• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Upgrade? Need Your Opinion!

T

TrECeNTeRs

Member
Please Vote!

I need to know what my next step in upgrading my rig should be. I have a few ideas on what to get from my knowledge but I need more ideas or opinions. Thanks!

550watt PS w/ Aluminum Case w/ 9 Fans counting vid and cpu.

Asylum GeForce 5600 256MB DDR on Card

Nvidia nForce2 333fsb / Running@ 2x152mhz "304mhz fsb"

512MB of Genaric PC3200 / Running @ 2x152mhz "304mhz fsb"

AMD Athlon xp1600 / Running@ 1600mhz & 44deg idle "OC'd as much as possible"

Onboard nForceDolby Digital
Linksys 100MB Ethernet
CD-RW 48x CD-ROM 52x
2x 60gig IDE Maxtor 7200rpm
3Mb/500Kb Charter Cable
Linksys Wireless Router 802.11b
Avermedia TV-Tuner
Avermedia iMicro TV-Out Converter

(( BTW, I am into First Person Shooter Video Games That Require a Fast Comp ))
"ex. Battlefield/DesertCombat & Some Halo" both on lowest settings!

Wanting to be able to run Battlefield:Vietnam and UT2K4 Decently...

Thanks People I look forward to any Comments or Suggestions!
 
CPU gets my vote. A nice mobile Barton would work just fine. For the price, nothing else would help your rig in all aspects more than a CPU upgrade.
 
Originally posted by: paladiin
CPU gets my vote. A nice mobile Barton would work just fine. For the price, nothing else would help your rig in all aspects more than a CPU upgrade.
Click to expand...



This is incorrect when you are talking about the OP's specific situation. A video card upgrade will help a lot more than a CPU upgrade. If you were talking faster DC times or encoding audio/video I would tend to agree but in this case a vid card would be the best first choice. When talking about graphic intensive FPS games the vid card and CPU do not share the workload equally, the GPU rather than the CPU is the most important aspect. The CPU is important, but the OP's is sufficient and does not require the most immediate attention when deciding what benefits performance the most. Upgrading the CPU would help, but the cost/benefit ratio is better if a vid card is upgraded with the CPU to follow as funding allows.
 
Originally posted by: dnuggett
Originally posted by: paladiin
CPU gets my vote. A nice mobile Barton would work just fine. For the price, nothing else would help your rig in all aspects more than a CPU upgrade.
Click to expand...



This is incorrect when you are talking about the OP's specific situation. A video card upgrade will help a lot more than a CPU upgrade. If you were talking faster DC times or encoding audio/video I would tend to agree but in this case a vid card would be the best first choice. When talking about graphic intensive FPS games the vid card and CPU do not share the workload equally, the GPU rather than the CPU is the most important aspect. The CPU is important, but the OP's is sufficient and does not require the most immediate attention when deciding what benefits performance the most. Upgrading the CPU would help, but the cost/benefit ratio is better if a vid card is upgraded with the CPU to follow as funding allows.
Click to expand...


Yep, I agree.
 
Guess I should have explained a little more my reasoning.

Honestly, both your CPU and GPU need upgrading. Upgrading only one will certainly bottleneck the other and limit your performance regardless.

In your current system, your GPU is a greater bottleneck in 3D games. That's pretty clear. But what kind of GPU would you have to upgrade to to make it worth your money? Anything under $200 would practically be a waste of money (I can't imagine anyone suggesting you get something less than a 5900XT). You'll get a performance boost, but you also will swing your bottleneck to your CPU, which will limit how much of a performance boost you'll get from your GPU.

With the next generation cards being released in just a few weeks, today's cards are guaranteed to take a price cut. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that today's $200 cards will sell for ~$150 very soon.

However, the mobile bartons are fairly new. There's no anticipation of a price drop on them soon. The 2400+ is just over $70 on newegg currently, and people are getting very good overclocks with them. Since you are currently running under both what your RAM and your CPU bus can handle, you'd get additional performance by increasing your bus speed. My Epox 8RDA+ (333Mhz version) can handle 195Mhz on the bus. Lastly, you'd also get a larger cache on your CPU, which is some performance as well.

So if you're buying today, a new GPU will be around $200, and the CPU about $70. The same parts in a few weeks will probably be $150 and $70 respectively. Getting the CPU first and the GPU after the inevitable price drop instead of the other way around will nearly pay for your CPU - which is why I recommend the CPU first. If you are going to wait until a GPU price drop anyway, why not upgrade the CPU now and get immediate results while you wait for the new GPU's to come out and affect current card pricing? If you are dead set on getting one and only one upgrade, make it a mid-high end card.

