Upgrade decisions, any advice?

[SportscarBruce]

I have a relatively low-end system so for increased video rendering performance where would $100 best go towards? A better CPU, video card, or a chunk of memory?

The system basics:

AMD Sempron 2400+ slightly overclocked and stable from 1.667 to 2.0 GHz (I hate the way AMR puts a numerical label on a processor that doesn't reflect the clock speed)

768 megs of DDR 400 memory

nvidia MX-4000 128 megs DDR memory



I'm leaning towards a better video card but if the CPU is a data bottleneck...that is what I'm wondering.

BTW my apologies for not being active in the GTR league but my nightowl tendencies makes it nearly impossible to be fully awake at 6:30 AM. If we raced at around noontime or at 2:00 AM...

[Slade]

Hey there SCB,

Couple of quick questions regarding your videocard and motherboard. Is that an AGP or PCI-E interface? That will make a big difference in determining whether or not a GPU is the right way to go. AGP options are getting fewer these days as PCI-E is becoming more the norm. If it's a AGP then (and I'd have to do some quick research) that MX-4000 is close to the tops with the exception of going to a 256mb card. That 2400+ is a pretty solid performer and is more than likely not a bottleneck certainly for your current video card. Also what socket are you running as that may make a difference in your upgrade path regarding processors. If it's a 939 you've got some pretty good prices on processor upgrades. That would bear fruit in some other areas as well as for future possible upgrades. If you're running an older board it might be advised to save abit and go with a newer board that offers a longer range upgrade path. 939's right now are pretty cheap with the newer formats coming out and you can go with dual core processors in the 939's when you're ready.

Also with $100.00 to spend (unless you've got a buyer for your processor and/or videocard) you're going to be a bit limited. Going to a gig or more in memory will help with games like GTR that are texture intensive. You won't get as many hitches in initial laps.

That being said, the conventional wisdom is that dollar for dollar you'll GENERALLY get better video performance with a GPU upgrade. (As long as you're not running a super slow processor.)

I just love spending other people's money

Slade

Understand on the GTR hours. We miss you on track and will definitely let you know if the hours change. We're still giving you points so you're not that far back....have you considered just staying up until 0700h?

[redmist]

get a better video card, those mx's are junk, they're essentially geforce 2's.

[SportscarBruce]

Hey Slade and redmist, it's a socket 754 board with AGP. Thanks for the advice as the video card is looking like the best option.

Now nvidia or ATI?

I've been shopping here and some good deals look to be had:

http://www.pricewatch.com/m-37.htm

[Otto]

BTW my apologies for not being active in the GTR league but my nightowl tendencies makes it nearly impossible to be fully awake at 6:30 AM. If we raced at around noontime or at 2:00 AM...

Slacker, that's what an alarm clock and coffee are for.

[Slade]

SCB,

With that being a 754, and if that's what you're going to keep for awhile, then I'd have to say the videocard and/or RAM is the direction to go...with the videocard getting the bigger nod.

I'm partial to Nvidia boards primarily b/c I think they do a better job with driver updates. Currently the majority of the best high end boards tend to be Nvidia's but it's like AMD and Intel, you'll find fanboys in either camp.

Otto is running an AGP 5200 or 5400. Stay away from the MX nominclature. I'm pretty sure he's happy with his. I put a 256 AGP Nvidia card in my old Dell...I'm thinking it was a 5600 (not quite sure..haven't cracked that box in awhile) that I picked up at CompUSA. Just went and got the best AGP 256mb card they had at the time. I saw them priced around $99.00 about 2 weeks ago.

Good luck.

Slade

[infoxicated]

Best piece of advice I could give is not to expect miracles when you upgrade the kit you've got right now and you can avoid being disappointed at the results. Even with a quality upgrade, you'll still be miles behind a decent quality rig made in the last year.

I've a 2800+ XP, a 256Mb 6800 GT, with 2 GB of Corsair memory and I cant run GTR fully cranked up if I want a decent frame rate. I'm not going to bother upgrading my current PC again - Athlon 64's and PCI-E is the way to go now. If I'm going to run GTR 2 when it comes out I'll need a brand new rig.

