New Video card or CPU?

[Droc]

This might be one for the hardware section, but here goes. I'm looking to upgrade my comp in a month or two to get ready for the winter gaming season (HL2/Doom3). But I have something of a dilemma. Right now I've got an Xp1900+(~1600mhz) and a GeForce4 Ti 4200 128. Both are a little old but perform pretty well. I dont really want to spend more than $300 on this so that limits me to buying a new card or cpu, not both. Which one should I get and what kind?

-Droc

[Rohan]

Video Car dude. Your frames wouldgo smoother.. YourCPU is still ok. We have the same. :D

[Trustkill]

I'm going to disagree. I have a P4 2.4 with a GeForce 3 and I can run every game at high res 12XX x 10XX with full detail on and have no frame loss. You ARE, however, limited with your choices of AMD chips.

Besides, to upgrade higher than a GeForce 4, you will need more than $300. Spending money on a card that's in between A GeForce 4 and a GeForce FX or 9800 isnt' justified since performance differences would be VERY subtle.

[sushi128]

Your system is in a state of balance right now. save up and upgrade both (upgrading either one right now will result in a bottleneck).

[Freakonaleash89]

Well it doesn't really look like Doom 3 (or HL2 either what with Valve's reputation for delays) will be out this year, so I would leave your system as is and save your money. Its plenty fast for right now. Later on towards December or so if you absolutely must get some more speed, a new video card would probably help. The longer you wait, the more speed you will be able to buy with your money.

[Trustkill]

Originally posted by Freakonaleash89
The longer you wait, the more speed you will be able to buy with your money.

That IS the best way to do it. Thats why I still have the GeForce 3

[Hitman]

I say get a new graphics card because that Xp1900 is overclokable.. I have a Xp1700 and it's at 2.0ghz stable so you can do much better than that.

If anything even the Ti4200 is fine for now, try upgrading something else that may help when you do have money for another gpu or cpu, what about a 10,000rpm harddrive with a 8mb cache, or any harddrive with a 8mb cache because it makes a difference, plus those are easily under $300.. what about maxing out your memory.

Just remember that a pc is as fast as the slowest thing in it.. a fast gpu and cpu just doesn't cut it, don't forget about cooling also.

[Yian]

I have to agree with the idea of upgrading them both. In fact, I would upgrade the video card, the CPU, and the momory all at once, but that's quite a lot of money so I don't upgrade all that often.

[Droc]

Well i recently (3 months ago) replaced my mobo, power supply, RAM, after my power supply failed, so i've got that covered pretty well. Do I really need more that 512 megs?

-Droc

[sushi128]

512 megs is fine.

[Trustkill]

I THINK that the only games that run better with more than 512 ram are massivly mulitplayer games. Doesnt one of the Evercrack expansions have a 512mb MINIMUM requirement? The last one released did.

Fuck those games.

[Rhenna]

If you're comfortable with the concept, and if your motherboard permits, you might consider getting an upscale heatsink/fan unit and, following Hitman's advice, give CPU overclocking a try. Especially if your 1900+ is a Thoroughbred core. Maybe see what your videocard is capable of when overclocked, as well.

I mean, if your intention is to replace these components anyway, you may decide that it's well worth the risk. And, it's just for the relatively low cost of some improved/additional cooling.

Alternately, have you considered selling these components and adding that cash to your $300 budget?

[boardryder]

man, my 4200 was a PNY and I could oc it to 4600 speeds so if it has good heatsinks and stuff, you will be fine for a while. What mobo do you own?

edit: If it's an nforce i would recommend oc'ing the processor IF yur memory is fast enough with the unloking thingy. My 2200+ is @400fsb because of my ram. i use to get 13000+ in 3dmark2001SE, but because of the memory and board, i am now hitting 15000-15500. just something to consider. I wouldn't upgrade anything if you have the right mobo and memory...:rolleyes:

[sushi128]

Tbred's didn't come in a 1900+ flavor. it's a pali, and it's locked.

[boardryder]

aw damn... my bad!:rolleyes:

[sushi128]

hey, he can still unlock it. but it's gonna take some bridges connected, and some good cooling. pali's run hot.

[boardryder]

for some reason, i've never had a pali... do they really run that hot? that would be nice to know if he could unlock it! worth it if you don't f' it up! like i would... luckily mine was a t-bred... heh,heh!:D

[Rhenna]

I installed an XP1900+ in a rig for someone awhile back. I swear it was a Tbred. I know it was only 1.6V. I have AXDA1900DLT3D in my notebook, and I'm pretty sure that's a Thoroughbred. No big deal, either way.