Lastly, my brother plays both BF:Nam and UT2k4 on a GF4 4200 64MB and a OC'd T-bred (at 2.1Ghz). Both play at decent enough frames at conservative settings. Until my upgrade a couple of weeks back, I ran a GF4 4200 128MB for my games without worries, including UT2k3 and BF:1942. I'm wondering why your GPU wouldn't handle Nam or UT2k4 as is right now?
 
Course this all depends on what your notion of "decent" is. If you think medium settings (some high) are okay then I have to imagine that the GF4 5600 (pro or not) is going to run these games. His CPU is probably not holding him back, esp since it is oc'd. RAM in my opinion would be a better purchase, then GPU then CPU, wash, rinse, repeat. If you want it to look awesome, and everything on high, then GPU, RAM, CPU. Ultimately i beileve the 512mb ram is the bare minimum these days.
 
Cool... 3 diffrent opinions Lol

Let me ask this...

Is my CPU holding my Video Card back?

I mean the video card is 256mb DDR... So I would think that handles most of the ram issue's and also a GF5600 is fairly new when compared to a AMD xp1600+ .... right?

Also a processor to max out my MB would only be around a buck compared to a $300 video card.

What CPU would you suggest and why a mobile are they unlocked?

Also any good sites to purchase any of this stuff you all mentioned would be great. Thanks
 
I'd buy a 1800+ or simliar CPU with good steppings and a new video card before anything. If you go with a 1800+ or similar speeds you can get it for roughly $45 to $55 shipped used and you can hit 2.0Ghz to 2.3Ghz(depends on steppings). Then use the extra to purchase say a 9700 pro or something(about $150 used). For $210 or so you will have a nice upgrade. Sell your old CPU and video and you can make half or over half your money back.

I just traded a FX5200 for a 1800+ JIUHB and it runs at 2.3ghz stable and according to Sandra its as fast as a 3200+. Not a bad upgrade IMO(had a 1700+JIUHB@ 1.9Ghz).
 
Originally posted by: TrECeNTeRs
Cool... 3 diffrent opinions Lol

Let me ask this...

Is my CPU holding my Video Card back?

I mean the video card is 256mb DDR... So I would think that handles most of the ram issue's and also a GF5600 is fairly new when compared to a AMD xp1600+ .... right?

Also a processor to max out my MB would only be around a buck compared to a $300 video card.

What CPU would you suggest and why a mobile are they unlocked?

Also any good sites to purchase any of this stuff you all mentioned would be great. Thanks
Click to expand...

Maybe the CPU is choking the video card... maybe. ~$210 is the max to pay for a video card. As for the CPU, yes the mobiles are unlocked for now. I would recommend this one. As for the "site" to purchase things off of, have you gotten my hint yet? BTW: if 300 is your budget, then get both 😉
 
good info guys

I need to go for a processor then video.

People recomend lower processors that will OC to like 2.2ghz ...

What I need is a processor that im sure will get the top speeds I need to max out with.

Instead of taken a chance of having a wrong week or build.

Any Idea? BTW my motherboard cant go over 333fsb... but it is dual-chan so I dunno how that works out?
 
Just have to ask - why won't your mobo go higher than 333Mhz? What motherboard is it? It seems by the settings you have it at, you can adjust the FSB manually. My guess is that it adjusts over 166Mhz - have you checked? Remember, you can change settings in your BIOS and not save them if you're unsure about how high you can put settings to. While your mobo is rated 166/333Mhz, I know lots of people (including myself) who have pushed those motherboards up around 200/400Mhz. If you can only get to 166Mhz, expect your overclock to be about 2Ghz.

If that's the case, that's only about 400Mhz over your current setup, and only 14Mhz on the bus difference. Even with the added cache, the performance boost isn't going to be too great. I think that in that case, I'd have to change my vote to a video card upgrade first, followed by a mobo upgrade to a 400Mhz capable mobo and a mobile barton that you'll set at a minimum of 12x200 (2.4Ghz). I just wouldn't feel right recommending that CPU upgrade in your specific case if you're confident you won't get near 200Mhz on the bus on the overclock. And since the price of a CPU/mobo would be pretty close to the price of a good video card (like a 9800Pro post-price cut), the value/performance ratio will be in the video card's favor.
 
If you think you need to go for a processor then for video, by all means do so. But you are defeating the purpose of your post.
 
Since your a FPS gamer, faster video card first. But, I agree that you need both faster video and faster cpu. A 2.2ghz cpu would do you wonders as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top