Major upgrade or just graphics card?

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Oberleutnant
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Major upgrade or just graphics card?

Post by Oberleutnant »

Hi,

I'm planning to upgrade my gaming rig once I get back home from the Netherlands in December.

My current system is:
3.2 GHz Pentium IV
1GB RAM
ATI Radeon 9800
60GB + 120 GB hard drives

It plays Oblivion sufficently well and should be able to handle Medieval II. However, I would like to be able to play upcoming 2007 releases without trouble, but I'm not interested in spending too much money. Right now I'm inclined to just buy a high-end graphics card. Would this be enough to overcome the limitations of my processor, in your opinion?

If so, which graphics card would you recommend?
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Post by Mr Bean »

Get a graphics card, no question with that 9800. Either wait and grap a low end DirectX10 card. Or see what Nvidia GT cards are aviable in the 7800/7900 range.

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Post by Oberleutnant »

Ok, thanks! I've been doing some search and graphics cards using the G71 chipset would indeed seem to be the best choice at the moment.

First DirectX10 compatible cards based on Nvidia G80 will be released this month, but their price tags will be rather high, I think. Besides, their release should bring down the prices of older cards and it will take a while until average gamer gets any benefits from Directx10, right?

Since I'm going to spend at least couple hundred euros, I might as well use more money while I'm on spending spree.

Does Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 and ASUS P5LD2 motherboard sound like a good combination?
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Post by Ace Pace »

Yes, but that means you need new RAM.
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Oberleutnant
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Post by Oberleutnant »

My current RAM modules (whatever they are, I have no idea about their type) would be incompatible with the new mother board? That's just great. Looks like my upgrade is either going to be almost completely new system - minus the hard drives - or just a graphics card, which will soon be "old generation" once DirectX 10 and Vista come.
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Post by Ace Pace »

Oberleutnant wrote:My current RAM modules (whatever they are, I have no idea about their type) would be incompatible with the new mother board? That's just great. Looks like my upgrade is either going to be almost completely new system - minus the hard drives - or just a graphics card, which will soon be "old generation" once DirectX 10 and Vista come.
Socket 775 motherboards are nearly all DDR2 nowdays.

But you can find good upgrades rather cheap right now. If you seem willing to accept a 9800Pro as something that still works in 2006, you'd probebly be fine with a 7600 rather then the 78/79 range from nVidia, saving you a few hundred euro.
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Post by General Zod »

Oberleutnant wrote:My current RAM modules (whatever they are, I have no idea about their type) would be incompatible with the new mother board? That's just great. Looks like my upgrade is either going to be almost completely new system - minus the hard drives - or just a graphics card, which will soon be "old generation" once DirectX 10 and Vista come.
I wouldn't worry about DirectX 10 for some time. It'll still be at least another year or two after it's released before you start seeing any significant improvements for DX10 games and DX10 only support.
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Post by Arthur_Tuxedo »

If you have a 9800 Pro then you're on AGP, which limits your choices. Most cards (and all the high-end ones) are PCIe these days. But you still have a couple of good choices. One is the AGP version of the GeForce 7600 GT. They stay in stock for about 2 and a half seconds, but they're faster than a 6800 Ultra and only cost about $180. There is one made by Leadtek, and two models by XFX. If you're interested, put a stock e-mail alert from Newegg so you won't miss out when they come back into stock.

A better choice might be the upcoming AGP version of the Radeon X1950 Pro. It should be out within a few weeks, and will absolutely destroy any other AGP card, but it can be expected to be expensive and might also suffer from short supply. I anticipate that it will cost $300 to $325.

The best option is to get a cheap motherboard that supports your chipset and DDR1 RAM, but is PCI-E compatible and then get something like a Radeon X1950 Pro, the PCI-E version of which can be had right now for $200. I'd go that route, but I have a Small Form Factor case and replacing the motherboard would be a monstrous pain in the ass. If your CPU is Socket LGA 775, you could even get a certain ASRock motherboard that supports both AGP and PCI-E and both DDR and DDR2 RAM, and both your CPU and the Core 2 Duo, which makes it a total no-brainer.
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Post by Darth Wong »

Why not wait until you run into a game that doesn't run well on your machine, and then upgrade your PC in order to run that game?

