Which upgrade would you do in this situation?

[Antisocial Virge]

I have a P4 1.6 @ 2.4 with a geforce 3 v8200 deluxe.

Friend has a bunch of stuff for sale.
option #1 : P4 2.4c that can hit 3.4 and a Asus P4P800 for $290
option #2 : Herculese 9800 pro 128 meg for $345

The motherboard/cpu would be good cause I will shove my older stuff in the wifes machine and sell hers.
The vid card would be good because mine is getting a little dated but still seems to run games ok for the amount that I play.

What would you do?

 

[Shagga]

For me Option #1 😉

 

[FullRoast]

I would definitely go for the2.4C and P4P800. You can get a video card upgrade when you need to. You have a lot of upgrade options to improve apon the v8200.

 

[kingmike]

Option #1 is the the best choice 😎

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: FullRoast
I would definitely go for the2.4C and P4P800. You can get a video card upgrade when you need to. You have a lot of upgrade options to improve apon the v8200.

Thats kinda what I was thinking, the 9800 is the cream of the crop where something alot cheaper will still show me great improvements over my 8200 (which still seems to be holding its own)

Just for fun here is the other P4 of his that he won't sell me link

 

[Alex]

id get the video card for sure.
i guess it depends what you do with your rig... i mean sure the gf3 is no bum but if you're a hardcore gamer it'd prolly be good to get yer hands on that 9800 because your processor is already pretty fast if it runs stable at 2.4 and upgrading it wouldnt really improve your gaming all that much.

since you implied you dont game hardcore get the cpu/mobo and make a couple bucks sellin yer wifes old parts! 🙂

 

[Corporate Thug]

with your current setup, the video card is the bottle neck. if you get the 2.4C @ 3.4C, it will still bottleneck you, more so than the 1.6@2.4 would bottleneck a 9800 pro. However, the deal on the 9800 pro isnt particularly amazing and a 2.4 than can do 3.4 is hard to pass up

 

[capricorn]

The video card would probably be a bigger boost if you were an avid gamer. Otherwise the CPU/Motherboard will feel like the biggest gain for you. You know, your friend's not doing you any big favors. I can buy the (GigaByte) 9800 Pro on NewEgg for $353 and the Intel P4 2.4C/Asus P4P800 for $292.

-cap

 

[Antisocial Virge]

You know, your friend's not doing you any big favors. I can buy the (GigaByte) 9800 Pro on NewEgg for $353 and the Intel P4 2.4C/Asus P4P800 for $292.

Not great deals no but you can't get a new Herculese 9800 pro retail still shrinkwrapped for $353. As for the motherboard and cpu they might as well be new and they have proven performance.

 

[DojoWarlord]

Yea go with Option #1, because, c'mon now a GeForce3 still does all current games 60 FPS+ at reasonable resolutions. Especially with his current CPU, and it will only make it better with Option #1.

Might not be as huge as a performance increase as the 9800 Pro would be, framerate wise in games. But the general overall usage improvement he would see from an OCed 2.4C combined with the small FPS increase (10-15 in all games minimum), I think, out-weigh's the 9800 Pro's gaming only improvement.