I have a 1.4ghz AMD Tbird with a 9600 Pro All in Wonder. I was thinking of upgrading the CPU/mobo/ram, but then in another thread, people said upgrading the video card would have a bigger performance boost? Which way should I go on this?
Upgrade Vid Card or CPU for bigger gaming boost
- Thread starter JASANITY
- Start date
Personally, I'd say upgrade your CPU/mobo/ram.. Obviously your card isn't top of the line, but my friend and his 9550 on an A64 3200+ gets pretty reasonably fps, considering.. he can handle FEAR and BF2 perfectly fine on it.. so I'd say the cpu would give the biggest boost.. also, 1gb of ram, 'cause from the age of your CPU I'll assume you only have 512mb..
Bateluer
Lifer
- Jun 23, 2001
- 27,730
- 8
- 0
Anything you do now is going to be a stop gap measure to postpone the inevitable. Upgrading the video card will provide a nice boost though.
Just keep in mind that you have an antique CPU on an antique AGP motherboard. If you buy an AGP card now, then go to upgrade your CPU/Mobo in 6 months, you're going to have get new videocard too. Better to upgrade to an A64 3000/7800GT combo now.
Just keep in mind that you have an antique CPU on an antique AGP motherboard. If you buy an AGP card now, then go to upgrade your CPU/Mobo in 6 months, you're going to have get new videocard too. Better to upgrade to an A64 3000/7800GT combo now.
Wow, I thought the consensus would be CPU. I think a 1.4ghz is much more outdated than a 9600 (you can overclock it probably). I have a 9800 Pro and I consider my 3200+ (when its stable enough) to be the bottleneck, but that could go either way I guess. So it would definitely cost more but I'd do CPU/RAM/MOBO (with pci-e) then 6 months down the road, pick up a now current gen video card for cheap.
The CPU would then become a major bottleneck. His CPU and VGA are a perfect match right now. It would suit him/her better to practically build a new system.
Agreed. Actually the 3200+ is more than enough power for the 9800 Pro.
A 3200+ can handle a <x800 Pro easily and when overclocked it can handle <6800GT.
Does your motherboard support ddr memory? If so just upgrade your video card for a 6600 gt and get some ddr memory.
hmm maybe I'll just get the 6600 gt for now (looks like I can get one for $150) and then save up for a complete system overhaul in a year.
happy medium
Lifer
- Jun 8, 2003
- 14,387
- 480
- 126
Video card usually give the biggest boost.
However, I wouldn't waste money on a Video card for now because you are very CPU limited if you indeed get a 6800 or so.
P.S. and your PC133 memory also.
However, I wouldn't waste money on a Video card for now because you are very CPU limited if you indeed get a 6800 or so.
P.S. and your PC133 memory also.
make sure you get a 6800nu that supports pipe unlocking. That way you can really boost the performance.
Someone else already posted this deal in another thread but here it is...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122212
If you must get a video card now this would probably be the one to get...maybe you'll get lucky and be able to unlock all 16pipes...good luck!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122212
If you must get a video card now this would probably be the one to get...maybe you'll get lucky and be able to unlock all 16pipes...good luck!
ok, to be honest, i'd go for a CPU/Mobo upgrade to PCI-E........altho this will mean needing a new graphics card as well now....lol
the new graphics cards coming out in PCI-E only flavour mean that PCI-E mid range cards will become low range prices quicker than the AGPs.....(well, it should, might not end up being the case, who knows with these companies..lol).....then again, they might bring out AGP flavours, but my bet is the industry giants (ie those bigger than nvidia/ATi) have told them not to so they can sell new products that are PCI-E and bury AGP in the ground...
for now you could pick up a mid price mobo and a AMD3000+ and a 6600GT, then in the future do the more serious upgrade, ie whack up to a FX?? and a 7800GTX ;-)
the new graphics cards coming out in PCI-E only flavour mean that PCI-E mid range cards will become low range prices quicker than the AGPs.....(well, it should, might not end up being the case, who knows with these companies..lol).....then again, they might bring out AGP flavours, but my bet is the industry giants (ie those bigger than nvidia/ATi) have told them not to so they can sell new products that are PCI-E and bury AGP in the ground...
for now you could pick up a mid price mobo and a AMD3000+ and a 6600GT, then in the future do the more serious upgrade, ie whack up to a FX?? and a 7800GTX ;-)
Hint: He probably doesn't want to buy a whole new system right now. I think a decent AGP card would hold you over just fine until you have enough $$ saved up to get what you really want.