Locked or not, one can still dabble with the bus speed, although that's not the best possible solution.

[sushi128]

ok, pali's run at 1.75....

i believe there might have been a 1900+ DLT3C that never reached mass production (RIRGA i believe). did u happen to write down the stepping?

and, may i ask, why you've got the stepping code for your cpu scribbled in a notebook? :)

[Rhenna]

You mean as in Model 6, 8, 10 in the System Properties? No, but I imagine it was 8.

I always take notes on machines I work on. Can't always find the damn notebooks at times, but I'm a big note-taker. Guess that comes with getting old(er).

Sometimes people you assemble these things for don't know what they have under the hood and they expect YOU to remember every little detail. For instance, this was an Epox 8K3AE motherboard. Goofus, (who owns the thing), probably doesn't know that, and surely has lost the manual, I'll bet.

[sushi128]

well, 8 would be a Tbred :D

and i meant the RIRGA or JIUCB or RCKGA or whatever, but with that revision(;)) 8, it's definitely a Tbred.

and i've never thought of technicalities like that. when i build a PC for someone, i just kinda make it work. then again, i've never built one for someone who was completely clueless.

Lemme guess, you've got the board revision, default RAM timings, and clock generator chip written in the notebook? :D

[Rhenna]

The way I look at it, we're ALL clueless at some point when it comes to these damn things. My problem is, I'm running three (3) notebooks concurrently, and I never have the one I need, but always the other two.

Did Goofus get an Engineering Sample? I have Lynn Computer down as the CPU vendor. That was his choice for some reason, although I know I bought a few K6-2s there back in the "old days."

[sushi128]

Maybe not. I just had a look around, and looks like the 1900+ never made it past the A revision cores (that, and production of it stopped rather quickly). as far as i know, u can still get them in some places.

guess they were produced, just not in large enough quantities to be noticed and/or review worthy.

i've got NO notebooks, and the computers i've built only come back to me when it comes to upgrading :)

This "Goofus"; his name implies his experience with PC's? :D

[Rhenna]

He's a pretty good guy, but everyone just calls him Goofus. I mean, he looks like somebody named Goofus. He lives for MP3s, so that's what that particular rig is doing. (Probably right this moment.)

You're right. It's funny how so many of my "PC progeny" return home sooner or later.

Man, I'm munging this thread pretty bad! My apologies to Droc. (This ain't no chat-room, Rhenna!)

[sushi128]

hehe, i've contributed, and i suppose his question has been answered (with contradicting opinions, of course). besides, this should be in the hardware forum :D

I've heard "mucking". "munging" is a new one fore me.......

[Droc]

Thats alright Rhenna, it was interesting. Right now my mobo is an Asus A798X N-Force 2, and I've got a pretty decent all copper heatsink+fan rig on top of it. I dont know about overclocking the videocard though, its an Albatron and has a pretty flimsy-looking cooling system.

-Droc

[sushi128]

A7N8X, and albatrons are GREAT (even the non turbo versions). Which one do you have? The Ti-4200P non-turbo got me up to 315/610 no artifacts (from 250/500).

[Droc]

Non turbo, it was one of thier earlier versions. I heard some really good things about albatron and the price was right, so i grabbed one, definitely not dissapointed. What would be the easiest way to overclock it (for somone who has'nt really messed with overclocking)?

-Droc

[sushi128]

i like rivatuner from www.guru3d.com.

[Droc]

How far should I be going? Right now the GPU core is at 250 and the memory is at 500.

-Droc

[Droc]

Well 315/621 is too much. artifacts everywhere.

-Droc

[boardryder]

i use to get great performance @ 310/590... whenever i went into the 600's- Yikes. Just go up to those levels and when you see artifacts, go down 5 each time with the mems because they are the things that will make it most unstable since they don't have fans over them. You could even go for a good cooling device such as the thermaltake Giant 2 because you can always take it off when you get a new card... just another thing to think about. I think they are $26 @ newegg.com!:rolleyes:

[Droc]

Playing UT2k3 the best I can get w/o noticible jaggies/artifacts is 275/540.

-Droc

[boardryder]

does the card have heatsinks on the ram?

[Droc]

Nope.

-Droc

[sushi128]

Albatrons don't NEED heatsinks on the RAM (and, without explaining, i'll tell u ram sinks are absolute shit). u should aim for about 300/600 (that's about where i got to in order to obtain 99.9% stability)