Gaming Performance...

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Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 24, 2005
Messages
210
I'm looking boost the gaming performance of one of my machines... playing BF2 at the moment and looking to grab FEAR and the new Splinter Cell soon.

I started by moving from a Sapphire X1600XT to a BFG 7900 GS OC so I can push quality settings and resolution higher. I installed the card lastnight and it's entirely capable of doing what I need it do - it's the rest of the system that isn't up to the challenge. The machine is a S939 system with a Sempron 3400+ (2.0GHz w/ 128KB L2) and 768MB DDR400 (256MB + 512MB), for now. I'd like to upgrade both the CPU and memory but can probably only do one of the two this month... i'm thinking memory is where I should start. Question is, would I see better performance by dropping the 256MB and adding a second 512MB for 1GB in dual-channel or just add 1GB and have 1.7GB in single-channel? In a month or so i'm looking to swap the CPU out for an Athlon 64 4000+ (SanDiego w/ 1MB L2)...
 
looks like you've just about got it sorted to me. I would buy some (matching) memory. 2gb worth. It wont have to be fastest or the most expensive to get it done. The on board controllers for AMD dont like mis-matched memory. If I could, Id have 1.5gb instead of just 1gb right now.

Your cpu is fine.. Overclock it. it should do 2.6 maybe more (just a guess).

That should hold you over for a while. I can understand the reluctance to buy ddr these days.
but, it looks as if I am going to have to do the same. 1gb just doesn't cut it in BF2142.
 
128 of cache is a kick in the balls. Do the mem first, and then sell off the memory and CPU you have now and pick up a single core 3700 for 79 bucks.
 
I was able to snag a spare 512MB DDR400 DIMM from work today so we'll if that helps BF2 perform a little better. If it does, I know a local shop where I can get 1GB (2x512MB) Corsair ValueSelect kits on clearance... the 512MB DIMM I have installed is Corsair ValueSelect as well.

As for the CPU, I can get a 3700+ or 4000+, both OEM, for a good price... $20 difference between the two. For $20, i'll probably go with the 4000+... it's a nice round number. ;)

Good to know i'm heading in the right direction.
 
Well, I installed the "borrowed" 512MB DIMM today for a total of 1.2GB. I noticed a definite improvement in BF2 - menus, loading screens and game play are certainly more respronsive. I don't think it's enough tho. I'm still seeing some HDD activity during game play that causes a bit of stuttering... and when I exited back to XP BF2 was using ~700MB of memory and there was a "virtual memory too low" warning in the system tray. So, I need at least 1.5GB or, as BallerX suggestion, 2GB would be preferable.

The problem I run into is that I would be looking at $350CDN to upgrade both the memory and CPU. Is there value in doing that for a S939/DDR400 system? Should I hold out for a bit and maybe put the money to a new system once we're a little into 2007?
 
Athlon 64 4000+ I would go with, 2 gig RAM 2 x 1 gig. DDR400 mem modules or DDR333 either or you will not see a big difference. Main thing the 2 gig amount is more crucial. The graphics card you got is good already. This will make your system balanced.
 
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