Upgrade questions

by **Mugzy** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 3:45 pm

I am looking to spend 300-350 to upgrade my processor (current: xp1800) and motherboard.

I am looking at the Barton 3000+. Would it be worth it to spend ~$75 more to get a p4 3g?

by **Rule of Wrist** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 3:56 pm

The advantage of intel is their (supposed) greater reliability, and higher bus speeds... for me, I've never had a problem with my XP 2000+... so reliability I think is about a push...

I don't know that bus speed makes all that much of a difference...

To me, it's not worth it...

by **Evan** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 4:18 pm

ASUS A7N8X Deluxe with the Barton 3000+ would be great.

by **Mugzy** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 4:38 pm

How is the Realtek ALC650 audio chipset? Is it better then a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz?

by **Evan** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 4:45 pm

Both of them suck. The only good onboard sound is a motherboard that uses true Nforce 2 Soundstorm (ASUS A7N8X Deluxe).

by **Jim0322** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 5:16 pm

Originally posted by Evan
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe with the Barton 3000+ would be great.

I got the A7N8X del with a barton 2800+ a few weeks ago. It works very well compared to the 1700+ I had before. The 2800+ is just a slightly slower than the 3000+ for about $65 less. I have seen many claims that the 2500+ barton is the best deal because you can easily overclock to the 3000+ level but I have never OCed a CPU, just video cards.

Jim

PS I think the 3000+ costs about $200 and the 2800+ around $135, 2500+ $85.

PPS the A7N8X and 2800+ cost me about $250.

by **Jim0322** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 5:18 pm

Originally posted by Mugzy
I am looking to spend 300-350 to upgrade my processor (current: xp1800) and motherboard.

I am looking at the Barton 3000+. Would it be worth it to spend ~$75 more to get a p4 3g?

What about RAM? What are your plans?

Jim

by **Mugzy** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 5:19 pm

How much of a FPS improvement did you see in games?

Originally posted by Jim0322
I got the A7N8X del with a barton 2800+ a few weeks ago. It works very well compared to the 1700+ I had before. The 2800+ is just a slightly slower than the 3000+ for about $65 less. I have seen many claims that the 2500+ barton is the best deal because you can easily overclock to the 3000+ level but I have never OCed a CPU, just video cards.

Jim

PS I think the 3000+ costs about $200 and the 2800+ around $135, 2500+ $85.

PPS the A7N8X and 2800+ cost me about $250.

by **Jim0322** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 8:13 am

Originally posted by Mugzy
How much of a FPS improvement did you see in games?

It has made a big difference with BF1942. My card is a GF 5600 (mediocre). With the 1700+ I had some fps problems on Wake and Eagle's Nest and some of the other SW maps. I had most settings at medium, 1024x768. Now I run with all the settings maxed (1024x768) except one at 80% and my fps is much improved. Some of the problem maps would cause my fps to drop as low as 10 in certain situations. My fps now ranges from 30-100, even on problem maps.

The 2800+ is 2.08 and the 3000+ is 2.16. That is not much of a difference. You might take the $65 savings and use it towards a new video card at some point.

What RAM do you plan to use and what vid card?
Jim

by **Mugzy** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 9:27 am

For ram, I have 512m 2700 and for video I have a 9600 PRO.

by **Jim0322** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 9:45 am

Originally posted by Mugzy
For ram, I have 512m 2700 and for video I have a 9600 PRO.

I noticed Evan has the 9600 Pro and the 2800+ from his post above. I am very happy with the fps on my GF 5600 with my system and the 9600 Pro is a better card so you would probably be very happy with the upgrade.

Jim

by **Irish** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 9:46 am

If this is an onboard Santa Cruz I can't comment on that. But if it is the PCI add in card then I can.

The Turtle Beach sound card (pci) is the best card for the BF engine. The sounds are great. Santa Cruz actually makes a great soundcard. Except for the Ventrilo issue with TB, I think it sounds just as good as my Audigy2 Gamer that I have now. For $75.00, the TB is a great card for the price range.

For the MOBO and Processor pairing I would look at combo packages that many of the companies roll out. You usually save $50.00 dollars or so buying two at the same time and usually they will ship the MOBO with the Processor in place due to testing.

I had a 9600pro on a p4 2.6 machine and I could not max everything out. That is a great card for the money but not the answer many think it is. I think there is a feeling that a 9600pro is all that you need. Its good but not a 9800pro or even a 9700. The 9700 and 9800 are MUCH better cards than the 9600pro. I now have a 9800 after selling the 9600 and its like the lights have been turned on. No lock ups or freezes and I have every setting maxed. Even OC'd a little to XT stock levels.

by **Evan** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 3:20 pm

I maxed everything out on my 9600 Pro and it ran every game (even BF) smoothly without problems.

by **Mugzy** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 3:56 pm

Originally posted by Evan
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe with the Barton 3000+ would be great.

The sound on this board blows away my santa cruz! Thanks for telling me about it!!

by **Camel toe joe** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 5:51 pm

Originally posted by Mugzy
The sound on this board blows away my santa cruz! Thanks for telling me about it!!

I been planing on getting this MOBO, so would it be a waste to buy a audigy 2 card with this board?

Upgrade questions

Upgrade questions

Re: Upgrade questions

Who is online