What is your advice for upgrade of computer for me??

[Mk1980]

Hi everyone, I have one new Gainward Geforce4Ti4200 128mb oc card to 310|570 and it run really sweet, but sometimes on some games when action come really hard,, so many units the framerate is going really down, I have only Athlon C 1333 with sdram 256mb CL2, and it looks 2 chances for upgrade for really cheap money, 1.st cheapest upgrade is to upg. it to Athlon XP 1800+, which has really cheap price, since my mobo support only up to 1900+, or more expensive 2.nd chance to upgrade is to KT333 mobo with 512DDR333 probably Epox most overclockable motherboard, and try to speed up my processor, what will make me best speed bust??. I dont know what to do, because there will be Clawhammer soon, or 512cache and 166fsb athlonxp also before it,, is it now good time for me to upgrade, or what upgrade do you advice me???? My 3dmark 2001 score original is 8100about score which is quite low because sdr also I think.
I want to play very smooth new games in 1280x1024 very means 60fps and higher, I was playing MOto GP demo which looks so great but performance was 60fps only in 1024, 1280 resolution is able to do about 37 to 45fps, which in this game is really less playable.
Can faster cpu , ddr and mobo help me to play these type of game smooth in glorious 1280x 1024 resolution?? Thanks folks

 

[AnAndAustin]

The 4200 is fine, and is surpassing GF4TI4400 perf with that o/c. So you really should upgrade your CPU to an AthlonXP1800+ considering how much they cost ... just ensure 100% that your current mobo can take AthlonXP and that your RAM can run at 133mhz (PC133 will PC100 CL2.0 should set to CL3.0).

DDR will only boost your perf by around 10%. Even the old KT133 & PC100 is only about 15-20% slower than KT333 & PC2700 and as such the perf gain really doesn't warrant the cost, unlike a shiny new AthlonXP1800+ in any case.

SDR isn't anywhere as limiting as most people think, esp 256MB of it. I would get an XP1800+, and when you fancy shelling out then get a new SktA & DDR to go with it. If you do want DDR and mobo then the KT333 really isn't worth it, get a KT266A if you want to o/c, SiS735 if you want great stability and the nForce mobos if you want great stability coupled with great onboard goodies. PC2700/DDR333 hardly gives any improvement on SktA mobos, even for o/c'ing DDR266/PC2100 CL2.0 is more than fine. PC2700 is good, but don't expect any more than 3% overall improvement.

If you are strapped for cash, get an XP1800+, save up for a KT266 or SiS735, some of which can handle both SDR and DDR, this way you can do things in stages rather than all at once. No doubt though, XP1800+ is certainly the best and most cost effective solution.

Hammer will use a new Skt, so getting KT333 makes little sense, many can't actually handle 333FSB (333 refers to DDR333/PC2700 RAM support) despite offering the necessary PCI divider.

Gotta rush - time is short!

 

[Mk1980]

Thank you for your advice, I will buy new AthlonXP, for really few money, I could sell Atlon 1333 + Voodoo3 3000 and my 56kb modem, and I have money for it, 1800+ has great price, better then 1900+ in term of difference.

 

[rbV5]

I think you're kidding yourself if 1.333GHz>1.53GHz is going to show much real world improvement on your current system. Not a good Price/performance ratio IMHO.

 

[Mk1980]

maybe you are right I should upgrade to ddr system with 2ghz or more better, best I think about 2,5ghz, but will it be soon in reasonable price?? I think amd will now start to give new technology to battle with intel in fall of year,, and I wish mega mhz improvement, Round one- Fight ,, I like battle and competition, because of price

 

[AnAndAustin]

3Dmark2001 (combo: total marks, games1-4 high detail FPS):

Ath1.3 & 4200: 9000, 43, 93, 57, 46
AthXP1800+ & 4200: 10500, 52, 103, 68, 59
P4 2.2ghz & 4200: 11000, 55, 112, 71, 50

pricewatch.com
RAM: 256MB PC2100=$49, 512MB PC2100=$96, 256MB PC2700=$59, 512MB PC2700=$115.
MOBO: KT266A=$57, KT333=$70, SiS735=$51.
CPU: AthXP1800+=$78 (decent HSF=$10, v.good HSF=$25), P4 2.2ghz=$230.

AthXP & HSF costs $88 while KT333 mobo and 256MB PC2700 DDR would cost $129 ($185 for 512MB), added to this you should find the Ath1.3 easier to sell than SDR RAM. Without DDR the above benchmarks would be around 8000 and 9500. DDR (about 10% overall increase) would therefore boost the 8000 to 8800-9000, games which are more CPU intensive/dependent would certainly benefit from the AthXP while gfx dep games would really enjoy the 4200, if you do lots of encoding then DDR would be nicer, but I'd personally prefer to have an AthXP1800+, 4200 and SDR combination than a Ath1.3, 4200 and DDR personally. The choices are yours, and both ways you get a nice boost, of course ultimately you'd want the lot, but in the short term I'd go AthXP and see how the mobo and RAM market shapes up over the next few months while you save your pennies.

