Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: straffo on May 11, 2005, 03:05:22 PM
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I've a Barton 2500 + 1GB DDR333 + a 9600pro.
Having not followed hardware actuallity for 2 years :) I'm quite lost.
A friend told me to take X800 SE 256 Mo but I think with a weak processor like mine it's not a good idea.
My budget is 300€.
Help please !!!!:D
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Straffo, what exactly is wrong with your current computer that you want to replace it? It all really depends on what it is you want to improve.
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well I've bad framerates especially on the new map Frac 3.
At 1024*768 my FPS in the Tower are at 50 and over forest it's drop to 25 and lastly at the 1st sight of smoke it's look like those old black and white film.
I'm not Buster Keaton ! ;)
I wonder if I should upgrade the mobo + CPU or change the graphic card.
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Straffo,
You're pretty high up on the scale with the last gen hardware, so you're probably only going to see big gains with big bucks.
I think you'd be disappointed with anything less than a 6800 or 6800GT vid card, and if you go for a new cpu and mobo you'd be crazy to not go big for a socket 939 nforce4 PCI-x solution so you can take advantage of the new dual core cpus when their price drops.
If I were you, I'd hold out until you can get a dual core A64, and then go big. You're just not going to get much improvement without spending a bunch of money. You could get a new vid card or cpu, but neither will transfer to your next system.
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What he said.
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Thank you eagl and SA2.
After reading on some hardware site I've reached the same conclusion.
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your card is fine...cpu is kinda dated for AH but rest seems fine....what kind of mainboard you have?
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Originally posted by buzkill
your card is fine...cpu is kinda dated for AH but rest seems fine....what kind of mainboard you have?
Dated for AH :lol
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playing on the same setup basicallly ..
2500+ oced to 2.4ghz
512 ddr 3200
crucial radeon 9600 pro 128
25 fps lowest in buffs/very heavy traffic 50-85 fps the rest of the time.
the next pc update has to be 939 pin amd 64 ... nothing else would be an upgrade except for a 9800 pro 256 .
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you know what i mean...i had a 2400+ for a while and it just didn't do it for me...then a 3400+ that did just great....then i got a deal on a 64bit rig and now i'm hooked
o and how much of a price difference is there between 9800 pro x800 pro? tested both in this setup and am leaning to x800 (got my 3dmark 2003 score over 10,000)
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Buz you can step all the way up on the vc x800 or so..
Straffo is still using a barton so a video card wont be that much of an improvement compared to a full 64 bit upgrade .
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o and how much of a price difference is there between 9800 pro x800 pro? tested both in this setup and am leaning to x800 (got my 3dmark 2003 score over 10,000)
i bought my X800pro about 4 months ago, it was an upgrade from a 9800pro . there was atleast a 10-15 fps increase in a major furball. at 1280X1024 512 textures and 4x AA i see FR drops into the 50's . most of the time its at the vsync cap. If you are looking at the x800pro right now its a bad buy with the x800xl on the market. the XL has 16 pipes compared to 12 on the pro. as for 3dmk03 my scores are 11.8K with everything clocked high. I was kinda mad when i realized the XL was going to be released a couple of months after i bought the pro , only good thing is i can get a overclock of almost 100mhz on the core , and 75mhz on the memory. well enuff of my babble 38
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Originally posted by buzkill
your card is fine...cpu is kinda dated for AH but rest seems fine....what kind of mainboard you have?
Asus A7N8X deluxe (NForce2 chipset)
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I changed my strategy :)
Got a new ventirad and now the beast is at 12*200 instead of 11*166 plus I removed FSAA and increased the resolution from 1024*768 to 1152*864.
Now I hope to wait a bit for the unevitable upgrade.
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12 x 200 = 2.4 ghz .. Beshure to check your temps and turn off fast boot so it does the memory check on startup .
other wise step it down to 11x200 = 2.2 ghz (this timing always runs sweet on a 2500+ barton)
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So far it's stable and running since 8 hours ..
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2 words
BIOS TWEAKS!!
