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Opinions wanted on upgrade choices

B

BitHead0023

Junior Member
I'm looking to upgrade my system for somewhere in the neighborhood of $200-$300. My current setup is as follows:

AMD Athlon XP 2500+
Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro Motherboard (onboard sound)
2x512MB Kingston Hyper-X DDR PC-3500 Ram
ATI 9800Pro Video Card
Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
Antec Black Performance Series II Tower ATX Case w' 400W Power Supply
etc...

It seems like the best upgrades I could make for under $300 would be either one of the new Western Digital 10k SATA Raptor drives, or a new CPU/Motherboard. I would normally go for the new CPU/Mobo (looking at a GA-K8N Ultra-9 or a GA-K8NF-9, paired with an Athlon 64 3000+ or 3200+ 90ns), but that would require me to upgrade my video card as well. Considering the next decent upgrade over my 9800Pro seems to be a X800Pro or 6800GT, that's going to nearly double the cash I wanted to spend. Scrapping that idea, I still have the option of getting the same CPU with a GA-K8NS-939 or GA-K8NS Ultra-939, and playing the waiting game until prices on video card upgrades come down a bit more. I'd already have the CPU, so could just buy a new PCI-E mobo & card at that time (keeping the old board to upgrade my secondary PC later).

Basically I'm trying to figure out which will be a more significant upgrade for the bucks. I've heard good things about the speed of the raptors, and I wouldn't be surprised if my current drive is one of the things limiting my system's speed. My CPU/Mobo is the other likely candidate for a bottleneck, and I like the idea of moving to an Athlon 64, but I'm not really as impressed with the AGP 939 boards as with the PCI-E ones. Any thoughts?

Incidentally, the PC is used mainly for games, particularly World of Warcraft, Star Wars Battlefront, Doom3, Call of Duty, Counterstrike, etc.
 
Raptors are nice, but nothing compared to a new mobo/CPU. Clearly a new mobo/CPU is the best choice in bang for the buck.
 
I agree Rike, a raptor might improve game or OS(if on raptor) load times a bit, but overall system performance would greatly increase with a new CPU/Mobo
 
Thanks for the replies. I was leaning that way already myself, but I was hoping to get a PCI-E board like the GA-K8NF-9 ($87 for a refurb one on Newegg). If I could find a PCI-E card in the neighborhood of $100-$150, I could upgrade all three for under $400, but I don't want to get something that's going to be a drop in video performance from my 9800Pro (not a huge fan of oc'ing, either). Any thoughts on the PCI-E 6600's and X700Pro's compared to an AGP 9800Pro? If I would at least break more or less even on the video card it should be an improvement overall.
 
Originally posted by: BitHead0023
Thanks for the replies. I was leaning that way already myself, but I was hoping to get a PCI-E board like the GA-K8NF-9 ($87 for a refurb one on Newegg). If I could find a PCI-E card in the neighborhood of $100-$150, I could upgrade all three for under $400, but I don't want to get something that's going to be a drop in video performance from my 9800Pro (not a huge fan of oc'ing, either). Any thoughts on the PCI-E 6600's and X700Pro's compared to an AGP 9800Pro? If I would at least break more or less even on the video card it should be an improvement overall.
Click to expand...


Everything I have read says that PCI-E is not any faster then AGP at this time.

Ausm

 
Originally posted by: Ausm
Originally posted by: BitHead0023
Thanks for the replies. I was leaning that way already myself, but I was hoping to get a PCI-E board like the GA-K8NF-9 ($87 for a refurb one on Newegg). If I could find a PCI-E card in the neighborhood of $100-$150, I could upgrade all three for under $400, but I don't want to get something that's going to be a drop in video performance from my 9800Pro (not a huge fan of oc'ing, either). Any thoughts on the PCI-E 6600's and X700Pro's compared to an AGP 9800Pro? If I would at least break more or less even on the video card it should be an improvement overall.
Click to expand...


Everything I have read says that PCI-E is not any faster then AGP at this time.

Ausm
Click to expand...
I'll second that. On the vid card, if you go PCIe spend a few more bucks and get 6600GT. Link. I have this one one my main rig and I love it, especially for the price. If you don't go with a least a 6600GT, I would keep your 9800 and get an nForce3 AGP motherboard. Of course that will limit your choices of vid cards in the future.

I say spend a few extra bucks and be happy.
 
I'm more concerned with the motherboards themselves than the actual video cards. The Nforce 4 boards look a lot slicker than the Nforce 3... for example the http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=13-128-268R&DEPA=99
versus the http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=13-128-254&DEPA=1. If I can get a PCI-E card similar in performance to my 9800Pro and go with one of the Nforce 4 boards, I think I'd be better off. I just don't want to spend $500-$600 for that.
 
I like the idea of upgrading your CPU/mobo, but since you primarily game, i think you will see a much better improvement with a better video card.

If you sell your 9800 Pro, i think you could get a 6800GT for less than $300 taking into account selling your older one.

That being said, buying an AGP card does kinda mean you will have to sell it later, since everything's going PCI-e.

So i guess my opinion is: best performance upgrade would be new video card.
More futureproof (to small extent) upgrade would be: new CPU/mobo.

Raptor = not practical for those on a budget.
I love my Raptor, but i have a higher end system, so i was already spending much more.
 
Originally posted by: n7
I like the idea of upgrading your CPU/mobo, but since you primarily game, i think you will see a much better improvement with a better video card.

If you sell your 9800 Pro, i think you could get a 6800GT for less than $300 taking into account selling your older one.

That being said, buying an AGP card does kinda mean you will have to sell it later, since everything's going PCI-e.

So i guess my opinion is: best performance upgrade would be new video card.
More futureproof (to small extent) upgrade would be: new CPU/mobo.
Click to expand...
That's also sound advice. If gaming is your primary concern, a 6800GT AGP is your bang for the buck winner. The only down side is your CPU will hold a 6800GT back a bit.

You're having the same problem I had about 4 months ago. The problem is PCIe and that it's the form factor for vid cards going forward.

Oh, and nForce3 boards are proven. Remember that up until 6 months ago, it was the best you could buy for the A64.
 
Originally posted by: Rike
Originally posted by: n7
I like the idea of upgrading your CPU/mobo, but since you primarily game, i think you will see a much better improvement with a better video card.

If you sell your 9800 Pro, i think you could get a 6800GT for less than $300 taking into account selling your older one.

That being said, buying an AGP card does kinda mean you will have to sell it later, since everything's going PCI-e.

So i guess my opinion is: best performance upgrade would be new video card.
More futureproof (to small extent) upgrade would be: new CPU/mobo.
Click to expand...
That's also sound advice. If gaming is your primary concern, a 6800GT AGP is your bang for the buck winner. The only down side is your CPU will hold a 6800GT back a bit.

You're having the same problem I had about 4 months ago. The problem is PCIe and that it's the form factor for vid cards going forward.

Oh, and nForce3 boards are proven. Remember that up until 6 months ago, it was the best you could buy for the A64.
Click to expand...


:thumbsup:

Good Comment.

Ausm
 
I love my NF4 board, but you'd be better suited going with an NF3 and an A64 3000+. AGP has alot of life left in it don't worry 🙂.
 
Sounds like a plan (NF3 + 3000+, that is)... I'll probably go with one of the Gigabyte board I mentioned then, though some of the MSI's I looked at weren't bad either. I could probably get the mobo, cpu, AND the raptor for the price I would've ended up at getting a new vidcard too. Thanks for all the advice.
 
I agree that NF3 is your best choice. You will always be able to upgrade your VC later while still keeping it AGP. AGP is far from dead.
 
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