Author Topic: Should I upgrade or Replace? (Read 407 times)

woodfordb · « **on:** December 15, 2002, 01:56:15 PM »

Hi,
First of my system spec's.

Hardware
Intel D850GB motherboard (Skt 423)
Intel P4 1.7 (skt 423 256k cache)
512mb PC800 RDRAM.
Gforce 4 Ti600
Creative Audigy 1 gamer
various other bits like scsi card, ISDN card, nic etc.

Software
XP Pro
Direct X 8.2
Latest Audigy drivers (down one notch on acceleration)
Latest Intel INF and AA drivers
Nvidia 41.09 drivers - FSAA Off, Vsync On, Astro Off, Sharpening off.

I need sort somthing out, I belive my machine is running like a dog.... on some apps.
My 3d 2001se score is high 8000 wich is about right, but games like Aces High and UT2003 bring it to its knees.
In AH in the tower with no one around I get 85fps (My monitors refresh), when I take off it dips only a little to 70 ish, then its high 70's. But when the action hots up like lasts night, I was seeing 8fps over one popular field.
Is this normal? I see people posting here with like 900-1100mhz machines with older vid cards complaining about frame rates of 25 or so in a furball! Any idea's when mine is running slow?

Any way, onto the upgrade. What would make the most sense, replacing my MB and CPu and getting a Asus P4533-c and getting a 2.4 (533) and sticking my pC800 ram in (Later date uping to PC1066) and my audigy and Vid card or replacing the lot with a Asus Nforce 2 board, and say a 2400 amd chip and dual corsair 256mb modules? again sticking in the G4 but using the decent onboard sound chip.

Any experience on the above would be great.,

Regards

Mandrill

lord dolf vader · « **Reply #1 on:** December 15, 2002, 06:20:30 PM »

the top end sounds a little low but 8 fps even with a p4 should be better than that.

p.s. 1gig p3 = 1.5 gig p4 intel sucks.

AKDejaVu · « **Reply #2 on:** December 15, 2002, 06:35:14 PM »

You should be getting much better framerates with that system. Something seems wrong there... though I have no idea what.

If you do upgrade, make sure its a real upgrade. Depending on how much you spend.... if you go with a 2.4g or less P-4, you'll be OK pricewise because you can reuse your memory. Anything else gets a little more spendy.

Basically, figure out how much you want to spend and what exactly you can get for that. With AMD, you are going to have to get memory no matter what, so take the $80-100 into account there. Even so, the price might be better if you go AMD.

AKDejaVu

Wilbus · « **Reply #3 on:** December 17, 2002, 11:17:04 AM »

With that kind of system you don't need to upgrade for quite some time yet, if you do upgrade, get a new graphic card (wait for the Gforce FX or get the Radeon 9700).

Tried installing latest drivers from Nvidia again? If yes, try uninstalling them and install the latest drivers from the manufacturer. Reinstall direct X 8.1. Defrag hard drive. Open task mannager and make sure no memory hungry programs are running in the background.

Do you install "freeware" or "shareware" programs such as Kazaa or similair? If you do, many of these programs contain hidden spyware applications that run hidden and send info from your computer, slows down both the computer and your internet connection alot.

woodfordb · « **Reply #4 on:** December 17, 2002, 02:05:56 PM »

Hiya,

Thanks for the replys.

Yeah, im finding it very strange, some games are totaly unplayable. though im finding it more and more that OpenGL games seam to run ok, my frame rate in U2003 jumps like made when I make the change from D3d to OpenGL.

As for progs, no, I hate stuff loading I dont like. Make a habit of clearning out the "Run" section from the registry, Only stuf that auto loads is my AV and that is disabled when I play online. I run getright and Kazaa but only when I want.

I have a sneaky feeling its my Intel motherboard. while its rock stable, intel are by the book people and I fear the memory timings are very conservative compared to a teakable board like an Asus or top brand. Also my CPU is the early p4, with only 256k cache.

I also think I need to reinstall my OS as its been over a year since I did that.

I will probably go for a P4 again, but will hold fire for a couple of months, the new Intel granite bay chipset looks like it could do an end to the expensive rambus boards. but I will wait until the next revision and get one with DDR333/400 support rather than the DDR200/266 support the current model has. by that time 2.53 & 2.6's will have dropped in price.

Still like to here from people with the new Nforce2 system though.

Thank again all.

Regards

Mandrill

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #5 on:** December 17, 2002, 03:41:41 PM »

I don't have Nforce 2 but my Asus and MSI Nforce machines both rock solid with no problems last 6 months. MSI was one of the few Nforce1 boards with the real Nforce audio. The Nforce onboard audio chip is excellent, but many of the Nforce boards use a second party chip that is not as good. For example, the standard Asus Nforce2 board uses 2nd party chip and the Asus Nforce2 Deluxe uses the Nforce one. I also use the onboard LAN.
Dave

MOSQ · « **Reply #6 on:** December 17, 2002, 07:24:01 PM »

You have all the specs that should produce excellent results. You don't need an upgrade.
I have a P-3 633c, 192mb Ram, Nvidia MX440, and it works just fine ! The new Nvidia drivers run smooth and have great colors.
I don't plan on an upgrade until P-4's are in the 3.5-5.0 range, and AMD's are in the 3500+.
There's something else wrong, try to figure it out before you spend $ on new stuff.
What vid resolution and color depth are you running ? This is elementary, but have you tried 1024x768 and high color (not true color)? What kind and size of monitor ?
Finally have you tweaked your XP to make sure you don't have extra services running? There's a good article on XP tuning at http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,,5155,00.asp

And if you do decide to buy new, let me know I'll bid on your old !

DAVENRINO · « **Reply #7 on:** December 17, 2002, 07:59:01 PM »

MOSQ,
I grew up in West linn, west of Willamette area.
Dave aka DJ229

woodfordb · « **Reply #8 on:** December 18, 2002, 01:37:14 PM »

Mosq:
Im running at 1024x768, tried both 16bit and 32 bit colour.
Monitor is a sony 200GS, 17"
I have all the services I can disable, disabled. I did this many months ago, so its nothing new ive turned off.

I to feel this system should run better than it does. Im trying to think back to work out if its degraded or not (ive had it since the P4 1.7 came out - same week I belive) only stuff thats changed its swapping a G2 to a G4 and a SBLive to an Audigy.

Also done some more testing and the results are certainly pointing towards either a full reinstall or a shot CPU.

Tried over clocking my G4 up to mid 700 mem, made no differance... though ok, then underclocked it to the lowest it would go for both mem and core... again no change.. looks like its not the vid card that causing the bottle neck, somthing to do with the CPU as I ran a cpu bench on and compared that to my 2nd machine (900mhz TBird on an early Asus A7V with a G2) and the amd is almost neck and neck with the P4 in cpu power. but when it comes to bench marks in 3d Mark 2001se the P4 machine wipes it mainly due to the g4. Over the weekend ill try swapping the vid cards round and run the tbird with the G4 and the P4 with the G2.. that should rule out the physical card.

Any way, ill take your advice and hold fire before I spend any money and see what I can with this wreak .

Thanks again for your help people.

Regards

Mandrill