Upgrade

[frostys]

Hi again all

I'm having some spare money and i what to upgrade my rig

current spec are :

CPU AMD64 3000+ Venice s939
mobo Asrock K8 combo
RAM 512 mb PC2700
gpu powercolor radeon 9550 256mb AGP 8x
hard drive WD 160gb

new ram will arrive this week or next week (2x512mb pc3200)

i am presuming that now the worst bottleneck for this machine is the video card so 3 option came to my mind

1- getting new mobo that support AGP adn PCIe so i can upgrade slowly while keeping my 9550 running

2- getting a new AGP video card X800/X850 or any nvidia similar

3- getting a PCIe only board with a PCIe video card right now

now i was having some question

1- is the AGP/PCIe board (prolly ASROCK dual SATA) having other inconvenient apart from not being a good overclocker (i hear this somewhere on this forum)???
note that i don't plan on ocing so this one isn't bad for me

2- will a X800/X850 or equivalent from nvidia get me a really good upgrade for the money???

3- if going with only PCIe, can i hope having similar performance using onboard video untill i get the new GFX???

any advice/suggestion would be appreciated

THX for any of the 2 above

p.s. sry if my spelling isn't good english isn't the language i wrote usualy and i even suck in french lol

 

[shadowduck]

Hi again all

I'm having some spare money and i what to upgrade my rig

current spec are :

CPU AMD64 3000+ Venice s939
mobo Asrock K8 combo
RAM 512 mb PC2700
gpu powercolor radeon 9550 256mb AGP 8x
hard drive WD 160gb

new ram will arrive this week or next week (2x512mb pc3200)

i am presuming that now the worst bottleneck for this machine is the video card so 3 option came to my mind

1- getting new mobo that support AGP adn PCIe so i can upgrade slowly while keeping my 9550 running

2- getting a new AGP video card X800/X850 or any nvidia similar

3- getting a PCIe only board with a PCIe video card right now

now i was having some question

1- is the AGP/PCIe board (prolly ASROCK dual SATA) having other inconvenient apart from not being a good overclocker (i hear this somewhere on this forum)???
note that i don't plan on ocing so this one isn't bad for me

2- will a X800/X850 or equivalent from nvidia get me a really good upgrade for the money???

3- if going with only PCIe, can i hope having similar performance using onboard video untill i get the new GFX???

any advice/suggestion would be appreciated

THX for any of the 2 above

p.s. sry if my spelling isn't good english isn't the language i wrote usualy and i even suck in french lol

Onboard video sucks no matter how you look at it. Even a cheap $50 video card will perform better than onboard video. The dual motherboard is probably the best option for you if you don't want to spring for the whole 9 yards now.

The BEST option would be to get something like an Asus A8N-E (or DFI Lanparty Ultra D) and a 7900GT.

 

[godlyatheist]

The ASrock dual is a kickass mobo for the price. No, it OCs very good. check here. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASRock/939Dual-SATA2/15. Well, the the inconveniences are mostly due to board layout.

You should reuse your old radeon card until you can get your hands on something better

 

[Cartman0123]

The Radeon 9550 is already better than any integrated graphics, so don't bother with that. You might try a 7600GT it is about $179 and even has a rebate to save more...Although, the x850 is a great choice and is a bit less expensive than the 7600GT. If you have the money, of course, a 7900GT is hard to beat.

 

[frostys]

thx for the link godlyatheist

i think ill take that route then

then ill just wait to see a nice deal on a PCIe card

 

[angry_ducky]

thx for the link godlyatheist

i think ill take that route then

then ill just wait to see a nice deal on a PCIe card

Good idea. I was going to suggest that you up the RAM to 1 GB DDR400, but then I noticed that you were already doing that.

How much do you game, and what resolution and detail do you play at?

 

[godlyatheist]

You might try a 7600GT it is about $179 and even has a rebate to save more...Although, the x850 is a great choice and is a bit less expensive than the 7600GT. If you have the money, of course, a 7900GT is hard to beat

If you want OpenExr HDr then get the 7600GT. If not, the x850XT has a little bit more speed and hardware than the 7600GT.

How much are the 7900GT now? An alternative would be the 256mb X1800XT for $298. These ati cards are nice alternative to consider.

 

[sandmannight]

get the asrock and use your card then upgrade later

 

[frostys]

well i usualy run game at 800x600 or 1024x768 with graphic as high as possible

i was unhable tu run most game i own at higer res before it would become slow as hell (probably du to te fact that it's hard to fill a screen with 1600x1200 pixel with only hmmmm 4 pipe if i remember correcctly)

low ram wasn't helpig too tho

got my new one now and it really improved the system a lot