2-stage upgrade

E

EternalKnight

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May 5, 2002
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I am getting ready to upgrade my entire system in 2 stages. One stage being video card, the other being mobo-proc-memory. My current system is this: Athlon 2200+ 1gb DDR-266 and a G-Force TI-4200 with 256mb of ram

I am going to eventually be upgrading to an Athlon 64 3500 and 1gb of ram and also will be getting either a G-Force 6800 GT or Ultra.

My question is this, which step should I upgrade first? Obviously, both will make a significant difference, but which will improve my short-term gaming the best? I think there will probably be 1-2 months between the 2 upgrades.

Thanks

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Also, I don't plan to over-clock anything
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Your decision really depends on wether you want downtime or have spare parts. If you upgrade mobo/proc/ram first you have to get a agp mobo instead of a pcie. If you upgrade vid card first your stuck with a agp mobo. Why not consider saving and buying all at once?
 
I haven't seen any really compelling evidence to immediately switch over to AGP, although I suppose you are correct. I know the current AGP cards aren't really even using all of the bandwidth available to them, so the only real advantage that I have heard of is bi-directional bandwidth, which for gaming isn't particularly necessary, correct?
 
I have yet to see a compelling difference on the two but in the long run a pci e card will probably benefit you. If you upgrade a few yrs from now and want to keep the vid card you buy now you will be limited to older boards. This is all assuming that pci e will wipe out agp all together which at its current pace it will.
 
I think that is prolly right... making the change to pci-e will likely give you the best long term benefits... but then again, you can get a much better deal on a 6800U AGP (than pci-e) and then perhaps put a barton 3200 in your mobo (OC it a little) and stay pretty current with performance that way... I only say this because taking the pci-e plunge means a whole new mobo, cpu, and video card at the same time... which can hurt... ouch!

I have an xp2600 system with a 6800GT AGP which gets 5800's on 3Dmark05 and 11800's on 3Dmark03... not too shabby for that setup I do think. :)

Well, good luck with your upgrades!
 
revenant said:
I think that is prolly right... making the change to pci-e will likely give you the best long term benefits... but then again, you can get a much better deal on a 6800U AGP (than pci-e) and then perhaps put a barton 3200 in your mobo (OC it a little) and stay pretty current with performance that way... I only say this because taking the pci-e plunge means a whole new mobo, cpu, and video card at the same time... which can hurt... ouch!

I have an xp2600 system with a 6800GT AGP which gets 5800's on 3Dmark05 and 11800's on 3Dmark03... not too shabby for that setup I do think. :)

Well, good luck with your upgrades!
Click to expand...

Thanks everyone for the advice, but I think I will do this in a two stage upgrade. I haven't done any upgrades in a long time, so I am starting to get a little excited :-D
 
go pci-e just to have assurance cause you not upgrading for for 2 to 4 years having pci-e will assure you will not have to upgrade board for 2 to 4 years. :)
 
I have been doing some searching and have found a couple motherboards that support both AGP and PCI express. Anyone heard any other information? Perhaps that is the best way to go.
 
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