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What to upgrade - CPU or v-card?

M

Mursilis

Diamond Member
A friend of mine has a P4-1.6 (with 758MB of DDR) and a GeForce 3 Ti200. He wants to do a little upgrading, and is looking at either a newer CPU, or a newer v-card. His motherboard supports up to a 2.6GHz or so, and he's looking to spend between $100-150 or so. Based on an old magazine article I can't find anymore, I told him a v-card upgrade would be better for what he likes to do - play games, mostly. I remember seeing a comparison test in PC Gamer or a similar mag in which they installed newer v-cards in older machines, and that increased framerates more than simply upgrading the processor. Thoughts? Would a more powerful DX9-compatible video card give him good framerates in newer games, even if he's still running a P4-1.6?
Thanks for any input.
 
I'd try to overclock the CPU and buy a 9600Pro card. If you reach 2Ghz the 9600pro should give it a nice boost but if you don't plan on overclocking then you'd better buy a new CPU.
 
While I agree that many new games *can* be CPU-limited, a P4-1.6Ghz chip (unless it's a Celeron) should not be holding you back compared to that video card. If you could upgrade to a GeForce4Ti4600 or RADEON 9600XT (or save up a bit more and get a GeForceFX 5900/5900SE/5900XT or RADEON 9700Pro/9800, which is what I would suggest), you should see a good improvement in most games. The problem with upgrading to, say, a 9600Pro now is that it will be as obsolete as that GF3 in a year or so, while the higher-end cards of today are likely to be usable for a longer period of time.
 
Be patient and wait, you can get a new mobo cheap, with a PRESCOTT processor for the same price you would pay for a newer P4 today. That would really be the best bang for the buck.
 
Originally posted by: modedepe
I'd upgrade the cpu first. A p4 1.6 willamette can bottleneck a new video card pretty well.
Click to expand...

^ what he said. A willamette core p4 is a POS.... slightly faster than a 1.13ghz P3. Dont settle for anything less than a Northwood core 2.4+ ghz. And once you get that, overclock the sh1t out of it!
 
I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing Prescotts undercut current P4's anytime soon, SneakyStuff. The advice is to upgrade within $150. Without even looking, I can guarantee the new Prescotts are nowhere near this price.
 
Originally posted by: SneakyStuff
Be patient and wait, you can get a new mobo cheap, with a PRESCOTT processor for the same price you would pay for a newer P4 today. That would really be the best bang for the buck.
Click to expand...

You're going to be waiting a long time for a prescott. There is basically no reason to get one now, especially if you're on a budget. They're slightly slower than a northwood and more expensive.

He might consider getting one of those cheap amd fry's combos, selling his current mobo/cpu/video card, and he should still have a few bucks left for a new card.
 
MB supports CPUs up to 2.6 GHz? Then your friend probably has a Northwood 1.6A. Those were very good overclockers, often reaching 2.5GHz+.

 
I used to have a GF4 TI 4400 (much more powerful than your GF3 TI 200) and a AMD 1600+ (an approximately equal cpu). I can tell you that my gaming performance went up more percentage-wise when I bought a 9700Pro than ANY cpu upgrade could have given me. Your card is very slow, that is your first update. (your cpu is pretty low end for modern games too, but if I had to make a choice I'd spend $200 on a 9700Pro or 5900NU)
 
Does your friend have an OEM system like Dell? I ask because if he doesn't and the board has overclocking features then he could get 2ghz+ from that 1.6A most likely as they were good overclockers. Add the best vid card he can afford either way of course, since that's the biggest boost for gaming performance as the Ace's upgrade guide demonstrates.
 
"I used to have a GF4 TI 4400 (much more powerful than your GF3 TI 200) and a AMD 1600+ (an approximately equal cpu). I can tell you that my gaming performance went up more percentage-wise when I bought a 9700Pro than ANY cpu upgrade could have given me. Your card is very slow, that is your first update. (your cpu is pretty low end for modern games too, but if I had to make a choice I'd spend $200 on a 9700Pro or 5900NU"

You're very nice!
 
None, if you have time, just wait for 3 months and everything will be different.

Given that newer p4 Mobo in the up soon in 2 month and will be pci expressed. together next gen video card is coming next month, I think it is just better to wait.

But if you have to upgrade, then I will say a graphic card. CPU upgrade without Mobo upgrade would not buy you much performance increase if gaming is the major usage.
 
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