low (no) budget gfx upgrade

[Tonkyboy]

I have an older system built a few years back....


Athlon 64 3000+ (skt 939)
Gigabyte K8NF9 m/board
2 Gig Crucial DDR 400 Crucial RAM
GeForce 6600 256

I have an unbelieveably limited budget for upgrades. Actually I don't have a budget, but I've managed to squeeze £25, and bought a second hand X1800XT (256 version) on eBay.

I know the processor is gonna bottleneck this, but do you think this is gonna be a noticeable upgrade. Is it worthwhile ? Or should I have bought a better CPU for the money (could have got a 3700 for the money)

 

[womble]

Well the 1800XT should leave the 6600 in the dust and should be worth the upgrade (a quick look around the vga and cpu charts on here should ease your mind a little). Your current cpu should be able to tide you over for a while more.

Karl

 

[emp]

Hmmm actually... for that budget that you had. I think it was a pretty decent buy for your PC, but after this I wouldn't upgrade this system again.

 

[runswindows95]

I agree with emp. It was a great buy to hold you over till you can build a new one.

 

[pauldh]

I ran a 256MB X1800XT in an A64 4000+ for a while and later in a 3000+. That is a huge upgrade for you. Matter of fact, that card blew away a 7800GT in that rig in games like Oblivion. I wish I still had that card. Don't worry about the CPU. An A64 3000+ X1800XT is so much better for games than a 3700+/GF6600. Plus you can typically OC a 3000+ to it's 2.2GHz or beyond (depending on your mobo). Nice find, enjoy!

 

[Tonkyboy]

Thanks for your replies.

What I was concerned about was just how much of a bottleneck the CPU would be, but I feel a lot happier now. I'll await it's arrival.

 

[Tonkyboy]

Right, played with this for a while now, and decided to do some benchmarks, so here goes.....

Old Gfx Card - GeForce 6600 256 MB

Aquamark 3 = 34630
3DMark 03 = 4971
3DMark 05 = 2091
UT 2003 = Flyby 145.6 fps Botmatch 72.5 fps


New Card - X1800XT
Aquamark 3 = 55000
3DMark 03 = 15087
3DMark 05 = 7430
UT 2003 = Flyby 223 fps Botmatch 72.5


I suspect that the UT2003 is CPU bound on the Botmatch test.

Still, on the games I play, I've now turned everything up to high or Very high, and V-Sync on as well, and AA and AF on some games too.
That's a first for me, AA and AF at the same time.

 

[Tonkyboy]

I also managed to OC the A64 3000 up to 2.13 Ghz. That's all I could get stable, but I sometimes had startup issues, so I've clocked it back down again, and the above are stock speed tests.