My current system specs are:
Intel D915 Board
3.0GHz P4 (Prescott)
512MB Kingston PC4200 DDR2 in dual-channel mode
Saphirre X600 256MB Video Card
300 Watt PSU (El Cheapo came with case)
17" LCD @ 1280x1024
I know this isn't the most cutting edge system but I don't have the dough to do a complete system build right now so I'm just gonna upgrade this one. Last year I built an AMD system with an Operton 180, 2GB Corsair XMS, ASUS A8N32-SLI board, and dual EVGA 7900GT 256MB video cards in SLI. I was running it on a 24" Dell LCD @ 1920x1200 and it did decent but in the end I was still a little disappointed with it's performance in games. This is why I'm looking to go the ATI route again on this upgrade. Don't get me wrong, that system did really good, but it still wouldn't run FEAR at 1920x1200 with AA and AF cranked up. I also had MAJOR trouble with screen tearing in just about every game and nothing would fix it. Could have been in the monitor but I'm guessing it was the computer. The monitor was a DELL and had a good response time so who knows. But anyway, I ended up selling that system to get a new motorcycle so now I'm back to my using my old system which I described above.
On this P4 system, if I crank the video card clock from 400MHz to 600MHz I get decen't frame rates in Doom 3, Quake 4, and Far Cry on high settings (minus any AA or AF). By decent I mean in the 30-50 FPS range. FEAR and HL2 aren't so great high settings but meduim is pretty good. (All the games I mentioned are running at a 1280x1024 resolution). I plan on using this system until at least this Christmas so I want to do a little upgrading in the meantime. In addition to a newer video card, I'm also going to put another 1GB of RAM in it. I'll probably throw a slightly better PSU in it while I'm at it. I haven't tried to play STALKER on this system yet but I'm sure that as it is, it would have major difficulty unless I really dull down the in-game visuals and I don't wanna do that.
So now that I've told you my life story, I'll ask my question. I have about 300 to spend on this upgrade. After I spend 100 or so on some RAM, I'll have 200 to throw towards a video card. I'm looking at either the X1650 512MB for around 100 bucks or the X1950 512MB for around 200. My biggest concern is that this older P4 is going to be a bottleneck for the X1950 and I'll just be wasting my cash. Given my system specs, do you think I should go with the X1950 or the older X1650? Or should I go the nVidia route? If you say nVidia, what's going to be the best card for me that's priced at or around 200 bucks? I guess I should also add that I plan to stick with Windows XP at least until I build a newer system.
Thanks.
Intel D915 Board
3.0GHz P4 (Prescott)
512MB Kingston PC4200 DDR2 in dual-channel mode
Saphirre X600 256MB Video Card
300 Watt PSU (El Cheapo came with case)
17" LCD @ 1280x1024
I know this isn't the most cutting edge system but I don't have the dough to do a complete system build right now so I'm just gonna upgrade this one. Last year I built an AMD system with an Operton 180, 2GB Corsair XMS, ASUS A8N32-SLI board, and dual EVGA 7900GT 256MB video cards in SLI. I was running it on a 24" Dell LCD @ 1920x1200 and it did decent but in the end I was still a little disappointed with it's performance in games. This is why I'm looking to go the ATI route again on this upgrade. Don't get me wrong, that system did really good, but it still wouldn't run FEAR at 1920x1200 with AA and AF cranked up. I also had MAJOR trouble with screen tearing in just about every game and nothing would fix it. Could have been in the monitor but I'm guessing it was the computer. The monitor was a DELL and had a good response time so who knows. But anyway, I ended up selling that system to get a new motorcycle so now I'm back to my using my old system which I described above.
On this P4 system, if I crank the video card clock from 400MHz to 600MHz I get decen't frame rates in Doom 3, Quake 4, and Far Cry on high settings (minus any AA or AF). By decent I mean in the 30-50 FPS range. FEAR and HL2 aren't so great high settings but meduim is pretty good. (All the games I mentioned are running at a 1280x1024 resolution). I plan on using this system until at least this Christmas so I want to do a little upgrading in the meantime. In addition to a newer video card, I'm also going to put another 1GB of RAM in it. I'll probably throw a slightly better PSU in it while I'm at it. I haven't tried to play STALKER on this system yet but I'm sure that as it is, it would have major difficulty unless I really dull down the in-game visuals and I don't wanna do that.
So now that I've told you my life story, I'll ask my question. I have about 300 to spend on this upgrade. After I spend 100 or so on some RAM, I'll have 200 to throw towards a video card. I'm looking at either the X1650 512MB for around 100 bucks or the X1950 512MB for around 200. My biggest concern is that this older P4 is going to be a bottleneck for the X1950 and I'll just be wasting my cash. Given my system specs, do you think I should go with the X1950 or the older X1650? Or should I go the nVidia route? If you say nVidia, what's going to be the best card for me that's priced at or around 200 bucks? I guess I should also add that I plan to stick with Windows XP at least until I build a newer system.
Thanks.
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