I never really understood why people upgrade their machines before they run into performance problems, with the way computer component costs drop if you're patient enough to wait. If it's running all of your software OK now, why change anything? Wait until you buy a game and it runs like shit, then upgrade whatever you need in order to improve its performance.
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Post by Arthur_Tuxedo »

Medieval 2 demo ran like shit on my system, which is almost identical to his, so unless he has a better stomach for low res, low detail graphics than me, I'd call it a good time to upgrade. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic didn't run that well, either.
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Post by weemadando »

Wait. For. DX10. There is no other option.
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Post by Arthur_Tuxedo »

I don't see why. Reasonably priced DX10 cards won't be available for months, and games won't start requiring them for years.
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Post by Oberleutnant »

*Huge* thanks for your replies, guys. You've saved me from a lot of trouble.

Darth Wong wrote:Why not wait until you run into a game that doesn't run well on your machine, and then upgrade your PC in order to run that game?
Before leaving for the Netherlands, I was having some performance problems with occasional games, especiall the newest stuff. Impending release of Medieval II was my primary incentive for considering an upgrade, because I had heard bad stuff about the demo performance (similar to what Arthur_Tuxedo said).


Now, based on this thread, I've decided to get a new motherboard that supports Intel Core 2 Duo, new RAM, power supply unit and a graphics card. I'm stilll undecided about the latter, but I'll see how the prices are next month.
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Post by Oberleutnant »

Hello again. The reason for thread necromancy is that I plan to order the following parts in few weeks, so that I'll have them waiting for me by Christmas. See anything I should change?

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400, 2.13 GHz
Abit AB9 Pro Intel 965 LGA775 ATX mother board
Nexus NX-5000 POWER 500W power unit
1024MB DDR2 667Mhz 240pin DIMM RAM
Gainward GeForce 7900GS PCI-E 256MB Dual (nothing terribly expensive, since I plan to buy a DX10 card around next autumn when they come to a reasonable price level)
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Post by Ace Pace »

Looks pretty good.
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Post by Arthur_Tuxedo »

I think you can get the 7900 GS at Best Buy right now for $150, which is an absolute steal, and should make that upgrade even cheaper. But I think you can get by with less. Here's what I would do differently:

1. ASRock Dual motherboard. It will allow you to keep your current stuff and upgrade to the new stuff later, and is a perfectly decent mobo.

2. Keep your current processor if it's Socket LGA775. Games won't start to really utilize multi-cored processors until middle or late next year. By that time, you can get a better processor cheaper. A Core 2 Duo is worth it right now if you do a lot of DVD encoding and such, but you'll notice zero difference when it comes to games. A 3.2 GHz P4 is all the gaming CPU you'll need right now. If you don't know the processor's socket, get the mobo and see if it fits. If not, upgrade to Core 2 Duo. :)

3. Keep your RAM. There is no benefit whatsoever from upgrading from a gig of DDR to a gig of DDR2. Wait until you can afford 2 gigs of DDR2 and you actually need it, then upgrade. The ASRock mobo supports both DDR and DDR2.

Using this method, you can save about $300 for the exact same performance.
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Post by Beowulf »

I'd seriously recommend getting the E6600 instead. The doubled amount of cache helps when multitasking.

2GB of RAM is really nice. I'll note (personal anecdote!) that I've managed to get 90% physical memory utilization. The fact that firefox uses nearly half a gig doesn't help matters much.
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Post by Arthur_Tuxedo »

It all depends on what he'll be using and needing. If he's mostly just interested in gaming performance, there's no reason to get any Core 2 yet, much less the $330 variety.
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