[Slade]

Infox makes some good points there. Keeping the $100.00 for a new card and squirrling some $ away here and there, you'll be able to build a new rig pretty cheaply keeping alot of your current components.

Assume you're keeping the hard drives, sound card, case, and ram.

939 board --->$80-150.00 including SLI capability
AMD single core processor-->$150.00-600.00
Power supply?-->$60.00
Videocard-->say a 7800GT-->$250.00

$100.00 for new videocard that gives you some increase in performance or
$450.00 for a high end system that will run anything you throw at it.

Like I said, I love spending other people's money

Slade

[SportscarBruce]

Yeah but I can't swing that kind of coin on a computer right now, especially with May fast approaching. I've always been a fan of last year's technology at this year's prices. Using coolbits and CMOS I can run the hardware to the ragged edge, nothing's burnt out yet although I had to turn back the clocking on the video card when the colors began to corrupt.

My machine had no problems with GTR set at a mix of med and high options running at 1280 x 1024, but I just installed Lock On, Modern Air Combat and the system can't give a good framerate with that game.

Here is what I've narrowed down to for the $100 budget,

http://www.arsenalpc.com/Details.asp?ItemID=3140&Res=2

[Slade]

Looks like a pretty good deal. Not familiar with the manufacturer but the 5600 is a pretty reliable board. Hope it helps with Lock On. Marker picked that up recently and I'm thinking about it for the coop missions. We've been doing Pacific Fighters recently and having some fun. Lock On looks to be quite a bit more complicated. That IL-2 group does some pretty good flight sims in my opinion.

Have fun and check six!

Slade

[SportscarBruce]

Looks like a pretty good deal. Not familiar with the manufacturer but the 5600 is a pretty reliable board. Hope it helps with Lock On. Marker picked that up recently and I'm thinking about it for the coop missions. We've been doing Pacific Fighters recently and having some fun. Lock On looks to be quite a bit more complicated. That IL-2 group does some pretty good flight sims in my opinion.

Have fun and check six!

Slade

I picked mine up on Ebay for all of $12.00 w/shipping, abet with no packaging documentation (looks like a bundled software product) . Let me know if you want the details on where to get it. Some turning and burning sounds interesting. Let me know about any practice sessions for GTR too.

[Slade]

Will do.

From what I understand with Lock On, I'll need all the documentation I can get.

[SportscarBruce]

GULP...

I got a card on ebay...hope I didn't make a mistake, the seller has 100% positive feedback so I went ahead and bid.

Well see when it arrives, hopefully before Sunday!

Yesterday's $480 technology now for $90, just hoping it hasn't been overclocked to death...



http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1418288,00.asp

Based on the nVidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra chip, the 256MB BFG Asylum GeForce FX 5950 Ultra is aimed squarely at the serious gamer who wants maximum performance with minimal trade-offs. The Asylum delivered very solid performance in our testing and came with a price tag ($480) that matches its pedigree.

Installation is very straightforward thanks to the quick-start guide. But be aware that as with all GeForce FX 5900– and 5950–based cards, the Asylum eats two slots of your PC's back panel and can sometimes impinge upon a PCI card in the slot nearest your AGP slot. The GeForce FX 5950–based designs no longer suffer from the noisy fan that shipped on the nVidia GeForce FX 5800. In fact, the Asylum sports a two-fan heat sink that makes it a good candidate to be overclocked, if that's one of your hobbies. And even with this two-fan design, the Asylum was quiet.


The Asylum delivered performance numbers nearly identical to those of the other high-end cards reviewed here. Considering its higher price and thinner software bundle (the only included utility is nVidia's DVD player applet, NVDVD), however, the others seem to be better bargains.

http://www.bfgtech.com/5950u_redux.html

[Slade]

BFG usually has a pretty good reputation. Good luck and let us know how it works out.

Slade