What should I upgrade to?

[Xiahou]

Isn't there a 1950 for agp?

Yeah, I was pretty sure that guy is at the top of the AGP heap atm.


I too am starting to think of upgrading- what with tax refunds and all....

My current system is a AMD64 3200+(Venice), 1GB Ram, x800xl(AGP). Is there even an effective upgrade path for this system? My tentative budget is around $500- but I have nothing against saving a few bucks if spending more won't make a significant difference, or conversely I could spend a little more if it would make all the difference.

A faster CPU and a AGP x1950pro would be a painless upgrade- just pop the new CPU in and swap vid cards, but would I see significant gains with the slower mobo/RAM? I loathe reinstalling (sooo many apps and downloads to do over) but I would also consider building a new system if that was the most cost-effective path....

Any thoughts? I felt I was in a similar boat to HughTower, so I hope he doesnt mind my asking the question in this thread.

[sapi]

Personally, i wouldnt' bother upgrading.

Odds are that's a socket 939 cpu (no longer produced) and that's definitely an agp graphics card.

You'd be better off saving up for a new system - and honestly, how bad is that one today?

[Xiahou]

Odds are that's a socket 939 cpu (no longer produced) and that's definitely an agp graphics card.

Yes, it's a 939 chip, but I can get a new 3800+ 939 for less than $100 and a x1950pro 256MB for about $240 or a 512MB version for $290. Basically, I'd like to be able to turn on all the bells and whistles on current games while future-proofing enough to be able to at least play any new games coming down the pipe in the next year or two. According to this article, it would seem to make sense to go for the x1950.. anyone think that the 3800+ would be able to relieve the CPU bottleneck any better than my current 3200+? Or would the difference be insignificant with ddr1 and the older mobo?

[Bijo]

Hey guys, I'm quite the stubborn cheap searcher (and proud of it too :P) and I've found the following (it's in Dutch, but it won't matter, 'cause the relevant information is universal anyway):

http://mycom.nl/Products/View/ASUS_P...577.aspx#Specs
http://mycom.nl/Products/View/Intel_...475.aspx#Specs

I was thinking of this as a temporary upgrade just to get by a bit, if y'know what I'm talking about. I ain't no specialist, but I figured this would let me keep my X1600Pro AGP8x, and my DDR memory, till I upgrade the whole shebang. But I think my memory isn't PC3200, but 2700, or at least the one directly below 3200 if I recall well.

So, I just wanted to know what you tech specialists think of it, and maybe add some info that I've overlooked.

[Geezer57]

Yes, it's a 939 chip, but I can get a new 3800+ 939 for less than $100 and a x1950pro 256MB for about $240 or a 512MB version for $290.
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.. anyone think that the 3800+ would be able to relieve the CPU bottleneck any better than my current 3200+? Or would the difference be insignificant with ddr1 and the older mobo?

You're only talking a 400mhz speed difference between those two processors, so I doubt you'd see more than a few FPS gain in games. Normally, you could easily overclock that much while retaining your current CPU, at no additional expense.

So I'd pass on the CPU upgrade, unless you'd consider going for a dual-core - but there the gain is mostly seen when multi-tasking. Few games show a real benefit, and a further drawback is that Socket 939 dual-cores seem to be going up in price, now that they're no longer current production.

The graphics card upgrade, however, might let you stretch you current system's life by long enough to make it worth while. Either a GeForce 7600GT or the (better) x1950 Pro sound good to me.

P.S. Regarding the DDR1 vs. DDR2 issue: when the AM2 motherboards first came out, most tests showed only very small performance gains from the switch to DDR2. AMD mostly made the move because Intel had already completely switched over, the memory manufacturers were switching their fabs over and DDR1 would eventually become less available, and AMD was in jeopardy of losing market share if they forced their customers to keep using the old tech.

[Xiahou]

My thinking was that I could overclock the 3800+ to get even better performance. However, now that I have a fat tax refund check on the way, I'm thinking I'll probably just build a new system and hand my current system down to the wife who'd definitely appreciate the extra performance over her AthlonXP 2800+.

I'm very much in the research phase, but I'm leaning towards the AMD X2 CPUs. Unless there's a big difference in price to performance, I'd rather stick with them over Intel. For vid cards, I've been a fan of ATI recently- but I'd be entirely willing to go Nvidia if it made more sense in a cost to performance setting. Anyone know any good mobos to go with? I suppose if I'm getting an Nvidia GPU, an nforce board would be the clear choice- but what about ATI?

[BDC]

A 24" iMac!

You know you want it. With eyeTV so you can watch flawless tv on it.

[Xiahou]

A 24" iMac!

You know you want it. With eyeTV so you can watch flawless tv on it.

Pffft. You know how much PC I could buy for that much money?

Besides, I already have a fully networked DVR PC.