Improving my system performance

[techfreak]

Good Day! I am confused when upgarding my pc do you have any advice on which componet should I change to improve my performance.
My pc has the following hardware all have their lastest drivers installed:

P4 1.7 willamette socket 478 FSB 400 with coolermaster votex tx
MSI PM8M-V socket 478 FSB400/533/800
Corsair DDR400 CL2.5
Sapphire Radeon 9600XT with Coolermaster CoolVivd and memory heat sink
Creative Sound blaster Audigy2Zs 7.1
Seagate ATA100 80GB hardisk

The cpu and GPU had been properly cooled. So actually I'm thinking of upgarding the cpu to a celeron D instead of the pricey pentium 4"A".
I'm a gamer I just want no lag in games like call of duty 2 when there's many people it start to lag otherwise in single-player games it perform very good. It's loading time and responsive gameplay but only came to lot's of players game it start to lag. Is celeron D a good choice or a pentium4"A" better, I'm a budget buyer so which is good for me, thanks!
Why my radeon9600XT having shadow error in the lastest games like hitman blood money, there's shadow but it is shattered, I have the catalyst 6.5 Driver installed. Or because it uses nvidia ultra-shadow technology to power it's shadow. If that's the case which is best for me to upgarde my radeon to a geforce 6200/6600/6600Gt. Changing graphics nowadays I'm scared as the time I brought the radeon 6600GT came out so I perferred 6200 is it's a good choice or should I stick to my radeon 9600XT and just play without shadows it's fine with me.

I'm confused please help, many thanks!

 

[cleeve]

Weakest link is your 1.7 Ghz Wilamette. Get a faster CPU to see the most immediate returns.

After that, you didn't mention how much memory you have. Get at least a gig of RAM.

After those two have been charnged, and if performance still isn't up to snuff for you, look for a better video card.

On the other hand, you might want to spec out a whoole new system right now, because a new CPU is probably going to cost more than it's worth.


As far as 'ultrashadow', that's mostly marketing hype. Driver glitches happen in a variety of games for a variety of reasons, it has nothing to do wether a card sports 'ultrashadow' tech or not.

 

[chuckshissle]

Wow, you need a whole new platform to build on. Don't worry about ugrading just get a new pc. For around $400 you can get one that is way faster than your current rig and ugrade from there.

 

[techfreak]

Hey cleeve! thanks! for the advice I forget that my memory is 512MB, I'm planning to change to 1GB. So cleeve my weak point is my CPU right! So is a celeron D a good choice as I'm a budget buyer. I think for now I just want to upgrade my processor first so is a celeron D or a pentium4"a" better?

 

[kwalker]

if your in a hurry to upgrade your old 478 mobo then this is an option
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80657
youll notice a boost right away.
and 1 gig ram is a must.
the 6xxx gpus are decent but try the higher end cards for better gaming support
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321933

there are cheaper gpus but poor cooling.
do a search for better pricing.
but if you can wait.
you can get into a much better system in a few months when prices drop after the new cpus launch.

 

[dvdpiddy]

Weakest link is your 1.7 Ghz Wilamette. Get a faster CPU to see the most immediate returns.

Hey cleeve i thought you only specialized in graphics cards? Oh wait this is the graphics card section i think this thread needs to be moved to general homebuilt.

 

[cleeve]

Hey cleeve i thought you only specialized in graphics cards?

I know enough to deliver bad advice on anything!

 

[angry_ducky]

Wait until late July when the Coneow comes out. The prices of the P4s will drop about 50%. Upgrade to 1GB of good DDR400, and a P4 with an 800MHz FSB. P4 3.0E for $185. That price might go down to about $100.

 

[cleeve]

Just keep in mind, many times the prices of older CPUs goes UP the more obsolete the socket gets... and harder to find.

 

[clue69less]

Good Day! I am confused when upgarding my pc do you have any advice on which componet should I change to improve my performance.

You have received mucho excellent advice so I'll just add this: be patient and shop around. Prices are dropping like rocks lately. If I were you, I'd start by setting my budget and then do your best within that limit. It would be very tempting to sell the existing rig, even if you can't get much and build from scratch. With the AMD price cuts, you can build a great 939 rig real cheap because you can get excellent mobos and RAM for real decent prices and they are practically giving the CPUs away. Life is good for budget builders right now.