ok i got a choice will it even help? CPU CHOICES

[BmXStuD]

OK i play games and thats about it. What does cache memory do i got a duron and as you know it only has 128k? right. So if i orderd a athlon xp 1600 or even 1700 or 1800 would this help. i May get a 1600. Oh ya i gonna get a xp 1800 there cheap @ pricewatch. So should i just keep this duron and o'c it to bout 1.4 and be happy or get the 1800 b/c cache matters?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Picking up a ATI RADEON 8500LE 64MB DDR CRT/DVI/TV from Newegg for 72$ shipped would do more for your games in that price range than the 1800+ would

 

[BmXStuD]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Picking up a ATI RADEON 8500LE 64MB DDR CRT/DVI/TV from Newegg for 72$ shipped would do more for your games in that price range than the 1800+ would

so your sayigj jus get a new video card? My cpu and setup is cool already?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Well, what I'm saying is that G4MX 440 you had in your sig earlier is a DX7 card and the 8500LE is much faster with DX8.X support and buying it vs a 1800+ is the better performance move for your gaming in that price range. If you can do both then thing are even sweeter of course but I get the impression from your sig about the summer job that it's tight student's budget and it's 1 or the other, at that point the vid card upgrade is the better move for gaming.

 

[Soulkeeper]

upgrading from a GF4 (even if it is an MX) to a radeon 8500 le is not gonna make enough if any difference in gaming performance to make it worth it. DX8 support may make his 3dsmark scores higher but that's really all I can see it doing

the 1700+ athlons are 52 dollars at most places if you want a cheap upgrade
yes the extra cache can really help in some situations
if you plan on overclocking you would get a lot out of a 1700+

also I noticed you have a 300watt psu that is really cutting it close you might not get very far overclocking
you should expect to upgrade that in the future but it should run a lowend athlon xp for now

 

[BmXStuD]

alright cool so is the gf4 ti4200 something like the radeon 8500le i have to search 2marrow but if ucant post something bout it, that be cool.

 

[Soulkeeper]

a gf4 ti4200 performs better than a radeon 8500

it breaks down like this in most cases:

radeon 8500 = Geforce3 ti500
radeon 8500 le slightly less

Geforce4 MX = Geforce2 ultra

Geforce4 Ti4200 better than all those but not enough to really warrant spending all the money on it if you already have one of these other ones

 

[Soulkeeper]

what games do you play ??

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
upgrading from a GF4 (even if it is an MX) to a radeon 8500 le is not gonna make enough if any difference in gaming performance to make it worth it. DX8 support may make his 3dsmark scores higher but that's really all I can see it doing

the 1700+ athlons are 52 dollars at most places if you want a cheap upgrade
yes the extra cache can really help in some situations
if you plan on overclocking you would get a lot out of a 1700+

also I noticed you have a 300watt psu that is really cutting it close you might not get very far overclocking
you should expect to upgrade that in the future but it should run a lowend athlon xp for now

I'm no gamer so bear with me brudda but once you start playing@resolutions of 1024x768 or higher the CPU isn't carrying the load anymore and the GPU starts to. That being the case if he's playing@less than that resolution maybe there would be a few frames to be had from a 1800+ but otherwise I'd say your dead wrong about that.

 

[Soulkeeper]

depends what games he's playing
but i don't think a radeon 8500 is any kinda upgrade from a Geforce 4
good point about the resolutions tho

what resolutions do you play at BmXStuDer ?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

BTW I yanked this from the PCstats review of the 440mx

if you're contemplating purchasing a new videocard, I would have to suggest that you stay away from older generation cards which are not at least DirectX 8 compliant. There are just too many games coming out that take advantage of vertex and pixel shaders which is something all GeForce4 MX's don't have.

Now your question about what games he's playing becomes very relevant due to this and if they're older games then fine, due the 1800+ but for any newer games the 8500LE will due more than just help benchmarks

 

[DAPUNISHER]

LMAO! He had G4MX440 SE daytona in his sig earlier now he has G4 family

Kids a mess 'nuff said?

 

[Soulkeeper]

hahaha yeah

 

[BmXStuD]

duh thought i upgrade my sig had old info in iti heh i dont have 256mb ram ! anymore so blah. TEENS ROCKS. Also lets edit the cpu. Nor do i have windows 2000 so i changed that.

 

[BmXStuD]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
what games do you play ??

quake3 and HALF LIFE TFC and some ut2k3 demo (which ut2k3 runs smooth w/ my radeon 7200 on this pc)
I play 800x600 re b/c when i do 1024x it get laggy and my fps drop below 70 and this in quake3 lol. I can say my radeon 7200 sdram 64mb was faster than this. ;-)

*also go to the sig link to see my realz stuff but this is realz below just TWEAKED ;-))

 

[Soulkeeper]

hmmm odd

those are all dx7 games except ut2k3 which will run fine on a GF2 level graphics card at those resolutions

how often do you upgrade ?

well it's up to you what you wanna do, i'd upgrade the processor for your particular situation not only higher clock speed but more cache and higher fsb

 

[BmXStuD]

im broke. so i rarly upgrade. Whats the next card under radeon 8500le?
Also if its 7500 is it any good? 128mb version is only $68 (2much) reg 7500 is 47 just right

SLEEP I CHECK BACK @ schoolz 2marrow!

 

[Soulkeeper]

a radeon 7500 performs like a Geforce2 which would basically be like what you have now
I have one in my laptop