Im itching to upgrade....

Dave · May 13, 2005, 05:57 AM

But is it really worth it?

Currently I have a Athlon XP 2700+ and a 9800 Pro @ XT Speeds (plan to go to 450mhz on the core and 400mhz on the memory ((atleast thats my goal)) when my vf700cu arrives).

ANYWAYZ: I've noticed in a lot of games I play (mainly UT2K3, Doom 3, Half Life 2, Far Cry, and CS Source that my frame rate always takes a nose dive around every corner. My goal is to try and stabilize those frames per seconds. Would say a Athlon 64 3200+ 939 Venice and a MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM do the job for me? If I do upgrade to Athlon 64 I would then later upgrade to perhaps a 6800 GT or maybe a G70. Im just trying to extend the life on my 9800 XT untill the new cards come out for AGP. Any advice is appreciated.

Note: Socket 754 is out of the question.

ReDGuiTaR · May 13, 2005, 06:10 AM

Yeah a CPU upgrade to Athlon64 should give you a nice boost but you should upgrade your ram too ...

Dave · May 13, 2005, 06:14 AM

yeah if i do upgrade i may grab two sticks of cheap pc3200 ram but i hear that ram speed really isnt important on a64.

Vampyromaniac · May 13, 2005, 06:51 AM

Graphics card would be the main factor here. Going to a A64 3200 wouldn't be too big of a help, unless maybe you play at low res and quality settings.

Dave · May 13, 2005, 06:55 AM

so a gpu upgrade would be more beneficial than a cpu upgrade?

if so my monitors default res (lcd) is 1280x1024 and I love AA and AF to be pilled on. So im looking at a x800xl or a 6800 GT correct?

Lowfat · May 14, 2005, 06:37 AM

I second the graphics card upgrade instead of the CPU/mobo.. Its going to make a lot bigger difference. Either of those two cards will be a fine choice.

Dave · May 14, 2005, 06:16 PM

well i went with a 6800 gt i found on anandtech forums for 259 shipped. also picked up some g.skill pc3200 ram at 2-3-3-6 timings from newegg for around 95.

PandaZ3 · May 25, 2005, 12:51 PM

Well you have had that for long enough to get comfortable, are you happy with the upgrade now?

I have a A64 using a 9500 Pro right now and it was very noticeable coming from the same card with a XP 2600. But I still like socket A, building one more EPoX 8RDA6+Pro. This one with a XP2700 and 2x512 PC3200 and a Sapphire 9600 Pro.

I would have gone with a 64 but I have the CPU already. I'll save some that way.

I am interested in your perception of the Video upgrade though. I see the benchmarks and they are always testing on a maximo machine, I think yours and mine are mid-level. I am a lot more interested in your performance.

jora1 · Jan 2, 2006, 10:00 PM

Hello All,

Well I am very new in this forum.When we are talking about the big disease we always forget the small disease like itching burning and inflamation.Really there are too much medications are present for that. ***LINK REMOVED*** is also the performing too good in this urgent situation .We have to also care for these problems.

Edit by Grace : I cannot find a more polite way to say it, but if I see anything like this completely irrelevant post or that link again, I am going to kick your arse to the heavens. Thank you for your cooperation.

Judas · Jan 3, 2006, 05:16 AM

imo..... get a new motherboard... 939 chipset... preferably a Asus A8N-E rev 2.

Exchange/trade/ sell your video card for a similare PCI-EX variation.

Get a cheap the cheapest X2...

And you'll gain in all departments...

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jan 3, 2006, 07:32 AM

CHeapest X2 is still like $400 CDN after tax... if you truly only do gaming there's no reason to spend the extra cash, just get a 3000+ and overclock the hell out of it.

WHen prices drop on the Opteron 165 that would be a good idea... looks like a better deal than the X2 3800+

Judas · Jan 3, 2006, 09:02 AM

x2 provides a pile of performance boosts over any single core in nearly any game.... although initially by benchmark results, you wont see this, but trust me it's there... some occasions i've seen some pretty hefty performance boosts....

And,

This year we should be expecting some games that may or maynot actually require dual core (NOT intels HT) to take full advantage of some of the higher quality content....

400 bucks canadian isn't a bad price at all. Considering what you get in the package...

PandaZ3 · Jan 3, 2006, 11:54 AM

I went the cheaper route and got a Opteron 148 ...2.2, 1.0 L2 cache out of the Box for $220 US... better than the 3500 Winchester I bought last year for $290.

