Author Topic: mobo/graphics combo advice (Read 462 times)

SD67 · « **on:** November 24, 2007, 02:22:29 AM »

Recently I had to lay both my motherboard AND my beloved 6600GT video card to rest.
The down side to this is I had just bought a new 3.4Ghz Northwood P4 for it.
Now I need to find a 478 mobo preferably with PCIe and a graphics card to go with it.
Any ideas anyone?

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #1 on:** November 24, 2007, 08:23:22 AM »

Buying that CPU was not a good move, S478 is a dead end.

But for graphics, Nvidia 8800GT can't be beaten in price/performance value. It's $100 cheaper than GTS640mb but faster!

Speed55 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 24, 2007, 08:48:30 AM »

If I were you I would send that p4 back.

If your on a low budget i'd get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157115

And one of these.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000340343+4017+1050722265&name=Core+2+Duo

Any C2D will make that p4 look like a commodore 64 in comparison.

Get 2 gigs of ram, and a copy of XP.

You can use an agp video card, or PCI-E.

Use all your old peripherals, and get a good 600watt power supply if you don't have one already.

You should be good for 3 years.

For a comparison.. I'm running this:
Asrock 4coreDual-VSTA motherboard
2gigs ram
C2D 6400
X850 pro AGP video card
600 watt power supply
1 western digital 80gb IDE ATA. hard drive
Windows XP Home SP2

I figure next summer/fall i Might have to upgrade the video card.
And I might switch to a SATA configuration.

Otherwise, right now i'm running the game with the hi res pack, and the detail slider maxed. Ground vis i set to half way.
Never have any stutters, and even in the DGS scenario with somewhere around a 100 fighter furball going on, everything ran smooth.

My old comp was a p4 3.2ghz sata config. and it's a snail compared to this thing.

SD67 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 24, 2007, 06:57:07 PM »

Yeah I know 478 is a bygone era, when I got it I was trying to wring the last bit of performance out of my existing system. My P4 2.8 was on it's last legs, some 3 years after initial purchase!
Unfortunately returning is not going to be an option, a). I got the processor from e-bay and b). I've been using it fow close to 2 months now

What I'm looking at doing is getting an ASROCK board that supports PCIe and an 8800GTS.
History shows it will only take about 18 months or so of 24/7 running before the board and/or the CPU dies again, then I'll do a complete CPU/Mobo upgrade.
Call me eccentric, I just want to see how far I can push the old 3.4 Northwood before it dies. Evidentally they were excellent overclockers

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #4 on:** November 25, 2007, 03:13:18 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by SD67
Yeah I know 478 is a bygone era, when I got it I was trying to wring the last bit of performance out of my existing system. My P4 2.8 was on it's last legs, some 3 years after initial purchase!
Unfortunately returning is not going to be an option, a). I got the processor from e-bay and b). I've been using it fow close to 2 months now
What I'm looking at doing is getting an ASROCK board that supports PCIe and an 8800GTS.
History shows it will only take about 18 months or so of 24/7 running before the board and/or the CPU dies again, then I'll do a complete CPU/Mobo upgrade.
Call me eccentric, I just want to see how far I can push the old 3.4 Northwood before it dies. Evidentally they were excellent overclockers

No do not get a GTS! It's slower but more expensive. Get the GT.

SD67 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 25, 2007, 03:17:03 AM »

OK I was only looking at the GTS for the fan cooling, I'm not a fan of passive cooling for gaming cards.
My 6600GT had a fan, so it's not improbable the 8800 would not have a fan cooled variant.

MrRiplEy[H] · « **Reply #6 on:** November 25, 2007, 03:24:40 AM »

What you need to understand is that the new 8800GT is a next generation process card. It consumes less energy but delivers more performance and costs less.

Compare it to having a 5.0 V8 @ 200hp and a latest tech 2.0 turbo @ 280hp. The turbo will deliver more torque and hp while costing less and spending less gas.

OOZ662 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 25, 2007, 03:25:00 AM »

I've run a Northwood 3.06GHz, 2GB PC3200 RAM, nVidia 6800GT system with full slider setting and all preloads on for the past four years. Rarely does it dip below the monitor refresh rate (VSync on).

It's just now starting to lag behind in the newer games...however, AH isn't exactly leaping forward in the 3D graphics department.

SD67 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 25, 2007, 03:43:56 AM »

Yeah, when I upgraded to the 3.4 northwood I saw an FR jump from 20 to 5 fps on minimal graphics settings to 60fps rock solid on max settings no matter what kind of action I saw.