Im itching to upgrade....

Dave · May 12, 2005, 11:57 PM

But is it really worth it?

Currently I have a Athlon XP 2700+ and a 9800 Pro @ XT Speeds (plan to go to 450mhz on the core and 400mhz on the memory ((atleast thats my goal)) when my vf700cu arrives).

ANYWAYZ: I've noticed in a lot of games I play (mainly UT2K3, Doom 3, Half Life 2, Far Cry, and CS Source that my frame rate always takes a nose dive around every corner. My goal is to try and stabilize those frames per seconds. Would say a Athlon 64 3200+ 939 Venice and a MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM do the job for me? If I do upgrade to Athlon 64 I would then later upgrade to perhaps a 6800 GT or maybe a G70. Im just trying to extend the life on my 9800 XT untill the new cards come out for AGP. Any advice is appreciated.

Note: Socket 754 is out of the question.

ReDGuiTaR · May 13, 2005, 12:10 AM

Yeah a CPU upgrade to Athlon64 should give you a nice boost but you should upgrade your ram too ...

Dave · May 13, 2005, 12:14 AM

yeah if i do upgrade i may grab two sticks of cheap pc3200 ram but i hear that ram speed really isnt important on a64.

Vampyromaniac · May 13, 2005, 12:51 AM

Graphics card would be the main factor here. Going to a A64 3200 wouldn't be too big of a help, unless maybe you play at low res and quality settings.

Dave · May 13, 2005, 12:55 AM

so a gpu upgrade would be more beneficial than a cpu upgrade?

if so my monitors default res (lcd) is 1280x1024 and I love AA and AF to be pilled on. So im looking at a x800xl or a 6800 GT correct?

Lowfat · May 14, 2005, 12:37 AM

I second the graphics card upgrade instead of the CPU/mobo.. Its going to make a lot bigger difference. Either of those two cards will be a fine choice.

Dave · May 14, 2005, 12:16 PM

well i went with a 6800 gt i found on anandtech forums for 259 shipped. also picked up some g.skill pc3200 ram at 2-3-3-6 timings from newegg for around 95.

PandaZ3 · May 25, 2005, 06:51 AM

Well you have had that for long enough to get comfortable, are you happy with the upgrade now?

I have a A64 using a 9500 Pro right now and it was very noticeable coming from the same card with a XP 2600. But I still like socket A, building one more EPoX 8RDA6+Pro. This one with a XP2700 and 2x512 PC3200 and a Sapphire 9600 Pro.

I would have gone with a 64 but I have the CPU already. I'll save some that way.

I am interested in your perception of the Video upgrade though. I see the benchmarks and they are always testing on a maximo machine, I think yours and mine are mid-level. I am a lot more interested in your performance.

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Judas · Jan 3, 2006, 12:16 AM

imo..... get a new motherboard... 939 chipset... preferably a Asus A8N-E rev 2.

Exchange/trade/ sell your video card for a similare PCI-EX variation.

Get a cheap the cheapest X2...

And you'll gain in all departments...

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jan 3, 2006, 02:32 AM

CHeapest X2 is still like $400 CDN after tax... if you truly only do gaming there's no reason to spend the extra cash, just get a 3000+ and overclock the hell out of it.

WHen prices drop on the Opteron 165 that would be a good idea... looks like a better deal than the X2 3800+

Judas · Jan 3, 2006, 04:02 AM

x2 provides a pile of performance boosts over any single core in nearly any game.... although initially by benchmark results, you wont see this, but trust me it's there... some occasions i've seen some pretty hefty performance boosts....

And,

This year we should be expecting some games that may or maynot actually require dual core (NOT intels HT) to take full advantage of some of the higher quality content....

400 bucks canadian isn't a bad price at all. Considering what you get in the package...

PandaZ3 · Jan 3, 2006, 06:54 AM

I went the cheaper route and got a Opteron 148 ...2.2, 1.0 L2 cache out of the Box for $220 US... better than the 3500 Winchester I bought last year for $290.

But I did get the ASUS board....

g35x · Jan 3, 2006, 08:06 AM

also have an opteron 148 =D,very impressed,highly reccomended,same as my mobo and everything else in my system its all working great =D,u could get my mobo and use ur agp card until u want to upgrade to a pci-e it has both slots,they're not makeing any good agp cards anymore and dont plan to.....no x1800xt or 7800 agp

Judas · Jan 3, 2006, 12:52 PM

get the dual core variant of the opteron...

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jan 3, 2006, 10:39 PM

Yeah the Toledo Opeteron's are supposed to kick major OC'ing ass

Randomletters · Jan 3, 2006, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave

so a gpu upgrade would be more beneficial than a cpu upgrade?

if so my monitors default res (lcd) is 1280x1024 and I love AA and AF to be pilled on. So im looking at a x800xl or a 6800 GT correct?

I have a 6800gt and unfortunatly i cant really do 1280x1024 with anything more the 2xaa/4xaf and even that at setting the framerates drop pretty bad in the newest games

System Specs

p4 3.2ghz HT
1gb 533mhz ddr2
80gb Seagate SATA HD
MSI 6800gt