Thinking about having an upgrade

[Thalin]

Firstly, this is a message I posted from the Elder Scrolls forum, so sorry if I keep referring to Oblivion, but my message still applies to BF2 and other games. I'm basically just seeing if anyone has any more/different advice on these forums.


Hey,

I currently own :

NForce 2 A7N8X-Deluxe motherboard (which isn't pci-e)
Athlon XP 3000+
1.50gb ram
Radeon 9600XT graphics card
Audigy 2 sound card

And i'm thinking about whether I need to upgrade anything. At the moment I am playing Oblivion at 800 by 600 with no AA or fancy lighting, just average settings, and it plays reasonably well an average of 21-22fps outside. And although i'm thinking I really need to upgrade my graphics card, i've heard this FPS was average for lots of people on here even though they have more up to date graphics cards, so i'm wondering if there really is any point in upgrading.

If I was to upgrade, i'd be aiming around the 200 pounds mark, so possibly a Radeon X850 or one of these http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/104123 , however I am still undecided. I also play other games like Battlefield 2 on normal settings, and would love to play games, both new and old, in high settings. Would this be possible with my current rig? (With a change in graphics card obliviously) Or maybe it's a better idea just to wait, seeing as i'm relatively happy with how I play at the moment, and there's not exactly any new games i'm wild about. Will the prices of the cards go down, and if so, how long will it take?

Finally, bare in mind my mobo dosn't support PCI-E, but I don't see any point in upgrading to PCI-E if there are still good AGP cards available. I've also heard there is little performance boost between AGP and PCI-E, is this true? And a lot of people talk about having to 'upgrade there whole system' when upgrading to PCI-E, which I don't understand, is it because older CPUs don't work on PCI-E mobos?

Anyway, any help is appreciated!

[Blak_Phoenix]

Re: Thinking about having an upgrade

The main difference between AGP and Pci-e is tat there are more, and better card out on Pci-e than there are on AGP. The best AGP card is the 7800GS (7900GS???) The reason that you people with better cards may be getting the same fps, is that they have better settings, so you may have low/med at 800x600, but they have all high at 12080x1024 with 6xAA. Get my point. So if you got a new card and kept the same settings, you would see a massive increase in fps.

Everything looks fine except that graphics card, its quite old (nearly as bad as my one) lol, and i cant wait to get my new laptop! Anyway, back on topic, the best video card for AGop i mentioned before, i dont know how much that is in pounds, but i would reccomend it, it performs slightly worse than a 7800GT, but its still very very good and would "breathe new life to your system."

So that would be my recondation, your RAM is fine, if you have any mooney left over after the video card, i would suggest another 512MB of RAM, just to make sure that your system is not limited by the RAM, that way you should have no problems playing any game at nearly perfect settings, including BF2.

The reason that you need a new system when upgrading to Pci-e is because of the motherboard. You see, to get Pci-e you need a new mobo, this means a new video card, this means that you usually get the newest socket for your CPU (as by the time most people upgrade their computers their CPU is "out of date") so that means a new CPU. You can use the same RAM, although now there is DDR2 out, so that means new RAM. That is virtually a whole new system. You can usually keep HDD's, they dont change as often, and CD drives, cases and PSU's can usually stay too, although a new system usually uises more power, so a new PSU is sometimes required.

Well i hope that helped, and answered all, lol.. got a bit longer than i anticipated.

[Thalin]

Re: Thinking about having an upgrade

Bah, I really don't know what to do.

I was thinking about selling my current processor and mobo on Ebay, getting around 70 pounds for the both of them, then putting that towards a new mobo and processor. Then, buying a new PCI-E graphics card for a cheaper price than the AGP one, so in the end spend about 260 pounds.

Or I can stay with my current setup, and just buy a new AGP card. But then when I come to upgrade everything else, i'd loose the AGP card and have to buy everything again. However my processor is still standing strong in my opinion (the equivalent of a 3.06ghz P4), so I can't see myself upgrading anytime soon.

Thing is if I upgrade everything now i'd only spend about 75 pounds more.
Hmmmm.....

I could also sell my Nforce 1 mobo and Athlon XP 1800 (1.57ghz) on Ebay. Surely i'd get a bit for that.

Then with all that put on a new upgrade, I could spend about the same amount on a new PCI-E graphics card than if I was to buy a new AGP card with no upgrade.

[LoD]

Re: Thinking about having an upgrade

I dont know pounds, but the absolute best (didnt say bang for buck) AGP card is the 7800GS. (there is a rare hard to find 7900GS core version as well)

The best bang for buck is probably an x850 class card. For an older system yours is still very nice, but your video card is definately holding you back.

[Painl3ss.NL]

Re: Thinking about having an upgrade

I think the choises are either:

1. Buy a high-end PCI-E card and buy a complete new system.
2. Buy a medium priced AGP card that will do until you're ready for 1

I don't think it makes sense to buy a high-end AGP card for your system.

[Thalin]

Re: Thinking about having an upgrade

Good point. I think i'm just going to try and sell my CPU, mobo and graphics card on Ebay, as well as my older 1.53ghz CPU.

[Blak_Phoenix]

Re: Thinking about having an upgrade

If you did just go for a med range (like an x800/x850) card, when would you be able to upgrade again? As remember dx10 is not that far away...

[TokenBrit]

Re: Thinking about having an upgrade

www.overclockers.co.uk
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3000BPBOX) (CP-117-AM)
£73
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS)
£65
BFG 3DFuzion GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-025-BG)
£117

Grand total £255
Socket 939 isnt too healthy for the future but its not that bad and importantly its pci-express. You could move to AMDs new socket, but that would entail buying new ram also, and the motherboards cost more anyway.
To be honest if you got an AGP card, they are heinously priced these days, vendors are asking much more than they are worth for them. Furthermore if you were to buy a graphics card better than the one picked out here, your CPU will probably slow you down anyway, particularly in Oblivion.
If you buy what I picked out or something similar you should be able to run both BF2 and Oblivion on med/high fairly well.

[Thalin]

Re: Thinking about having an upgrade

Hmm, this looks interesting, a definately worth a look.

I've just found an AGP x850 XT platinum edition, for 130 pounds. This sounds like a good deal to me.

It's in my price range, and it would save me buying a new system. Anyway, there's not really any games in the future I am looking amazingly forward to, so there's no point in upgrading everything now is there, I may as well look to do it in a couple of years.

Anyway, serious advice needed now folks.

And, will this run game like BF2142 well with my rig?

OK [censored] it someone else bought it.