Upgrade my monitor, videocard or MB and cpu? ***POLL***

[CorCentral]

Here's my current setup.....

CPU: Intel P4 660 3600MHz
Motherboard: Intel 955x
Memory: 2048 MB of Crucial pc2-5300 ddr2 667 Ballistix 3-3-3-12
Video Card: EVGA 7800GTX 256mb Nvidia
Monitor: Sony SDM-HS95P 19"

 

[Avalon]

I'd say your RAM is plenty fine, if you were to upgrade the CPU and Mobo.
But for picks, I'd say to probably get a 24" Widescreen monitor. It'll have the biggest "oh wow" factor on you...that's my guess anyway.

Granted, it will be impossible to play Oblivion or Fear at native res, but with most other games there should be a way to manage. Your desktop would look awesome and have lots of space, plus you'd have a great time watching movies on your rig if you chose to do so.

If you went with the 7950GX2 and stuck with your 19" monitor, you'd be limited to 1280x1024 , which isn't going to let that card stretch its legs. Granted, I guess you could always apply maxmimum amounts of AA/AF/TransparencyAA/Vsync to make use of it. Well, it's up to you to decide what's best anyway.

 

[CorCentral]

Originally posted by: Avalon
I'd say your RAM is plenty fine, if you were to upgrade the CPU and Mobo.
But for picks, I'd say to probably get a 24" Widescreen monitor. It'll have the biggest "oh wow" factor on you...that's my guess anyway.

Granted, it will be impossible to play Oblivion or Fear at native res, but with most other games there should be a way to manage. Your desktop would look awesome and have lots of space, plus you'd have a great time watching movies on your rig if you chose to do so.

If you went with the 7950GX2 and stuck with your 19" monitor, you'd be limited to 1280x1024 , which isn't going to let that card stretch its legs. Granted, I guess you could always apply maxmimum amounts of AA/AF/TransparencyAA/Vsync to make use of it. Well, it's up to you to decide what's best anyway.

Yes, I know what you're saying. It would be nice to upgrade both the monitor and videocard but that's an easy $1,200. right there and I just built this computer myself this past Nov/05 and spent like $2,200 for everything minus Monitor and Keyboard

 

[secretanchitman]

i think if you had to upgrade, get conroe, a new mobo, and maybe another 7800GTX, or even a 7900GT (use less power, and high OC).

 

[keeleysam]

Buying a GX2 would be a stupid move. It's not going to make a lick of difference at 1280x1024.

I voted for Conroe.

 

[TheRyuu]

VX2025 and a 7900GT?

 

[redbox]

Originally posted by: wizboy11
VX2025 and a 7900GT?

FTW!

 

[nitromullet]

Is $600 going to be enough for an Intel Conroe 6600 cpu and an Intel 975X MB? Seriously, most of the decent 975X motherboards are somewhere north of $250, and I'm not sure how much a CoreDuo 6600 is going to go for.

 

[CorCentral]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
Is $600 going to be enough for an Intel Conroe 6600 cpu and an Intel 975X MB? Seriously, most of the decent 975X motherboards are somewhere north of $250, and I'm not sure how much a CoreDuo 6600 is going to go for.

You missed the "Approximate" part If it's another $20.-$40. more , That's approximation Pilgrim.

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
Is $600 going to be enough for an Intel Conroe 6600 cpu and an Intel 975X MB? Seriously, most of the decent 975X motherboards are somewhere north of $250, and I'm not sure how much a CoreDuo 6600 is going to go for.

When Conroe comes out, there will be motherboards in every price range.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: CorCentral

Originally posted by: nitromullet
Is $600 going to be enough for an Intel Conroe 6600 cpu and an Intel 975X MB? Seriously, most of the decent 975X motherboards are somewhere north of $250, and I'm not sure how much a CoreDuo 6600 is going to go for.

You missed the "Approximate" part If it's another $20.-$40. more , That's approximation Pilgrim.

I get that... What are the expected prices of conroe supposed to be? Is this info known?

edit: if these prices hold up, it looks like the Core 2 Duo processors will be pretty reasonable.

1.00 GBP = 1.84381 USD btw...

 

[akshayt]

It is something like this:
E6300: around 180
E6400: around 200+ maybe 230 or so
E6600:300+

7900GX2 will probably help you a lot in games like FEAR, Serious sam 2, GRAW etc.

You will probably notice the difference even in Most Wanted.

Oblivion too may get a boost.

Also a 7900GX2 can make more or less full use of 12X10 if you max out everything and use 8x SAA and 16X AF, do you think you can even handle tht much?

