Do i upgrade?

[aarongroves103]

Chaps, i currently own an X2 3800 on a DFI Infinity Board... its clocked at 2.5Ghz but the consumer in me want to upgrade. I'm not really a strong believer in the idea that a CPU affects the speed of a game but if I get a new graphics card ( planned Zotac 8800GT ) over my 7900GT , will it make much of a difference? Will the 3800 @ 2.5Ghz act as a bottleneck?

I've always stuck to AMD, but from what i've read the AM2 isnt exactly...exciting. My logic was to sell my current CPU on eBay for about £30 and invest another £20 in an AM2 5000+ but will i notice any difference in speed?

I had thought about volt modding the 7900gt but i dont think a few extra 100Mhz on the core is really going to increase the frame rate in games such as crysis... maybe im wrong!

if anyone could give me an opinion it would be appreciated...

Cheers

[=assassin=]

For now, I'd stick with the CPU you have. Try and hold on for something more substantial when it's really needed a bit further down the road, such as Nehalem? I think a newer graphics card would probably provide the biggest boost in crysis. When talking about bottlenecks, your CPU may limit the maximum fps (which still will probably be enough), but the faster graphics card would mean you could turn the details up with no drop in frame-rate.

[Mithrandir]

I think in order to see a huge increase you would need a system overhaul rather than a component upgrade.

This would mean new mobo to support new cpu skt and also DDR2 (poss DDR3) ram and also a DX10 card.

[Anastie]

If limited budget stick with the CPU you have

[DDY]

Your system isn't that old so stick with what you have for the moment, only consider a overhaul if you don't plan on upgrading again for another year at least.

Ditch the X2 3800+ and get a X2 5000+ or faster like you already suggested, if you don't have 2GB of RAM yet get some and finally flog the 7900GT and buy something like the 8800GT, 9600GT or HD3750 (which ever you could afford).

[aarongroves103]

Thanks for the replies, thats what i had in mind. My thinking was to sell the 7900GT and stick with the current set up - although i use Vista on my laptop im going to stick with XP for the time being. Is DX10 really much of an improvement over DX9?

[EarlGrey]

DX10 offers no improvements unless you have to speed requisite to take advantage of it. In fact on your setup DX10 would likely be just slower.

I think you would notice a speed increase just by upgrading your CPU, but it wouldn't be huge. I would save up for a system overhaul, getting a new motherboard and Core2Duo...

[shadowmaster]

The AM2 cpus are not that bad. If you can afford it, then upgrading to an 5000X2 or possibly the 6000X2 plus a new graphics card (8800gt, ati 3870, 9600gt) would give your system a relatively big boost in performance.

[aarongroves103]

Thats what i think i'l do - Im going to sell the RS482, X2 3800,Ram and Graphics and replace with...

Ausu M2N-Sli Deluxe
AM2 5000+ Black Edition
OCZ 2 GB (2*1 GB) Ram
8800GT Zotac Craphics

If my calculations go to plan, which they alway do, i should be able to sell my parts on ebay for the following..

RS482 = £40
X2 3800 £45
1GB PC3200 =£20 x 2 = £40
7900GT £50-60

I worked out that I should break even with part for part bar the grapics card which I will probably have to put in about £50-£60 of my own money.

I dont understand why people are paying so much for old technology. ( i know the performance between 939 and AM2 is only minimal but still) I'm basing the prices on some of the items ive seen go over the last couple of weeks on ebay. In fact, yesterday i saw an X2 3800 go for £45! Ex. postage!

Crazy stuff...