But I did get the ASUS board....

g35x · Jan 3, 2006, 01:06 PM

also have an opteron 148 =D,very impressed,highly reccomended,same as my mobo and everything else in my system its all working great =D,u could get my mobo and use ur agp card until u want to upgrade to a pci-e it has both slots,they're not makeing any good agp cards anymore and dont plan to.....no x1800xt or 7800 agp

Judas · Jan 3, 2006, 05:52 PM

get the dual core variant of the opteron...

H3X4D3C1M4L · Jan 4, 2006, 03:39 AM

Yeah the Toledo Opeteron's are supposed to kick major OC'ing ass

Randomletters · Jan 4, 2006, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave

so a gpu upgrade would be more beneficial than a cpu upgrade?

if so my monitors default res (lcd) is 1280x1024 and I love AA and AF to be pilled on. So im looking at a x800xl or a 6800 GT correct?

I have a 6800gt and unfortunatly i cant really do 1280x1024 with anything more the 2xaa/4xaf and even that at setting the framerates drop pretty bad in the newest games

System Specs

p4 3.2ghz HT
1gb 533mhz ddr2
80gb Seagate SATA HD
MSI 6800gt

May 13, 2005, 05:57 AM	#1
Dave DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Strongsville, Ohio Posts: 111 Rep Power: 0	Im itching to upgrade.... But is it really worth it? Currently I have a Athlon XP 2700+ and a 9800 Pro @ XT Speeds (plan to go to 450mhz on the core and 400mhz on the memory ((atleast thats my goal)) when my vf700cu arrives). ANYWAYZ: I've noticed in a lot of games I play (mainly UT2K3, Doom 3, Half Life 2, Far Cry, and CS Source that my frame rate always takes a nose dive around every corner. My goal is to try and stabilize those frames per seconds. Would say a Athlon 64 3200+ 939 Venice and a MSI K8N NEO2 PLATINUM do the job for me? If I do upgrade to Athlon 64 I would then later upgrade to perhaps a 6800 GT or maybe a G70. Im just trying to extend the life on my 9800 XT untill the new cards come out for AGP. Any advice is appreciated. Note: Socket 754 is out of the question. __________________ Abit AT8 Crossfire \| AMD Opteron 144 2.6GHz \| 1GB PC2700 RAM \| OCZ PowerStream 520Watt \| eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB 450MHZ Core 1200MHZ RAM \| Western Digital 120GB 8MB Cache 7200 RPM \| 2 Samsung 250GB SATAII RAID 0 \| Athenatech A602 Case \|

May 13, 2005, 06:10 AM	#2
ReDGuiTaR DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Quebec , Canada Posts: 746 Rep Power: 0	Yeah a CPU upgrade to Athlon64 should give you a nice boost but you should upgrade your ram too ... __________________ Zing a ling... zing a ling a ling ... A8N-E - A64x2 4600, 2048 Mb Kingston ram 400mhz cas 2.5 ( 2 x 1024 DualChannel ), Seagate 320 Gig 7200 16Mb cache S-ata 2, GeForce 7900GT 512MB, Enermax 460watt power supply, WindowsXP SP2.

May 13, 2005, 06:14 AM	Thread Starter #3
Dave DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Strongsville, Ohio Posts: 111 Rep Power: 0	yeah if i do upgrade i may grab two sticks of cheap pc3200 ram but i hear that ram speed really isnt important on a64. __________________ Abit AT8 Crossfire \| AMD Opteron 144 2.6GHz \| 1GB PC2700 RAM \| OCZ PowerStream 520Watt \| eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB 450MHZ Core 1200MHZ RAM \| Western Digital 120GB 8MB Cache 7200 RPM \| 2 Samsung 250GB SATAII RAID 0 \| Athenatech A602 Case \|

May 13, 2005, 06:51 AM	#4
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	Graphics card would be the main factor here. Going to a A64 3200 wouldn't be too big of a help, unless maybe you play at low res and quality settings. __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

May 13, 2005, 06:55 AM	Thread Starter #5
Dave DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Strongsville, Ohio Posts: 111 Rep Power: 0	so a gpu upgrade would be more beneficial than a cpu upgrade? if so my monitors default res (lcd) is 1280x1024 and I love AA and AF to be pilled on. So im looking at a x800xl or a 6800 GT correct? __________________ Abit AT8 Crossfire \| AMD Opteron 144 2.6GHz \| 1GB PC2700 RAM \| OCZ PowerStream 520Watt \| eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB 450MHZ Core 1200MHZ RAM \| Western Digital 120GB 8MB Cache 7200 RPM \| 2 Samsung 250GB SATAII RAID 0 \| Athenatech A602 Case \|

