Comparison

bowza · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:18

Hi guys, want advice how much of an improvement I wil get.

From
AMD64 3200 -2.0ghz
2 gig DDR 400ram
AGP ATI850XTpe 512mb
Agp motherboard nforce 2 chipset

To
Intel 2160 1.8ghz dual core
4 gig DDR 6400 ram
PCIe nvidia 8600GT 512mb
PCIe p35 based motherboard

Thanks

Bowza

semi-pro waster · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:30

Massive massive difference, think night and day. If you are going to use if for gaming then I'd suggest trying to get a bit extra cash together for an 8800GT at ~£130 but apart from that it will be a great improvement.

furnace · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:32

Save money by getting 2GB RAM, then save up for a little longer, and buy an 8800GT.

A system with 2GB RAM and an 8800GT will be much, much, much better than a system with 4GB RAM and an 8600GT.

platinum87 · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:42

the extra 2gig ram isnt that expensive, i say get the 8800GT 512mb aswell if you can stetch you budget an extra 50 or so

furnace · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:48

Yeah but he'd be much better off getting 2GB of ram and an 8800GT, then getting an extra 2GB later. Of course if he can afford 4GB and an 8800GT then go for it! But I was just presuming he can't. Saving money on 2GB RAM to help get an 8800GT is a much wiser choice than getting 4GB with an 8600!

bayo000 · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:49

if you dont want to spent that much then consider 9600gt/3870xt or even 256mb 8800gt

furnace · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:52

Yeah indeed, the 9600GT is much much better than the 8600! It's not far off the 8800GT. Although I wouldn't get a 256MB card, try and aim for 512MB of GDDR3

bowza · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:58

ok thanks guys

whats the lowest card i could get away with for now?
i play everquest 2 mainly. i could then replace this lower card with a 8800GTX 512. in maybe 2-3 months.

just feel the need to get away from agp as soon as i can.

Also i would like to o/c the cpu, is this still simple on the 2160?

thanks again for your fast replies

Bowza

bowza · 2 Mar 2008 at 13:58

if it helps , i play on a 22" screen @1680x1050

Bowza

platinum87 · 2 Mar 2008 at 14:02

bowza said:
ok thanks guys

whats the lowest card i could get away with for now?
i play everquest 2 mainly. i could then replace this lower card with a 8800GTX 512. in maybe 2-3 months.

just feel the need to get away from agp as soon as i can.

Also i would like to o/c the cpu, is this still simple on the 2160?

thanks again for your fast replies

Bowza

i recon 9600 will do you nicely for good price (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-013-SK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=356)
110 pounds

should do for every game except crysis, which if you dont play crysis (its not that great) then its fine on max settings, mabye turn down AA a bit in some games