 9700 pro. the 9600 pro is oced to 520/370 and performance is quite close to the 9700 pro

the strength of the 9600pro is it's overclockabilty
In Anandtech's article on the 9600 Pro, they show that the 9500 Pro is in fact better.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: randumb

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: squidman
9600 Pro = 4200. Need i say more?
If so then here: 9600 Pro < 9500 Pro < 9700 < 9700 Pro <9800 Pro.
I would wait i were u. Going from gf 4200 to ANYTHING right now (budget-wise, of course) is not that big of a leap. I wouldnt buy new cpu, either. They become cheaper day-after day. Wait 'nother year, get a new mobo, new CPU, and new VGA. I would overclock THE HELL out of that 4200 of yours! People easily score 14k + in 3dmark with your config.
Please, have patience (im not even talking about plain reason), and wait. In a year, ud get a 3000+, whatever-new-mobo-is-planned-to-come-out, and a 9700 pro for 300 bux.
I wouldnt even THINK about upgrading if i had pc like yours. I only upgraded, cuz my PIII (other PC in "my pc" link) and steam-powered GF2 GTS didnt cut it.

i'm not so sure if 9600 pro is below 9500 pro, i have a 9600 pro and a 9700 pro. the 9600 pro is oced to 520/370 and performance is quite close to the 9700 pro

the strength of the 9600pro is its overclockablity

the strength of the 9600pro is it's overclockabilty
In Anandtech's article on the 9600 Pro, they show that the 9500 Pro is in fact better.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: randumb

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: squidman
9600 Pro = 4200. Need i say more?
If so then here: 9600 Pro < 9500 Pro < 9700 < 9700 Pro <9800 Pro.
I would wait i were u. Going from gf 4200 to ANYTHING right now (budget-wise, of course) is not that big of a leap. I wouldnt buy new cpu, either. They become cheaper day-after day. Wait 'nother year, get a new mobo, new CPU, and new VGA. I would overclock THE HELL out of that 4200 of yours! People easily score 14k + in 3dmark with your config.
Please, have patience (im not even talking about plain reason), and wait. In a year, ud get a 3000+, whatever-new-mobo-is-planned-to-come-out, and a 9700 pro for 300 bux.
I wouldnt even THINK about upgrading if i had pc like yours. I only upgraded, cuz my PIII (other PC in "my pc" link) and steam-powered GF2 GTS didnt cut it.

i'm not so sure if 9600 pro is below 9500 pro, i have a 9600 pro and a 9700 pro. the 9600 pro is oced to 520/370 and performance is quite close to the 9700 pro

the strength of the 9600pro is its overclockablity

the strength of the 9600pro is it's overclockabilty
In Anandtech's article on the 9600 Pro, they show that the 9500 Pro is in fact better.

the strength of the 9600pro is it's overclockabilty

 

[tnguyen88]

Originally posted by: bgeh
i'll go for the graphics card department. the t-bred b can still go higher

Yeah, from what I hear they can. unfortunately, the overclocking abilities of the motherboard in the SN41G2 XPC are a little limited (no voltage/multiplier adjustments). Hopefully the motherboard from the new Nforce 2 based system will be available for me to upgrade to. Ahhh the price we pay for style

 

[pelikan]

Hey, there's where to upgrade. Get an nforce2 mb.

 

[tnguyen88]

The Shuttle sn41G2 is a Nforce 2 based motherboard.