May 14, 2005, 06:37 AM	#6
Lowfat Xtreme Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,254 Rep Power: 101	I second the graphics card upgrade instead of the CPU/mobo.. Its going to make a lot bigger difference. Either of those two cards will be a fine choice. __________________

May 14, 2005, 06:16 PM	Thread Starter #7
Dave DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Strongsville, Ohio Posts: 111 Rep Power: 0	well i went with a 6800 gt i found on anandtech forums for 259 shipped. also picked up some g.skill pc3200 ram at 2-3-3-6 timings from newegg for around 95. __________________ Abit AT8 Crossfire \| AMD Opteron 144 2.6GHz \| 1GB PC2700 RAM \| OCZ PowerStream 520Watt \| eVGA GeForce 6800 Ultra 256MB 450MHZ Core 1200MHZ RAM \| Western Digital 120GB 8MB Cache 7200 RPM \| 2 Samsung 250GB SATAII RAID 0 \| Athenatech A602 Case \|

May 25, 2005, 12:51 PM	#8
PandaZ3 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cornelius, Oregon Posts: 419 Rep Power: 0	Well you have had that for long enough to get comfortable, are you happy with the upgrade now? I have a A64 using a 9500 Pro right now and it was very noticeable coming from the same card with a XP 2600. But I still like socket A, building one more EPoX 8RDA6+Pro. This one with a XP2700 and 2x512 PC3200 and a Sapphire 9600 Pro. I would have gone with a 64 but I have the CPU already. I'll save some that way. I am interested in your perception of the Video upgrade though. I see the benchmarks and they are always testing on a maximo machine, I think yours and mine are mid-level. I am a lot more interested in your performance. __________________ It has to be Plugged In? To electricity? Video cards in house, 5770, 4650, HD 3870, X1950 XTX, X1900 XTX, X1900 XT and X1900 Crossfire, 2 X1800 XT's, X850 Pro, X800 Pro, AIW 9600XT, 9600 Pro, 9550 SE, 9200, 7000. XFX 6800 GS

Jan 2, 2006, 10:00 PM	#9
jora1 DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1 Rep Power: 0	Hello All, Well I am very new in this forum.When we are talking about the big disease we always forget the small disease like itching burning and inflamation.Really there are too much medications are present for that. *LINK REMOVED* is also the performing too good in this urgent situation .We have to also care for these problems. Edit by Grace : I cannot find a more polite way to say it, but if I see anything like this completely irrelevant post or that link again, I am going to kick your arse to the heavens. Thank you for your cooperation. Last edited by Grace; Jan 2, 2006 at 10:23 PM.

Jan 3, 2006, 07:32 AM	#11
H3X4D3C1M4L DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 6,794 Rep Power: 0	CHeapest X2 is still like $400 CDN after tax... if you truly only do gaming there's no reason to spend the extra cash, just get a 3000+ and overclock the hell out of it. WHen prices drop on the Opteron 165 that would be a good idea... looks like a better deal than the X2 3800+

Jan 3, 2006, 11:54 AM	#13
PandaZ3 HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cornelius, Oregon Posts: 419 Rep Power: 0	I went the cheaper route and got a Opteron 148 ...2.2, 1.0 L2 cache out of the Box for $220 US... better than the 3500 Winchester I bought last year for $290. But I did get the ASUS board.... __________________ It has to be Plugged In? To electricity? Video cards in house, 5770, 4650, HD 3870, X1950 XTX, X1900 XTX, X1900 XT and X1900 Crossfire, 2 X1800 XT's, X850 Pro, X800 Pro, AIW 9600XT, 9600 Pro, 9550 SE, 9200, 7000. XFX 6800 GS

Jan 3, 2006, 01:06 PM	#14
g35x Hellhound Pilot Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Deptford, New Jersey Posts: 1,100 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	also have an opteron 148 =D,very impressed,highly reccomended,same as my mobo and everything else in my system its all working great =D,u could get my mobo and use ur agp card until u want to upgrade to a pci-e it has both slots,they're not makeing any good agp cards anymore and dont plan to.....no x1800xt or 7800 agp __________________ Last edited by g35x; Jan 3, 2006 at 05:47 PM.

Jan 4, 2006, 03:39 AM	#16
H3X4D3C1M4L DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 6,794 Rep Power: 0	Yeah the Toledo Opeteron's are supposed to kick major OC'ing ass