Should I perform this upgrade?

[JoeBob]

Want to hold off a major upgrade until end of year so I am trying to maximize what I have. I am cosidering upgrading my 900Mhz T-bird (200 fsb) to a 1.33 T-Bitd (266 fsb). Think I will see any real noticeable difference in games like B&W, Counterstike, Sacrifice? Would and upgrade to a Radeon 8500 be better? Just looking for opinions.


Asus A7V 133
900 Mhz T-Bird
256M Crucial PC133
Radeon 32Mb DDR
Win 2K

 

[formulav8]

Just upgrading to the 266mhz bus may show a noticable difference.

 

[JoeBob]

Bump. Anyone else have any opinions?

 

[CubicZirconia]

Thats a tough call. However, since your current video card is more than adequate for the games you mentioned, I too would go with the cpu upgrade. Though, don't expect much of a performace boost in counter-strike, as you probably run that game close to max fps the way it is.

 

[hopeless879]

I'd upgrade to the Radeon 8500 or GF4 TI4200, buy an Alpha Pal HS overclock the cpu to 1.2 or so. I would definately wait till the end of the year to upgrade cpu/mobo. The clawhammer is scheduled to come out in October. Mmmmmmmm.......It's hammer time.

 

[formulav8]

If I was you I would just unlock your cpu and lower the multiplyer and set the bus to 133mhz. May try to set your multiplyer to 7.5x and 133mhz bus and it should work at 1ghz@133mhz ddr bus. Can't hurt to try. And have a nice little upgrade for free.



jason

 

[Athlon4all]

I doubt that upgrading to 1.33GHz Athlon will help in games too much, but though I would unlock that T-Bird and then lower the multiplier to 7 and set the fsb to 133 (this will result in a 31MHz oc, but you should be able to handle it). Truthfully, I'd stick with what you've got. I am assuming by major upgrade you mean Hammer right? Well by then, NV30 and R300 will be out which will have as I understand it DX9 support and will be a major jump from the GF4 and R8500, so I'd try to avoid spending big bucks on a GF4 Ti or R8500. I'd stick with what you've got, but oc that T-Bird to 266fsb. Oh and just a tip, don't get a giant HSF and expect to oc that CPU much. The lower end T-Birds (>1GHz) didn't oc well at all. If you really want to do something, I'd get a R7500 or GF2 Ti.

 

[MWink]

I think the Radeon 8500 will make a bigger difference in games. I went from a Radeon 64DDR VIVO to a OEM Radeon 8500 (250/250) and the difference was huge. I tried different speed CPU's (Duron 950 vs XP 1600+ (I think)) and there was much less difference.

 

[Siddhartha]

An $87 OEM Athlon 1.33 gHz, from Newegg.com, would be nearly a 50% increase in cpu speed for you, sounds like a cheap upgrade to me. Go for it.