monitor or c2d?

J0hnb0y

J0hnb0y

J0hnb0y

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25 Oct 2006
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587
Location
London
i have finally got a surplus of cash and am looking for some new shiney bits, max of ~£300.

my current rig is an Athlon 3500 (939), 2 gig ram and an x1800xt (256).

i really want a new Samsung monitor, the 22" 226BW, but feel my current 256 gfx card doesnt have the beef to run it. this will require an upgrade in the future, prob to an 8800 gts/x1900 depending on requirements/budget.

the other idea i was considering is if it is a good idea to spend the money on a C2D rig...motherboard, processor, ram. the only problem is these parts are not very shiney and i may not see a vast improvement in BF2, CS:S and in the future Quake Wars.

so in summary, will my current processor hinder a X1900 in powering a big monitor??!!

peas
 
You'll defo see an improvement in CS:S...but afaik its only Source engine games that are CPU intensive atm

EDIT: Also, if you're going up a monitor, you may well be going up a couple of resolutions, which again makes things more GFX intensive
 
right now i get very playable frame rates (50+) in BF2 + CS:S, everything maxed at 1280x1024...

however with a new monitor i realise im going to need a beefier gpu...what im really asking is if i am upgrading in the wrong sequence, ie is the copu going to bottleneck a new GPU and hinder performance on a big screen??!
 
Why not go for a 3800+ 939 X2 processor for now? it's going to give really good performance boost for under £40. You should also be able to get a x1900 card for around the £80 mark and you have healthy budget then for a new monitor.
 
i had thought about it but it seems to be delaying the inevitable. i supose the same could be said for the gpu update (or not so "up"date) also :rolleyes:

i suppose the ultimate question for now is will my current CPU (A64 3500, 939) seriously bottleneck and X1900??!
 
DreadNiK said:
You'll defo see an improvement in CS:S...but afaik its only Source engine games that are CPU intensive atm
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Not STALKER and Supreme Commander then :p ?

There are many games which rape your CPU.
 
How about saving the cash and improving the whole system when you have enough money.
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are you mad?? i want shiney bits now :D

sod it, im gonna buy the swanky monitor and take it from there :cool:
 
Going up in resolution requires graphics power not cpu I'd go for a 8800 640mb gts and 3800 x2 this would still leave change out of £300 and not require a reinstall of windows .Then make my next upgrade in the spring 08 ie 4gig of ram quadcore and vista 64 service pack 1 .
 
J0hnb0y said:
are you mad?? i want shiney bits now :D

sod it, im gonna buy the swanky monitor and take it from there :cool:
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Could sell the 1800xt and buy a 1900xt second hand for about 40 quid additional cost!

The Athlon may not be that much of a bottlemneck in non-cpu intensive games!
 
thanks for your help guys. i only wish there were some decent FPS's coming out to warrant spending lots of cash. i feel an 8800 is overkill for the time being.

oh ye Crysis...september eh? famous quote...i'll eat my own faeces if it's out in september :rolleyes:
 
J0hnb0y said:
thanks for your help guys. i only wish there were some decent FPS's coming out to warrant spending lots of cash. i feel an 8800 is overkill for the time being.

oh ye Crysis...september eh? famous quote...i'll eat my own faeces if it's out in september :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Your cpu would bottleneck an 8800gtx anyway, my 3500+ is not only bottlenecking my card but is also too slow to run the cpu intensive physics effects at high settings, so it's slowing my pc down on 2 fronts.
 
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