Gaming Rig Upgrade Help......

syfer · 2 May 2006 at 03:25

Hi all,

Ok my current system is as follows:

ASUS P4GPLX Socket 478
P4 2.8E 800 1m SL7E3 @ 3.5 with Zalman Air
2 x 1gb Crucial DDR400 Dual Ch
X850XT PE PCI-E @ 575/575 with Zalman Air

I built this system over a year ago for gaming. I played a few games like Farcry, COD, Band of Brothers etc then boxed it up when I moved house. I have recently rebuilt it and put it back into service for HTPC & game duties.

When King Kong was released on DVD recently I bought the movie & the game in a deal from my local shop. I have started to play the game & to me it seems sluggish? I have everything set to max with 1280x1024 res.

I have tried my older games mentioned above & they seem fine, as they did last year. I then ran 3DMark 05 & got the following results:

6680 3DM05
4850 CPUM05

I now plan to buy some new games like BF2, COD2, GRAW etc & want to be able to play them at max settings. I will be using my Tosh 32WL56 initially so 1366 x 768 for now, but this is soon to be replaced with a Tosh 42WLT66 so the res will go up to a max of 1920 x 1080.

I have around £300 to spend atm so what do you guys recommend I spend it on for biggest gains in gaming performance? A new mobo & CPU or a new card?

Thanks,

Scott

gary996 · 2 May 2006 at 03:36

To really enjoy the Gcards you have to consider going the pci-e route. Which means new mobo. Then a good proc AMD X64 (pref X2) or you can wait for Intels new chip 'Conroe' (end of July) which still means new mobo of course. Imo if you can wait for Conroe and save some more to go with it then new mobo, proc, gcard and ram. If you cant wait then a godd 939 board and X2 3800

syfer · 2 May 2006 at 03:56

gary996 said:
To really enjoy the Gcards you have to consider going the pci-e route. Which means new mobo. Then a good proc AMD X64 (pref X2) or you can wait for Intels new chip 'Conroe' (end of July) which still means new mobo of course. Imo if you can wait for Conroe and save some more to go with it then new mobo, proc, gcard and ram. If you cant wait then a godd 939 board and X2 3800

My mobo is PCI-E, I would not consider a new card if it was AGP.

syfer · 2 May 2006 at 03:59

I see why you thought that, with the socket 478 thing. Should have said it was PCI-E as I know it is rare with this socket.

syfer · 2 May 2006 at 13:53

Anyone else? This money is burning a hole in my pocket........

semi-pro waster · 2 May 2006 at 13:57

I'd recommend an X1800XT 512mb as for £250 I don't think you can buy a better graphics card new. That leaves you with ~£50 to put towards whatever, maybe a new PSU if you don't already have a good one?

syfer · 2 May 2006 at 17:46

semi-pro waster said:
I'd recommend an X1800XT 512mb as for £250 I don't think you can buy a better graphics card new. That leaves you with ~£50 to put towards whatever, maybe a new PSU if you don't already have a good one?

PSU is Hiper R 580.

I have been looking at x1900 range, some fall into my price range. Or is it better to go with a higher specced x1800 instead?

I will also be thinking about two cards in SLI or whatever later, when I get the new screen so maybe a provision for that should made with the purchase of the single card now.