Current setup:
Athlon 64 3200
ASUS Motherboard K8N
2GB DDR 3200
Radeon x850 XT (256MB, AGP)
While I can still run all the current games, the optimal settings are going down and down. I don’t have the money to spring for a whole new setup at the moment, but it occurs to me that it’s my processor that’s probably the most significant holdup at the moment. Do you think I would get a significant improvement by just upgrading to a cheap Core 2 Duo (with compatible mobo), while keeping all else the same?
One consideration is that my gfx card is AGP so the mobo would have to have that. Yeah, springing for a pci-x card would be nice but it would be expensive to get the same or better performance as the x850 and I’m not seeing a great resale value on a used x850.
Any suggestions? What would you do in my position? Anyone willing to pick out a couple specific components for me to buy (from Newegg or elsewhere)?
To be honest, I’m not sure there is an obvious incremental upgrade path for your machine. You’ve got pretty much the highest-end graphics card that’s going to be released for AGP, and there aren’t many options if you keep the same motherboard.
If you’re moving over to Core 2, it seems a waste to get a mobo with AGP; it’s pretty much dead, and would just mean that when you wanted to upgrade your graphics card in the future, you’d have to replace the mobo yet again. DirectX 10 cards are only just starting to appear and are PCI-E only.
If I were you I’d grind my teeth for 6 months or so until Vista has bedded down a bit, DX10 cards are in some sort of affordable range and there are some funky new games out. There’s not exactly a plethora of eye-boggling games coming out for the PC in the next few months that I’m aware of, and I think with what you’ve got you’ll end up spending money for not much difference in the short term. If you absolutely had to upgrade something, are there any higher-clocked Athlons you might install? What’s your mobo, socket 754 or 949?
I do tend to think incremental upgrades are mostly a waste of time, mind you, so I might be biased. So much more fun to do a big bang upgrade, and really notice the difference.
You’ve got me there; I’m in the UK where it’s all a bit pricier, and haven’t been paying attention to prices anywhere for quite a while (too skint :)). The typical thing with the new graphics card generations though is that they lead out with the ridiculously high-end products (e.g. the 8800), then fill out the range below, usually working out initial problems as they go. In 6 months you’d expect ATi to have their DX10 part released too, all of which should act to lower prices a bit. Just by gut feeling I think it’ll be a little while before $500 buys you a significantly better system than you’ve already got (remember they’re on to DDR2 memory for many mobos now, too, so you might end up replacing that too). Hard to see a way around this, though: you’re at the top end of several technologies/interfaces that are being phased out (Socket 949, AGP, DDR).
I do wonder how bad your games performance really is, mind you, as I struggle by with my A64 3000 and Radeon 9800 Pro.
Tom’s Hardware does lots of tests and reviews, here’s their latest wrapup which focuses on the bottom line (what card to buy based on interface and price point):
I’ve got pretty much the same setup as you do and I’m afraid we’re both going to have to toss out everything and buy new. I hate the fact that my whole frickin system has to go. On the up side I get to spend hours and hours shopping to get the very best that I can afford. I’ll just turn the old one into a MythTv box.
I concur with those who suggest that it’s the graphics card, not the CPU. If you want to upgrade the graphics card, look at the Geforce 7800GS and the Radeon 1950 AGP.
Personally, I’d wait until this summer, upgrade the whole shebang and get a mid-range DX10 card.
