Looking for performance boost

R

ritch1

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 1, 2005
Messages
112
Hi

I currently have a radion X1900 XTX running on a Pentium 3.60ghz system with 1.5GB memory. I was thinking of upgrading as I know I will have to in the near future to get the best performance out of these new games.

I have got Bioshock and running on the above system the performance is ok but I get that feeling of wanting it to run a bit smoother with more detail, higher res etc.

I have been thinking of an upgrading to an intel core 2 duo 3.00ghz running a EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB. Would you say that this system would offer a significant boost compared with what I now have, bearing in mind that I would be getting decent memory up to around 2GB?

Or is it better to wait a bit, been out of the graphics card race a while now and have lost track of whats going on! At the risk of asking a dum question is there a general opinion on what card is in front at the moment out of ATI and NVIDIA, or is it a question of them both having strenghts and weaknesses?

cheers
Ritch
 
Honestly, at this point, I would work on everything BUT the GPU. Get a nice Core 2 system going, and then in a few months grab one of nVidia's new offerings. If you have a pile of cash to spend though, do a full system, with the GTX if you want.

Your P4 is the weak link in your system right now though.
 
yeah the P4 is getting long in the tooth now so definatly want to get a core 2 system. As for graphics card it seems i always want to upgrade at a point where i should wait a few months!

also i was going to ask if its a good idea upgrading to vista, from a gaming point of view?

cheers
 
I recently upgraded to a system similar to the one you're considering and yeah there's is a definite "noticeable" performance boost. I was very happy with the investment but I also got great deals on all my hardware so it made the decision a lot more palatable. What types of resolution does your monitor currently support? At the same time I upgraded my computer, I upgraded to a monitor that can display 1920X1200. Everything at this resolution (especially with AA and AF at max setting) looks amazing but you definitely need a beefy system to give you playable frame rates on the latest games. If you're still gaming on a 1280X1020 monitor then I think GTX and above are overkill. (and yes, Nvidia is currently the king of the GPU hill. Really no comparison between the currently flagship cards between both companies).
 
display wise i have a dell 2407 so i am looking for a card that will give me decent performance at higher resolutions. if i upgrade i am looking to spend a lot so i dont have to get new stuff for a long time, might even consider going for a core 2 quad system

any ideas when these companies are looking to release new cards?

cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top