Will Upgrade CPU/mobo improve much performance?

[chinadude310]

I have a Althon XP 2400+, a old Gigabyte motherboard, and one gig of PC2700 ram. My videocard is a Geforce6800 OC 128mb. I was wondering if upgrading to Althon 64 3000+ and a newer motherboard will help with performance on games like Counter Strike and Battlefield 2? By help I mean a good noticeable difference, because I have to play both on low to get decent DPS. Or maybe I should just save that money and upgrade to a better videocard instead?

 

[tenaciousleydead]

This is a games thread dude...

Looking for a fender jaguar/ jag-stang. has to be a lefty.
Email: CharlesJReel@hotmail.com

 

[dhlucke]

With that videocard you should be running BF2 a lot better. I'm surprised that you have to run on low though since the game is mostly GPU dependent.

I could have sworn there was an article at Anandtech.com discussing CPU and GPU performance limitations but I can't find it. Search around the net though and see if you can find an article on how important the CPU is to those games.

<font color=red><b>Long live Dhanity and the minions scouring the depths of Wingdingium!

 

[riser]

If you upgrade to a dual channel memory motherboard, with a good CPU, you'll see a noticable improvement regardless.

How much? I was playing on an AMD 1800+ with a ti4200 and switched over to a 3000+ 6600gt and I really don't notice that HUGE of an improvement, but it's there. It's better.. but I could still play on the 4200 just fine.

It'll be worth it if you just take the time to find the good prices.

 

[BigMac]

How much? I was playing on an AMD 1800+ with a ti4200 and switched over to a 3000+ 6600gt and I really don't notice that HUGE of an improvement, but it's there. It's better.. but I could still play on the 4200 just fine.

With your new setup you get DX9 support in your hardware. Check out your settings if you don't see a serious improvement in quality. Performance wise it's less of an impact because the system has to work harder to get you the nice dx9 gfx.


BigMac

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[BigMac]

With that videocard you should be running BF2 a lot better. I'm surprised that you have to run on low though since the game is mostly GPU dependent.

His mobo may well be the bottleneck, maybe it has limited AGP support?

Check out the specs of your mobo, chinadude.


BigMac

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[pauldh]

BF2 isn't really cpu limited but is somewhat memory bandwidth limited. I'd think that a XP2400+ would bottleneck many games but not really BF2 by much. Are you running that memory async at 333MHz, or insync with your fsb at 266MHz? If it's stable run the ram at 333MHz and see if you get any boost.

Otherwise, like others have said, you really should be able to tweak some good framerates in BF2 on that setup while still keeping decent detail levels.

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[pauldh]

Is it a KT333 GA7-VRX / VRXP? Or a KT400 GA7-VAX / VAXP?

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[riser]

It's running in DX9.. it's cool. I don't play games enough to really notice the differences and haven't really looked up to see what changes I should see. Considering I didn't play too many games that were heavy with DX, I don't really see anything.
I do know the explosions are a lot better looking along with some other stuff.. but I haven't really looked up the differences to know what I'm exactly looking for.

 

[BigMac]

Most noticable should be all the shader effects that you didnt have with your ti4200. That's also what's enhancing the explosions.

Take the water in Source for instance (HL2, CSS, DOD:S). Huge difference. No relections whatsoever (be sure to set the gfx options in the game right).



BigMac

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[riser]

Before BF2, I was playing America's Army.. I noticed the water in BF2 looks a lot better.. I don't have a strong reference since I haven't been playing a lot of games. I still haven't played HL2 yet, or any of the other recent games in the last year.

I'll have to fire up my old computer and play it just to see the differences sometime.

 

[dhlucke]

I used to play AA a lot. Over a year ago though. Then I got BF2 and compared the two. No comparisson. Graphics are so much better in BF2.

<font color=red><b>Long live Dhanity and the minions scouring the depths of Wingdingium!

 

[pauldh]

Mouse over the <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2281&p=2" target="_new">water pic in Anand's review</A> and you'll see exactly the difference in Water reflection quality of DX8 vs. DX9.

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[riser]

Ok, now that's what I needed to see. The reflection and it's a little more clearly drawn.

Now I can see what to look for.. thanks for the link.

 

[Wolfy]

is americas army still going? Now I'm finally getting broadband I wanna give that a go.

"Its only when you look at ants closely with a magnifying glass on a sunny day that you realise how often they burst into flames"

 

[riser]

Yeah, free for download. It's doing good, last time I was playing a lot of hacks had come out. They haven't updated it since the war in Iraq really started. I think it's done for now, but I really want to say it was a project to teach gaming design while in the army.
Unless a new version is coming out sometime soon.. who knows. It's good to play though and has good play.
If tatics get abused, like tossing frags randomly, they'll pull frags out so people have to shoot each other. It's cool.. definately worth giving it a shot, considering it's about 3 years old already.

 

[Wolfy]

I beleive there is another one in production. Yeah I had the game when it first came out but couldn't play online because of my gay internet connection but not anymore Or at least hopefully not anymore.... I'm gonna have broadband in little over a week..... then it's goodbye to my life )

"Its only when you look at ants closely with a magnifying glass on a sunny day that you realise how often they burst into flames"

 

[riser]

I found that I was actually a lot better at games for a few weeks after I switched from 56k to cable.. reaction times were better because I was used to having to be quick and accurate... ahh but that has since worn off.. haha

 

[Wolfy]

When I get my broadband we're gonna have to try and arrange a few matches of whatever game with the people in here.

"Its only when you look at ants closely with a magnifying glass on a sunny day that you realise how often they burst into flames"

 

[riser]

BF2 and America's Army are the only games I've been playing.

We need to make a THG Clan.. haha