I have an X800 and Abit AG8 third eye mobo, running 1 gig dual channel ram and I get 125 fps. Its all in the tweaking! Before tweaking bios i was getting about 50 to 60 fps.
Check the memory leave, bios shadowing, memory hole, ram and sync timings, aperture and play with them to see what helps. Be carefull on voltages as you can destroy hardware if you push them too high on ram and cpu. remember more voltage and faster timings mean more heat also. Depending on who manufactured your motherboard or system you may or may not be able to.
If your system wont post after trying settings then go back in and reverse changes or reset bios optimal defaults then start over from there.
For some good info onoverclocking see here
http://forum.abit-usa.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=23
(http://home.hiwaay.net/~tfharris/pulpculture/columns/021024a.jpg)
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Playing with BIOS settings until your computer wont start is just silly. You can do all sorts of damage that way. There are plenty of good tweak guides out there to tell you how to set your BIOS for best performance.
http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_1.html
This is an excellent guide for tweaking your ATI video card settings, and he will provide you with links for tweaking your BIOS and Windows in the article for max performance.
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Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
Playing with BIOS settings until your computer wont start is just silly. You can do all sorts of damage that way. There are plenty of good tweak guides out there to tell you how to set your BIOS for best performance.
http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_1.html
This is an excellent guide for tweaking your ATI video card settings, and he will provide you with links for tweaking your BIOS and Windows in the article for max performance.
Thats why I put the warning notes in the message :rolleyes:.... Certain people like to tweak and tune systems to get the max ammount of performance and it is safe within certain limitations. Its not for everyone. Thats also why I refferenced the bios tweak thread in my post. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
(http://home.att.net/~shadowlandhome/headlesshorsemen.jpg)
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i think i'm goin for the x800 pro...the xt did perform a little better, but not enough to justify the extra cost. my next big upgrade will be to a 939 board (probably 3700+) and pci-e. so x800 pro is about as much as i want to pay for a card i'm gonna use for 6 months
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Originally posted by Ichabod
Thats why I put the warning notes in the message .... Certain people like to tweak and tune systems to get the max ammount of performance and it is safe within certain limitations. Its not for everyone. Thats also why I refferenced the bios tweak thread in my post.
You referenced a link to a bulletin board forum for overclockers. While there may be useful info there, nothing is laid out neatly for the average user to assimilate easily, nor is it aimed at BIOS tweaking. I stand by my statement that playing around with BIOS settings without knowing what you are doing is silly when there is so much information available on what settings are safe and what settings should be left alone. That link wont help with that specific point.
Straffo originally posted his financial limits for upgrading his computer, I doubt that includes replacing the entire rig because he "played" with the wrong thing. I'm not denying your information could be useful, just saying it wasnt the most appropriate for the subject of BIOS tweaks, nor was advice such as this the kind I would recommend following:
If your system wont post after trying settings then go back in and reverse changes or reset bios optimal defaults then start over from there.
If you are at the point where your computer wont Post after playing with the BIOS, you played with things you dont understand and shouldnt have messed with.
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Hey buz, unless your getting a real good price on a X800pro , you should look at the x800XL (not the XT) the XL is cheaper than the X800pro , and faster . Hope you didnt think i was talking about the XT in my last post . The XL is the way to go , all these different XT XL's can get confusing hehe
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oh and ichabod, bios tweaks are all well and good , i know my bios inside and out . But if you doubled your frame rate with bios "TWEAKS" sound like something was misconfigured in the first place, and you just happened to correct it
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just looked and it does have 16 pipelines and all the speed i'll be able to use...thanks...all i have to do is find one that's in stock and not the all in wonder thing...too many bells and whistles:aok
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*Laughs at the rest of you while polishing his X850 XT PE and TV Wonder Elite*
Okay, okay, I work at ATI... I get some perks. :)
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If your still looking for a good price on a ATI card (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006BC57O/ref%3Dnosim/phillylunchbo-20/103-5379058-3680613)
this is pretty incredible... wish It had been this cheap couple months ago and saved a couple $