Upgrading my 8400gs

[takepantsoff]

I currently have a amd athlon 3200+ single core cpu Overclocked to 2.5ghz, a great psu unit with 600watts. and 3gigs of ddr ram. Today I ordered a 512mb 9800gt card and I am wondering if I should expect a big performance increase? and if not what should I do to get a big performance increase? thanks.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Is that a S939 processor?

That 9800GT is going to be too much GPU for that single core CPU (even overclocked). The best thing you could do would be to find a dual-core processor that will work with your motherboard.

-Wolf sends

Edit: Even so, you should see a great deal of improvement.

 

[willard]

We can't tell you without knowing what your previous video card was. However, I can tell you this.

Your CPU is really, really awful by today's standards. It is totally insufficient to run modern games. It is absolutely going to be the limiting factor in your gaming experience.

Also, the 9800 GT was great in its day, but is at best sub par today. That's not necessarily a bad thing, because your CPU is going to bottleneck the hell out of more powerful video cards.

All in all, I'd say your computer is extremely weak for a gaming computer in 2012. You'll need to run at medium to low settings, probably at a resolution no greater than 1280x1024. 1680x1050 might work in some games, but 1080p is out of the question.

If you want to upgrade your computer some more to get better gaming performance, you can post more detailed system specs, the games you want to play and the settings and resolution you want to play at.

Specs we'll need are exact motherboard model (so we can find out what CPUs you can put in it) and more specific information about your memory like its speed.

Edit: Just noticed that the old video card was in the title of the thread! Ignore my previous comment about not knowing how much of an upgrade it would be.

 

[Wolfshadw]

We can't tell you without knowing what your previous video card was. However, I can tell you this.

Psst... check the thread title...

-Wolf sends

 

[takepantsoff]

I have a socket 939 motherboard/cpu so I would need to upgrade both my motherboard and cpu to see major improvements. Do you have any suggestions for what motherboard and cpu I should upgrade to? thanks for all the help guys

 

[Wolfshadw]

You'd see decent improvement if you could find an extremely cheap S939 Athlon X2-4800+ but good luck with that.

If updating your full system, we'd need to know a budget.

-Wolf sends

 

[willard]

We can't tell you without knowing what your previous video card was. However, I can tell you this.

Psst... check the thread title...

-Wolf sends

Heh, yeah, I noticed that and edited literally 4 seconds before your reply. I'm so observant.

 

[takepantsoff]

i was looking at this
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon-64-X2-3800-ADA3800DAA5BV-Dual-Core-2-0GHz-1M-Socket-939-Tested-/251068315879?pt=CPUs&hash=item3a74d678e7#ht_1125wt_1270


If i overclocked the *** outta this I should get decent frame rates on games like Skyrim? I have ran skyrim on my 8400gs with my current setup and I can get around 10-20fps so what fps do you think I would get after those upgrades? thanks

And what improvement will I see after installing the 9800gt?

 

[Wolfshadw]

First thing you need to do is make sure your motherboard can accept a dual core processor.

If you can get that to about 2.6GHz, then you'd be about one step above my old system (Athlon X2-4800+/8800GTS-640). If your current system gives you 10-20fps, then with these upgrades (and a successful OC), I would probably expect to see between 15-40fps.

Ideally, you want to go with an Athlon X2-4800+ @2.4GHz. While I realize this may be outside your price range, it is the second best CPU for your system (I think the FX60 still beats the 4800+).

-Wolf sends

 

[quilciri]

here's a 4800 for $35

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon-64X2-4800-ADO4800IAA5DO-2-5GHz-Socket-AM2-65W-Dual-Core-/400296440053?pt=CPUs&hash=item5d3386f0f5#ht_1827wt_952

 

[Wolfshadw]

here's a 4800 for $35

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon-64X2-4800-ADO4800IAA5DO-2-5GHz-Socket-AM2-65W-Dual-Core-/400296440053?pt=CPUs&hash=item5d3386f0f5#ht_1827wt_952

That's an AM2 processor and not compatible with socket 939.

-Wolf sends

 

[quilciri]

That's an AM2 processor and not compatible with socket 939.

-Wolf sends

Ack, that's what I get for searching socket 939 and trusting the results.

Ok, here's a couple options

$19
Athlon 64 X2 3800+ - same speed as your processor, but a dual core part.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Athlon-64-X2-3800-ADA3800DAA5BV-Dual-Core-2-0GHz-1M-Socket-939-Tested-/251068315879?pt=CPUs&hash=item3a74d678e7#ht_1125wt_1185

$20 current bid.
AMD Opteron 180 2.4GHz - this is a 4800+ with a larger cache.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Opteron-180-2-4GHz-2MB-socket-939-Same-as-Athlon-x2-4800-939-Dual-Core-/261030154203?pt=CPUs&hash=item3cc69c0fdb#ht_1782wt_905

Even though the price is going to go up before close on the 180, this will probably still be lots cheaper than other 4800+ options.

 

[willard]

Man, I haven't seen anybody rocking an Athlon x64 X2 in ages. Those were really nice chips for their day.

 

[takepantsoff]

Man, I haven't seen anybody rocking an Athlon x64 X2 in ages. Those were really nice chips for their day.

I found a opteron 180 for $57. I'm upgrading to that and ive already upgraded to the 9800gt and I will tell you my processor bottlenecks the hell out of it haha.


Will I be able max out games like Crysis Warhead with no AA with this setup?

 

[willard]

Will I be able max out games like Crysis Warhead with no AA with this setup?

Extremely unlikely. Your CPU is still REALLY bad, and the 9800GT is four generations old, and it was really just a rebadged 8800GT if I remember correctly, so really five generations old.

I mean, it was good for its time, but that time was five years ago. Wasn't even top of the line then, just king of the mid range.

 

[takepantsoff]

really? I've watched youtube videos of people with a setup almost the same as this and they get over 30 fps on Crysis and Crysis warhead

 

[takepantsoff]

okay here is what I am now looking at

amd black edition http://3btech.net/amdphiix496b.html

motherboard http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/tech4less/M5A78L-M%20LX?mv_pc=google_base&tts=20120603023701&utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=free&utm_campaign=google_shopping


how does this look? and I would most likely get a second 9800gt to sli in the near future

 

[willard]

really? I've watched youtube videos of people with a setup almost the same as this and they get over 30 fps on Crysis and Crysis warhead

Not with settings maxed at 1080p they aren't. Crysis is one of the most demanding games ever made. You need better than a 9800GT to max it out. There weren't single card solutions that could max it out at 1080p for years after it was released.

I would most likely get a second 9800gt to sli in the near future

Still not going to be great performance, though it could pull off high settings with toned down AA/AF in Crysis at 1080p.

You get what you pay for, and buying a dirt cheap four year old card is going to get you the performance of a dirt cheap four year old card. SLI will improve it, but you're still looking at the equivalent performance to a mid range card from the last generation. Something like an HD 6950, which can be had for less than $200 now, is more than three times faster than a 9800 GT.

 

[quilciri]

okay here is what I am now looking at

amd black edition http://3btech.net/amdphiix496b.html

motherboard http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/tech4less/M5A78L-M%20LX?mv_pc=google_base&tts=20120603023701&utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=free&utm_campaign=google_shopping


how does this look? and I would most likely get a second 9800gt to sli in the near future

I'd suggest scrapping the 9800gt and getting a new video card. SLI scaling before the 400 series was pretty poor.

You wouldn't happen to live near a microcenter, would you?

 

[takepantsoff]

Best answer selected by takepantsoff.