Wondering if I should get a 9800 pro and XP2800

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Hi,

I plan to play quite a few of the games coming out in the next few months
such as Half Life 2 and Doom 3 etc. I'm playing "Far Cry" at the moment, but
my system is struggling and I can only put the settings on medium. I like to
play at 1600 by 1200 but have to settle for 1078 by 768 (or whatever it is)
So I was contemplating an upgrade.


At the moment I have an AMD XP1800 processor and an MSI G4 Ti 4200 (64Mb
memory) graphics card. I have 768Mb DDR-SDRAM memory. I have an asus A7V333
(rev 2.0) motherboard

My MoBo will apparently take up to an XP3000 processor.

Now I was thinking about purchasing an ati 9800 pro graphics card. They have
now come down in price to £140, and maybe if I wait a couple of months it
might dip below £120 what with new graphic cards coming out. But would my
XP1800 act as a bottleneck? (it is 1.54GHz but equivalent to a P4 1.8GHz).

Alternatively I could get a XP2800 (cos the extra expense for a XP3000 isn't
worth it) in addition to a 9800 pro. I should probably be able to get both
for £200 if I wait a couple of months.

Is that the best plan, and would there be a significant performance increase
in games? Or would it be best to purchase a 9800 pro by itself?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Get the best you can get, within what money you are willing to spend.

I would suggest getting a faster CPU, Dual Channel memory + graphics card.

The 9800 Pro and XT models will drop when the R420 hits soon, as for DOOM
III....well.

That game will need some very serious hardware, rumours suggest 2GB of
memory recomended, probably a 6800 Ultra with 3.0+ Ghz CPU.


"Interesting Ian" <spam@doubtthouthestarsartfire.com> wrote in message
news:TsSjc.226$g_1.82@newsfe1-win...
> Hi,
>
> I plan to play quite a few of the games coming out in the next few months
> such as Half Life 2 and Doom 3 etc. I'm playing "Far Cry" at the moment,
but
> my system is struggling and I can only put the settings on medium. I like
to
> play at 1600 by 1200 but have to settle for 1078 by 768 (or whatever it
is)
> So I was contemplating an upgrade.
>
>
> At the moment I have an AMD XP1800 processor and an MSI G4 Ti 4200 (64Mb
> memory) graphics card. I have 768Mb DDR-SDRAM memory. I have an asus
A7V333
> (rev 2.0) motherboard
>
> My MoBo will apparently take up to an XP3000 processor.
>
> Now I was thinking about purchasing an ati 9800 pro graphics card. They
have
> now come down in price to £140, and maybe if I wait a couple of months it
> might dip below £120 what with new graphic cards coming out. But would my
> XP1800 act as a bottleneck? (it is 1.54GHz but equivalent to a P4 1.8GHz).

Bottleneck for sure.


>
> Alternatively I could get a XP2800 (cos the extra expense for a XP3000
isn't
> worth it) in addition to a 9800 pro. I should probably be able to get both
> for £200 if I wait a couple of months.
>
> Is that the best plan, and would there be a significant performance
increase
> in games? Or would it be best to purchase a 9800 pro by itself?
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>
>

You need to upgrade everything, your PC will only be as fast as all the
components put together.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Interesting Ian" <spam@doubtthouthestarsartfire.com> wrote in message
news:TsSjc.226$g_1.82@newsfe1-win...

" At the moment I have an AMD XP1800 processor and an MSI G4 Ti 4200 (64Mb
memory) graphics card. I have 768Mb DDR-SDRAM memory. I have an asus A7V333
(rev 2.0) motherboard. My MoBo will apparently take up to an XP3000
processor. "


According to the original spec on the Asus website, your motherboard only
supports CPUs of 200 and 266FSB: http://snipurl.com/60qg . However, on the
CPU support page it states that the PCB 2.0 version of the A7V333 will take
a Model 10 XP 3000+ 333FSB Barton with a version 1016 BIOS (or higher):
http://snipurl.com/60r3 . The XP 3000+ Barton comes in 333 and 400FSB
models, so you would need to make sure you are getting the correct one.

