Help with upgrade please?

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bigroy1231

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Nov 10, 2006
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I'm putting this in the Video Cards forum because my main concern is gaming and the most difficult hardware choice i have to make is the video card. Anyway, here goes...

I am try go upgrade my PC, although i'll probably be adding more new parts than keeping old ones so call it a new build if you like. I'm running on a mobo without a PCI-E slot right now so i definitely need a new one. I'm also running with a P4 3.0 so i'll need a new processor as well so i don't bottleneck with a newer video card. I currently have a 6800GT right now but i suppose that doesn't really matter. My PSU is an Antec Neo 480 (dual 12v rails at 18A each). I have 2GB of PC3200 DDR that I'll probably have to toss for DDR2 I guess. I'll be keeping my sound card (Audigy 4).

I play all sorts of games such as HL2, CS:S, BF2, COH, NWN2, FEAR, DM:M&M, etc. I would love to be able to play all of them and new games that come out with max settings (including textures), 4xAA, 16xAF, HDR, Shadows, etc.

I'd like to try and spend no more than $600 to do this and preferrabley closer to $500 if possible.

I want a dual core proccessor. Not sure if i should go the AMD X2 route, or Intel C2D. I don't plan on overclocking anything so a basic mobo should do i guess. There aren't too many that would support both DDR and DDR2 though and the ones that do aren't the best brands from what i can tell. I'd like to save some money and keep my existing PSU if possible, but who knows if it will work with the card i wind up choosing.

And the most important issue...the video card.

I'm trying to stay in the $200-$300 range in order to save money for the rest of my components. I've been considering the following, but can't come to a decision:

x1950 pro
x1950 xt
7950gt

I think the 7950gt requires a minimum of 18A on the 12v rail so my PSU should work on that but the x1950's say 30A. I have dual 12v rails though...so i don't know.

I also think i may need 512MB to be able to play newer and future games with Max Texture settings. Can anyone verify?

I would like to be able to use HDR+AA at the same time if possible, but i guess that would nullify the nVidia route eh?

Lastly and not really as important I may want to play HD-DVD's on my PC at some point.

Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I appreciate any opinions or suggestions you can give me on my purchases.

Thanks,
Big Roy
 
Nobody is going to take a stab at this one? Maybe i should award a prize to the most helpful person?

Winner gets to see nudie pics of my wife!
 
With a $600 budget you can probably get something that will play current games really well, and games in the next year or two at medium, then lower settings.

Say, $300 for a mobo and CPU. C2D stomps over anything AMD has out these days, though given your budget AMD is cheaper so you may want to go that route.

RAM will run around $200 for 2x1GB of DDR2, that's the absolute minimum config I'd go for.

A 7900GT class card will set you back less than $200, so all in all that's around $700. If you can sell off your old parts for $100, or even $200, you're at your budget level.
 
Oh yeah, HD-DVDs - for now HDCP protection isn't enabled but if you want to go that route, make sure your video card has the HDCP crypto-ROM, and then of course your display will also have to be HDCP compliant, so it may mean a new display down the road.
 
Thanks for the reply. So you don't think there's a way i can get away with using a cheaper mobo that would support DDR? That way i could try and use my existing memory and save about $250 total.

so you recommend a 79xx? What are your thoughts about HDR+AA and whether or not it's 256 or 512?
 
bigroy1231 said:
Thanks for the reply. So you don't think there's a way i can get away with using a cheaper mobo that would support DDR? That way i could try and use my existing memory and save about $250 total.

so you recommend a 79xx? What are your thoughts about HDR+AA and whether or not it's 256 or 512?
Click to expand...

Well if you could always get a socket 939 motherboard, that would allow you to keep your RAM, but then that limits your upgrade path somewhat, and it's just delaying the inevitable. For AMD with DDR2 you'd have to get a socket AM2 motherboard, and the future isn't exactly rosy for that socket either, so it's a toss up.

With the 8800s just coming out the 7900GTs have dropped in price. HDR+AA isn't that big of a deal IMO: think of it this way, with that class of card, even if you could run HDR+AA the performance isn't going to be that great.

The other thing to consider is Vista and DX10. XP and DX9 will still be around for a while, but if you're the type to hold onto a video card for 2 years you may want to wait until the Spring and see what ATI comes out for DX10.
 
Well, i definitely don't want to gimp myself either. But i've got to pull the trigger now or wait until next Christmas...my christmas bonus is going to burn a hole in my pocket.

HD playback isn't really that important. If i want it that bad i'll just buy a player for my TV when they come down in price.

My concerns are with 512 vs 256MB and AA+HDR. I suppose Bloom + 8xAA would still look pretty but...

Maybe i should just get a 512MB x1950pro? Diamond makes one i think. Then i'll have 512MB and AA+HDR.
 
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