What should I upgrade?

[blacktankofhopelessness]

Since games like Half-life 2 and Rome: Total War are on the horizon I'm feeling the need to upgrade my system. The problem is I have a limited budget so I will only be able to upgrade one or two parts of my system.

My current rig:

ASUS A7V8X
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
512 MB 2700 333mhz
Geforce 4 Ti4200 128MB

Obviously if I want to run Half-life 2 at a decent setting with good fps I will need to upgrade my vid card. But will I also have to upgrade my RAM with 256-512MB? And how much of a bottleneck will my CPU become if I purchase say a 9800XT or Pro?

I would really appreciate any advice on vid card type (around the 9800 price range) and if I should focus on CPU or RAM upgrade...

Thanks!

 

[nanaki333]

do vid card first, then ram to at least 1GB total. OC your CPU a tad until you upgrade that. you can milk that 2000 for a few more mhz easily.

 

[Aleksandar]

Originally posted by: nanaki333
do vid card first, then ram to at least 1GB total. OC your CPU a tad until you upgrade that. you can milk that 2000 for a few more mhz easily.

yeah and i dont think you will need 1gb of ram 4 hl2 save the money

 

[jim1976]

I would say o/c your cpu or if you can swap it for an xp3200+
For video card a 9800pro at 128/256mb with R360 core so that you can flash it to an XT would be your best bet.
Finally if any money left add another stick of 256 or 512mb of ram. That should be your last upgrade IMO, due to the lesser benefits than cpu+gpu can offer you.

A64 and 6800NU would be greater upgrades but since you are in a limited budget this combo would be just fine and adequate for HL2 and R:TW

 

[EvilComputer92]

I don't know how large the textures are in half-life 2. Probably 512 mb will do.
Unreal Tournament 2004 has huge textures. (Around two gb) so there 1 GB of Ram is
very useful.

For the vid card, you could just get something around a Geforce 6800 or an X800 Pro.
But if those are too difficult to find, I guess an 9800 Pro 256 Mb would be a good choice

Depending on your processor cooler, you should be able to OC your 2000.

 

[blacktankofhopelessness]

Thanks guys for all your help!

I'm short a few to be able to get a X800 so I'll probably go with a 9800 Pro at 256MB. How does the flashing thing work btw? Will I get the same performance from a 9800Pro flashed to an XT as I would get from a "normal" 9800XT? I'll definately try and oc my CPU a bit, haven't even tried that yet and with my Thermaltake Volcano 9 I should be able to push it a bit right?

Thanks again! Much appreciated!

 

[EvilComputer92]

I've never had an ATI card, so I don't know too much about flashing. Though I am very sure that you will be able to flash your 9800 Pro to an XT, perhaps even beyond an XT.
But the 9800 Pro is no doubt a good deal, you will be able to play all of todays games just fine. I was planning on getting a 9800 Pro 256 mb until I waited to long and the 6800 GT came out, then I just ended up getting that.

As for your thermaltake... Don't much about your model, but I'm sure it's sufficult to OC your 2000.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Jeez... first of all why would he get a 3200+ when it runs at 400fs however that KT400 chipset only supports 333mhz FSB.

Heres what i would do,

Get an NF7-S or DFI NFII Ultra Infinity or even tight budget Shuttle AN35N Ultra

Get a 5900XT or Radeon 9800Pro (get an EVGA then you can step up in 90days)

Dont ditch you PC2700 it should be able to make it to 400mhz FSB no problem. So OC your FSB to 166mhz on the CPU, then try for 200mhz (200x2=400), remember you will need to add a little more voltage.

However if you dont want to OC you processor that much than sell your old M/B and Video Card and get a shiny new processor (preferable AXP -Mobile 2400+)

DO NOT TRY TO OC YOU FSB ON YOUR CURRENT M/B!! The KT400 series lack a PCI/AGP bus frequency lock so you could end up frying your M/B. Thats why you need to get that done first.

-Kevin

 

[jim1976]

Originally posted by: blacktankofhopelessness
Thanks guys for all your help!

I'm short a few to be able to get a X800 so I'll probably go with a 9800 Pro at 256MB. How does the flashing thing work btw? Will I get the same performance from a 9800Pro flashed to an XT as I would get from a "normal" 9800XT? I'll definately try and oc my CPU a bit, haven't even tried that yet and with my Thermaltake Volcano 9 I should be able to push it a bit right?

Thanks again! Much appreciated!

Yes you'll get the same perf as a real XT offers you,and with a good cooler like VGA silencer3 you'll be able to go further than XT speeds. Just make sure your 9800pro comes with R360 core.
As fas as concerns the cpu o/c, many things play important role (case fan,psu,mobo etc) so you'll have to test this yourself. Nobody can give you a definite answer to that question.
You'll definately need more processing power so consider your options.....

 

[EvilComputer92]

It seems as if your processor is starting to get a little outdated. I don't think the 9800 Pro will reach it's full potential unless you upgrade your processor. You would also want to upgrade you mobo. Personally, I would recommend the Asus A7N8X which fully supports 400fsb and works well with my AXP 3200+.

You could also try what Gamingphreek said about getting the Mobile 2400+ and overclocking it to a 3200+.

Try out different combos, see how things work out. I don't think you can go wrong with the 9800 Pro.

 

[blacktankofhopelessness]

Ooops, too late. I've pushed my FSB up in increments to a modest 140mhz ending up with 1750Ghz. Good thing I haven't pushed it up too far since I lack that PCI/AGP lock thingy. The oc-guide in these forums helped a lot! Do you guys know how far I can push the FSB without risking my M/B?

 

[blacktankofhopelessness]

Will I be safe as long as I don't increase the voltage?

 

[jim1976]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Jeez... first of all why would he get a 3200+ when it runs at 400fs however that KT400 chipset only supports 333mhz FSB.

Heres what i would do,

Get an NF7-S or DFI NFII Ultra Infinity or even tight budget Shuttle AN35N Ultra

Get a 5900XT or Radeon 9800Pro (get an EVGA then you can step up in 90days)

Dont ditch you PC2700 it should be able to make it to 400mhz FSB no problem. So OC your FSB to 166mhz on the CPU, then try for 200mhz (200x2=400), remember you will need to add a little more voltage.

However if you dont want to OC you processor that much than sell your old M/B and Video Card and get a shiny new processor (preferable AXP -Mobile 2400+)

DO NOT TRY TO OC YOU FSB ON YOUR CURRENT M/B!! The KT400 series lack a PCI/AGP bus frequency lock so you could end up frying your M/B. Thats why you need to get that done first.

-Kevin

Yeah you're right. I completely forgot that he can't use the 3200+ at that mobo.

 

[blacktankofhopelessness]

Right. Have I got this OC-thingy wrong or will I be safe raising the FSB to 166mhz since my A7V8X is designed to cope with 200mhz? I'm not overly concerned with CPU overheating, more worried about (as Gamingphreek noted) that my M/B does not have a AGP/PCI bus frequency lock and therefore an OC might cause errors in my graphics and/or sound card... I really can't afford getting a new M/B plus the 9800 card right now!