Need some upgrading advice please

[McRod]

Hi guys,

I want to update my second PC system so it plays BF2 flawlessly as i`m now totally hooked on the game.

I currently have

AMD 64 3400 Newcastle
Foxconn Winfast NF3 250 Series (K8AA-ERS)
1 GB of some cheap generic memory from the local PC shop
Geforce 6800GT AGP
120GB HDD in IDE Mode

i`m not 100% sure if i need to renew the lot or if i could get away with just a replacing the memory with a decent quality brand, getting a raptor hdd and a new AGP Graphics card?...perhaps the Gainward BLISS GeForce 7800 GT SILENT 512MB GDDR3 (Although tbh i`d have preferred an ATI card).

Anyone else think the mobo is also letting the system down?. Can`t remember why i bought such an obscure mobo, i must have been desperate on a saturday morning or something :0. Worth replacing too ? and going PCI-E ?.

As usual, i buy nothing without consulting you lot first

Thanks

Rod

 

[semi-pro waster]

How much do you want to spend here? If it is the minimum to get BF2 running nicely(and for a second system I wouldn't be doing more) then I'd suggest trying 2gb first as all the other parts should be decent enough, it won't matter whether you get matched pairs or not because socket 754 doesn't have dual channel support.

If you want to spend more then I'd probably go with a decent PCI-E socket 754 motherboard, 2gb Ram and a 7800gt or X1800XL, all of which will set you back somewhere around £350 which is a fair bit of money just to play BF2 nicely.

 

[ACESHIGH]

would agree with the above, better to get a PCIE mobo & graphics than spend too much on an AGP card.

the X1800XT 256MB or 512MB are the best bang per buck at present imo

 

[Arterion]

I think I've gotta disagree with semi-pro, i'm not sure 2gb of RAM is going to help BF much at all- I'm running a gig and can quite happily max it out with this rig. If you had to change anything, i'd say grab a new Mobo and CPU. OcUK has OEM 3700+ San Diegos at an obscenely low price and theyre very nice little chips, and lots of nice mobo's for not much too. You'll should gain a substantial performance boost from this upgrade alone. If you have the cash, Id suggest hitting the PCI-E scene and maybe picking up the X1800XT which is on sale at the mo (huge price reduction on this), but if not I think there's still life in AGP yet

 

[pastymuncher]

Don't replace the cpu as you don't need to. If i remember rightly the Newcastle 3400+ is 2.4ghz with 512 L2. I had the Clawhammer 3400+ in the rig in my sig before i was given a 3700+ (for building a system) and it was fine.

Get yourself a Pci-e motherboard and a Pci-e graphics card such as a 7800gt or even a 7900GT if you can stretch to it. Actually there's not that big a difference in price. That will give you a decent performance boost. I know when i went over to Sli on 754 it was a huge boost and even a single 7800gt was a massive improvement over my old 6800.

Don't bother going over to 939 as you will be wasting your money and will have to buy a new motherboard, cpu and memory all over again should you upgrade in future to AM2. Sticking with 754 will let you eke out some more performance and is a much better cost effective upgrade. There's little to be had performance wise by swapping to 939. Maybe 2-7% increase due to dual channel memory but you won't really notice the difference.

As for cheap memory i may not be all that bad. I have 1gb of Crucial value ram (2x512) and it is supposed to run at 3-3-3-8 1T at 200mhz (ddr400) but it will actually run at 2.5-2-2-5 1T at 200mhz (ddr400) and will even hit 250mhz(ddr500) at 3-3-3-5 1T with a voltage increase to 2.8v. Have a play with your timings and speeds, you may be surprised.

 

[McRod]

Thanks again guys

I`ve decided to go for....

£87.95 x 1 - Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-002-SS)
£49.95 x 1 - Asus K8N4-E Deluxe nForce4 4X (Socket 754) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-113-AS)
£29.95 x 1 - Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower (Socket 939/754/478/775) CPU Cooler (HS-015-ZA)
£93.50 x 1 - Western Digital Raptor 74GB WD740GD 10,000RPM SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-015-WD)
£299.95 x 1 - PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-059-PC)
£95.95 x 1 - Corsair 2GB DDR Value Select PC3200 CAS3.0 Kit (2x1GB) (VS2GBKIT400C3) (MY-080-CS)
£69.95 x 1 - Antec P180 Advanced Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU (Silver) (CA-039-AN)
£17.95 x 2 - Razer eXactMat (KB-003-RA)
£39.95 x 1 - Razer Copperhead Tempest Blue 2000dpi High Precision Gaming Mouse - Retail (KB-015-RA)

Apart from my AMD 3400 Newcastle, Keyb, Monitor and DVD RW, it basically a new system. Wife is gonna kill me but i`ll just blame you lot

I`m hoping i`ll have no compatability issues and it should last me a wee while.

Thanks a ton for the advice, you guys save me a load of grief in one respect, and caused me a whole world of wife faction.

Cheers

Rod

 

[andyp]

Good decision!

I too went down the S754 PCI-e route quite a few months ago and never once regretted it. I, like you, initially toyed with the idea of going over to 939 but in the end convinced myself (with the help of a few fellow 754'ers around here) that the most cost-effective way was to stick with 754. Months on I still have a system that can compete with the best 939 has to offer and it's cost me a lot less in the long run. Plus this rig will last me through the next, at least, 12 months until it's time to start thinking of an upgrade.

Once you have your new rig running and fire BF2 up you'll see what I mean