OK, I love WW1. Trying to upgrade on the cheap..opinions please

[Toad]

OK, Rude gave me an old Dell Inspiron 4550 P4 2.0G somebody left when they bailed out of a commercially leased property, so we could get back to playing AH.

It's got an ATI X800 PRO vid card. It chugs in WW1 furballs but with everything turned down, I can get 80+ frames in 1 v 1 action. I note my shooting is much better at 80 frames than at 16 frames. Not much of a cheap upgrade path for this box though.

So he has this OTHER box available with a Socket 940 ASUS SK8N motherboard. I could stick an AMD Opteron 250, 2.4 GHz in that for about $40. Probably have to get some more RAM too. From my research, that would be the fastest processor I could put in a Socket 940.

There's no hope for the video card as this board is AGP and the X800Pro in it is about as fast as any other agp out there that's under $100. In fact, I'm not sure they still sell anything faster.

So here's the question: Would going from a P4 2.0G cpu to the Opteron 2.4G make enough of a difference to even bother doing it? I'm thinking NOT.

Mainly, I need more frames in the fur; I'm already flying with the sliders maxxed for performance.

Second possibility is swapping out the mobo/cpu/ram/vid card in the newer box.

Just where the heck is the sweet spot right now? I'm renovating my wife's kitchen, which is megadollars and I don't feel like spending $1k+ to play AH WW1 at the moment.

I'm looking on price watch at mobo/cpu combos for about $150.  Would any of these be able to handle the furballs with perhaps the sliders moved to provide some eye candy? These all have some sort of mobo with them, most are not famous name mobos.

$ 139.80        - core 2 duo e6400 cpu fan

$ 141.98        - phenom 9100e cpu fan


I'd improve the video card if I went for a new mobo/cpu, still on the cheap. These are twice as fast as the current X800:

$ 89.95        - radeon hd 4850   1099 on the Passmark test vice 520 on the X800

$ 114.95        - geforce 9800 gtx 1124 on Passmark.

I'd have to get more RAM but I could probably do all this for $3-400 bucks which I could sorta accept for playing a game.

So, will this let me fight in the fur with 50+ frames? Even with a little eye candy?

Thoughts, opinions, suggestions all welcome.

[Tigger29]

If you're looking for cheap and fast, and don't care much for future upgrade paths, you can get a cheap Socket 775 motherboard, some DDR2 ram, a Core2Duo processor, and a video card.  I don't exactly have a 'performance' motherboard, but it does support 775, DDR3 ram, and PCIe v2 16X video cards.

I put together a decent (yet cheap) MB, Processor, Video, and RAM which is very similar to what I have now for about $350... you can save about $50 or so going with a cheaper video card... I've heard the 9500 series Nvidia cards do halfway decent.  Keep in mind that you should be able to reuse (as long as it's not proprietary) the case, optical drive(s), hard drive(s), and maybe the power supply, but you'll need to check the specs with whatever video card you decide to use:

Motherboard (775 Economy):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138142

Processor (E7500... better and cheaper than the E7400 which is what I use):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115056

Memory (2X2GB DDR2-800... wow DDR2 memory has really jumped up in price):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145238

Video (9800GTX+... very capable card.. possibly the best bang for the buck out there right now, although there are better):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133246

I think this is going to about par for a $300-400 upgrade.  Yes you can find upgrade options for under $300, but you won't get as much 'value' out of it.  If you want a system that is state of the art, or that you can upgrade later on, it's obviously going to cost quite a bit more...

Anyways, the above recommendations is about the same as what I have (I have a slower processor, but faster ram)... and with the game fully maxed, I never see below 50FPS.  With shadows MAYBE 45.

[Toad]

Tigger, thanks for the help and reply.

I'm kicking around NewEgg and I see this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.349610

Basically $30 more for this combo:

ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
 
AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor Model ADX440WFGIBOX - Retail

The Socket AM3 would actually provide a future upgrade path into the Phenom/PhenomII cpu series at a later time wouldn't it?

I'd pony up the $30 for future upgrade I guess. Plus it's an ASUS board vice Biostar. I've seen some bad reviews on the Biostars failure rate.

[choker41]

I just recently bought this motherboard.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128421

I was on a budget but wanted to be able to upgrade for the future.  I dropped in Intel Core i3 530.  This is the lowest line of the new core i series.
I have already overclocked it to 4.04ghz without changing any volts.  Just moved the multiplier up to 182mhz.  The bios is very easy to use.  I've never overclocked a processor before and this was really easy.  If you want to look a little ahead into the future, I would consider this setup.  I'm extremely happy with it.  I play the game at full detail except for shadows and pull 60fps.  My video is an ATI 4350.  I know it's low end but I was on a budget as well.  I love what I got from this setup to run the game

[Fulmar]

IMHO, if you're on a budget and need to skimp on everything you can I'd recommend AMD.  For the money on their sub $100 processors and for gaming, they really can't be beat.  I dropped in a Athlon II Rana 2.9ghz triple core in my wife's computer and it more than handles anything see is gonna use it for (honestly 80% facebook games).  Even the cheaper AMD dual core aren't bad.  I had to buy a case, hard drive, motherboard, keyboard/mouse, DVD drive and I was able to reuse some older DDR2 I had, PSU.  Though I really haven't gaming tested it.  I can say with its onboard HD 4200 ATI chip (128 dedicated + 512mb shared) I thoroughly enjoy hooking it up to my 1080p 42" Plasma w/o a hitch for Netflix movies etc.

