Considering C2D and need advice.

Nucleo

Nucleo

Nucleo

Associate
Joined
26 Jul 2004
Posts
389
Hello all

Basically, this is what I have now:

AMD 3700+ SD @ 2.5ghz
AsRock Dual SATA2 939 PCI-X & AGP
2GB DDR400 RAM
250GB HD IDE
80GB HD IDE
SB Audigy 7.1
ATI Radeon X1800xt PCI-X
Hiper Type R 580W

Okay, so the games I play -
CSS
BF2
Quake Wars (when it arrives)

I've just got my Uni bursarie through, and am considering an upgrade, Reasons:
When playing CSS with <10 players in a server, its smooth, when I get to about 20-30 players, I notice slowdown, its not graphical slowdown as it makes no difference what setting I have the graphics on. Its not major slowdown, but its noticable when burst firing.

BF2 Seems ok, but My Comp performance in windows could be nicer. I do a lot of webdesign, database design, photoshop & fireworks work.

I dont mind overclocking as i've done it with this CPU. Im hoping to sell the parts I have now To fund some of the upgrade.

Also, i definately want to ditch the hiper psu... I just dont like it, too unreliable. Im thinking my X1800 will be ok for CSS for a while, I will probably go 8800 when QW's comes out or a game actually taxes my 1800.

Any suggestions will be nice, I rekon i could get... £130-£170 ish for my current PSU, RAM, CPU, MOBO. Then i could stick 2-400 more to it for a cpu, mobo, PSU, RAM upgrade.

At one point i was considering a X2 4800 with 1mb L2, as a simple upgrade, and keeping all my stuff, but what do u rekon :confused:

Cheaper the better.

Thanks all
 
E4300, P5N-E and 2gb OCZ could be had for £300 ish. Then spend extra on PSU ( Corsair maybe). Can't see the point in buying a 4800 now.
 
Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£69.99
(£82.24)

Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-520HXUK)
£59.99
(£70.49)

Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail
£95.99
(£112.79)

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
£99.99
(£117.49)

Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler
£24.99
(£29.36)

Sub Total : £350.95
Shipping : £8.95
Vat : £62.98
Total : £422.88
 
I wouldn't need the C2D retail and the tunic tower would I? or is it better for overclocking the C2D. What kind of OC would i see from the C2D with and without the tunic tower?


now the questions is... can i buy this, live with a low amount of cash and wait for my current stuff to sell on the bay....


hmmm....

thanks fella's.
 
considering changing your CPU would require you buying CPU.mobo.DDR2 Ram

id actually suggest upgrading your graphics card first. a Radeon X1950 XTX would see a 30fps jump in CS:Source

and would only cost about £190.

You could do a Core 2 Duo upgrade on top of that. Buy a 6300 Retail, a Decent motherboard and 2gb DDR2 for about £380. But i sense this would be stretching your budget somewhat.

my advice

Change your graphics card. to get a nice 30fps boost in games. Upgrade your CPU at a later date. when you dont have to stretch your budget as much.
 
The x1800 doesn't seem to hold source back tho.

I run it at 1280x1024 with high details & 6x AA 8x AF (i think) and it chugs along at 80FPS constant (monitor sucks so FPS Capped)

As soon as more players enter the server, it boggs down in firefights. I can drop all options to low & no af... it still bogs down. Which has lead me to beleive its my cpu.

as said, im going to upgrade my graphics when i get some cash, at the moment its just cpu/mobo/ram.
 
Nucleo said:
I wouldn't need the C2D retail and the tunic tower would I?
Click to expand...

No you wouldn't but E4300 is not available in OEM at the moment.

1800XT is a decent enough card and the next worthwhile upgrade is either the 8800 or the upcoming R600 equivalent.

Stock cooler is enough for moderate overclock but it's noisy when under load. If you really want to push it then a decent air cooler is a must.
 
MrLOL said:
considering changing your CPU would require you buying CPU.mobo.DDR2 Ram

id actually suggest upgrading your graphics card first. a Radeon X1950 XTX would see a 30fps jump in CS:Source

and would only cost about £190.
Click to expand...

Why would you get a 1950 XTX when (a) it is old DX9 card and (b) a DX10 8800 GTS 320MB runs rings round it for the same money :D

The XTX was an expensive card when it came out, now it is terrible vfm.

I'd say go for an 8800 GTS 320MB or steve258's spec tbh. For just over £600, get both :D
 
so...

what would be better.
I can only take 1 path at the moment, will do more when funds are available ;)

go for an 8800

go for the C2D setup...

which would offer the better gains and make css smoother :( I dont 'think' my x1800 is bogging me down, but what do you guys think?
 
melbourne720 said:
Why would you get a 1950 XTX when (a) it is old DX9 card and (b) a DX10 8800 GTS 320MB runs rings round it for the same money :D

The XTX was an expensive card when it came out, now it is terrible vfm.

I'd say go for an 8800 GTS 320MB or steve258's spec tbh. For just over £600, get both :D
Click to expand...


i was about ridicule your statement of "for the same money" till i checked the pricing of the 320mb GTS out

thats a very good price for the performance

ignore my suggestion :D
 
Nucleo said:
which would offer the better gains and make css smoother :( I dont 'think' my x1800 is bogging me down, but what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

If all you play is CSS then the X1800 is more than powerful, you really need a strong overall system performance to really increase the framerate in source engine based games.

C2D setup for the win.
 
mp260767 said:
if you're happy with you're current asrock mobo get the ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA, and either the 4300 or 6300.
Click to expand...
I'd agree with this comment, if you're happy with the Asrock, the Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA will allow you to run a Core2duo chip with your existing ram and all the other items you have. You should see a decent improvement as it does seem you are cpu limited, then you could eventually replace the gpu with a newer DX10 part when you want to.
 
im going to do some tests, like dropping all graphics options and joining 20+ man servers to see if it is the 1800 bogging me down, then I'll make the decision from there I think.

C2D or 8800. Eventually, it will be both mind ;) I just want a quick fix for what I do, which is CSS & CSS matches.
 
When playing CSS with <10 players in a server, its smooth, when I get to about 20-30 players, I notice slowdown, its not graphical slowdown as it makes no difference what setting I have the graphics on. Its not major slowdown, but its noticable when burst firing.
Click to expand...

perhaps i'm being a 'tard but does this not sound like your net connection not coping with more players/data rather than anything to do with the hardware. :rolleyes:
 
its not my net connection, currently on 10meg. Its hard to explain the slowdown... imaging burst firing, and noticing each bullet being fired and hitting. Then when things fill up, a burst fire feels like 1 shot, things feel sluggish and slow :confused:

I can notice it, and its bugging me :P.

today I dropped all the graphics and tried aztec on a 24man server, well it was chugging away again. Definately starting to think more towards a cpu upgrade.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom