Worth upgrading AGP P4 2.8Ghz system?

[gnuru]

Hi,
I am tossing up upgrading my 2 1/2 year ASUS P4C800 system. I am interesting in improving game performance for things like Oblivion, Fear and BF2.

I currently have
1GB RAM (CAS 3) in 2 x 512Mb
2.8GHz Northwood P4
ATI 9800XT 256Mb

Is it worth doing
1) Upgrading Video Card, I would something like a ATI18000, however I only have AGP.
2) Getting another 1GB RAM

Against getting a new system - with PCI Express graphics?
If I upgrade what are the best AGP graphics cards like?

Cheers

 

[486]

I've got

P4 Northwood 2.8
2GB ram 4x512 2.5CL
P4P800
9800 Pro 128MB

I am upgrading to dual socket F new Opts 2x2GB + 7900 GT at the end of the year.

You may want to wait for socket AM2 or Conroe.

 

[parlee]

i have a system, not very similar but i was in the same boat

amd3700+
1gb corsair
xfi soundcard
x700pro, i now have a 7800gs..
for bf2 id say sure get the extra memory, and then maybe a 6800gs, or a 7800gs depending on ur budget. if ur budget is big, say 1200. id upgrade the entire system. but if u want a fairly cheap upgrade a 6800gs will run oblivion on medium/high (no hdr, my friend has a 6800gt with amd 3500, proc isnt a bottleneck so i assume ull get similar frames as him) get the other gig of memory if u want to run bf2 on max settings. i only have 1 gig and can run it smooth enough for me, but its really personal preference. also the 7800gs in oblivion ROCKS. constant stable fps with HDR enabled on not max but pretty high settings..

so in simple terms since i can be confusing

budget $400
7800gs
1gb memory

budget $300
7800gs
OR
6800gs + 1 gb memory

budget $200
6800gs

budget $150
x800gto

these will all offer performance increases over ur 8 pipeline 9800xt...

 

[gnuru]

thanks these are great comments.
I'll think about the 6800/7800 GS and the extra memory.

If I can live with what I have, I might wait until the end of the year and get a new system (I am leaning towards an AM2).

Gnu

 

[parlee]

i was the same, didnt wanna upgrade (sincei had jsut got the x700pro) but once i played oblivion, i knew i wanted to play that game at higher settings... it just adds so much more to the experience. ill admit in sme cases (when ur in oblivion gates) it slows wayyyy down, like 25fps... but thats because theres lava (water) effects all over the place... normal rivers and ponds dont do that though. id say if u do get oblivion and dont upgrade, dont even try to run the game on even close to higher settings, because it will make u want to upgrade.. for bf2 anotehr gig alone will improve gameplay, but an x800gto IMO will improve gameplay in all games over 2 gigs of memory.. wait if u want (id say get a conroe because they seem to be the best processors until amd goes 65nm, which wont be until 07). anyways, good luck

 

[mdd1963]

"I might wait until the end of the year and get a new system (I am leaning towards an AM2). "

Lots of people are waiting to see how well production M2/DDR2-800 rigs fare against actual Conroes , but preliminary results indicated a Conroe at 2.66 will be more than a match for an FX60!

It will be an interesting battle in 5 months time...!