speed up game play: new GFX card or more memory?

[Primus462]

I built a system a year ago that I wanted to be able to play DOOM3 on at highest resolution. I went with a P4 3GHz w/HT, 1GB Kingston Hyper-X PC5400 (2x512MB) and XFX GeForce 6600LE / 256MB DDR / PCI Express / SLI / DVI / VGA / TV-Out / Video Card . It ran DOOM flawlessly and I was very impressed.

Now, I purchased GUN and want to do some upgrading to increase the performance and be able to play it at max resolution. What should I do to achieve this? Obviously, doing both would be the ultimate solution, but I'm looking for the best solution at the lowest price.

New GFX card with 512MB DDR3 memory or double my memory to 4x512MB PC5400 Kingston Hyper-X (or replace it with 2x1GB OCZ Gold or Corsair XMS)?

Any tips!

 

[fishmahn]

Graphics card. No doubt about it - 6600LE was a low-mid range card back then, and its just overwhelmed with today's games.

Mike.

 

[tenaciousleydead]

definentally a new graphics card, memory only affects textures and it sounds like you want more resolution.

 

[Mayiko]

Graphics card for sure. However, don't get that card. The extra 256MB over the 512MB is not worth the extra money.

 

[Primus462]

Thanks for the input everyone!

Mayiko- which card are you saying I shouldn't get, and what do you recommend?

 

[Mayiko]

If I am understanding you correctly, you are talking about the GF7800GTX 512MB. If this is correct, then this card is almost, if not more then double the price of the GF7800GTX 256MB.

The performance gain from the extra 256MB of RAM is minimal compared to the price jump. I would recommend getting the GF7800GTX 256MB and then buying another gig of RAM with the saved money.

This is what I would do as this would give the most bang for the buck. Hope this helps.

 

[margag_]

yes the 6600le is your bottleneck but...

you could unlock 8 pipes with riva tuner and overclock it to near 6600gt
performance most 6600le (to my experience) are good core speed overclocks and some mem overclocks... you could be surprised...

my msi nx6600le oc 455/540 8pipes was giving 50 frames + 1024x768
no candy for doom3 and played very well 800x600 for call of duty 2
got 2172 3dmarks05 not high but not so bad



but it is definitively not as good as buying a newer card.

 

[KennyG]

memory on a video card is a marketing gimmick, nothing more. 256 will handle any game on the market today. 128 will handle all but the newest games. Get a good 256mb card and you'll be set.

 

[Pico_w]

Graphic Card ! 1GB of Kingston of Kingston Hyper X is good enough for the job Buy at least better than a Geforce 6800GT

 

[rodney_ws]

Perhaps he needs to buy a math coprocessor and utilize some sort of RAM disk utility!

 

[Rabidpeanut]

HEY!

Who stepped on the Nvidia button?

Try a nice shiny x850xt, not too pricey since the x1000 series came out and a lot faster than your current one.

But if you are going for something that will last longer, but run a bit slower get the Nvidia. Or one of the x1000 series.