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Upgrade Question...Video Card or CPU?

M

Major_A

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
1,164
In a few weeks I'm coming across a few Benjamins and feel like upgrading. I am either going to buy a P4 3.2E or a BFG 6800 OC. I currently have a 2.4B @ 2.8 and a 9800 Pro @ 412/378. What would you do?

*The answer I'm not looking for is buy an Athlon 64 or 6800 GT, etc... cause I don't have the money (poor college student taking 15 hrs, then 9 in the summer, and another 15 to finish up in the winter so my part time job is very part time)*
 
I'd probably go with the video card personally, as that should show the greatest effect on gaming etc. If you do a bunch of CPU intensive stuff though might want the CPU instead.

-zac
 
Personally, I'd quite honestly say you'd be a fool to do either at this point in time.

2.8ghz is more than enough for almost any gaming you'll have to do for the at least near future, and a 9800 Pro will still handle it all quite well.

Save your money for the time being and wait for a good time to invest in components, perhaps when the Athlon 64 and SLI and stuff start coming to be...stuff that will last you longer (upgrade path wise and performance wise).
 
So going from 2.8 non-HT(18X156) to a 3.2HT with the possibility of 3.5ish(16X220) isn't worth it? I have a feeling my video card will be able to handle what I throw at it if my CPU were faster. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't DX 9 pretty much done. Seems like I read somewhere that DX10 is with Longhorn. Besides my monitor is a POS and it only goes to 1280x1024 so I'm not looking for some 1600x1200 gaming.

Maniacmous said:
Personally, I'd quite honestly say you'd be a fool to do either at this point in time.

2.8ghz is more than enough for almost any gaming you'll have to do for the at least near future, and a 9800 Pro will still handle it all quite well.

Save your money for the time being and wait for a good time to invest in components, perhaps when the Athlon 64 and SLI and stuff start coming to be...stuff that will last you longer (upgrade path wise and performance wise).
Click to expand...

Yeah that would be nice, but I don't know when I'll have the cash in hand to upgrade again.
 
Major_A said:
Yeah that would be nice, but I don't know when I'll have the cash in hand to upgrade again.
Click to expand...

This makes no sense. You just keep your current cash until you upgrade. Not too hard.
 
Yeah, I'd also upgrade the monitor. Your pc seems pretty okay to me. Maybe some more ram, too.

Or get a nice watercooling system and max your meal.
 
I'll check out prices for a monitor tomorrow, I have a GB of Corsair XMS PC3200 CAS2 so no more RAM right now.
robberbaron said:
This makes no sense. You just keep your current cash until you upgrade. Not too hard.
Click to expand...
That's easier said than done. I do like to go out and the more money I have the more I spend.
 
I'd go with CPU. There's a lot of processors out there that are a whole lot faster than a 2.4B, even if it's running at 2.8. I'd go with a 3.2C or 3.2E, depending on how high you want to o/c and what kind of cooling you have. I think the higher clock speed, with a higher BUS speed, AND hyper threading all in one upgrade will be definitely noticeable.

What kind of cooling/motherboard/RAM do you have? If you have the cooling to handle a prescott, with a good motherboard, and RAM that is good with high FSB speeds, I'd go with a 3.2E. If not, I'd play it safe and stick with a 3.2C northwood. Either way, overclock it until it bleeds. :p

That's my plan anyway, as I have a 2.66B @ 3.0 ghZ (150FSB) and a 9800 pro @ XT speeds, and I can't help but think this 2.66B is bottlenecking me.

Just my two cents ;)

edit: Sorry, didn't notice you just posted what type of RAM you have...
 
No, save it. If you can't stand putting your money aside, then you need some help, my friend. Get a piggy and put all your "upgrade" money in that little anal hole. By the way, I think a 21" Trinitron/Diamontron-based monitor would be the best thing you could upgrade. Only for less than $250.

-J.
 
After sleeping on it I am going with the CPU. I got a DVD burner for Christmas and hopefully it will speed up encode times. I was making a movie the other night and it took 4 hrs to convert the file to .mpv and .mpa. Besides I ordered a XP-90 and adjustable fan a few days ago to replace my Thermaltake Volcano 7+. Another plus to this is I can take this processor and put it in my old motherboard and give it to my parents to replace the old T-Bird 1.2 they have.
 
Baah, put it into a CD (certificate of deposit) and blammo, you cant touch it for 6 mo/1yr/whatever. There you have held onto your money and gotten interest to boot.
 
So much for the XP-90, it's on back order. So I called and spoke to the guy and was upgraded to the XP-120 and fan for $2 more. I think this should be adaquate cooling for the Prescott, I hope.
 
Goat said:
if ur monitor is a POS......upgrade that.
Click to expand...

WORD!

i went from a decent 19" CRT to a Dell 2005FPW (yes it cost big cash)
but its one of the best upgrades ive done ever.
 
Video Card (6800OC) would help you more. But the difference is minute, so I wouldn't bother upgrading yet. Save your money for a while, your rig is capable anyways. Wait until you have enough cash to get a new A64 and motherboard. Something like a 3400+/3500+ or better would make a noticeable difference.
 
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