Author Topic: opinions please (Read 581 times)

Bronk · « **on:** June 26, 2005, 04:18:56 PM »

I've been looking to upgrade my pc for a while now. The hardware selection out there is staggering to say the least.
My current pc is as follows.
1. Iwill p4r533 motherboard
2. p4 2.5 northwood
3. 1 gig pc800 rdram [samsung if i remember rite]
4. bfg geforce 5800 ultra
5. sb live 5.1 sound card
I'll be upgradeing the motherboard , cpu , and the memory as follows.
1. abit av8 3rd eye
2. amd athlon 64 3200 venice
3. 1 gig corsair xms pc 3200
I wanted to spend about $500 on the upgrade, and have a little more upgrade possibilities in the future. what i was wondering if these were good choises in upgrades and if they are what kind of ingame performace increase will I see.

Thanx in advance
Bronk:aok

Bronk · « **Reply #1 on:** June 27, 2005, 03:41:38 PM »

stantond · « **Reply #2 on:** June 27, 2005, 10:00:21 PM »

Keep your system and spend $350 on a 6800GT or XP800XL video card that you can use in your next system. For <$500 that's what will give you the most bang for your buck.

Regards,

Malta

eagl · « **Reply #3 on:** June 28, 2005, 01:35:34 AM »

I wouldn't include the old vid card in any upgrade plan and I wouldn't get another AGP mobo.

MOIL · « **Reply #4 on:** June 28, 2005, 04:25:17 AM »

Personally I would stay away form the Abit board.

Go with the Asus, MSI, Epox or DFI. Get the 939 socket, not the 754

Be glad ya did

Bronk · « **Reply #5 on:** June 28, 2005, 05:10:01 AM »

Thanks for the input guys . Here is a bit more info . If i just upgrade the video card and nothing else it will still only run at 4X agp. thats the reason for the motherboard and mem upgrade. I was foolish on my current rig .

Dont get me wrong heve the sliders set about 1/3 of the way from the right and get 60 frame at at alt [have it locked at 60 anyway] and high 20's in most fur balls. I figured if i keep my old gfx card with a new motherboard that can support 8x agp id get more out of the card and upgrade it later. As for the new PCIx16 boards. well i cant afford an new board , proccesor , video card , and 1 gig of good memory. I figured in a year or so I would upgrade to 6800 or a x850xt. agp . That would probably last 3 to 4 years. Enough time for me so save up enough $$$ for the next big pc overhaul.

Also why not the abit board seems it got decent reviews and is on par with the rest of the 939 boards.
Thanx for the input, guess I'll check out more options if this doesn't seem reasonable. I'm still pissed about my use of rdram. If i had not used it I would many more options.

Thanx agin

Bronk

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #6 on:** June 28, 2005, 12:46:14 PM »

Bronk, if I were you I'd just keep what I have until I could afford to upgrade the whole thing at once, video card included. Eagl is right, if you have to upgrade the whole thing anyway there is absolutely no sense in buying a new AGP motherboard. Now if you had a good quality AGP card already, and wanted to get some life out of it, then yeah. But as long as the game is playable on what you have, dont go buying just to buy.

Bronk · « **Reply #7 on:** June 28, 2005, 01:08:19 PM »

Star been waiting for you post:D I've done a little more digging to see what i can come up with. Tell me what ya think please.
msi k8n neo 4 platinum $135
g.skill 1gb pc3200 $99
AMD 64 3000+ $146
asus 256 geforce 6600 $122
Just over $500 . Will it out perform my current rig?

Bronk

humble · « **Reply #8 on:** June 28, 2005, 03:05:03 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Bronk
Star been waiting for you post:D I've done a little more digging to see what i can come up with. Tell me what ya think please.
msi k8n neo 4 platinum $135
g.skill 1gb pc3200 $99
AMD 64 3000+ $146
asus 256 geforce 6600 $122
Just over $500 . Will it out perform my current rig?

Bronk

Yes....

The VC alone will boost things....but not overwhelmingly.

I went from a 2500+ barton core with a Ti-4200 to a AMD 64 3200+ with a X800pro (both with 1 gig pc3200). Overall framerates went up....but nowhere near what I had hoped for.

I didnt really have a choice (cpu fan failed and cooked cpu/mb)...if I knew what I know not I'd off just grabbed a 3200+ sempron combo from frys and left the rest as is.....

I agree with earlier comment....wait till after christmas and you'll get alot more bamg for your buck...

eagl · « **Reply #9 on:** June 28, 2005, 03:48:43 PM »

Bronk,

Your second price list with the A64 and 6600 may work better than your current rig. The cpu is definately better for gaming, and the video card ought to be a tad faster. Plus you're set up for either a 6800GT or 7800 in a year or so when the prices drop.

Bronk · « **Reply #10 on:** June 28, 2005, 05:59:20 PM »

Just wanted to thank you all for the input. You have given a few things to think over.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #11 on:** June 28, 2005, 06:05:36 PM »

My personal recommendation (I just built one of these for a guy in my gun club, this thing ROCKS).

This MOBO is about 50 bucks more than the NEO Platinum you picked out, but worth it IMO.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127196

The Abit FATAL1TY board rated great in the Tom's Hardware testing and if overclocking is your thing you cant beat Abit's setup. Not that you need to. This setup works great without it and no overheat worries.

Then the CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103501

Pretty much the same as what you had listed. Yours is 9 bucks cheaper, go for it.

On the video card, I would really suggest going for the 6600GT instead of the 6600. Actually, I'd recommend you just go straight to the 6800GT, its a far better card. But if money is the key, then spend another 30 bucks and go with the 6600 GT. Its only going to have 128MB of memory instead of the 256 you are looking at, but the memory on the GT cards is twice as fast, and the processors are minimum 200mhz faster. The slower memory on the 256MB cards wont really run any faster than the 128MB card because of the quality of the RAM. Look at the specs on the card you have listed, then look at these two.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125156

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145098

The Gigabyte one is a little more, but I trust their quality. Chaintech is ok too. Rosewill, MSI.......name brands. Anymore, its coming down to a manufacturer quality issue on video cards. Buy from reputable companies. Sure you can get an RMA, but in the meantime you have no video card. PITA.

As for the RAM, I personally like Corsair or Rosewill, or even Mushkin. Even their cheap stuff usually works first time (although only within posted specs). You want stuff you can push, you pay more for it. If you go with no name companies you might save some dough at first, but you usually pay for it in time lost sending the flaky RAM back for an RMA.

With RAM included this rig will run close to 600 bucks. More than you wanted to spend, so in the end your wallet decides how far it can be stretched I know. Still, I think you'll see more increase out of this than what you were looking at. Just my opinion.

Schutt · « **Reply #12 on:** June 29, 2005, 03:22:02 AM »

SoA2 not sure which processor you meant.. lots of them on the site you listed. I would go for a venice core amd64, matter of money you have to spend which one.

Graphics card i can only second what SoA2 says, i would go for 6600GT. If enough money to spend a 6800GT but not necessary.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #13 on:** June 29, 2005, 12:32:21 PM »

Woops.

Thought the one I linked to was a Venice, but its a Winchester. Which is just fine, its the same processor except for the L2 Cache. But Schutt is right, the Venice core is more desireable if you can get it for similar money.