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Choosing my upgrade for CoD: which component first?

J

jasongst

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Aug 10, 2003
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I want to run Call of Duty at about 60FPS with an average amount of detail (no AA or anything like that). I don't mind running at 640x480 if necessary, but I'd prefer 800x600. I'm running on a tight budget, so I'm trying to do only one of two upgrades for the time being. Currently I have a Duron running at 900mhz and a 32MB GeForce1 card.

So the question is, which of these planned upgrades (by themselves) will give me the biggest boost in a game like CoD? It's a bottleneck question. On my system, which of the two bottlenecks (at LOW RESOLUTIONS, mind you) is more severe? This is how I'll choose my upgrade, but I need expert input to determine which component it is.

Option 1: Upgrade my Duron @900mhz to an Athlon XP 2100+. It'll run at 100mhz FSB so the default speed will be about 1200mhz (I think).

Option 2: Upgrade to a Radeon 9600XT. If I wait on this one I know the price will go down, but I'm pretty sure this is the card I'll be running eventually.


Thanks for the input, folks.
 
eww I would say update to a 9600XT as the graphics card you have now sucks...I think that your processor will be able to run it, but very good idea to update graphics card as there are a lot of new games coming out.
 
Your processor and video card are both slow and old. I don't think upgrading just one will matter. You'll need to do both.
 
This is what I would do just to give you another option. Buy a xp 1700 and then search the forsale part on the [H] to find a cheap geforce 3 ti200 or 500 or maybe a lower priced ti4200.That way you would have a faster computer and better video card for probably cheaper. Then take your old parts and maybe sell them. Thats just my two cents.
 
Originally posted by djnes
Your processor and video card are both slow and old.
Click to expand...

Well I know that, but before buying both I'm going to try just one and see how I like things. The piece I'm skeptical about is the card, because my observation of benchmarks in the past has been that, at 640x480, even the highest end cards don't outpace a plain-jane GeForce by much, AS LONG AS you aren't trying to use any of the fancy new features like FSAA.

Does anyone know more specifically about aspects of Call of Duty that would kill the framerate even at 640x480? I was under the impression that it used the Quake 3 engine, and I can run Quake 3 with pretty much everything on and have it play pretty well. With CoD I would expect to need to turn certain things off, of course.
 
It's built on the Quake III engine, but it is far more intense than Quake III. Games like this require power from the processor and video card. I had a Ti4600 and a P4 2.4B and it stuttered at certain parts running at 1024x768 with no special features enabled. Games like this pound a system, all around...including memory. Your system as pretty even, but pretty far back. So, your going to need a major upgrade to handle something like CoD.
 
It would be easier if you told us your budget -- there are some crafty people here who know how to stretch a dollar to its limit.
 
Well I have something you may be interested in, I have an xp1800 lying around, and I would like to upgrade my video card too, so if I found a buyer for my xp1800 processor and my ATi 8500le video card we could both be happy.

Currently I am playing COD with my xp2500 and the 8500le card and I can run the game at 10*7 without too many problems.

The video card runs the newest games fairly well, including max payne2, nfsu, cod, bf1942, simpsons hit and run, mohaa....

But like the others said I don't think one would improve your experience more then the other. A combo would proably do the trick.

PM or email me if you are interested is my offer.
 
Thanks Pauly but I'm looking for something a bit higher.

Budget really isn't an issue since I've pretty much limited it to:

Athlon 2100+ ($65)

OR

Radeon 9600XT or equivalent ($150)


If I need both, that'll have to wait, but I'm definitely going to buy at least one of them right now

Really I'm wondering which one CoD is more starved for: CPU or Card. My instinct says CPU but there's not really any info out there for me to look at that isn't looking solely at NEW stuff like 9800s and 3Ghz P4s. Oh well, thanks for the replies so far.
 
Hey no problem. Just thought I would throw it out there. I'd go for the video card then. I would then save for a XP2500,mobo and ram, the Video card should last a good 1-2years before you will need to upgrade.
 
I would hold off and do both. Either upgrade will be completely bottlenecked by the other upgrade, so you won't do ANY good, even if you upgrade.

Oh, and upgrading your CPU like that will give you, oh, maybe a AthlonXP - 1400+, realistically, if a Barton will even work in that board.

You need a whole new system. If you MUST upgrade now, get the Video card, and then get a new mobo/cpu/etc.

But, you won't be running it smooth even with that.
 
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