Should I upgrade at this time or wait?

[CompTIA_Rep]

Ok here is my situation...
I have a 939mobo with agp. Im looking to upgrade to PCI-E which means i need a new mobo, and a new video card. I want to upgrade my processor which is a 3200+, so I will also need a new processor. I want to get the lastest so im not soo far behind still, so I will need DDR2.

My problem is, should I wait till dx10 cards come out then upgrade? Or should I take advantage of the low AMD prices now and buy a video card later???

I duno what to do....
Help please!


oh and wasnt sure what section this goes in... so flame me not for that!
Thanks!
-----------------------
actual comptuer
3200+
1gb ddr400
6800ultra agp
uguru mobo.
TB's of storage.

 

[pauldh]

I had a very similar rig to you and I upgraded the cpu, then mobo and GPU. But honesly, you have no need to upgrade uless you are running insane native LCD resolutions like 1920x1200. The 6800U should easily hold you off until DX10 cards come out, and your A64 3200+ should be good for 2.4GHz or higher depending on the core. Unless you are running dual SLI/crossfire GPU's you don't need a new cpu. Advice from this nut who always uprgrades :roll: is to make your current rig last until you build a DX10/vista/Conroe machine. You have a nice machine.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

The 3.0 shader support of the 6800 prevents me from running games like Oblivion very well.


And I want to play Oblivion lol. But It would suck to buy a 7800 pcie and then want to get a dx10 card later. Unless anyone knows how to turn off shader 3.0 on my card???

 

[pauldh]

Yeah, I started Oblivion on a BFG 6800U OC. So I know the card took a beating(as do all cards to some degree). But let me tell you, you don't want a 7800GT for Oblivion as you see little difference over the 6800U. I happened to be in the process of building a PCI-e rig and had a 7800GT CO overclocked model. So I switched over to that system for Oblivion(cpu & ram came with the switch), and the increase in details it gave was tiny at best. I then ripped out the 7800GT and put in a X1800XT, which blew the 7800GT away by a long shot. I upped the details and turned on FSAA (along with HDR) and still had better fps than the 7800GT.


Anyway, what you are basically asking can be done by turning off HDR lighting. But it does look nice. Have you tweaked the settings? This guide below is very helpful, and you'll find messing with the grass distance and height as well as shadows will give the biggest boost.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Oblivion_1.html

 

[cleeve]

The 3.0 shader support of the 6800 prevents me from running games like Oblivion very well.

Shader 3.0 doesn't slow anything down, if anything it might be speeding things up a bit.

From what I understand Oblivion uses SM 2.0b anyway, max.

But on SM 3.0 class card it uses HDR, which is definitely an option you should be turning off if your performance is unplayable. Big performance hit with HDR.