Should I upgrade to a Radeon HD3850 AGP card?

[Montezuma]

I bought a HD 2600 XT around the first of February 2008 for my aging desktop. I plan to build a new desktop around fall of this year, but I need something to get me by until them. I have a MSI K8N Neo2 motherboard with an AMD Athlon 3800+ 2 GB of DDR400 RAM and of course a HD 2600 XT 512 MB Sapphire card. I have a 430 Watt PS.

I may buy a new 939 CPU (dual core of course) and a new power supply with the money I have. I was wondering if it would be worthwhile to get the HD 3850. Even thought I will be building a new system this year, I would keep the older desktop for either my parents or for me to use as backup.

So, it is worth spending the money on? Has anyone bought the HD 3850 AGP card to test it out and see how it performs? Does anyone have any links to comparisons of the 3850 to the 2600(XT)?

 

[pauldh]

Socket 939 X2's are rare and expensive now. If I were you I would just get by with the 3800+/HD2600XT and not sink any more money into that system.

For comparison, you can just look at PCI-e versions. The HD3850 has the potential to double the framerates of the HD2600XT. But on an aging system you are not going to see as much of a difference. What games is the current rig letting you down in? What resolution do you play at. If you use 1280x1024 and no fsaa, the HD2600XT should do well. The HD3850 will definatelty help as the resolution increases and /or fsaa is turned on, but I still say keep things as they are and save towards the new rig instead.

 

[Guest]

I'd stick with the 2600XT to be honest. Spend that $200 you have for the 3850 on your new rig when you build it.

 

[crusoe74]

I'd stick with the 2600XT to be honest. Spend that $200 you have for the 3850 on your new rig when you build it.

I second that

 

[Naw-yi]

id buy the 3850.
not many games if any recommend a faster cpu, to play. now if u get this card and a duel core cpu(amd under 100) u would be set for at the least 1 year or 2.
again not many games utilize 2 core cpus. although everyday use like downloading, listening to music, and playing a game at the same time the 2nd core is a must.
alot of games also use the affinity prompt to play, setting the cpu to use only 1 core for the game.
if u save this and add to a future rig, it depends on how u will be spending the saved money, on a extreme rig which is always expensive or a budget rig with top line parts that are 1 to 2 years old or new tech but bottom list performance. also, in 2 years you'll probably be makiing more money .

 

[Montezuma]

Thank you got all of the replies. I will probably just save the money for now and put it into my new rig. I resurrected this old machine once, I think that it is time to start over with a good Intel Dual or Quad core build.

 

[reconviperone1]

I second that

yup yup

 

[lgadani]

I have similar question... I have a X2 4400+ @2.7Ghz, 2GB of DDR500 RAM and a GeForce 7800GS AGP @430/1350 card... Is it worth upgrading to the HD3850, or should I just save for a new rig later this year? How much performance increase would I have?

I've bought this 7800 in may 2006, almost 2 year now, but I can still play most games at medium or low settings... As there are no directx 10-only game, I could probably stay with this rig for a little while and upgrade everything later, or upgrade just the graphics card now and stay for another 12, 18 months...

 

[seboj]

I second that

+1.