Or he could just wait a month for the ULi boards to arrive that support full speed AGP and PCI-E and he would'nt have to give up anything...
Give the guy a break ... he doesn't need to go to PCI-e right now, and a video card upgrade is not his best choice anyway.
Any video card update is going to be severly bottlenecked on his current system - basically, you will be able to turn the eye-candy on (AA/AF), but will still be limited to the same frame rates that he is currently "enjoying."
Don't believe me? Look at the numbers: Toms' VGA charts II. Although out of date, it shows the comparison for a Athlon 1Ghz/PC133 vs a XP2700+ for a 9500pro (similar enough to his 9600pro). Note that anything higher than a GeForce3 was fps-limited on all the benchmarks on the lower end system (which is pretty close to Jasanity's).
I'd recommend upgrading the cpu/ram/mobo and stick with the 9600pro for now (which is still quite playable, frankly). You could a cheap socket 754 system with a sempron chip and value ram and do extremely well for yourself. And high-end AGP cards are still around and easily available for future updates (even the current top of the line ATI X850XT PE for goodness' sakes!). Yeah, yeah, that may be it for AGP (or maybe not), but I don't see him needing a $700 super-high end card anytime soon.
P.S.: Jasanity, you might want to check out the CPU/overclocking forum here for more suggestions on system components..
Any video card update is going to be severly bottlenecked on his current system - basically, you will be able to turn the eye-candy on (AA/AF), but will still be limited to the same frame rates that he is currently "enjoying."
Don't believe me? Look at the numbers: Toms' VGA charts II. Although out of date, it shows the comparison for a Athlon 1Ghz/PC133 vs a XP2700+ for a 9500pro (similar enough to his 9600pro). Note that anything higher than a GeForce3 was fps-limited on all the benchmarks on the lower end system (which is pretty close to Jasanity's).
I'd recommend upgrading the cpu/ram/mobo and stick with the 9600pro for now (which is still quite playable, frankly). You could a cheap socket 754 system with a sempron chip and value ram and do extremely well for yourself. And high-end AGP cards are still around and easily available for future updates (even the current top of the line ATI X850XT PE for goodness' sakes!). Yeah, yeah, that may be it for AGP (or maybe not), but I don't see him needing a $700 super-high end card anytime soon.
P.S.: Jasanity, you might want to check out the CPU/overclocking forum here for more suggestions on system components..
Your CPU is going to fall below minimum system requirements long before your video card. The Socket A SDR system level performance is holding back what your 1.4 is capable of, and that isn't too great to start with anyway. It is true that in games you can run perfectly fine at the lowest graphics settings a vid card will give you a larger improvement when you crank the details up, but that won't do you much good if the game won't run decently at any setting.
With that said- do you know what stepping TBird you have? There is a chance you may be able to push out a reasonable OC delaying the need to upgrade if you have one of the decent cores. It won't be a huge performance boost, but you seriously need a new platform which creates a bit of an issue for you.
Being on a SocketA SDR platform with an AGP graphics card you need to replace your whole d@mn system to do the kind of upgrade you are closing in on needing. It may be a good idea for you to start preparing for that now and saving your pennies away to replace your entire setup(mobo/CPU/RAM/vid card). You could go with an AGP based Socket754 solution but then you will find yourself looking at needing to replace your platform again the next time you upgrade(better to spend slightly more- get a superior platform and save yourself a bit down the line).
With that said- do you know what stepping TBird you have? There is a chance you may be able to push out a reasonable OC delaying the need to upgrade if you have one of the decent cores. It won't be a huge performance boost, but you seriously need a new platform which creates a bit of an issue for you.
Being on a SocketA SDR platform with an AGP graphics card you need to replace your whole d@mn system to do the kind of upgrade you are closing in on needing. It may be a good idea for you to start preparing for that now and saving your pennies away to replace your entire setup(mobo/CPU/RAM/vid card). You could go with an AGP based Socket754 solution but then you will find yourself looking at needing to replace your platform again the next time you upgrade(better to spend slightly more- get a superior platform and save yourself a bit down the line).
hmm ok. Consensus says to save up for a new system. I'll just play at the low settings for now where the framerates are still decent. Thanks for all the info everyone!
selfbuilt knows very well!!
it's just very unrealistic too tell a guy to upgrade to PCI-E in these situations.
hmm, looks like i can pick up a bottom line socket 754 with memory for about $200 shipped for about a 30% gain in framerates with my current 9600 pro. that looks to be worth it. Hopefully i can play madden 2006 at 1024x768 when it comes out!
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