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Which final upgrade should I get

Y

[YF] Daniel

n00b
Joined
Jun 2, 2005
Messages
52
I want to make my PC run TF2 better. I am kind of running out of dough here. I only have about $40 to spend.

My current specs are:
ASUS A8N-VM CSM Mobo - 939
I have 768 MB of RAM. 2x256 and 2x128.
6800GS
A64 3200+... Venice I believe
430W PSU

With this hardware I can run the game pretty solid at 1024x768... but when I get into a firefight with a few players, say 3-4 player models on my screen at once, my framerate will plummet. This isn't really the only problem. It also takes TF2 a long while to boot up, load maps, and all that stuff.

Since a new video card is out of the question due to cost restraints, I am looking to make a slight upgrade to my current hardware configuration. I do plan to build a newer box in the future when I have a little more cash (Core2, 8800), so I don't want to upgrade to drastically with this current POS box.

So, with the $40 I have, I have come to two possible decisions:

A gig of ram, which would increase the total amount of system memory to 1536MB. (I haven't decided which kit to buy yet)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231079

A processor upgrade, (Already have a HSF, of course)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103037

So which of these two upgrades do you guys think would be most beneficial to my gameplay? Or are they both moronic? What other ideas do you have in mind?
 
the thing that affects your gaming the most is the video card. so if you want your frames per second to go up then get a better graphics card or turn down the settings or play at a lower resolution.
 
honestly you are not going to get much out of that 40$. That processor you're looking to upgrade to won't do you much good in TF2. You're going to need a dual core to run TF2 decently. So what I would suggest is that keep your 40$ and like you said, save it for upgrading to a Core 2 later on.
 
NewEgg's got a PNY 8600GT for $80 with $7 shipping.. if you can put a few more bucks together you can have a decent vid card anyway to hold you over till later, should be a nice improvement over the 6800
 
Yeah. Now that I think of it, this was the better idea because I can recycle the 8600GT.

I am feeling dyslexic from swaping the 8 and 6 around... 6800 to 8600 lol
 
I don't think it'll matter much.. FPS games are GPU dependent more than anything, you might take a small hit but overall I think it be a nice improvement.

The 8600gt is about 50% faster than the 6800gs thatr you currently have...

and also you can use the 8600gt with your new system until you can get the 8800 so you wouldn't have to throw a lot of cash out all at once
 
This is a good idea but, I would get at least an 8600GTS. The 8600GT is not that much faster than your 6800GS. But, based on the $40 you have, your best or only option is an 8600GT card or maybe get a used 8600GTS. Not much to offer in terms of performance boost with $40 over that 6800GS card.

dracos said:
I don't think it'll matter much.. FPS games are GPU dependent more than anything, you might take a small hit but overall I think it be a nice improvement.

The 8600gt is about 50% faster than the 6800gs thatr you currently have...

and also you can use the 8600gt with your new system until you can get the 8800 so you wouldn't have to throw a lot of cash out all at once
Click to expand...
 
I haven't seen many used 8600gts cards, and the ones I did were going for $125+ but those were major brand names, might find a lesser known brand cheaper but not much I'm sure..
 
[YF] Daniel;1032220577 said:
Yeah. Now that I think of it, this was the better idea because I can recycle the 8600GT.

I am feeling dyslexic from swaping the 8 and 6 around... 6800 to 8600 lol
Click to expand...

how about 9800 to 9800? Friend of mine is going from his Radeon 9800pro to a Geforce 9800GTX.

Anyways, in regards to your question, for that whole system, more ram and a new graphics card. If it was me I'd downgrade my expectations from an 8800GT to a 9600GT or 8800GS, and pickup one or two of these.

As for the venice, how high have you got that sucker clocked?

Obviously this is oversimplifying, but one of the real advantages to a dual core CPU is really just not having to open up task manager and close everything before launching a game. If your willing to sacrifice that convenience the performance produced by an 8800GT w/ AX2 3200+ and an 8800GT w/ C2D E6600 will be very similar.

and your 430W psu might become an issue. A 430W from Seasonic wouldn't give you any troubles at all, but a 430W from Apevia would. The fact that Apevia has the nerve to get a booth at cebit actually makes me angry.
 
MrWizard6600 said:
Obviously this is oversimplifying, but one of the real advantages to a dual core CPU is really just not having to open up task manager and close everything before launching a game. If your willing to sacrifice that convenience the performance produced by an 8800GT w/ AX2 3200+ and an 8800GT w/ C2D E6600 will be very similar.
Click to expand...

Wow, I'm sorry but that's just flat-out not true.
 