Your current XP 1800+ is either a Palomino, a Thoroughbread 'A' or a
Thoroughbred 'B', and all of them run at 266FSB. With that, you're likely
to be running DDR266 (PC2100) DIMMs. You would need DDR333 (PC2700) DIMMs
if you upgraded to a 333FSB CPU.

I would recommend getting an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB now, but on your
tight budget you would need to wait before you can upgrade your CPU and RAM
together.

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB: http://snipurl.com/60ri (£140.94)
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton 333FSB: http://snipurl.com/60rd (£105.00)
Crucial 512MB PC2700 DIMM (CT6464Z335): http://snipurl.com/60so (£72.36)

Far Cry does a lot better with 1GB of RAM, so it adds up to a pretty
expensive upgrade with the level memory prices are currently at. You would
probably only get the money back for one new stick of RAM if you sold your
current CPU and RAM on eBay.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Cuzman wrote:

> ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB: http://snipurl.com/60ri (£140.94)
> AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton 333FSB: http://snipurl.com/60rd (£105.00)
> Crucial 512MB PC2700 DIMM (CT6464Z335): http://snipurl.com/60so (£72.36)

Hey Cuzman, kudos for a great post.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Richard Dower" <richarddower@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:c6p01c$6ik$1@kermit.esat.net...

" as for DOOM III....well. That game will need some very serious hardware,
rumours suggest 2GB of memory recomended, probably a 6800 Ultra with 3.0+
Ghz CPU. "


Sure, if they want to sell to only 0.5% of gamers.

 

[jad]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

> Sure, if they want to sell to only 0.5% of gamers.
>
LOL..........absolutely, and after all these delays of the release,
they are already in the hole.


"Cuzman" <cuzNOSPAM@supanet.com> wrote in message
news:c6p2mi$eoebi$1@ID-66441.news.uni-berlin.de...
> "Richard Dower" <richarddower@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:c6p01c$6ik$1@kermit.esat.net...
>
> " as for DOOM III....well. That game will need some very serious
hardware,
> rumours suggest 2GB of memory recomended, probably a 6800 Ultra with
3.0+
> Ghz CPU. "
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Wed, 28 Apr 2004 19:12:15 +0100, "Interesting Ian"
<spam@doubtthouthestarsartfire.com> wrote:

>Hi,
>I like to
>play at 1600 by 1200 but have to settle for 1078 by 768 (or whatever it is)
>So I was contemplating an upgrade.

>Now I was thinking about purchasing an ati 9800 pro graphics card. They have
>now come down in price to £140, and maybe if I wait a couple of months it
>might dip below £120 what with new graphic cards coming out.

The R9800pro 128MB is good value for a lot of DX gamers. You, I think,
have to consider if you're one of them.
The issue is this: R9800 128MB and FX5900 128MB basically performs
just as well as the highend 256MB cards. Up to a point.
That point is about 1280X1024. If you go up to 1600X1200 and enable
AA, the onboard memory will not be enough, and these cards will drop
significantly behind their 256MB siblings.
They will still perform better than most, of course, and besides, you
can probably get away with 1600X1200 without AA.

IMO, 1280X1024 _and_ AA and AF is a better gaming experience than just
1600X1200. But you have to be your own judge on that.

In my opinion, the 256MB cards are not very attractive, at their
current high prices, since NV40 and R420 looks set to offer 1.5 - 2.5
times higher performance

ancra

P.S. If you intend to purchase a new mobo&cpu and like games like FC,
HL2, D3, you should maybe consider an Athlon64.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

ancra wrote:

> The R9800pro 128MB is good value for a lot of DX gamers. You, I think,
> have to consider if you're one of them.
> The issue is this: R9800 128MB and FX5900 128MB basically performs
> just as well as the highend 256MB cards. Up to a point.
> That point is about 1280X1024. If you go up to 1600X1200 and enable
> AA, the onboard memory will not be enough, and these cards will drop
> significantly behind their 256MB siblings.

Great post, ancra.