Socket 939 bottlenecking GTX 280 at 1920x1200?

[heyheybooboo]

Go as big as you can on the video card ... and start saving up.

Even if you have to play at reduced settings (and maybe deal with an occasional laggy framerate) you will have a decent card for your new system when the money is available.

Set your budget and try not to go half-arse - it will only cost you in the long run!

 

[v8envy]

Except for the minor problem of reduced settings have more of an effect on GPU performance than CPU performance. Even cranking down to 1024x768 with all graphics options low won't help if the frame rates are bogged down by the CPU choking on AI, physics and so on.

Buying a high end video card *today* to pair with an obsolete low end CPU is a lose. By the time the cpu gets upgraded the video is out of date and needs upgrading as well. By the same token, upgrading the CPU without GPU will only work if he's willing to play at non-native resolutions and reduced settings.

The sweet spot is still a $67 E5200, $85 OC friendly board, $30 worth of DDR2, $50 PSU and a $200 GPU of choice. Low end video won't push 19x12 and a mainstream in 2006 cpu won't run 2009 games very well.

I was in the same boat when it came time for me to upgrade from S939 late in 2007. After much angst I realized my only option was biting the bullet and migrating to socket 775 and DDR2. The options are not as clear cut with DDR3 on the horizon.

My advice is to just wait a bit longer. Give it a month or two, save your pennies and upgrade to a Q9550 (or maybe PII 945), DDR3 and GTX280 for another 3 years of gaming.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: spittledip
MS will re-activate it for you. You will ahve to call them when you go through the activation process on the number listed. You will ahve to go through the whole process of trying to activate over the phone with the automated process before you can talk to a rep. Once you talk to a rep, they willl take care of you.

BTW, I think it is horrible advice to upgrade to a dual core pentium at this time. Best to save your money and upgrade to a Quad core. if you only upgrade to the dual core, you will be feeling the pain in a year or 2 again.

Difference being that if he gets a decent board now, he can easily just upgrade the CPU to an S775 quad later on. I still think (aside from maybe games and developer software) that S775 is more power than any standard consumer will ever need, I don't think they should phase it out but alas, board manufacturers will slowly start phasing out S775 boards (though Inteil will likely keep pumping out cheaper and cheaper S775 chips).

 

[kmmatney]

You current video card is really not all that bad (8800GTS). You may be fine just upgrading the CPU/MB/RAM and sticking with your current video card. You probably wouldn't need a new PSU either. Like someone above said:

"The sweet spot is still a $67 E5200, $85 OC friendly board, $30 worth of DDR2". Overclock the E5200 to 3.3 Ghz (just run at 1066 FSB).

You can Ebay the X2 3800+ - there is a demand for Socket 939 dual core cpu's out there, and this will reduce the cost even further.

 

[Gillbot]

Sell your socket 939 gear on ebay and you'll likely make enough to convert to socket 775, or at least cover most of the cost. Keep your current GPU and see what you can upgrade your mobo/cpu to after the sale of your old parts.

1. If I buy a new MB/CPU/RAM/GPU and etcetera, I would need to re-install Windows on my hard drive, correct? Unfortunately, it's not looking like that's an option at the moment, because my version of Windows XP is a student edition and I've already used up my two activations on it. Do you guys know if Microsoft will continue giving them to me, if I call them up or something?

You can use sysprep to avoid a reinstall, but I'm not sure how that would affect the registration or activation. You may want to ask in OS about this. I migrated my install from my 939 rig to a C2D E6550 without reinstallation using sysprep.

 

[Jester666]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
Sell your socket 939 gear on ebay and you'll likely make enough to convert to socket 775, or at least cover most of the cost. Keep your current GPU and see what you can upgrade your mobo/cpu to after the sale of your old parts.

1. If I buy a new MB/CPU/RAM/GPU and etcetera, I would need to re-install Windows on my hard drive, correct? Unfortunately, it's not looking like that's an option at the moment, because my version of Windows XP is a student edition and I've already used up my two activations on it. Do you guys know if Microsoft will continue giving them to me, if I call them up or something?