I would say the second option could be to sell your current cpu,mobo, ram and card and get a
E6400+motherboard
2gb DDR2 667
radeon 1900xt or 1950xt if it is released till then, or keep your 7800gtx and sell it after geforce 8 and all are out

 

[Fadey]

its 7950gx2 not 7900gx2. The 7900gx2 was an oem card. But ive gone from a 7800gtx to 7950gx2 and there is a nice boost but i also got a viewsonic vx2025wm 20 inc widescreen lcd and its damn nice.. ive got no negatives about it. You wont see a huge difference with a conroe cpu seeing as most games are gpu limited. A monitor or gpu for sure... i went with a 7950gx2 coz i wasnt to sure about the 7800gtx playing games at decent reso with eye candy on .

 

[redbox]

Originally posted by: Fadey
its 7950gx2 not 7900gx2. The 7900gx2 was an oem card. But ive gone from a 7800gtx to 7950gx2 and there is a nice boost but i also got a viewsonic vx2025wm 20 inc widescreen lcd and its damn nice.. ive got no negatives about it. You wont see a huge difference with a conroe cpu seeing as most games are gpu limited. A monitor or gpu for sure... i went with a 7950gx2 coz i wasnt to sure about the 7800gtx playing games at decent reso with eye candy on .

Conroe looks to bring about 20-30% increase in frames with current games: Conroe benches But I do hear you, most games are going to do better with a faster GPU instead of a CPU. Conroe does look like it will be a big improvement to gaming though, at least in the cpu area.

 

[Fadey]

The increase at higher resolution wont be huge at all.. if ppl r gonna buy conroe i doubt there system would be playing games at 1280x960 or lower .

 

[CorCentral]

More votes

So far ....... CPU and MB are winning

 

[TheRyuu]

I still don't get whats wrong with your current computer. A nice little upgrade to a 7900GT and a VX20205 is nice, but overall, your current computer is as fast as any other.

 

[touchmyichi]

get the 2405/2407! It will be the biggest impact upgrade you can do. Just think of it, you can run a freaking 1920x1200 resolution. It will absolutely rock the way in which you use your computer. I was actually in a similar position to you and opted for a 2405 and I haven't regretted it since. The leap from a 19 inch monitor is staggering, I can't go back to it now without feeling small and crammed. Most importantly, these things hardly degrade in value. In the upcoming years your new cpu/motherboard/video card will decrease greatly in value and your 2405/2407 will seem even more worthwhile. Besides, your setup is great already. You should have no problem running your games at 1920x1200 or the 4:3 1600x1200 on 2405/7.

 

[Ackmed]

I voted the LCD, and yes its fast enough. Although that GTX may not be for you.

Personally I would wait, for the first initial price gouging of the Conroes to die down. The LCD will give you instant gratification... truely a sight to behold.

 

[kmmatney]

The onlky thing that I can see as worth upgrading would be the LCD - It will have the biggest immediate impact. Even if you can't game at full native resolution, you can always scale the resolution. Although tthe windows desktop never looks good scaled down, I've found games to scale nicely. $600-$800 is too much for a single upgrade - you should be able to upgrade at least 2 items with that!

 

[xtknight]

Dell 2407WFP 24-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor

What I actually think you should do is get the NEC 20" widescreen. At least then you can play at higher settings. 1920x1200 will kill that 7800GTX (if not now, certainly in the future). I'm sure you'd enjoy the image on a high-quality 20" LCD with a medium resolution more than a Dell with a high native resolution that has to be scaled to be playable with your card at nice-looking settings. Remember, quality (AA/AF) is better than quantity (pixel count).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824002319

And I don't recall the 2407WFP being available for $600-650 but if you found a deal fill me in!

 

[touchmyichi]

Originally posted by: xtknight
Dell 2407WFP 24-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor

What I actually think you should do is get the NEC 20" widescreen. At least then you can play at higher settings. 1920x1200 will kill that 7800GTX (if not now, certainly in the future). I'm sure you'd enjoy the image on a high-quality 20" LCD with a medium resolution more than a Dell with a high native resolution that has to be scaled to be playable with your card at nice-looking settings. Remember, quality (AA/AF) is better than quantity (pixel count).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824002319

And I don't recall the 2407WFP being available for $600-650 but if you found a deal fill me in!

You can run your games at 1600x1200 at 4:3 though, which would still give you about a roughly equivalent area to 1680x1050 on a 20" widescreen. I currently run a ton of source games, which play fine on my 6800NU at 1920x1200. For my newer ones I need to lower to 1600x1200. Yeah, 6800NU is actually kind of weak for this monitor but 7800GTX should be fine for most things.