Worth to upgrade from single A64 to Opty 165?

[Marty502]

Hi everyone, first post. First of all I'll give you a quick review of my PC:

AMD Athlon 64 3000 @2.5Ghz
1 GB Value RAM
XFX Geforce 7600GT @ 700/1.8ghz
DFI Infinity mobo.
17" CRT screen (I normally play at 1280x960)

Do you think, considering my weak video card, that it would be a worthy upgrade to buy a Opty 165 and OC the crap out of it for gaming?

I always notice in games that my framerate drops really hard when there's lots of complex scenery (Oblivion) or when there's too much, say, cars (DiRT). I've dropped the resolution to 640x480 and it still lags, so it's got to be a CPU bottleneck. Am I correct? If so, I should see a big improvement on the minimum frame rates on my games. Right?

Let me know what you guys think.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

As long as it is cheap and you don't need a new mobo Its totally worth it

 

[Marty502]

I don't. I really want to squeeze as much as possible from this old 939 system. I think it could be pretty damn fast with the Opty, some fast RAM later on, and finally a new video card like an 8800 or whatever comes up. Sounds right to you?

 

[nyker96]

if for gaming ptobably get a better card would do you more.

 

[SickBeast]

For gaming the upgrade will do NOTHING unless you get a better GPU. Windows will run super smooth with a dual core though.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: Marty502
I don't. I really want to squeeze as much as possible from this old 939 system. I think it could be pretty damn fast with the Opty, some fast RAM later on, and finally a new video card like an 8800 or whatever comes up. Sounds right to you?

Just changing out the GPU and adding another 1GB of ram would do wonders, even with your current A64. I also have an A64 at 2.5, matched with 2GB ram and an x19xtx. I have no problems running most games at 1600x1200.

There's a GTS 320mb on sale right now for $245ish after rebate. There's 1 GB of DDR400 on sale for like $50 too. So, for less than $300, you'll have a really good upgrade to last you a while longer. You could always drop in an x2 3800+ for like $60 as well. I don't think the opty is worth the extra money.

And honestly, for that $350ish, someone here could recommend a C2D build for around that as well, which could end up being a lot faster and have a VERY good upgrade path (whereas s939 doesn't).