New GFX/Mobo (AGP->PCI-E) to drive new 2405

jcat98 · 30 Mar 2006 at 11:06

Hi guys,

Up until this point I haven't really been much of gamer - Now that I have my new 2405 I am sorely tempted to play some FPS/RTS/Driving games.

At the moment I have a 3500+ / 1Gb Ram / 6600GT / AGP nforce 3 skt 939 board /480W CPU antec

What would be the most efficient upgrade to allow me run games like far cry in high detail at my native 1920x1200 res? I am not too fussed about AA/AF - I just want smooth native pretty gameplay.

I am not sure I want to get rid of the 3500+ and the ram - I would need some persuading that a fast CPU would make much of a difference.

As for budget I am not concerned although I don't want to spend more than £1000 but would much rather spend £500.

So what would be the best bang for buck upgrade,

TIA

EDIT: Oh, and I really want system stability so overclocking would need to be on the mild side (if at all)

fenderbass86 · 30 Mar 2006 at 11:17

Running recent games on a big monitor will probably require you to throw big money at upgrading your pc components. A single 512MB graphics card might do the job, but SLi/Crossfire will give better framrates at a resolution that high. A whole new upgrade to pci-express would be a good idea.

jcat98 · 30 Mar 2006 at 11:22

fenderbass86 said:
Running recent games on a big monitor will probably require you to throw big money at upgrading your pc components. A single 512MB graphics card might do the job, but SLi/Crossfire will give better framrates at a resolution that high. A whole new upgrade to pci-express would be a good idea.

But I could run such a setup with one gfx card at first and see if I need it?

Not sure whether it is better to go down the nvidia SLI or the Ati X-fire route.

any board/gfx pairing suggestions?

fenderbass86 · 30 Mar 2006 at 12:05

Well, ATI generally have better AA/AF, but as you've stated you're not interested in that. So maybe a single 7900GTX would be a good starting point.

jcat98 · 30 Mar 2006 at 12:07

fenderbass86 said:
Well, ATI generally have better AA/AF, but as you've stated you're not interested in that. So maybe a single 7900GTX would be a good starting point.

Ok - I am trying to find results to compare xfire x1900xtx/master and sli'ed 7900gtx's - searching the web and the forums hasn't brought anything up yet - any ideas? EDIT OK found a gamespot comparison

Vegeta · 30 Mar 2006 at 12:08

Hard to say, i'd go with crossfire personally because the cards always seem to be cheaper and i've always wanted a ATI but nvidia have always been in my right price range (good medium cards).

fenderbass86 · 30 Mar 2006 at 12:12

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
MB-101-AS Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS) 1
£64.95 £64.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) 1
£89.95 £89.95
GX-072-XF XFX GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT71F-YDLR) (GX-072-XF) 1
£324.95 £324.95
Subtotal £479.85
VAT £83.98
Total £563.83

I personally think this will be a good start, keep your CPU for now and go dual core in the near future.

jcat98 · 30 Mar 2006 at 12:18

fenderbass86 said:
REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST
MB-101-AS Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-101-AS) 1
£64.95 £64.95
MY-046-GL GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit CAS3 (GE2GB3200BDC) (MY-046-GL) 1
£89.95 £89.95
GX-072-XF XFX GeForce 7900 GTX 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT71F-YDLR) (GX-072-XF) 1
£324.95 £324.95
Subtotal £479.85
VAT £83.98
Total £563.83

I personally think this will be a good start, keep your CPU for now and go dual core in the near future.

cool thanks - shame all the 7900GTX's are only on pre-order

jcat98 · 30 Mar 2006 at 13:01

ok - thanks guys ordered,

Abit AN8-32X nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-092-AB)
Tagan TG580-U15 580W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU (CA-009-TG)
Leadtek GeForce 7900 GTX Extreme 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-077-LT) (second in queue on this)

I will CPU/RAM/Second Card after testing the performance of this setup on a few games

fenderbass86 · 30 Mar 2006 at 13:16

How come you bought the extreme version? it's not that much better than the normal 512MB GTX.

jcat98 · 30 Mar 2006 at 13:28

fenderbass86 said:
How come you bought the extreme version? it's not that much better than the normal 512MB GTX.

Because they had longer queues for them