Upgrade recommendation

[LazyGit]

Hello,

In the past I've upgraded my system by essentially building a new one but this time I can't really afford it at this very moment.

My current setup is a 2 year old system, the highlights are: Athlon64 3200 OCed to 2.3 GHz, 1 GB RAM and a 6800 AGP card. I would love to get a core2 duo but that would mean new mobo, CPU, RAM and a new graphics card. However, these new D3D10 cards are stupendously expensive so it would seem foolish to go for a mega upgrade when there're still no affordable DX10 cards.

What I was thinking of doing was buying a 7600 GS or GT AGP card which will cost about a hundred quid and would hopefully tide me over until I can get a full system upgrade.

My question is this: considering my current CPU, RAM and the fact that my monitor's resolution is 1680 x 1050 will the 7600 GS/GT actually make a solid improvement to my computer or will my CPU be limiting?
cheers

 

[alimoalem]

no, a 7600GT would certainly be an improvement over your 6800GS and your CPU won't be a bottleneck. the question is what games do you play and what framerates you're getting right now that you'll want an upgrade

 

[LazyGit]

Well, I get great framerates in HL2 and farcry as long as it's in 1280x1024 or 1024 x768 but now I'm playing in 1680 it's getting choppy and as new games arrive it's going to get worse. I can deal with spending £100 on a card to last me about 6 months, but will it?
cheers

 

[myocardia]

Yeah, it will last, but running @ 1680x1050 will almost surely also require 2GB of RAM, assuming you also turn up the graphics quality. Well, FarCry might not, but nearly anything newer than FarCry probably will.

 

[Ilikepiedoyou]

what is DX10?

 

[ky714]

Originally posted by: Ilikepiedoyou
what is DX10?

DirectX 10. The new nvidia 8800 video cards come equipped with dx10

 

[LazyGit]

Oh and another thing, my budget could cover either a 7600 GT 256MB or a 7600 GS 512 MB. I know clock speeds are much higher on the GT but would the extra video RAM of the GS be more important?

Also, I thought system RAM wasn't particularly important these days for gaming outside of loading.
cheers

 

[Operandi]

You can make solid improvements, the only problem is you are going to be limited to single core CPUs (I'm assuming it's socket 754) which may become a big limitation a year or two down the road depending on how fast multi-threaded gaming catches on.

Of the two you want the GT, but I would look for something faster (I'm assuming that there is).

 

[LazyGit]

I do have a socket 939 mobo but it's a bit pricey to get a new CPU for it when it's still going to be rubbish compared to an e6300.

To be honest, I can probably wait it out a bit and just re-equip, it shouldn't cost too much and will still last for ages, I think. If I get a decent 775 mobo, an e6300, another gig of ram and a decent pci-e gpu then I'll be ready for some cheap dx10 cards. Hell, by january there might be a few around anyway.

Thanks for the advice guys.
cheers

 

[Operandi]

So you have one of those rare 939/AGP boards. In that case the limiting factor is AGP; as the upper end 939 Athlon X2s are comparable to lower-end Core2s. Either one (X2/Core2) would be magnitudes faster then your 3200 in any case.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: Operandi
So you have one of those rare 939/AGP boards. In that case the limiting factor is AGP; as the upper end 939 Athlon X2s are comparable to lower-end Core2s. Either one (X2/Core2) would be magnitudes faster then your 3200 in any case.

but not in gaming when he has a AGP 6800. is primary want for the upgrade is to improve his gaming experience, not to speed up his computer. true, the CPU can be a limiting factor but at 1680x1050, of the two, which one do you think is the limiting factor: the a s939 3200+ or a 7600GT?

OP, i would wait until january to see how prices are and if anything new comes out. i doubt the latter will happen but prices do decline a bit after the holiday season. definitely go with the 7600GT over the 7600GS.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Yeah, it will last, but running @ 1680x1050 will almost surely also require 2GB of RAM, assuming you also turn up the graphics quality. Well, FarCry might not, but nearly anything newer than FarCry probably will.

uh, what??? the resolution has very little (if anything) to do with how much system RAM you need. you might need more video RAM, but otherwise what you wrote makes no sense. 2GB of RAM helps in a few select games, such as the huge maps in BF2 and Oblivion, and may help more in the future (once the supposedly memory-hogging Vista comes out), but having 1gb is definitely not the bottleneck by any stretch of the imagination. moreover, RAM prices are very inflated right now and upgrading to 2GB is not worth the premium.

Originally posted by: Operandi
You can make solid improvements, the only problem is you are going to be limited to single core CPUs (I'm assuming it's socket 754) which may become a big limitation a year or two down the road depending on how fast multi-threaded gaming catches on.

Of the two you want the GT, but I would look for something faster (I'm assuming that there is).

at 1680x1050 he is likely to be far more GPU limited than CPU limited, so investing in a better video card is far more worthwhile than a new CPU for gaming. moreover, the vast majority of current games get only a tiny improvement (if any) from multiple cores, so that's also fairly irrelevant. a few games on the horizon (the source engine, alan wake) are claiming that they'll take advantage of multi core CPU's, but i doubt it'll be anything significant. a slight FPS boost or perhaps more complicated physics, but probably still nowhere near enough to eliminate the GPU as the bottleneck.

assuming the OP can't afford a total upgrade, i see three options:

* get the best AGP card you can afford, such as the 7800GS or 7600gt. this is the cheapest solution and should last you a decent amount of time, especially if you don't play with eye candy (AA, AF, HDR)...
* get a new s939 motherboard that has PCI-E x16, such as the msi neo4-f which is available for < $50. then, buy the best PCI-E x16 video card you can afford, such as the x1950pro or x1950xt... although it's annoying to change mobo's, it's not too expensive and will give you more (modern) video cards to choose from... moreover, once more dx10 cards show up and drop in price, you can upgrade to one of them, further extending the life of your system
* do nothing. save up money until you can afford a full upgrade. this means you have to suffer through crappy performance in games, but on the flip side, when you do upgrade, you'll see the best, longest lasting results. dx10 cards will be cheaper, c2d CPU's and mobos will be cheaper and hopefully RAM will drop in price as well.