What single upgrade would get me more performance?

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sebastienmaass

Member
Jan 25, 2006
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My specs are as follows:

-Pentium 4 550 (3.4 Ghz) w/ Zalman CNPS9500
-Abit AA8 Duramax
-512 DDR-2 PC4200 (kingston value ram)
-Albatron Geforce 6600GT 128MB
-Win2k pro
-Western D 40GB HD 7200rpm
-Cooler Master "Wave master" Case, x1rear fan, x2 front fans
-Sony DVD-R-RW
-420 Watt Thermaltake PS

I've got quite a bit of money and I'm just not getting the performance I want from HL2 or DOOM 3. I plan on playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Call of Duty 2, Quake 4, Unreal tournament 2007. I would really rather not have to replace the CPU, I was thinking more along the lines of a new video card or RAM but only if it gets me MUCH more performance (framerates). I don't wanna pay 200-500$ for only 10-20 more FPS...

Thanks for any replies!
 
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sebastienmaass

Member
Jan 25, 2006
71
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I had a little over 81 FPS on the Counterstrike: source stress test (full video 1280x1024 res) and a little over 41 FPS on "the lost coast" stress test (again full video 1280x1024 res)
 
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sebastienmaass

Member
Jan 25, 2006
71
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Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: sebastienmaass
My specs are as follows:

-Pentium 4 550 (3.4 Ghz) w/ Zalman CNPS9500
-Abit AA8 Duramax
-512 DDR-2 PC4200 (kingston value ram)
-Albatron Geforce 6600GT 128MB
-Win2k pro
-Western D 40GB HD 7200rpm
-Cooler Master "Wave master" Case, x1rear fan, x2 front fans
-Sony DVD-R-RW
-420 Watt Thermaltake PS

I've got quite a bit of money and I'm just not getting the performance I want from HL2 or DOOM 3. I plan on playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Call of Duty 2, Quake 4, Unreal tournament 2007. I would really rather not have to replace the CPU, I was thinking more along the lines of a new video card or RAM but only if it gets me MUCH more performance (framerates). I don't wanna pay 200-500$ for only 10-20 more FPS...

Thanks for any replies!
Click to expand...

In what area are you looking for more performance? Games? Encoding? Video Editing? CAD? Webserver?
 
G

Geomagick

Golden Member
Dec 3, 1999
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Moving upto 1GB ram will help matters, not by a huge margin but will just make your PC a little nicer to use, also many games now like to have 1GB or even more installed to get optimum performance.

The 6600gt may be a good graphics card but is your real weakpoint for games. Running at 1280 x 1024 with all options turned to max is just not possible with this card. A 7800gt or higher card would do you quite nicely.
 
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V00D00

Golden Member
May 25, 2003
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I have a similar system. There is no reason that those 2 memory modules shouldn't work together. You should see a nice performance boost going from 512 to 1gb. If you game the video card can never hurt either. Regardless, you will not see HUGE jumps in your fps, but you will be able to play more games in the future. You will have to decide if that can justify spending a few hundred now, or you can just wait until that 7800 costs 1/2 the price in 6 months. At that point you may be more likely to jump for a card such as that, but it's not to say you wouldn't see a healthy boost in the games you currently play. It's tricky.
 
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sebastienmaass

Member
Jan 25, 2006
71
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Googer:
"what area are you looking for more performance? Games? Encoding? Video Editing? CAD? Webserver? "
______________________________________________________________________________________

Games
 
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sebastienmaass

Member
Jan 25, 2006
71
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I would really like to be able 2 play DOOM 3, Quake 4, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Call of Duty 2 @ 60+ FPS (almost) full video.

HL2 is pretty decent on this system, CSS is perfect
 
Ricemarine

Ricemarine

Lifer
Sep 10, 2004
10,507
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Ehh I say get an extra 512 MB of the OCZ ram...
As for the BFG 7800gt, No it's not a good deal...
eVGA's go for like $260 shipped AR.
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: sebastienmaass
Googer:
"what area are you looking for more performance? Games? Encoding? Video Editing? CAD? Webserver? "
______________________________________________________________________________________

Games
Click to expand...
That 6600 is holding you back. Beleive it or not 512MB will still play 95% of todays games at a nice frame rate. Tomshardware.com did a test that showed the differance between 512MB and 1024MB(1GB) and the Frame rate was noticeable but not that huge.

Then the first thing I would upgrade would be the graphics to an ATI X1900. Graphics upgrades are the biggest thing you can do to improve game performance. = $500

Second I would suggest you get an AMD CPU and an extra GB of RAM for $79. An $80 motherboard (ASrock ULi M1695), $220 3700+ CPU, and $80 for 1GB of RAM = about $350.
 
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sebastienmaass

Member
Jan 25, 2006
71
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Originally posted by: Ricemarine
Ehh I say get an extra 512 MB of the OCZ ram...
As for the BFG 7800gt, No it's not a good deal...
eVGA's go for like $260 shipped AR.
Click to expand...


Does any kind of OZC work?
 
Ricemarine

Ricemarine

Lifer
Sep 10, 2004
10,507
0
0
A

alimoalem

Diamond Member
Sep 22, 2005
4,025
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Originally posted by: sebastienmaass
I baught two ram modules that don't work together, one OCZ and the other kingston.

Kingston:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144149

OCZ:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr2_pc2_4200_value_series

I was told that I can't run them together and they don't work either way so I have to choose wich to use of the two. I want and buy a second one in the near future, will any module of the same manufacturer work?
Click to expand...

i don't see why it doesn't work but i'd keep the ocz ram and buy a gig total for your rig. for the future, if you plan to buy more, try and get the same exact model# as the current stick(s) you have.

if you really want to upgrade, get the eVGA 7800gt but i personally would play at the current settings and upgrade in a few months so it's cheaper to upgrade....
 
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sebastienmaass

Member
Jan 25, 2006
71
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Yea ive got exams coming up so I wont really be able 2 go into gaming until after june.

By then I assume both Nvidia and STI will hav new(er) models and the 7800GT 512 MB will cost less than $200
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: sebastienmaass
my CPU isnt holding me back is it?
Click to expand...

Not quite as much as the video card is. If you change over to AMD, expect to see a 10-15FPS gain. But get an x1900XT and you will almost double your frame rate.
 
Ricemarine

Ricemarine

Lifer
Sep 10, 2004
10,507
0
0
Originally posted by: sebastienmaass
I got the Alabtron 6600GT in Nov. 2004 and it cost me a little over 200$, would you say this card is past its prime?
Click to expand...

Yes. Now worth around $80-$100.
 
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