to upgrade or not to upgrade
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- Sir Didymus
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to upgrade or not to upgrade
I'm considering getting a new graphics card but i want to be sure it is worth it
my current card is an nvidia geforece 6600gt (128mb)
and the card i am looking at is a sapphire radeon x1950 pro (512mb)
obviously the new one is much more powerful, and i'm sure i will notice a difference but being that its agp would i be better off saving up some money and fully upgrading my system with a new mother board, dual core processor and pcie graphics card?
the rest of my system is as folows, any other advice on future upgrades would be welcome
Mobo: Asus A7V600-X
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+
RAM: 1gb (can't remember what brand)
PSU: 480W antec true blue (will this be enough wit the new gfx card?)
my current card is an nvidia geforece 6600gt (128mb)
and the card i am looking at is a sapphire radeon x1950 pro (512mb)
obviously the new one is much more powerful, and i'm sure i will notice a difference but being that its agp would i be better off saving up some money and fully upgrading my system with a new mother board, dual core processor and pcie graphics card?
the rest of my system is as folows, any other advice on future upgrades would be welcome
Mobo: Asus A7V600-X
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200+
RAM: 1gb (can't remember what brand)
PSU: 480W antec true blue (will this be enough wit the new gfx card?)
I was thinking this a while back, and I ended up going for the new mobo/CPU/graphics card option. Ended up costing about £400, but it means I won't have to upgrade for a few years now apart from a new graphics card in maybe a year (this was last april). If you can afford it I'd say go for the upgrade, it's got to be more economical in the long ru now that AGP is pretty much obsolete as far as a gamer is concerned.
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- Sir Didymus
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- Morbo
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We've been over this a few times.
I honestly believe that upgrading AGP is effectively throwing money away now, as less and less new mobos support AGP, so any future upgrades will be hindered.
If you want to not spend too much, and allow for future upgrades the asrock 939dual sata2 could be a good option (as it's cheap as hell and it'll allow you to use your agp card until you can afford a suitable pci-e card (obviously, if want to upgrade to core2 you'll have to upgrade your mobo again)
Otherwise, your best bet is to upgrade everything at once
I honestly believe that upgrading AGP is effectively throwing money away now, as less and less new mobos support AGP, so any future upgrades will be hindered.
If you want to not spend too much, and allow for future upgrades the asrock 939dual sata2 could be a good option (as it's cheap as hell and it'll allow you to use your agp card until you can afford a suitable pci-e card (obviously, if want to upgrade to core2 you'll have to upgrade your mobo again)
Otherwise, your best bet is to upgrade everything at once
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- Sir Didymus
- Posts: 354
- Joined: December 9th, 2006, 1:12
i think i am going to ave to be sensible and restrained and save up
i'm not very good at this though
i am a very impulsive spender
and it owuld be nice to see oblivion all pretty like, at the moment when i'm in the main field stuff in the distance looks pretty shit
another thing about upgrading is that i don't have a clue about the current processors, it used to be that you could just judge it on the speed with the intel ones, but with al these new dual core ones and what not i dont know where to start
i'm not very good at this though
i am a very impulsive spender
and it owuld be nice to see oblivion all pretty like, at the moment when i'm in the main field stuff in the distance looks pretty shit
another thing about upgrading is that i don't have a clue about the current processors, it used to be that you could just judge it on the speed with the intel ones, but with al these new dual core ones and what not i dont know where to start
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- Robotic Despot
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Whatever you're buying always start with how much you have to spendThe Incredible... wrote:another thing about upgrading is that i don't have a clue about the current processors, it used to be that you could just judge it on the speed with the intel ones, but with al these new dual core ones and what not i dont know where to start
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- Morbo
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- Sir Didymus
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- Morbo
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You get those crappy LOD textures in the distance no matter what graphics settings you use. This mod replaces them with some nicer ones: http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2182The Incredible... wrote:and it owuld be nice to see oblivion all pretty like, at the moment when i'm in the main field stuff in the distance looks pretty shit
Also, PSU calculator: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp
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- Sir Didymus
- Posts: 354
- Joined: December 9th, 2006, 1:12
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- Sir Didymus
- Posts: 354
- Joined: December 9th, 2006, 1:12
i can see hardly any difference in the before and after shots thereLee wrote:
You get those crappy LOD textures in the distance no matter what graphics settings you use. This mod replaces them with some nicer ones: http://www.tessource.net/files/file.php?id=2182
p
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- Heavy
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http://www.5punk.co.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4860
That should help you make your decision.
I'm still unsure what to do, so I don't think there is an aswer really, as it all comes down to how much money you are willing to spend.
That should help you make your decision.
I'm still unsure what to do, so I don't think there is an aswer really, as it all comes down to how much money you are willing to spend.
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- Dr Zoidberg
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Personally, i'd invest in a good PCI-E based motherboard with the tech to support SLi/Crossfire no matter what, (Even if it ment saving up for ages) simply because it will save you money in the long run when I feel the need to upgrade next.
However in terms of whether AGP or (a single) PCI-E card is faster is a different story altogether. One which tom's hardware may be inclined to clue you in on.
However in terms of whether AGP or (a single) PCI-E card is faster is a different story altogether. One which tom's hardware may be inclined to clue you in on.
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- Site Owner
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I don't know whether they are cheaper to manufacture, or the graphics cards people want to encourage people to buy them, but on a price/performance basis PCIe cards seem to be cheaper than AGP - glancing at that chart berk posted, a 7900PCIe performs roughly 50% better than the similarly priced 6800AGP.
X1950 512Ms are what, £150-200? For that you could get a £50 Core-Duo capable mobo, either a £30 Celeron D to keep you going until you can afford a C2D or £60 for a dual-core P4 if you want more oomph now and £60 for a GF7600 or similar. That config would run Oblivion nicely - I've seen it done - and with unpatched Oblivion, too.
Using your existing RAM for now, you've got a system that can be upgraded with C2D processor, DX10 graphics cards and faster RAM as and when you can afford it.
Of course you'd still benefit from waiting and spending a little more on a mobo, it was just a suggestion if you're like me and find it hard to not spend money as soon you get it.
X1950 512Ms are what, £150-200? For that you could get a £50 Core-Duo capable mobo, either a £30 Celeron D to keep you going until you can afford a C2D or £60 for a dual-core P4 if you want more oomph now and £60 for a GF7600 or similar. That config would run Oblivion nicely - I've seen it done - and with unpatched Oblivion, too.
Using your existing RAM for now, you've got a system that can be upgraded with C2D processor, DX10 graphics cards and faster RAM as and when you can afford it.
Of course you'd still benefit from waiting and spending a little more on a mobo, it was just a suggestion if you're like me and find it hard to not spend money as soon you get it.