[Bronk]

toad try the dual core black edition. About the same $ but unlocked multiplier.

[oboe]

Toad I thought I remembered you having MWave build you a decent system not that long ago?

[cattb]

If a choice is towards AMD, just thought I would post this for FYI.
AM3 processors work on AM2+ motherboards due to the presence of both the DDR2 and DDR3 memory controller
AM2+ processors do not work on AM3 motherboards due to the processor's lack of a DDR3 memory controller

If mixing motherboards and a processor. Some Phenom are AM+. Intell a person wants to want to watch the socket of CPU and motherboard so they match.

The Socket AM3 would actually provide a future upgrade path into the Phenom/PhenomII cpu series at a later time wouldn't it?

Yes AM3 processor with ddr3 memory

[Toad]

Toad I thought I remembered you having MWave build you a decent system not that long ago?

Priced one up and almost did it but decided playing in the MA wasn't worth the money.

WW1 is making me consider a minor upgrade right now. This puter does OK with a handful of cons around but in a 20 plane fur my frames drop to the teens. That's makes shooting and tracking bandits pretty tough.

[Toad]

I'm leaning AM3 cpu/mobo along with a vid card.

What's the current sweet spot in AM3 cpus?  What's the bang for the buck vid card?

I'm going to need cpu, mobo, vid card and 4 (or more?) Gigs of RAM. It'd be nice to bring this in close to $400 + or  - a bit.

Thoughts?

[Toad]

Dang it; looking at graphics cards in the  Radeon 4850 class tells me I'll probably have to have a new power supply too. I have a 450W with a 17 amp 12v rail and another 15amp 12v rail. Is that going to be enough for the cpu and the gpu?

[cattb]

If you look to a search engine like Google and query PSU calculator, you should come up with some Web sites to help you.

http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html
I don't know if these calculators will figure in extra overhead for you.

[Krusty]

I just recently bought this motherboard.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128421

I was on a budget but wanted to be able to upgrade for the future.  I dropped in Intel Core i3 530.  This is the lowest line of the new core i series.

I was looking at i7's on newegg just last night, scoping things out.

Isn't the LGA 1156 socket going to be more of the dead end, as compared to the LGA 1366? Seems I went with an 800 MHz FSB way back then got shafted when all the new CPUs moved up to 1033, then 1300, and I had to get yet another mobo (my current one) just to run a C2D.

Say you get a LGA 1156, are you going to be stuck when they all leave it behind in the future?

Interested in knowing more. Was dreaming about a new PC (not that I can afford it!) but wasn't really sure which socket would be the way to go these days.

[oneway]

I was looking at i7's on newegg just last night, scoping things out.

Isn't the LGA 1156 socket going to be more of the dead end, as compared to the LGA 1366? Seems I went with an 800 MHz FSB way back then got shafted when all the new CPUs moved up to 1033, then 1300, and I had to get yet another mobo (my current one) just to run a C2D.

Say you get a LGA 1156, are you going to be stuck when they all leave it behind in the future?

Interested in knowing more. Was dreaming about a new PC (not that I can afford it!) but wasn't really sure which socket would be the way to go these days.

I am dealing with that right now...I got on the back half of that (800) curve on my last iteration..and I got out of sequence with hardware dev....I bit hard on the tail end of the 800 hz push....what an idiot I was....

Now I am paying for it.....

Unless your daddy warbucks and can roll again in a year....it bites...I had to wait a couple of years for a reset in terms of hardware...to rationalize/wash "that" hardware investment....and have waited for the window to jump again....

It has arrived...i7....

1366/i7 is the new frontier Today....and its fairly fresh....ie front end of the curve....

I think you can dive into that on the mobo front and enjoy flexibility for the next few years at least.....

Thats where I am going i7-1366...

Oneway

[38ruk]

I went with the AM3 /DDR3 route for future upgrades . The system below chews threw AH with all the sliders maxed and 1024 textures.  I dont use shadows so im not sure about that .  I bought a GTX 260 off ebay but I ran the system on a 8800GTX and it did great .  The 8800 and 9800gtx's are comparable so the 9800 should make you happy.   Don't Forget a GOOD power supply thou.... the new video cards are power hogs.

GIGABYTE GA-MA790XT-UD4P AM3 DDR3 AMD 790X   $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128378

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145263

AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz    $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680