Question On importance of FSB in this system

[msnook]

I am planning on upgrading my current PC in the hopes that it will be a viable gaming platform in the interim period while the new technologies settle a bit. I Currently have a 2.0 Willamette core Pentium 4 with a 400mhz frontside bus on a 850 intel chipset.
As you may know this chipset has a 4x AGP, which is not a very good compliment to my 9800 Radeon Pro.
I plan on upgrading the processor to a 2.6 ghz pentium 4.
I would like to know if this is a viable upgrade, the system has 768mb or RDRAM 800.
How limiting is the fronside bus and agp to this system?
I play 3D games, most notably farcry and the new warhammer 40k dawn of war beta.
Will this upgrade provide a benefit, or at this point am i still limited by the video card becuse of the agp bus?
Thanks

 

[Cybercraig]

As a Far Cry full blown freakin' nut, you will need more of an upgrade than that to play high-resolution max level. How important is platform vs Vid card? My CPU heats up from 41C to 53C after intense play. You can't utilize all of AGP 8X anyway, so it's more platform holding you back than anything else. Just adding a 2.6B won't get you there!

Abit IS7 - 2.8C @ 3.4 - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!

 

[msnook]

Thanks,
that was my opinion on this matter.

Any opinions on the new system scene.

I think im going to become an AMD convert, becuase a fx-53 seems to be within my reach, but my biggest worry is being able to upgrade.

I am an aspiring computer enginner starting my freshman year so its important that i get ATLEAST two years of pretty solid top notch performance out of this system.

Spending 3000-4000 isnt out of my range but i want that money to be able to provide a compentant system, as well as be able to upgrade.

my idea is the nforce 4 with amd64 fx-53 and 2 gigs of ddr 2 at xxx? speed

 

[Spitfire_x86]

If you want nForce4, then you have to wait 4+ months.

Currently, nForce3 250 Ultra (Socket 939) and Athlon64 3800+ is a very good choice for you. FX53 has practically no performance advantage over 3800+

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[overclockerkenny]

As an intel fanboy, I say wait until fall, blow all your cash on the P4 720, and you got a lot of FSB.

Overclock 'round the Clock!
Hard core intel fanboy!

 

[Crashman]

I'd get the 2.6A if you can still find one (that is, A as in Northwood 400 bus, not A as in Prescott 533 bus). AGP4x isn't a problem. Your system will probably be at most 15% slower than a similar 2.6C brand new system.

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