To upgrade or wait?

by **[KGB]_-=Brit=-** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 4:08 am

I wish you were more of a man

by **Evan** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 6:41 am

Originally posted by [KGB]_-=Brit=-
I wish you were more of a man

And this is contributing to the thread how?

Watch your step here dude.

by **LordShard** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 1:06 pm

Originally posted by shockwave203
if you want to really bite the bullet, get an ATI X800 XT Platinum Edition....that card is SMOKIN fast! Fastest card on the planet right now. I wish i could buy one

I looked at benchmarks and the newwest nvidia card is only a tiny tad slower. It might go for a few bucks cheaper if you still want super fast but maybe a $20 price break.
Just a thought.

by **Colonel Ingus** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 1:51 pm

I if remember correctly though that Nvidia card requires 2 slots. something to keep in mind for those of us challenged for room.

by **JimmyTango** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 2:01 pm

Originally posted by RCglider
A vid card will do wonders, and don't pay attention to the so-called "bottlenecking" by your cpu. It's pure hogwash unless you live by benchmarks.

No, it is not. My 9700Pro was bottlenecked by my P4 1.6 running at 2.4. It completley opened up with my newer 2.4 running at 3.3. I live by game performance and never even bench my system except for looping 3dmark over night to check stability.

This does not mean he will not see a performance boost(which he will see), just that he is paying for a card that is not giving him it's full potential.

If he is looking for a short term solution, do not spend the big bucks on the newest cards, as he will end up wasting money in the end.

by **JimmyTango** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 2:06 pm

Originally posted by shockwave203
a 2.4 Ghz CPU would not bottle kneck a high end graphics card to make it a waste of time to upgrade.

I have a P4 2.4 Ghz and a 9800pro, and games are fast. Heck, I can even use 2XAA 2XAF 1280 X 960 on BFV while most people have a ton of performance issues with everything set at low.

if he bought a X800XT or a 6800, he'd see a huge increase in FPS and IQ over a 9800pro, which is proof that a CPU doesn't always bottlekneck a system.

and dont forget he's going to be upgrading his CPU soon as well

See my post above. If he bought a X800XT it will be a waste of money. He is paying for performance he will not be getting. This does not mean he will not see a boost. You 9800pro plays great now, and would be amazing with a 3 Gig proc. My older 9700Pro was bottlenecked by my old 2.4, your 9800pro is for sure bottlenecked.

He should go no higher than a 9800 pro 128 for around $200 shipped. I'd actually go to http://www.hardforum.com and find a good overclocking 9800pro checper than a new one. Then, when he goes to build a completely new computer, get the latest and greatest. By the time he goes to build his own ultra fast machine, the X800XT will not be the top dog.

Why pay top dollar for a brand new generation of cards that he will not get his full money's worth out? In 6 to 8 monthes when he upgrades his full system he will get it, but by then that X800XT is half the price it is now and already topped by a faster video card.

by **{CN}Doomfarer** » Sat Jun 26, 2004 5:54 pm

Heh, it's always fun to see the varies responses you get when you pose an upgrade question. My thought is this, IF I pick a new graphics card now it would not be a short term solution. I can't afford to drop $200 now and then another $300 when I am finishing up my pipe dream rig. I did some looking into the cards out on the market now, and dayum that x800xt platinum is a freakin speed demon... Also expensive as hell... I pretty figured that any card I picked up would be bottlenecked by the rest of my PC, but in the pipe dream it would be all that it can be.

I appreciate all the different opinions and info you guys have posted. Will have to sit on this for another couple of months and see what I can manage when I get back from the DC get together. Odds are good that I will look into grabbing the x800 (or better) if they can get the price down under $400 by then. I figure that purchase can be the start of my project, while letting me enjoy a little boost to my current rig.

:beer:

All around!!!

by **MoDyna** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 1:38 pm

Doomy, if you can afford to spend a little money now, you can get some great deals. You can get a great processor and motherboard combo for $150-170 now and the ATI Graphics cards are dropping in price fast as well. But just remember, this is BECAUSE the PC market is changing over to PCI Express now and that is were the future is. Unfortunately, that is were the money is too.

You can spend some money now and get a good system for under $500 easy that will work for the next two years at least, or you can wait for PCI Express and all the associated products to his the market and be cutting edge, but will spend more money. Not an easy decision. Good Luck, MO!

by ***SPiKe*** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 4:24 pm

I would wait for 3-4 months

Doomy has your P4 2.4 got AGP *8 ?

by **[U.S.C] Amaryl** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 5:20 pm

I have in mind Upgrading my system with a new card to make my old GeForce 4 Ti 4200 rest in peace once and for all, and After watching prices ...
ATI 9800 Pro near 300 Euros
ATI 9800 XT 450 Euros
ATI X800 Pro 475 euros...

1 Euro= 1,10 $ or similar

I thought of buying a X800 Pro since the money this time wont be a problem and the prices given werent so different than I thought ( 9800 XT was firstly the card I was going to buy before seeing X800´s price)
But watching this thread about bottlenecked crads by different system specs has made have my doubts about what card is better to buy right now.
My system specs are in my signature so you guys what do you think?

by **LordShard** » Sun Jun 27, 2004 8:15 pm

My 9700 pro maxes out in RtCW MP at 90FPS and I have it set for 125 max FPS. I know it's my CPU bottlenecking because at 1280x1024 res I got 90fps and at 800x600 I still get 90fps.

by ***SPiKe*** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 2:42 am

Lord think u have to change the com_maxfps set it to 999 and it will go over 2 your limit.

by **LordShard** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 3:07 am

I have it set to 125 so I can jump farther and higher. Never gets past 90. o_o

by ***SPiKe*** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 8:07 am

This is why u should wait on buying a new computer

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/article/1728/

they r going 2 try and do away with agp and bring in PCI-E video cards which will do *16

As u can see from the pic linking 2 video cards up

why have 1 when u can have 2 :rotflmao:

by **Bullhead** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 10:50 am

Spike, PCI-E = shit right now. We don't even use all the bandwidth available on AGP 4x, let alone 8x, let alone a 16x.

However, nvidia just announced a reintroduction of SLI video cards, which essentially allow you to link multiple cards togther to all draw your onscreen image (making performance sick), much like the old 3dfx cards could......looks intresting, although I haven't read the full release yet...

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