You can use sysprep to avoid a reinstall, but I'm not sure how that would affect the registration or activation. You may want to ask in OS about this. I migrated my install from my 939 rig to a C2D E6550 without reinstallation using sysprep.

This is exactly what I did. Sold my s939 x2 3800+ and ASRock dual-sata2 on ebay and bought an e5200 and a used p35 board. Funds received covered the entire cost of upgrade. You'd be shocked at what you can sell the 939 x2s on ebay for. Used sysprep to avoid reinstall (first time I'd tried this, it's not that difficult). Simply reactivated windows online and everything is working perfectly.

 

[AzN]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Seriously, if you spent $300 on a new CPU/MOBO/RAM/GPU, you'd be SET!

AMD 7750 $80
780G mobo $70
4GB DDR2 $40
Radeon 4830 $100

That would absolutely destroy a s939 3800 and a GTX280. My old CPU (s939 4200+ at 2.4ghz) couldn't even push enough frames for my x1650 at times, how is it going to for your GTX280?

Not sure about destroying now. He is CPU limited no doubt but a 4830 can't do what a GTX 280 can do for graphical intensive games like Crysis.

 

[NoSoup4You]

An 8800GTS isn't exactly a bad video card. If you had a 6600GT, I'd say don't bother upgrading. But the 8800 series is still great for any game out there. You won't get maximum settings, but with so many games being nothing but console ports, the 8800GTS 320MB is still going strong for many titles.

The 8800GTS 320MB isn't a GTX280, but it's not like you're still running a 7600GS or something... Worth it, imo.

 

[poohbear]

Originally posted by: postmortemIA

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
you don't have money, yet you want to buy one of most expensive cards?

your CPU is so outdated, it is worthless to buy high end GPU with it. it simply can't run in pair with today's high end graphics.

You'd be better of buying budget Pentium Dual Core and HD4850.

X2 performance is roughly equivalent to the lower-end Pentium Dual Core. Of course, once you start overclocking...

OP, what kind of budget do you have? As postmortemIA has implied, for the $$ you would pay for a 280GTX, you could go a long way in upgrading the overall performance of your PC, especially if you sell your old X2/mobo/RAM.

no it is not. Pentium dual core is about 30% faster per clock - just per one core.

2.5GHz Pentium Dual Core ($80 item) is then very roughly 70% faster than it - just one core.

lol what kind of logic is this??? so 70% faster.... in what exactly?? he's gonna see a 70% increase in fps? absolutely not, even if he upgraded to a quad core extreme he wouldnt see that jump @ 1920x1200. he's gonna see a 70% in internet browsing? absolutely not, a 3800x2 is more than enough for that.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: poohbear

Originally posted by: postmortemIA

Originally posted by: Flipped Gazelle

Originally posted by: postmortemIA
you don't have money, yet you want to buy one of most expensive cards?

your CPU is so outdated, it is worthless to buy high end GPU with it. it simply can't run in pair with today's high end graphics.

You'd be better of buying budget Pentium Dual Core and HD4850.

X2 performance is roughly equivalent to the lower-end Pentium Dual Core. Of course, once you start overclocking...

OP, what kind of budget do you have? As postmortemIA has implied, for the $$ you would pay for a 280GTX, you could go a long way in upgrading the overall performance of your PC, especially if you sell your old X2/mobo/RAM.

no it is not. Pentium dual core is about 30% faster per clock - just per one core.

2.5GHz Pentium Dual Core ($80 item) is then very roughly 70% faster than it - just one core.

lol what kind of logic is this??? so 70% faster.... in what exactly?? he's gonna see a 70% increase in fps? absolutely not, even if he upgraded to a quad core extreme he wouldnt see that jump @ 1920x1200. he's gonna see a 70% in internet browsing? absolutely not, a 3800x2 is more than enough for that.

actually in some newer games using a fast cpu he most certainly would have huge gains over using his current cpu with any decent video card. you can look right here and see how much difference the cpu makes in Far Cry 2 and his 3800 X2 gets beat by nearly 70% from just an E8400. http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,663817/?page=2