Hello everyone
I have had my current system for almost three years, and for all intents and purposes it doesn't seem to have much problem getting on with the stuff I ask it to do. Recently however, I have started playing a new game that's quite intensive on the graphical side, and I'm now forced to consider performing some sort of upgrade to my PC. The game is Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. It's well-known for being quite system intensive, so there's no surprise there, but I don't feel it is quite time to upgrade the entire system at the moment, and I believe that the current system bottleneck is my ATI X800 Pro, not the CPU and RAM.
I'll go ahead and list my specs so that they can be taken into consideration when anyone reads this post.
AMD Athlon 64 3200 (Clawhammer, not Newcastle)
DFI LanParty UT NF3
ATI X800 Pro 256MB (with 16 pipes unlocked)
2 GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 (2 x 1GB)
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
Now I've not done much overclocking with this setup because the memory doesn't appear to like it, although the graphics card does seem to go fairly well when clocked a bit, but at the moment it's all at stock, except for the 16 pipes unlocked in the X800 Pro.
My question is simple. I am mainly looking for a solution that will keep me going and happy for another year at the least, as I am waiting for Vista to even out a bit before making any commitment whatsoever to Windows gaming. My personal opinion is that the machine isn't yet at the point of requiring a complete overhaul, but since it is 754 and AGP only, my options are slightly limited. Do I:
1.) get hold of a socket 754 motherboard with PCI-express for a new graphics card, and upgrade to a PCI-express graphics card
2.) get myself an ATI Radeon X1950 AGP 512MB card like the HIS that OcUK have on their this week only deal
3.) upgrade the motherboard, processor, RAM, and graphics card to be more inline with current system architecture, spending a lot more money in the process?
At the moment I'm leaning toward option 2, because it seems to be a very cost-effective way at getting a lot of extra power for my PC, since the bottleneck would seem to be my graphics card right now. Option 1 and 3 are very expensive options and are of course a more longterm solution, but if I decide to upgrade to Vista next year, I'll most likely end up having to do another upgrade, so these two options are not really cost-effective.
What are your opinions on this?
I have had my current system for almost three years, and for all intents and purposes it doesn't seem to have much problem getting on with the stuff I ask it to do. Recently however, I have started playing a new game that's quite intensive on the graphical side, and I'm now forced to consider performing some sort of upgrade to my PC. The game is Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. It's well-known for being quite system intensive, so there's no surprise there, but I don't feel it is quite time to upgrade the entire system at the moment, and I believe that the current system bottleneck is my ATI X800 Pro, not the CPU and RAM.
I'll go ahead and list my specs so that they can be taken into consideration when anyone reads this post.
AMD Athlon 64 3200 (Clawhammer, not Newcastle)
DFI LanParty UT NF3
ATI X800 Pro 256MB (with 16 pipes unlocked)
2 GB Corsair XMS DDR 400 (2 x 1GB)
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
Now I've not done much overclocking with this setup because the memory doesn't appear to like it, although the graphics card does seem to go fairly well when clocked a bit, but at the moment it's all at stock, except for the 16 pipes unlocked in the X800 Pro.
My question is simple. I am mainly looking for a solution that will keep me going and happy for another year at the least, as I am waiting for Vista to even out a bit before making any commitment whatsoever to Windows gaming. My personal opinion is that the machine isn't yet at the point of requiring a complete overhaul, but since it is 754 and AGP only, my options are slightly limited. Do I:
1.) get hold of a socket 754 motherboard with PCI-express for a new graphics card, and upgrade to a PCI-express graphics card
2.) get myself an ATI Radeon X1950 AGP 512MB card like the HIS that OcUK have on their this week only deal
3.) upgrade the motherboard, processor, RAM, and graphics card to be more inline with current system architecture, spending a lot more money in the process?
At the moment I'm leaning toward option 2, because it seems to be a very cost-effective way at getting a lot of extra power for my PC, since the bottleneck would seem to be my graphics card right now. Option 1 and 3 are very expensive options and are of course a more longterm solution, but if I decide to upgrade to Vista next year, I'll most likely end up having to do another upgrade, so these two options are not really cost-effective.
What are your opinions on this?
