Case: Ahanix MicroATX Tower Case
CPU: 3.0 GHz Pentium 4
MoBo: MSI P4M880 Socket 478
RAM: Corsair 2GB DDR400 PC3200
Video: ATI Radeon X800 XT PE - 256MB Ram
Audio: Creative Extigy - External USB Soundcard
Internal DVD/CDRW Drive: Lite-On via IDE
Internal HDD Drives: 250GB-IDE | 160GB-SATA Maxtors
External HDD Drives: 80GB-IDE (via Firewire) Maxtor in enclosure
External DVD~R/RW Drive: Lite-on LightScribe via USB2.0
PSU: SilenX 350W MicroATX
Input Devices: Logitech MX700, ATI Remote Wonder II
O/S: WinXP Pro SP2
Alright. I want Core2Duo. I do tons of video encoding via MeGUI/x264 of DVD's to .MP4 for HDD storage. So I really could use the performance boost of C2D over my Prescott. Overclocking a E6300 is what I'd like to do. A reasonable overclock of 2.4-3.0Ghz is what I would hope for. So that is one upgrade I want to make. Secondly, I can run Oblivion well, but not quite upto the quality I'm looking for. I'd love to run these settings @ 1366x768 (for HDTV), with 50% slider on grass, and 2xADAA Quality. I want to remain MicroATX if possible. Right now, I run the above settings, @ 1366x768 with 50% grass, Bloom, and no Tree Canopy Shadows. With these settings, I run about 20-30fps. I think my GPU is my Oblivion bottleneck, then I want to upgrade to a X1950Pro, as it is $200, and should be able to run the options I'm looking for.
I would like to do this all at as minimum a cost as possible, as honestly, I can afford none of it, but I am kinda fed up with the encoding in particular.
Those are the goals. I have a few options.
Option1: There are a couple C2D MoBo's (link, link) that have AGP slots and also run DDR-PC3200. So I could go for that, buy a E6300 and a MoBo. However, if my GPU is bottlenecking my Oblivion performance, than I would still be SOL on Oblivion performance. Significantly (2.4Ghz and up) overclocking the E6300 wouldn't be necessary with this option because I would be using this as a transition system also as opposed to a "final solution". This would potentially give me the encoding performance, and later I could upgrade to a PCIE, DDR2, mATX MoBo that can clock to the moon. (COST ~$220)
Option2: Buy a E6300, a mATX Mobo, DDR2, and a PCIE card. If I were to do this, I would want something that I could surely overclock the E6300. I would be looking at a X1950Pro eventually, but I would love the MoBo to have integrated graphics so that I could buy the PCIE card at a later date. If I did this, I would look to sell my current CPU, MoBo, GPU & RAM so I could afford this option. I've been looking at this board for this option. (COST ~$640 less current system sale)
Questions that need answered:
What is bottlenecking my Oblivion performance?
Which of these options would you recommend?
What MoBo would you recommend for the option you recommend?
Thanks for any help you can give me!!
CPU: 3.0 GHz Pentium 4
MoBo: MSI P4M880 Socket 478
RAM: Corsair 2GB DDR400 PC3200
Video: ATI Radeon X800 XT PE - 256MB Ram
Audio: Creative Extigy - External USB Soundcard
Internal DVD/CDRW Drive: Lite-On via IDE
Internal HDD Drives: 250GB-IDE | 160GB-SATA Maxtors
External HDD Drives: 80GB-IDE (via Firewire) Maxtor in enclosure
External DVD~R/RW Drive: Lite-on LightScribe via USB2.0
PSU: SilenX 350W MicroATX
Input Devices: Logitech MX700, ATI Remote Wonder II
O/S: WinXP Pro SP2
Alright. I want Core2Duo. I do tons of video encoding via MeGUI/x264 of DVD's to .MP4 for HDD storage. So I really could use the performance boost of C2D over my Prescott. Overclocking a E6300 is what I'd like to do. A reasonable overclock of 2.4-3.0Ghz is what I would hope for. So that is one upgrade I want to make. Secondly, I can run Oblivion well, but not quite upto the quality I'm looking for. I'd love to run these settings @ 1366x768 (for HDTV), with 50% slider on grass, and 2xADAA Quality. I want to remain MicroATX if possible. Right now, I run the above settings, @ 1366x768 with 50% grass, Bloom, and no Tree Canopy Shadows. With these settings, I run about 20-30fps. I think my GPU is my Oblivion bottleneck, then I want to upgrade to a X1950Pro, as it is $200, and should be able to run the options I'm looking for.
I would like to do this all at as minimum a cost as possible, as honestly, I can afford none of it, but I am kinda fed up with the encoding in particular.
Those are the goals. I have a few options.
Option1: There are a couple C2D MoBo's (link, link) that have AGP slots and also run DDR-PC3200. So I could go for that, buy a E6300 and a MoBo. However, if my GPU is bottlenecking my Oblivion performance, than I would still be SOL on Oblivion performance. Significantly (2.4Ghz and up) overclocking the E6300 wouldn't be necessary with this option because I would be using this as a transition system also as opposed to a "final solution". This would potentially give me the encoding performance, and later I could upgrade to a PCIE, DDR2, mATX MoBo that can clock to the moon. (COST ~$220)
Option2: Buy a E6300, a mATX Mobo, DDR2, and a PCIE card. If I were to do this, I would want something that I could surely overclock the E6300. I would be looking at a X1950Pro eventually, but I would love the MoBo to have integrated graphics so that I could buy the PCIE card at a later date. If I did this, I would look to sell my current CPU, MoBo, GPU & RAM so I could afford this option. I've been looking at this board for this option. (COST ~$640 less current system sale)
Questions that need answered:
What is bottlenecking my Oblivion performance?
Which of these options would you recommend?
What MoBo would you recommend for the option you recommend?
Thanks for any help you can give me!!