Hmm - $40 isnt going to get you much.. I think the best bet would be more ram / course its kind of a toss up. 768 is pretty weak for xp (I dont recommend anything less than a gig). I'd prob spend the cash on Ram. In reality I'd try to scrape some $$ together and do both the video card and the extra ram (2GB if you can swing it). The extra ram and video card would get you by for a while.

1GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231079

2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231039
 
horrorshow said:
Wow, I'm sorry but that's just flat-out not true.
Click to expand...

well, Ive got my system in sig, and my dads got an old Atholon 64 3200+ which I basically borrowed when my EVGA 680i board died on me. I plugged my 8800GTS into that system, and what I stated were my results. The differences were pretty minor most of the time but apparent in a couple situations.

Its what I saw, and was able to benchmark that time, but also seen without benchmarking in a couple of my builds. An old customer of mine running an FX55 actually came by about a week ago and I put him on an 8800GT and was very impressed with the results, you could barely tell the difference between his stock FX55 and my 3.7Ghz C2D, when you killed his hundreds of background apps. I tried my hardest to use benchmarks that would up the cpu usage considerably, such as points where physics becomes a big issue and networking becomes a big issue.

could you point me in the direction of the data your using to base your accusation?
 
MrWizard6600 said:
well, Ive got my system in sig, and my dads got an old Atholon 64 3200+ which I basically borrowed when my EVGA 680i board died on me. I plugged my 8800GTS into that system, and what I stated were my results. The differences were pretty minor most of the time but apparent in a couple situations.

Its what I saw, and was able to benchmark that time, but also seen without benchmarking in a couple of my builds. An old customer of mine running an FX55 actually came by about a week ago and I put him on an 8800GT and was very impressed with the results, you could barely tell the difference between his stock FX55 and my 3.7Ghz C2D, when you killed his hundreds of background apps. I tried my hardest to use benchmarks that would up the cpu usage considerably, such as points where physics becomes a big issue and networking becomes a big issue.

could you point me in the direction of the data your using to base your accusation?
Click to expand...

It very very very much depends on what resolution your running...Higher resolutions are all about the graphics card, lower resolutions, all about the cpu.

At your overall system levels for gaming I would recommend a GPU upgrade first. I agree with everyone here that you'd be very happy with what an 8600GT would do for your TF2 levels....

768MB of RAM for XP is okay. You'll not notice much difference going to 1GB or 1.5GB or 2GB. The only thing the RAM will do for you in gaming is eliminate "hitching" when the game first loads up...like stuttering. If you don't have that then you won't notice a single thing with more RAM. Benchmark after Benchmark will verify this. If you have stuttering and you upgrade your RAM to 1.5GB the stuterring should 100% disappear. The CPU isn't your biggest holdup for modern games. It is aged, but the graphics card means much more at any resolution of 1280x1024 and above. If you are an 800x600 Resolution gamer then you might recognize a CPU upgrade, otherwise shouldn't make much difference. You can find the 8600GT for much cheaper than 80 if you look around. Does your PC have AGP or PCI-E card though? If it's still AGP you'll have a hard time upgrading for cheap on the video card side. You can get a 7800GS on the Nvidia side and that's the best you'll do. ATI has a faster card on AGP if you like ATI, but again you'll pay plenty more for it.
 
Archaea said:
It very very very much depends on what resolution your running...Higher resolutions are all about the graphics card, lower resolutions, all about the cpu.

At your overall system levels for gaming I would recommend a GPU upgrade first. I agree with everyone here that you'd be very happy with what an 8600GT would do for your TF2 levels....

768MB of RAM for XP is okay. You'll not notice much difference going to 1GB or 1.5GB or 2GB. The only thing the RAM will do for you in gaming is eliminate "hitching" when the game first loads up...like stuttering. If you don't have that then you won't notice a single thing with more RAM. Benchmark after Benchmark will verify this. If you have stuttering and you upgrade your RAM to 1.5GB the stuterring should 100% disappear. The CPU isn't your biggest holdup for modern games. It is aged, but the graphics card means much more at any resolution of 1280x1024 and above. If you are an 800x600 Resolution gamer then you might recognize a CPU upgrade, otherwise shouldn't make much difference. You can find the 8600GT for much cheaper than 80 if you look around. Does your PC have AGP or PCI-E card though? If it's still AGP you'll have a hard time upgrading for cheap on the video card side. You can get a 7800GS on the Nvidia side and that's the best you'll do. ATI has a faster card on AGP if you like ATI, but again you'll pay plenty more for it.
Click to expand...
It's PCI-E
MrWizard6600 said:
how about 9800 to 9800? Friend of mine is going from his Radeon 9800pro to a Geforce 9800GTX.

Anyways, in regards to your question, for that whole system, more ram and a new graphics card. If it was me I'd downgrade my expectations from an 8800GT to a 9600GT or 8800GS, and pickup one or two of these.

