Radeon 64 on a celeron 550?

[duragezic]

After reading up on many posts and after me being sick of low fps in games, I think I'm going to get a Radeon. I want to get the 64mb DDR one with VIVO because I will probably make a couple snowboarding videos. Now the only thing wrong is my cpu. I think it's quite low but does it really matter? I know in 640x480 it's mostly cpu and also in 800x600 but I'll be running 1024x768 or 1280x1024 probably.

Please don't say to upgrade my cpu. I simply don't have the money...

 

[duragezic]

bump.

 

[rubberneck]

One option might be to get the 32MB DDR Radeon and use the $$$ savings to get a Celery-2/566 and a slocket (and overclock it, of course). The 64MB version is only marginally faster in the AIW version (I think)...which is clocked at 183/183 versus all other configurations which are 166/166. I know in gaming huge textures in high resolution can use all of a 32MB card's ram...making the 64MB faster under those situations due to not relying on the AGP bus. I'm not sure what sort of digital video editing situations would use up all of a 32MB card's ram though.

I guess in so many words, I'm saying upgrade the CPU.....sorry. ;-)

 

[oldfart]

To get the VIVO function he wants, there is the 64 meg retail card, and the 32 meg AIW. The regular 32 meg has no VIVO. You would certainly be CPU limited with this setup, but you can always upgrade the rest of the system down the road and still make good use of the card. BTW, there are good deals to be had. How much were you planning on paying? Dont go out and pay the full retail price!

 

[BFG10K]

being sick of low fps in games, I think I'm going to get a Radeon.

Only T&L enhanced games will run faster.

Now the only thing wrong is my cpu. I think it's quite low but does it really matter?

Yes it does. Having a fast CPU is better than having a fast video card.

I know in 640x480 it's mostly cpu and also in 800x600 but I'll be running 1024x768 or 1280x1024 probably.

In which case your framerate will be the same across the board because you are CPU limited. Your system will be slow at any resolution.

I'm afraid that only a faster CPU will guarantee faster framerates in all situations. When upgrading your computer it's almost always better to get a faster CPU rather than a faster video card.

 

[Mday]

uh, the radeon is gonna be faster than that banshee eagle has. but i don't know how the radeon scales with CPU speed (driver wise that is)

 

[Viperoni]

My thoughts on this:

I just popped in a tnt-2 ultra into my dually win2k Bp6 (366's @ 540) machine, and played some CS @ 800x600, 16bit, and I was pushing around 50fps average.
Not bad....

But in my Duron machine (see sig), I get 85fps constantly @ 1024x768x32bit (I set my limiter to 85fps)

What would I suggest?

Get the 32mb Radeon, or even the 64mb (or buy an ES from me j/k), OEM version, and wait until you get some $$$ to upgrade to a celery 566 @ 850 or something like that.

You'll love the Radeon's visual quality, really a contrast to the GF2/GF/tnt series.

That Quake3 tourney CTF map is just to drool for

 

[Viperoni]

<< When upgrading your computer it's almost always better to get a faster CPU rather than a faster video card. >>



So if I have a 1.2gig TBird on his banshee, you think OCing it to 1.3gig will make it even faster????
Even a 640x480 a banshee would get maxed out before the CPU would.

It's all in the air, and unfortuantely, your comp is very nicely balanced out, but I still believe the Radeon would help you out at higher res', which you like

 

[erikiksaz]

i've got a cel550 as well, but with a geforce 2. you may not get the highest fps (70+), but you'll probably be able to turn on most of the details without much of a performance hit. hell, at 640x480 or 800x600 in q3, i get 50fps regardless if fsaa is on or off.

 

[BFG10K]

So if I have a 1.2gig TBird on his banshee, you think OCing it to 1.3gig will make it even faster????

No. There's only so far that a CPU upgrade will take you if you have a crap video card. I assumed everyone here can handle that simple logic. I also missed that he had a Banshee. For some reason I thought he had a Voodoo3.

The bottom line is that if you're video card limited you can always trim details/drop resolution to increase your framerates.
If you're CPU limited there's very little you can do, and even less to stop slowdowns when multiple players/bots are playing.

 

[duragezic]

Argh my brother already ordered it. I wanted to wait until this topic got some replies but he refused. Well I guess I got a Radeon 64mb ddr coming.

I guess I'll just have be satisfied until I can get a better cpu.

edit: I paid $208 for it.

 

[oldfart]

$208 for a retail? Very nice! Where?

 

[BFG10K]

eagle__2, sorry but I missed you had a Banshee, so my advice was a bit wrong.

I'd say your upgrade to a Radeon is a good move. The Banshee is a very weak video card because it doesn't support multitexturing. In that case even your lowly Celeron may well be saturating the card.

My apologies.

 

[Taz4158]

The Radeon will be a nice upgrade and even better when you get a new CPU. Enjoy it!

 

[TDon]

Oldfart:

He probably ordered it from the same place I ordered mine from today for $208.....buy.com for $237.95 - $30 coupon:
buy.com link

Now I just have to wait a bit for that bad boy to get delivered

TDon

Edit: fix link

 

[oldfart]

Nice price on a nice card. I have the 64 meg retail. Enjoy.

 

[duragezic]

BFG10K: No prob you were just trying to help. Thanks.

Well that's good to hear. I don't expect mad framerates but I'm sure it will be good for games I play now like Half-life and then it should run Tribes 2 ok whenever that comes out.

Yes I got it from buy.com using the $30 coupon and free shipping.

I guess I might be able to afford a celeron2 and that would save me from getting a new mobo. But really, I'm not sure how much faster that would be. I think I'd rather hold off and get a AMD system down the road (providing they are as cheap and good performance are the current ones).

Heh Tdon: We'll see who gets their Radeon first.

 

[TDon]

eagle__2:

Good luck, even if I get mine first, I still need the remaining parts for my new rig to show up(case and memory) everything else is sitting here waiting to be installed. Hopefully I will have everything by next Friday for a weekend install.

Enjoy your new Radeon

TDon