Upgrading a P4 M/B + GFX Advice

MADMAN69UK · 10 Mar 2006 at 11:44

Upgrading a P4 M/B + GFX & PSU Advice

Hi there,

I've recently been looking to update my computer so that it handles the latest game a little better. She's currently running a P4 3Ghz Prescott CPU, 2GB Dual Memory, and a BFG GeForce 256MB 6800 Ultra OC graphics card.

I've been looking at the PCI-E cards and wondered what you thought of the following:

Graphics Card:
Gainward BLISS GeForce 7800 GT "Goes Like Hell" 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GWGFFX7647) (GX-026-GW)

And which motherboard would be the better of the two? Or even a different one completely:
Gigabyte G1-Turbo G1975X Intel 975X (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-055-GI)
Gigabyte 8N SLi Quad Royal nForce4 SLi (Socket LGA775) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-053-GI)

Any advice would be great. I seem to be lacking in my latest gaming hardware knowledge at the moment

Edit: Added PSU to the title.

MADMAN69UK · 10 Mar 2006 at 11:46

Oh additionally, would running dual PCI-E graphics cards be better?

And which cards would be best to run together?

Thanks again.

fenderbass86 · 10 Mar 2006 at 11:53

Why Intel if your gaming? a 7800GT isn't a huge jump from a 6800 Ultra either (i don't think).

MADMAN69UK · 10 Mar 2006 at 12:16

fenderbass86 said:
Why Intel if your gaming? a 7800GT isn't a huge jump from a 6800 Ultra either (i don't think).

Dunno really. Always been a fan of Intel, never really trusted AMD etc. Don't ask me why lol.

I do some video editing as well as gaming if that makes a difference.

What would be the recommened CPU for super fast smooth gaming? In fact what would be the full spec of a super fast smooth gaming PC?

Could I use any of my current parts:

P4 3Ghz Prescott CPU. 2GB dual memory. 120GB Serial ATA HDD. BFG GeForce 256MB 6800 Ultra OC AGP graphics. Not sure on the motherboard, pretty cheap one if I recall. 650W PSU.

MeatLoaf · 10 Mar 2006 at 13:07

For the gfx card id go for the 7900GT as the leadtek one is the same price as the 7800GT goes like hell card. Also if buying from scratch id be inclined to get a single fast card rather than 2 slower cards to SLi together.

You could use your ram probably ( assuming its ddr ram, not DDR2 or rdram ) and your HDD will be ok as well.

If you went down the AMD route then id recommend either the San Diego 3700+ or the X2 3800+ dual core cpu.

As for the mobo, Asus and DFI are generally highly recommended.

Bear in mind you can sell your spare stuff on. Id imagine that your 6800 Ultra AGP would fetch £150 alone.

MADMAN69UK · 10 Mar 2006 at 13:24

MeatLoaf said:
For the gfx card id go for the 7900GT as the leadtek one is the same price as the 7800GT goes like hell card. Also if buying from scratch id be inclined to get a single fast card rather than 2 slower cards to SLi together.

Thanks for the info

Can I just ask why you say the 7900GT and not the 7900GTX Extreme? Is it because the extra cost doesn't really impact the speed etc, or something like that?

ACESHIGH · 10 Mar 2006 at 13:53

If you have PC3200 ram (1Gig or even better 2Gig) you can keep that & all your other bits likely & simply upgrade mobo, CPU & GPU (if PSU is a good one you can keep that to).

At present AMD definitely offer better value for gamers than Intel, no doubt about that.

Depending on budget could get something like this..

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM) £214.97 Including VAT

Abit AT8 ATI RD480 Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-091-AB) £88.07 Including VAT

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-048-PC) £252.57 Including VAT
- this graphics cards is faster than the 512MB 7800GT GLH & 7900GT, its also cheaper.

At present Nvidia cards are overpriced for their performance so ATI is the way to go.

If you have some more funds then look at this ..
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1900 XT 512MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-060-PC) £317.19 Including VAT
- about equal to a 7900GTX, but much cheaper price.

ACESHIGH · 10 Mar 2006 at 13:54

MADMAN69UK said:
Thanks for the info

Can I just ask why you say the 7900GT and not the 7900GTX Extreme? Is it because the extra cost doesn't really impact the speed etc, or something like that?

Because the 7900GT cards are way overpriced considering their the same speed as an X1900XTX.

Spudgun · 10 Mar 2006 at 14:01

What games are struggling on that rig? Probably other than FEAR you could play practically anything on there at a decent res and loads of detail

MADMAN69UK · 10 Mar 2006 at 15:06

ACESHIGH said:
Because the 7900GT cards are way overpriced considering their the same speed as an X1900XTX.

