looking to upgrade, need advice please

[Quango-uk]

I just got an Ati X1900XT but I dont really see any improvement im my gaming .

At the moment I have 2gig of ddr400 , AMD 64 3500 , Asrock 939 dual mobo, X-fi sound card , 20 inch lcd dell capable of doing 1600x1200, Winxp pro

Do i need to upgrade my cpu, mobo etc , if I got a dual core cpu, should or do I need to install winxp 64 bit , will my games run ok on that OS and I mainly play Everquest 2.

Not too worried about the cost , within reason

Any Thoughts ?

TIA

 

[Stelly]

have you overclocked any of your components at all??

Stelly

 

[Quango-uk]

no , dont really like doing that , plus I dont know what im doing

 

[Explicit]

Well you are running at quite a high res for a single card. Try overclocking the cpu a bit: Guide

 

[gam3r]

What card did you have before?

 

[Quango-uk]

x800 pro

im playing at 1204 x 1280 at the moment

 

[Angilion]

Anything other than 1600x1200 will result in a fairly severe drop in picture quality - LCDs are fixed resolution and yours is currently interpolating 1204x1280 (odd resolution) into 1600x1200 to display it.

If you aren't noticing a difference going from a X800 Pro to an X1900XT, there's something else going on. Maybe the settngs for the game are the same as before and the X800 was good enough for them. Maybe the game is being CPU-limited.

 

[Explicit]

Anything other than 1600x1200 will result in a fairly severe drop in picture quality - LCDs are fixed resolution and yours is currently interpolating 1204x1280 (odd resolution) into 1600x1200 to display it.

If you aren't noticing a difference going from a X800 Pro to an X1900XT, there's something else going on. Maybe the settngs for the game are the same as before and the X800 was good enough for them. Maybe the game is being CPU-limited.

Or maybe drivers?

 

[daveydave]

game settings mate. most games recognise the new card and up your settings...but they dont adust the ingame resolution...check that. when i went from my 9600pro to my x800 i played GRAW and was like "what the £$%^ is going on!" only to realise i hadnt adjusted the in game resolution...i reckons thats whats up.


oh and read up on the over clocking carefully before you start fiddling, i think i saw one of the guys link you a page...it will save hours of crying

 

[trojan698]

I think he maybe meant a different res. 1280x1024 maybe? Definately get clocking though.

 

[Quango-uk]

sorry I did mean 1280 x1024

I dont want overclock my stuff , too technical for me .

what im asking is , could my cpu amd 3500+ 64 bit causing a bottleneck ?

Would I see I difference if I was using winxp64 ?

Dont get me wrong it does play eq2 fine , I just thought i would be able to whack the settings up and not notice any lag in game when theres a lot of action on screen .

 

[toxic]

what im asking is , could my cpu amd 3500+ 64 bit causing a bottleneck ?

It will be bottlenecking the 1900xt slighly...2.2Ghz I think as standard. Ideally a CPU at 2.5-2.6 is bettter for these cards....so read up and see if you can puch it a bit. Or...if you want faster you could always pay 3-400 for a new CPU. I'd say give overclocking a try

Would I see I difference if I was using winxp64 ?

Probably not! I dont think many games do.