As for the venice, how high have you got that sucker clocked?

Obviously this is oversimplifying, but one of the real advantages to a dual core CPU is really just not having to open up task manager and close everything before launching a game. If your willing to sacrifice that convenience the performance produced by an 8800GT w/ AX2 3200+ and an 8800GT w/ C2D E6600 will be very similar.

and your 430W psu might become an issue. A 430W from Seasonic wouldn't give you any troubles at all, but a 430W from Apevia would. The fact that Apevia has the nerve to get a booth at cebit actually makes me angry.
Click to expand...
I have it running at 2.2GHz, but I haven't bothered to see how high it will go.

And I have this PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023
Will that be an issue?
 
Archaea said:
It very very very much depends on what resolution your running...Higher resolutions are all about the graphics card, lower resolutions, all about the cpu.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming the standard 20"-17" resolutions. But you are correct, to an extent. at lower resolutions, its all about the ROPs. If your max res is only 1024X768 (yes, there are people in such a position), you could defiantly get away with something thats only pumping out 3.6GP/s (8500GT pixel output) but you'd still want as much texture, shader, and vertex horsepower as possible.

Archaea said:
At your overall system levels for gaming I would recommend a GPU upgrade first. I agree with everyone here that you'd be very happy with what an 8600GT would do for your TF2 levels....
Click to expand...

I believe so aswell. The source engine is one of the most well optimized game engines ever created. An 8600GT would be fine. That said, for an extra couple bucks (~$150), an 8800GS would be a significant step up.

Archaea said:
768MB of RAM for XP is okay. You'll not notice much difference going to 1GB or 1.5GB or 2GB. The only thing the RAM will do for you in gaming is eliminate "hitching" when the game first loads up...like stuttering. If you don't have that then you won't notice a single thing with more RAM. Benchmark after Benchmark will verify this. If you have stuttering and you upgrade your RAM to 1.5GB the stuterring should 100% disappear. The CPU isn't your biggest holdup for modern games. It is aged, but the graphics card means much more at any resolution of 1280x1024 and above. If you are an 800x600 Resolution gamer then you might recognize a CPU upgrade, otherwise shouldn't make much difference. You can find the 8600GT for much cheaper than 80 if you look around. Does your PC have AGP or PCI-E card though? If it's still AGP you'll have a hard time upgrading for cheap on the video card side. You can get a 7800GS on the Nvidia side and that's the best you'll do. ATI has a faster card on AGP if you like ATI, but again you'll pay plenty more for it.
Click to expand...

Operating systems are weird about ram sometimes and I think this is somewhat inaccurate. Stalker on the below system with 1 gig of ram was terrible (originally it was running 2X 1GB of PQI turbo 667, one of the sticks died). The "hitching" lasted for several minutes and when it finally did manage to cache what needed to be cached, it was always just on the brink of starting the whole process over again. If I suddenly needed to load more then a couple characters on screen at once (ex the 1000rads bar), my FPS plummeted. I think it would be a good idea to get a single 1gig stick.

Hard OCPs "Benchmarking the Benchmarks" has converted me to their view (somewhat), and I believe it is entirely possible for the game, when running the built in benchmark, to begin pre-caching objects that will be needed in a later scene much more aggressively then it would in a normal in game situation. This could be the explanation for why all these tests (presumably using the built in game stress test), reveal ram to be not such a big issue.

[YF] Daniel;1032224921 said:
I have it running at 2.2GHz, but I haven't bothered to see how high it will go.
Click to expand...

yeah I think, again assuming the 17"-22" resolutions, a graphics card upgrade would probably be the best idea. I would definatly try to run that system "light". No Nortan 360, no simultaneous downloads or P2P apps.

[YF] Daniel;1032224921 said:
And I have this PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023
Will that be an issue?
Click to expand...

That could cause problems....

...

so much so I think that it pretty well murders my idea of buying an 8800GS. Stick with the 8600 family, I guess.
 
Pretty good. Ditch the 8600GT already. Hehe. If you had a card slower than a 6800GS like a 6600GT card, then the 8600GT would be an option. But, 6800GS to 8600GT is not much to where it's woth it.


gotcheaprice said:
Hmm, wanted to post this on the hot deals section too, but can't cause of the 50 post thing, but here you go(someone else post it there if it's a good deal)
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204450334
PNY 8600 GTS for $70 shipped after rebate.
5% coupon
http://www.buy.com/retail/coupon.asp?prid=84773074
But youi can't use the coupon and get a $10 off using google checkout for the first time.
Click to expand...
 
Haha, yeah, just upgrade to a 8800!
:D
But yeah, $40 won't really get you much except maybe in the ram department where it's cheaper. So I'd say ram too.
 
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