Upgrade advice

Thoth

Thoth

Thoth

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Joined
8 Jul 2008
Posts
44
Here's my system:

Motherboard: Asus M2N32-SLI-DLX
CPU: Am2 X2 4200 (2.6ghz)
RAM: 2gb 800mhz OCZ
HDD1: 500gb Seagate
HDD2: 500gb Seagate
GFX: HIS Radeon x1900xt 512mb
PSU: 500W Akasa Greenpower
OS: Windows XP
Display: 19" Belinea (1440x900)

This has been a good, reliable system for the past 2 years, however, recent games are giving it some trouble (Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed). I am also thinking of getting a 22" monitor, so these performance problems will deteriorate with the increase in resolution.

I'm wondering if it has an obvious bottleneck. I would guess that it would be the processor or the graphics, but which would be more significant?

Should I upgrade this system, or wait till autumn and reap the benefits of whatever new stuff may come along then?

Would really appreciate any advice, as you can see from my system, it's been a while since I've read up on this stuff.
 
I was thinking of that, but what I was wondering was whether the processor would limit it?

I reckon I'll get one of the 4000 series of cards either way, especially if manufacturers make better coolers for it.
 
Sorry about the bump, but I have another question:

Would the 4830 be a good option, since I'm thinking that the 4850 would probably be limited by my processor?
 
Thoth said:
Sorry about the bump, but I have another question:

Would the 4830 be a good option, since I'm thinking that the 4850 would probably be limited by my processor?
Click to expand...

The 4830 is not worth the money as it is badly overpriced compared to the 4850. Can you not overclock your cpu to around 3Ghz? You can always replace the cpu later. Deneb is out soon and if it is as good as rumours suggest then that would be a good upgrade for you. It may need a new mobo as well though.
 
pastymuncher said:
The 4830 is not worth the money as it is badly overpriced compared to the 4850. Can you not overclock your cpu to around 3Ghz? You can always replace the cpu later. Deneb is out soon and if it is as good as rumours suggest then that would be a good upgrade for you. It may need a new mobo as well though.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

I have tried overclocking the CPU, though I'm not very experienced, so I used the Asus software from the motherboard (noob, I know) and got a stable 2.7. It starts getting skittish after that.

So do you think I'd see an immediate performance increase with a 4850?

I have been thinking about a Deneb upgrade, at least if it's as good as people are saying. Even if it isn't - it should drive down current Phenom prices.

I prefer to stick with AMD. Not because I'm deluded about performance, but because I feel better about using their stuff. It isn't rational, I know.
 
IMO don't think a dual-core running at 2.6GHz would be such a bottleneck.

Running a 4850 on (stock) X2 4800+ rig here & most games are running fine, albeit at 1280x1024.

Coming from a X1900 to 4850 should be a nice boost & maybe keep it when you do a full system upgrade.
 
That's reassuring. Fallout 3 is currently running my x1900xt ragged.

Does anyone know which HD4850 is the quietest?

A note about my processor: It has never gone above 45C at load, even when it was overclocked to 2.8 ghz. Strange that it gets unstable after that.
 
That's interesting, cos the 1900 I have now was an IceQ and it's served me very well, though it does get pretty loud at load. I guess I'll start trolling though all the 4850 reviews to see if they say anything about noise levels.

I've noted the IceQ as a possibility.
 
I went for the Powercolor PCS* - it IS very quiet, and it does improve performance dramatically. I went from playing Fallout 3 on medium settings at 1024x720 to 14440x900 at ultra high settings and the game runs very smoothly, though it still crashes, I think it's just a buggy game. Can't wait to try this card out on some more games.

Are ATI still making those funny Ruby tech demos?

*Ordered at 5pm from OCUK on tuesday, arrived at work on weds. Great service.
 
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