 

[Mk1980]

Ok AtlonXp looks like good deal, but I saw test of Geforce3Ti500 with Athlonxp1800+ on Kt266a anad kt133a mainboards score was 6854 for sdram system and 7938 for ddr, which is 16% still, if people have with my overclocked Ti4200 score with AthlonXp1800+ about 10500 I will have at best something near 9500 which is not real great from 8100,, but maybe difference on hardcore action it should help.Thank for you suggestion.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Well the faster CPU will give your all-round speed in AND out of games a much bigger boost (and still be cheaper) than upgrading mobo & DDR.

What mobo (esp chipset) are you currently using? SDR to DDR will increase speed by about 10% while KT266A/333 are about 5% faster than the 'old' KT133. So going from KT133+SDR to KT266A/333+DDR should boost you about 15% (for $129) while going from Ath1.3 to AthXP1800+ should give you a 20% boost (for $88).

The main reason for the speed diff in your example is that GF3 do not scale (ie take advantage of faster CPUs) as well as GF4TI cards. Check out this link to see how GF4TI4200 take advantage of faster CPUs:

AnAndTech Benchmarks with CPU Scaling (Start)
(Start of CPU Scaling Analysis)

AnAndTech CPU Scaling Article 2 (Start)
GF4 Scaling
GF3 Scaling

 

[Mk1980]

ok, I understand, thanks man

 

[RobsTV]

I agree that CPU is best route at this time simply due to price. But waiting would be better.
Biggest gains will be had by switching to DDR motherboard along XP CPU.
Newer and better motherboards will be out very soon, such as KT400.
Choose the $67 XP1600 over the XP1800+ (check out Hot Deals forum). Most XP1600+ easily do XP2100+.

Here, went from Epox 8kta3Pro (KT133a, SDR) to 8kha+ (KT266a DDR) and then 8k3a (KT333).
All tested with fastest performing Bios.

KT133A, 1GHz T-Bird at 155x9 (1395MHz), GF3 Ti200 235/515, scored 7169 3dm2k1se.
KT266A, 1GHz T-Bird at 150x9 (1358MHz), GF3 Ti200 235/515, scored 7262. (DDR without XP CPU only added 93pts)
KT266A, 1GHz T-Bird at 195x7 (1371MHz), GF3 Ti200 235/515, scored 7583. (overclocked AGP bus helps)

Using XP1700+, unlocked, 150x10.5 (1575MHz).
KT133A, GF3 Ti200 at 235/515, scored 7340 3dm2k1se (going from 1358 to 1575 added only 78 pts)
KT266A, GF3 Ti200 at 235/515, scored 8510 (switching to DDR board, which helps XP CPU's, added 1170).
KT266A, Gainward GF3 Ti200/450 GS at 255/536, scored 8830.

Running XP1700+ at 167x9.5 (1593MHz), GF3 Ti200 at 235/515:
KT266A scored 8693
KT333 scored 8540 (lower score due to PCI/AGP divider kicking in at 166Mhz).

Dumped the 8k3a, and went back top the better performing 8kha+ KT266A board.
Upgraded to XP1600+ at 165x9.5 (1568Mhz) and GF3 Ti500 running 255/580, scored 8997 in 3dm2k1se.
Running XP1600+ at 160x10.5 (1685MHz, or XP2000+), GF3 Ti500 255/580, scored 9182.

Everything helps a little, but combined components is what you really need to do to see largest increase in performance.
Without combining DDR and XP CPU, gain will not be noticed.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Cool! But do be sure to check out the Cpu Scaling links above, they demonstrate that the GF3 cards gain little from CPU increases above 1.4ghz while GF4TI cards yum up every single mhz you can provide them with

 

[Mk1980]

Ok , I have no choice at big,, my supplier told me that for sure, my mobo had before issues with athlonXP cpu`s and I surely need upgrade of mobo, esp. 2 same 256mb sdram blocks from the same manufacturer with same chips wasnt together working,, and also after update of bios nothing happened, this mobo is really shitty cause I cant overclock it even 1mhz,, no chance,, I need to buy Epox 8ka3 mobo and xp1800+ because I am thinking about overclocking like a premium, and also 512 mb piese of ddr333 will help, more memory, I expect overclocking at least to Athlon Xp 2000+ which with this ddr support give me superrior performance I think, no? No other way for me