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Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: jollyFE on March 13, 2006, 01:16:47 PM

Title: Upgrade input
Post by: jollyFE on March 13, 2006, 01:16:47 PM

Just wanted to get some input from the communityabout upgradeing my pc(my kids just isnt cutting it, so he gets mine and I upgrade).

Right now I have
AMD Athlon 1.8ghz
1 g ram
fx5700 256mb
S/B Audigy

What I want to do is keep it as cheap as possible, yet not hose myself on being outdated soon.

I was thinking of going for a socket 939 board with an athlon 64 2.2 ish cpu.  Probably do at least a gig of memory.

I want to use my current harddrive and stuff.

My big question is if the on-board sound is good enuff for gaming and how about onboard video.  I would like to keep my present agp vid card(not spend more for a pcie card).

I spend my time either in AH2 or WoW.

any inputs would be very much appreciated

thanks alot

Jolly

Title: Upgrade input
Post by: JTs on March 13, 2006, 05:43:11 PM

on board sound done in hardware not AC97 is ok.  on board video is a waste of time and money.

Title: Upgrade input
Post by: OOZ662 on March 13, 2006, 05:49:45 PM

Just remember that onboard sound and video are the lowest of the low. They may give you the ability to just barely play the game, but no more. Also realize that the memory they use isn't part of the "card;" they use your RAM.

Title: Upgrade input
Post by: jollyFE on March 13, 2006, 06:37:51 PM

roger that..was more concerned about onboard sound...thanks
jolly

Title: Upgrade input
Post by: OOZ662 on March 13, 2006, 06:51:39 PM

Onboard sound does work just fine, but it can hamper performance. It munches CPU time and RAM like Skuzzy in a Blue Bell truck. It can and should be (if you have a PCI sound card) disabled in BIOS. That way Windows doesn't even know it's there.

Title: Upgrade input
Post by: 38ruk on March 13, 2006, 09:16:33 PM

I did a test with my old audigy2 VS onboard AC'97 , the different was anywhere from 3-5 fps . Havent tried with my X-FI yet . The only onboard sound that ive truely liked was Nvidia Soundstorm , but i havent seen that since the nforce2 chipset.

EDIT: Ive been thinking about this , and nvidia has an onboard video #6150, that also has a X16 pci express port . Now the 6150 onboard graphics has about the same 3dmark05 performance as a FX5700 , actually the foxcon is allitle better . If i were you id get the motherboard with the 6150 intergrated , and then have the option to upgrade to PCI EXPRESS , instead of going into a deadend with AGP . AND the foxcon motherboard is able to take the higher end  AMD X2 processor, so even thou you have to buy cheap right now, with this route you have alot more options for your dollar.   38maw  

motherboard  
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186086

3dMark graph for fx5700  http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/05/vga_charts_vii/page4.html      

Benchmark of 6150 (look for foxcon)  
http://www.pcstats.com/ArtVNL.cfm?articleid=1900&page=11

Title: Upgrade input
Post by: StarOfAfrica2 on March 14, 2006, 02:51:42 AM

I have the Nvidia 6100 motherboard.  I tested it in AH before I installed the new video card I bought at the same time.  Put at least 2 GB of RAM on the motherboard, the 6100 based onboard video plays AH just fine.  Yes you have to turn down the settings a bit, but probably no more than your current FX5700 settings already are.  I shopped around and got good deals on my equipment so I upgraded the video at the same time.  You can definitely make do with the onboard on this MB though.

And yes the onboard sound works too.  I use a SB sound card in mine, but when I tested the system I did it with no add on cards just to see if it would play the game.  Everything worked and had liveable frame rates.  You can buy it and always add on later as money becomes available.