Spec me a small upgrade

jamief

jamief

jamief

Soldato
Joined
23 Sep 2005
Posts
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Location
Fife
Right, time has come for a small upgrade. Note that I only really play Enemy Territory (and ET:QW) on the PC, as well as a bit of Civ4 and X3. Therefore I don't need a killer pc :)

Current specs:

Athlon X2 3800 (running at 2400Mhz)
1.5 Gb RAM
Gefore 6800GT (AGP)
Abit AV8-3rd Eye Motherboard
Plenty of storage (need at least 2xSATA on new mobo)

So ideally I need a new motherboard (AGP is dead) and graphics card. I play by far the most games on my 360, and mainly use the PC for work (programming) or video conversion. I do however want to be able to play ET:QW with some decent settings. Any help appreciated!
 
i'd get a 8600gts, 2gb ddr2 800, gigabyte ds4 p35, quad 6600 or e6750 2.66ghz depending on budget, wd 500aks 500gb hdd.

just depends on your budget.
 
Sorry, should have made it clearer;

I want to keep

Memory
Storage
CPU

So I only need

Motherboard for the Athlon X2
Graphics Card

:)
 
your board will be socket 939, very few are still made, i'd get a 2nd hand asus or dfi board off auction sites, ocuk dont stock any at all now.
 
Yeah its a 939.

Ideally I just want a graphics card upgrade, but of course AGP is dead or dying, so it will need to be a PCIe card. Whats my best bet for something that will play ET:QW nicely but not cost a bomb? I'm meaning mobo & graphics card....
 
Well i'm running a similar spec to you atm although i'm using an Asus a8n-e deluxe, pretty good board and will accomadate your current parts while allowing you to get a new graphics card.
 
I don't really have a budget as such, but would like to keep it as cheap as possible just now. Up to this point, its run fine, but been playing the ET:QW beta and its been pretty choppy. How would that graphics card compare to the 6800GT? I've completely lost touch with Graphics Cards since I got a 360!
 
Hmm, what resolution are you playing at? It's just a 6800GT should eat Doom 3 engine games for breakfast.
 
1280x1024.

It plays pretty much everything okay, but to get Quake Wars looking decent it is chugging a bit.
 
Are they constant or intermittent slowdowns, and by chugging do you mean there is a decrease in FPS, or there seem to be small pauses - especially when moving into new large areas? It could be RAM.
 
Fairly constant. Game is lagging a bit, but its definite graphical slowdown when I turn the settings up. Even with most stuff on medium and a few on low its not as smooth as I think it should be. Maybe I've just played too much ET at 150fps :D
 
Right, well that card is a massive step up from your 6800GT and is definitely worth it if you don't fancy changing motherboard or being restricted in the future (as there won't be many more AGP cards now I don't think).

If you do want to change motherboard though I'd still go for that card but in PCI-E form of course. They are really good value, there's a 512MB model for just under £100 here.
 
tbh, i think you should try a c2d this would release some money for you by selling your current mobo + cpu to get this, you can use agp + pci-e cards ddr1 + ddr2 so its a good solution

you will end up spending a lot on a mobo for 939 and sli unless you go matx so this could help you out in future upgrades too

119.90.jpg


otherwise the only cheap 939 mobo atm is this

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-020-AK&groupid=701&catid=5&subcat=811
 
Well, it seems the most cost effective solution for me just now is just upgrading the graphics card..... can't really justify upgrading the CPU when I could probably squeeze another 300 Mhz out of it with slightly better cooling, and it copes admirably with everything I can throw at it. Most of my time is spent programming, and for that its fantastic, don't notice a difference between that and the C2D in my desktop at work.

Considering I can get the X1950 on ebay for about £100....that seems like the best solution for now....thanks for all the replies btw, appreciated.
 
no offence but dont u see that as dead money? i mean when you do want to upgrade cpu in the future you will then probably need a new gpu as once c2d is gone there wont be another multi board, i also dont think the multi board accepts 1333fsb chips
 
paul_64l said:
no offence but dont u see that as dead money? i mean when you do want to upgrade cpu in the future you will then probably need a new gpu as once c2d is gone there wont be another multi board, i also dont think the multi board accepts 1333fsb chips
Click to expand...

Not really.

£100 outlay for graphics card will do me another 18 months or so.

Either that or upgrade to a C2D (which I don't need just now), new motherboard (again which I don't really need) AND a new graphics card. Lifespan, probably only 18 months or so.
 
Indeed, an X2 will last you a good while yet, heck I'm still using my 3000+ for gaming :D
 
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