Upgrade Path ?? Advice solicited . . .

[Trmtech]

Current system:

Koolance Pc2650bl
Enermax Liberty 620w
Asrock SataII dual MB (cpu volt mod)
Socket 939 x2 4800 o/c to 2.8 (watercooled)
Mushkin bh5 4x512 cas 2 (2gig RAM)
Sapphire 1900xtx (watercooled)
SB Audigy Gamer
Sony dvd burner
1 x 120gb WD, 1 x 250gb SG

Dell 4100mp Projector
100inch Daitech Screen
1000watt Phillips Surround Sound

...........................................................

I have the upgrade bug . . . I do like to run the latest FPS games, COD4, TF2, Crysis (soon), Supreme Commander, WOC. I have a 4 computer lan in basement. All units are identical to above only with 19inch monitors. What would be best . . . 5 x 8800gt's or 5 x (Q6600's + New MB + New Ram + New HD's + keep 1900xtx's?).

I know it would cost alot more for new cpu's etc . . . But would I see that much improvement in gaming performance over just a GPU upgrade ???? I would overclock to stable levels on any new system parts.

Thanks,
Long time reader

 

[imported_LoKe]

What's your budget, because upgrading 5 computers will be rather expensive. If you're just in it for the gaming, I'd go for the 8800GT. I would only suggest the Q6600 if you were interested in the new games being developed for it.

EDIT: Doesn't the ASRock's PCI-E slot lock at x8 rather than x16?

 

[Trmtech]

I am 99% Gaming on the above computers. I figured @ $900 upgrade cpus/mbs/hds/ram per case. or . . . . Just get the 8800gt's .

Would the GPU upgrade to 8800gt + 4800 o/c 2.8gh see almost identical performance as the Q6600 o/c 1900xtx combo ? Don't really want to spend extra $$$$$$$ for only 1 to 10% performance gap . .

ASROCK . . PCIE slot is X16

Thanks

 

[Trmtech]

Anyone else upgrade a similiar system x2 4800 o/c from an ATI 1900xtx to a 8800gt? What kind of performance gains did you see in newest games? Do you wish you would have upgraded cpu to INTEL Dual/Quad?

 

[jkresh]

since you have the x2 at 2.8ghz then for any game that is not designed for quad core (basically any game out so far) the 8800gt will be a bigger difference over the q6600. Why do you have 4 identical computers in the basement, and is there any reason why you couldn't upgrade the main machine first (maybe get the 8800gt first and see if its a big deal, if not get the q6600 and only upgrade the other 4 with the one that was the bigger difference)? Though on a 19inch lcd assuming a 1280x1024 then for most games outside of crysis the 1900xtx is fine, only a few games should really be slowing down with that card at that res (different story if you had a 20inch or larger (at 1680 x 1050 or higher))

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: jkresh
since you have the x2 at 2.8ghz then for any game that is not designed for quad core (basically any game out so far) the 8800gt will be a bigger difference over the q6600. Why do you have 4 identical computers in the basement, and is there any reason why you couldn't upgrade the main machine first (maybe get the 8800gt first and see if its a big deal, if not get the q6600 and only upgrade the other 4 with the one that was the bigger difference)? Though on a 19inch lcd assuming a 1280x1024 then for most games outside of crysis the 1900xtx is fine, only a few games should really be slowing down with that card at that res (different story if you had a 20inch or larger (at 1680 x 1050 or higher))

Regardless, on a gaming machine, the video card is the simplest way to get a performance boost.

 

[Trmtech]

The computers in the basement are for when my friends come over and have mini lan parties. Mostly it's a cursing match . . . .

to many options for upgrades , ,, now i'm looking at am2 cpu riser board and upgrade cpu's to x2 am2 6400 and o/c. Ram is only $80 + riser card 30 + cpu 175 = 3.5ghz min w/overclock

Probably should try the 8800gt, bought these 1900xtx's $$$$600 each, I wanted to squeak as much life out of them as I could.

I've been comparing cpu / gpu charts all day and I would still see the biggest performance increase from upgrading gpu. I'll try and wait a couple weeks and see if they get back in stock and the price settles down.

Thanks for all the input.

Anyone else upgrade from 1900xtx to 8800gt? See much difference with similar cpu x2 4800 o/c 2.8ghz?