It's upgrade time...

Right here's another 'what should I upgrade first' thread :mrgreen:

I have:

Athlon 64 3200+ (single core, S939)
1Gb bog standard PC3200 (2x512Mb)
X800GTO (PCI-Express)

I want to give my PC a boost within my price/performance bounds but am not sure how best to acheive this. Generally I like to get decent mid range stuff upgrading a bit at a time but am not sure where the bottleneck in my system is, or what give me the most significant boost, but think upgrading everything at once would be a bit unnuecessary.

I want to go to Core2 Duo (who doesn't :mrgreen: ) at some point in the future, but I think I can can get a decent enough S939 CPU and keep my existing mobo until then, so am considering something like a dual-core 4200+ for £130.

More RAM is always better but I'm a bit reluctant to spend £70 on another 1Gb of PC3200 given that my next upgrade will be C2D, and I will have to replace all my RAM at that point. But if 2Gb becomes really necessary in the next crop of games, Crysis etc, then maybe I should bite the bullet and buy it now...get more life out of my new CPU (if I buy one)...:confused:

Or (probably and :rolleyes: ) I could get a better GFX card - i.e. X1950Pro or 7900GS (or 7950GT after it drops in price). Not fussed about Vista/DX10 and I don't expect I will be for at least a year (except for the imminent price drops on DX9 cards). I do like my games but have a TFT with max resolution of 1280x1024, and aren't addicted to HDR etc so don't really need an uber-card (been happy enough with my X800GTO, and that's not even a proper DX9 card :lol: )

Which of the above should I go for (tick all that apply :mrgreen: )?

realistically, how much do you have to spend?

memory depends on the games you play stuff like bf2 oblivion need most others dont

a x2 4200 is gonna give you no real increase in performance as there are still no games that utilise the second core

so probably a 7900gs or x1950 pro personally i would get the 1950 pro as i have a 7900 gs and its good but the 1950 is that bit better

Oh yeah, budget - any amount really, no maximum so long as I reckon it's value for money because I am rich but tight :mrgreen:. So nothing has to run above 1280x1024 with anything more than lowish anti-aliasing. The X1950Pro is a good example of what I like, oldish stuff for cheap money.

Would my 3200+ still not be a bottleneck with a X1950Pro? This week I have mostly been playing Medieval Total War, Warhammer 40k and BF2142 so I think I feel a pinch at various times in my CPU and RAM as well as GPU :undecided:.

And ta for the advice about the X1950Pro definitely being slightly better than the 7900GS, the reviews I'd read all said the same but with £20+ price difference between the two (7900GS being higher). But scan have the two at the same prices, so was wondering if the edge didn't disappear taking that into account.

i'd save up for the whole hog and just go straight to DDR2 and C2D, as theres not really alot you can do.:(

I am going to assume that when you say "Bog" standard PC3200 that you have timings something like 3-5-5-8. If so, and your main interest is in gaming performance, then replacing your 1 Gig with some lower latency sticks would help. As a rule games like fast ram and (even though I run 2 Gigs, 1 x 2, I do not see much improvement with more than 1 Gig.
Best advice is save your nickles and make the C2D jump but if you need to do something now the ram may be the best place. My $.02.

A system based around C2D E6300 would be a great start IMO.

with a Radeon X1950Pro

Sweetcake

[QUOTE=Lancer33;933858]I am going to assume that when you say "Bog" standard PC3200 that you have timings something like 3-5-5-8. QUOTE]

dude thats some strange bog standard speeds bog standard is normally 3-3-3-8



only go to c2d if you are gonna do some hardcore gaming otherwise its not really worth it yeah great my c2d gives me huge 3dmark scores but my in game performance is not that much better than it was with my 3500+ slightly overclocked


so if your tight i'd go for the graphics card you wont get bottlenecked unless you buy a 512mb version of the 1950 pro

X1950Pro ordered just now, because that seems to be a given and is independent of whatever else I do :woowoo:

The main reasons I don't really want to move to C2D right now is because the mobo's are still all expensive, and only get mediocre reviews compared to the buzz around S939 nforce4 boards (like what I already have). I had to get a new CPU, mobo and RAM last time I changed GFX card because I moved to PCI-E and I think it's a bit much renewing everything everytime I need to upgrade anything - if I wanted to do that I would just buy consoles :mrgreen: But I am sure in (say) a year's time the chipsets will be loads better and this will justify a move then.

All the C2D boards are good enough....not sure what else you expect from a board TBH.

From what you say your playing, you should relly have 2GB RAM, unless you can pick some up dirt cheap, you might as well go C2D and get DDR2 RAM at the same time.

If your rich and you like a decent gaming experience, stop being a tight-arse :p

1gb ram is plenty for most games. Only if you're buying a new system would I say you have to go 2gb.

You made the right choice - the gfx card is the best use of money to get the most performance gain now, and you can take it to your next sytem too.