Tempory boost now OR wait ????

[the_tyke]

I want to build a new gaming system towards the end of this year, but here's the dilemma : would it be worth making a temp upgrade now to get a few more fps or should I do nothing till I do a full upgrade.

Here's my present spec:

Athlon 64 3200+ Winchester
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
Gainward Ultra 2400 Golden sample 6800GT 256mb
2 GB Corsair Platinum XMS3200 400hz

Shall I,

1. Change the graphics card only to a 7800 AGP (which one ?) and keep my present mobo.

2. Change the mobo and graphics card only, to a 7800 sli and sli board.

3. Do nothing, because changing the graphics card /and or the mobo whist leaving the Athlon 64 and the rest of the system will not offer much FPS increase for the cost.

 

[loltim]

I recommend you definitely do not "upgrade" to an AGP 7800(GS?). Get a nice PCIE motherboard and a single graphics card, wouldn't bother with SLI.

What games do you play? I know the 6800GT doesn't cut it with certain games as I used to own one.

 

[the_tyke]

I play IL-2 Forgotten Battles Flt Sim, which is graphics intensive. With a change to a PCI board and card, would it be held back by my CPU (which I don't want to change just yet)

 

[semi-pro waster]

Yes it is likely to be held back by your CPU at least to an extent but it will probably still be worth the upgrade if your 6800gt isn't powerful enough anymore. You could also try overclocking your CPU a bit as well, your Ram is decent so if you get a good motherboard and possibly heatsink and fan then it ought to be possible to overclock and gain a bit extra performance.

If you can get a good price for your existing parts then I'd say go with the upgrade but otherwise I'd be tempted to leave it as it is.

 

[loltim]

Those 3200 Winchesters can be good clockers, i'd give it a try for sure. So your options are:

1. Use current motherboard, get a 7800GS
2. Get a PCIE motherboard and NV 7800GT(X) / ATi X1900, CPU+RAM is compatible, will cost ~£400
3. Leave it as it is


Don't do option 1
If IL-2 runs OK I wouldn't even consider upgrading, spend the cash on a new TFT or something.

 

[the_tyke]

Option 2 looks quite attractive.
I've never had an ATI card , so they make me a little nervous. Whats the Asus SLI board that every body is buying at the moment ?

 

[loltim]

Are you aware that SLI = 2 graphics cards running together? To do this using ATi cards you'd have to buy a crossfire motherboard.

SLI = 2 x NV cards
Crossfire = 2 x ATI cards

1 x X1900XT for example would run great though, and it'd be a LOT cheaper.

 

[the_tyke]

Those 3200 Winchesters can be good clockers, i'd give it a try for sure. So your options are:

1. Use current motherboard, get a 7800GS
2. Get a PCIE motherboard and NV 7800GT(X) / ATi X1900, CPU+RAM is compatible, will cost ~£400
3. Leave it as it is


Don't do option 1
If IL-2 runs OK I wouldn't even consider upgrading, spend the cash on a new TFT or something.

Thought I might go for:

Asus A8N-Sli ... If your not going to use SLI set up would it be best for the premium rather than deluxe: £104
XFX Geforce 7800 GT Extreme £252

Thats about 400 quid , does that look OK ?

 

[Raikiri]

dont bother with an extreme edition

Just get the cheapest one you can and OC, also XFX seem to be suffering from the 100% fan speed issue (some of them anyway)

 

[Yucca]

I have almost the same set up as you but with 1 gig of ram and a 9800pro. I can play most games very nice at 1024*768 so i cant see why with a 6800GT and an extra gig of ram you cant play them well at 1280*1024. I dont mean to sound bad but i feel as though i must tell you that you sound like your throwing your money away.

But if you must upgrade... Dont worry about your cpu, i cant see it holding you back tbh as a good gcard does most of the work. I have my 3200 winnie clocked to 2600MHZ on the same mobo so, agian, if you must, clock it a few hundred mhz.

You can always sell your old agp card and change to pcie and get a nice new gcard for a couple of hundred quid. Email me bout gcard...email in Trust.

 

[Ice Rich]

I have almost the same set up as you but with 1 gig of ram and a 9800pro. I can play most games very nice at 1024*768 so i cant see why with a 6800GT and an extra gig of ram you cant play them well at 1280*1024. I dont mean to sound bad but i feel as though i must tell you that you sound like your throwing your money away.

I have the same sort of system too,

Althouh I do plan an upgrade im going to wait untill crossfire is properly developed and there are more motherboards that support it.

I can play all games fine with this rig, you should have no problems.

So waiting gets my vote

Rich

 

[Dureth]

I would wait until the full upgrade. Spending your money now would be silly. Unless your running at more than 1280x1024 then the 6800gt shouldnt be holding you back at all. In fact at that resolution I can't see a single game out you wont be able to run with at least some AA and AF.

Save your money for AM2 and the next set of graphics cards.

 

[Raikiri]

I would wait until the full upgrade. Spending your money now would be silly. Unless your running at more than 1280x1024 then the 6800gt shouldnt be holding you back at all. In fact at that resolution I can't see a single game out you wont be able to run with at least some AA and AF.

Save your money for AM2 and the next set of graphics cards.

FEAR

 

[Amps]

Something is holding me back in my system and i think its the 7800Gt so i presume the 6800Gt would hold him back.. games like NFSMW just dont run correct with 2X AA

 

[Raikiri]

Something is holding me back in my system and i think its the 7800Gt so i presume the 6800Gt would hold him back.. games like NFSMW just dont run correct with 2X AA

I run it with 4xAA and 8xAF... never goes below 30 fps which I consider pretty playable for this type of game. You may not think so of course (1280x1024)

 

[Webzta]

If you're itching to buy something, get a raptor - It'll be a nice little performance boost, other than that i'd save + wait.

 

[the_tyke]

OK I'll hold back till later ! I'm running at 1280 X1024 at the moment, might just have a look at the latest TFT's ,.....anybody any ideas ?

 

[Ice Rich]

lol, you really have money to burn.

 

[Amps]

I have been trying the settings you have posted.. the game runs smooth but pauses for a quart second when new textures come up.. and when your driving at 200mph a lot of new textures come up.. are you getting the same thing ?

I am currently running 1gb of ram at 220FSB.. it looks as if thats enough. Any idea whats wrong with my pc.

 

[Webzta]

loads of people having the same issue with NFSMW - it's basically most likely your ram, when windows goes to use the pagefile its slower, hence the slight lag/pause.

you could try moving page file onto the non OS drive, or get more ram.