Thanks for all the tips. You've given me a lot to look into

MADMAN69UK · 10 Mar 2006 at 15:10

Spudgun said:
What games are struggling on that rig? Probably other than FEAR you could play practically anything on there at a decent res and loads of detail

The main game I have problems with is Star Wars Galaxies. I tend to get framerate issues at times. And the graphics aren't exactly all turned up.

I think I noticed framerate issues with games like Doom 3 also with the graphics turned up a little. I thought maybe I had something configured wrong somewhere. I do fresh re-installs every few months but the effect is the same.

Are there any obvious tweaks anyone knows of that might be effecting my current performance maybe?

Zephyrus · 10 Mar 2006 at 15:33

Star wars galaxies has horrendous lag on their servers (at least it still was like that a few months ago last time i played). Your problems with SWG are unlikely to lie with the system you have, its more likely down to the lag.

One of the reasons i no longer play it is due to the lag which can look like bad frame rate, and thats after me upgrading to the spec in my sig.

Zeph.

MADMAN69UK · 13 Mar 2006 at 10:01

Yeah that's very true.

I'll try running a benchmark later and post the results to see if I'm running at a reasonable level.

Additionally, would anyone know anything about the BFG 256MB AGP Ultra O/C graphics card? In that for some reason, when I open my DVD-RW I get a warning box pop up about the graphics card not getting enough power and that the quality has been reduced to compensate. Which certainly appears to be correct. I bought my 650W PSU just for this card. Does anyone have any advice on what's wrong? Do I have it wired wrong maybe? Do I need additional power etc?

Thanks

daz · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:07

Some cheap 650W PSUs aren't as good as good quality 400W PSUs. How much was yours?

MADMAN69UK · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:11

daz said:
Some cheap 650W PSUs aren't as good as good quality 400W PSUs. How much was yours?

Not 100% sure to be honest, less than £40 I believe.

valerian · 13 Mar 2006 at 16:36

decent power supply has got to be the 1st order of business,
plus you'll have confidence in it (usually) and wont need earplugs

MADMAN69UK · 16 Mar 2006 at 17:25

Ok, haven't gotten around to a benchmark yet. The other night I had a lot of the messages about my GFX card not getting enough power. Always after using the DVD-RW. Then my comp froze and I lose the DVD-RW completely, couldn't open it or anything, until I turned the computer off completely.

I'm thinking the PSU has some issues so wondered if anyone could now advise what would be the best one to get for my GFX card?

BFG GeForce 6800 256MB Ultra OC AGP. Has 2 power inlets.

Thought maybe:

Enermax Liberty 620W ELT620AWT ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CA-024-EN)
or
Antec NeoHE 550W Modular ATX2.0 PSU (CA-046-AN)

AWPC · 16 Mar 2006 at 17:54

Would say your PSU maybe holding you back. If your getting out of power messages that is a real concern as you can damage components by not supplying enough power to them. Best upgrade path for you for now is probably.

1: 7800GS AGP gfx card. Up to 20% FPS boost.

2: Stronger PSU.

Anything else will require more money for new mobos + gfx cards + ram. Am assuming you have DDR1 + skt478. Upgrading to a PCI-E system now will not give you huge FPS benefits unless you buy an expensive system.

Best to wait for Conroe in jul-sept as that is supposed to give killer performance and for the same money you could spend now on a faster PC would get you a much better system in 4-6months.

Even with just a new PSU you can probably make do by turning down the AA settings in games & or disabling vsync. Doom3 for instance needs a 7800GTX/7900GTX or X1800/X1900 to run with full Ultra Gfx settings and even then with AA enabled can bring a system to its knees if AA is enabled in the Ultra gxf mode.

http://www.tweakguides.com/

This site has some useful tips for getting the most out of what you already have.

ACESHIGH · 16 Mar 2006 at 21:48

Get this PSU - Antec NeoHE 550W Modular ATX2.0 PSU (CA-046-AN)

DO NOT GET ANY OTHER AGP CARD !!!
He has a 6800Ultra AGP, thats allready quicker than the 7800GS, he should not get ANY AGP cards, PCIE is the only way if he wants a quicker graphics card.

MADMAN69UK · 16 Mar 2006 at 22:04

Thanks again for all the tips.

Yeah I was originally looking at getting a PCI-E to speed things up a little. But I've been reading all about Windows Vista etc so figure I might as well wait until the DX10 cards start to hit the market then I can think about a bigger overall upgrade.

So for now I think I'll just try to get things working smoothly as they are. So would anyone be able to recommend a good quality PSU that would run my GFX ok?