have now.

Right now i have a sweeeeeeet Athlon XP+ 1800, 1gig ram @ 200mhz, and a 128mb geforce FX 5200.

I simply want better FPS and graphics when playing games (GTR2 in particular). I know my whole shit is old, but a new video card would be a decent improvement eh? Mine is pretty old so i figure i could get a decent improvement for not that much.

Should i bother upgrading the CPU? my motherboard (Asus A7N8x) will support up to a Athlon XP 3200..

any recommendations?

7/24/2006 1:05:52 PM

GTR2 is DX9 game so the best thing you could do is get a DX9 (GeForce6 / ATI X800 series) or better GPU. A CPU upgrade would also be welcomed and you would definitley notice a difference from the 1800+ to the 3200+, but unless you can get it from a friend the Athlon XP 3200+ isn't easy to find and it's a little high in price. The AMD Athlon 64 3500+ will be cheaper next month that what I'm finding the Athlon XP 3200+ for.

So basically, I say either upgrade just your graphics card or upgrade your whole setup.

7/24/2006 4:01:23 PM

your bottle neck is memory bandwidth. getting a brand new video card is not going to help you address your system ram any faster. you could get a 6600gt or something but I wouldn't spend any money updating your system and instead start putting money towards a new one (cheap dell + a nice video card is the cheapest route)

7/24/2006 9:03:54 PM

its DDR running at DDR400. are DDR2 boards that prevalent/cheap now?

Either way, if i got a decent vid card now, i could put it in the new system. but i understand that if thats 6months away its a wasted investment

7/25/2006 9:48:40 AM

graphics cards are moving to PCI-E though so you probably wouldn't be able to put it in your next system. So you should probably wait until Vista comes out and upgrade your whole computer.

7/25/2006 9:57:58 AM

yeh that makes sense. i built this sucker like.. 3 years ago and i must say its still working quite well for me. A new comp is due though.


When is Vista coming out again? Whats the best vid card that wouldnt really be bottlenecked on my computer.. surely itll be faster than what i have now and likely cheap.

Nvidia vs ATI?

7/25/2006 10:19:01 AM

Vista is due in December, but I don't think it will be available for retail until January.

I would definitley get a nVidia card. I had used nVidia up until I bought an ATI x800XL a couple years ago and have been disappointed with it. As far as bottlenecking, it would depend upon what system you bought. You'll have to open a new thread at a time closer to when you're buying. A 7900GT might be pretty affordable by then, who knows!

7/25/2006 10:35:43 AM

No, i mean a card for this system right now. Like the 6600 you mentioned earlier or whatever.

7/25/2006 10:59:22 AM

maybe a 6600GT. Stay away from cards with 128MB interfaces. But I don't know if the game is a GPU or CPU intensive game so your mileage may vary and I personally don't think it's worth it to spend ~$130 for a temporary upgrade for a few months.

Have you looked at your processor load while playing the game? Is it at 100% all the time? If so, a new video card won't help enough. You'll need to upgrade everything.

7/25/2006 11:11:21 AM

ddr400 doesnt really matter since your processor can only handle a 266 fsb, unless you're overclocking. also, your processor is just flop deficient. it's going to struggle to keep up. if you want to play newer games without choking, a 7600gt or better, cheap pcie board with nf4 if you want amd, intel chipset for intel, and a good processor for either platform (<$125)

thats about $350, perhaps $400 if you want (need) a new psu.

[Edited on July 25, 2006 at 12:04 PM. Reason : if you don't care about linux, get an x850xt instead of the 7600gt]

7/25/2006 12:02:06 PM

^^ ftw - best midrange video card that is around 100

7/26/2006 12:07:40 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2000380000+1069609639&Submit=ENE&Description=6600gt&Ntk=all

$114 for the cheapest 6600GT. or shoud i go w/ a non GT for $92 w/ my nonhax0r machine? hrm

7/26/2006 8:04:46 AM

I would spring for the 6600GT. It has faster memory and core clocks. And it performs around 20% better for only $20.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

7/26/2006 9:48:24 AM

doh, i broke my computer. I was trying to OC the FSB and now the sucker wont boot for poop. I've pulled the battery, reset the cmos jumper... doh. i left the cmos jump out so maybe it needs some time. hopefully after work itll work.

If not i guess its new cpu/mobo/ram time

7/26/2006 1:44:53 PM

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2205288&sku=MBM-KU8-3300A

how about that sucker? I could keep my 2 512mb stick of DDR that run at DDR400, too. theyre 333 (by SPD) sticks but i've been running them at 400 forever now.

7/26/2006 1:47:14 PM

hrmm no PCIexpress.. is AGP 8x a big bottle neck? I still dont think i'd spend more than $135ish on a video card.

7/26/2006 1:54:57 PM

ha! you can buy the above combo cheaper seperately after rebate. only $65 after rebate on the cpu and mobo. hot damn.

i know its not the new socket type.. but you know.. for the price

7/26/2006 1:57:30 PM

which chipset is best?

7/26/2006 2:00:31 PM

hrmm socket 754 doesnt seem to support dual channel. but i wonder how much that matters.

fuck it, for $85 + a vid card i'll be leaps and bounds ahead of where i am now

7/26/2006 2:19:34 PM

I'll sell you a 939 3000+ and a pcie 6800 for cheap, shoot me a pm
you can get a good board for the 2 for like $75

7/26/2006 2:33:08 PM

XFX geforce 6800 xtreme for $125? i assume thats faster than a 6600GT?

7/26/2006 2:33:22 PM

Biostar NF325-A7 nForce3 Motherboard + Athlon 64 3400+ CPU $95 (no rebates)
http://www.slickdeals.net/#p7855
it's also the new core that supports SSE3, it's OEM so you'd need a cpu cooler as well tho

any 6600GT for ~$115

[Edited on July 26, 2006 at 6:50 PM. Reason : .]

7/26/2006 6:46:42 PM

^thats socket 754 though.. no dual channel? hrmm i dunno.

too many damn options

7/26/2006 9:22:34 PM