Looking for an upgrade

[Kaination]

I want to upgrade my system, it's getting old <_<

Since next-gen games are coming out, I want to play on full settings w/o lag.

Anyways, some of my specs are:

• AMD athlon 64 3400+ @ 2.20 GHz

• Geforce 6600GT

• 1 gig of RAM

• Dell 1700FP (stfu lol)

I'm thinking of upgrading my video card to a 7800 GT (saw one for $300 )

But then again I'm not sure if I should upgrade my mobo.

Any suggestions?

 

[DiebytheSword]

7800 GT is a good bet, look into upgrading to 2GB of RAM, and if you are running a 939 platform, definately purchase a AMD X2 processor.

These would be the easiest upgrades, but if you want future proof, ditch the dell and go with a home built AM2 or Conroe based system.

 

[Kaination]

A dell? Me? I should smack you <_< but then i'd get it 5000x harder

You probably thought I bought a dell. My neighbor was giving away a free monitor that could go to 1280 x 1024. My old monitor went to 1024 x 768 only, so I switched

Only dell product I ever used.

I bought an ooold Compaq PC and started upgrading. TBH then only real thing I still have from it is the MOBO.

7800 GT does looks sweet. I wasn't even remotely thinking of going towards RAM, but if I think about it, yeah, 1 Gig these days is nothing. My old friend has 128 RAM, I don't see how he survives <.<

My computer is almost fully custom, just need a new mobo.

btw, what is a 939 platform/how can I tell?

 

[ZeroNightmare]

A dell? Me? I should smack you <_< but then i'd get it 5000x harder

You probably thought I bought a dell. My neighbor was giving away a free monitor that could go to 1280 x 1024. My old monitor went to 1024 x 768 only, so I switched

Only dell product I ever used.

I bought an ooold Compaq PC and started upgrading. TBH then only real thing I still have from it is the MOBO.

7800 GT does looks sweet. I wasn't even remotely thinking of going towards RAM, but if I think about it, yeah, 1 Gig these days is nothing. My old friend has 128 RAM, I don't see how he survives <.<

My computer is almost fully custom, just need a new mobo.

btw, what is a 939 platform/how can I tell?

i have 128 on this laptop... and likr 256 on my "good" computer bro.

and a stock "video card" / 3d accelerator

get the 2 gigs of ram, it wouldnt hurt. ram helps everything nyways.

 

[Kaination]

i have 128 on this laptop... and likr 256 on my "good" computer bro.

and a stock "video card" / 3d accelerator

get the 2 gigs of ram, it wouldnt hurt. ram helps everything nyways.

That IS true, but games like Oblivion/Fear, I want to play completely Lag-Free.

Usually I can play w/ full settings (1280 x 1024 w/ highest detail), and I'll play fine, but there's some parts where I'll lag horrendously.

I want that lag to go away, cause it touches me in naughty places

 

[ZeroNightmare]

thats why i said go for the 2 gigs bro !

i mean if youve got money to spend go for it, these newer games are just going to get more and more demanding.

i think more ram would benefiet you more than a card anyways, as long as you have a fairly descent card

 

[Tsunami]

btw, what is a 939 platform/how can I tell?

939 is your motherboard chipset. meaning, when you got your AMD 3400, it should have been like "AMD Athlon64 3400+ 939" only 939 chips will run on your motherboard if your motherboard is a 939 chipset board.

What kind of motherboard is it anyway?

 

[Kaination]

939 is your motherboard chipset. meaning, when you got your AMD 3400, it should have been like "AMD Athlon64 3400+ 939" only 939 chips will run on your motherboard if your motherboard is a 939 chipset board.

What kind of motherboard is it anyway?

since I'm too lazy to type, I decided to go complicated and post a pic o/

 

[DiebytheSword]

Okay, it's a 939, and it supports X2 Procs.

There you go, you can pick up a 3800 x2 for about $150, you'll probably want to go with the 2.2GHz 4600 though.

 

[Kaination]

Okay, it's a 939, and it supports X2 Procs.

There you go, you can pick up a 3800 x2 for about $150, you'll probably want to go with the 2.2GHz 4600 though.

so a 4600 would topple a 7800 GT?

 

[DiebytheSword]

No, do it in this order.

Video Card, Memory, CPU

 

[|Overlord|]

939 is your motherboard chipset. meaning, when you got your AMD 3400, it should have been like "AMD Athlon64 3400+ 939" only 939 chips will run on your motherboard if your motherboard is a 939 chipset board.

What kind of motherboard is it anyway?

939 is a socket, not a chipset. A chipset is designed around the particular processor socket it is designed for.

3400+ Mind you is a socket 754 processor, no 939 processor was released with that rating, so upgrading to a dual core processor is ruled out unless you're prepared for a motherboard/socket change.

Purchasing AGP cards these days though isn't worth the trouble, for around the same price as purcahsing a 7800GS you could just about buy a new mainboard and a PCI-Express 7600GT. Mind you though, leadtek has released a AGP version of the 7600GT too, and performance benchmarks show that a 7600GT in terms of real world performance is not far behind a 7800GS, sometimes matching it or slighty beating it. The only difference the 7800GS will make however is running games at higher resolutions and handeling more AA/AF thanks to a 256bit wide memory bus, but the 7600GT as shown in those benchmarks is making ground with the only games gaining some performance increasements from the 7800GS being the source engine games. It's also about $100 cheaper when you compare the prices too.

I'd recommend putting off memory upgrades and gfx upgrades now and get a X2 3800+ as mentioned by Cucumba and get a Asrock 939 Dual-SATA2, which also includes a PCI-Express slot for upgrading to PCI-Express gfx cards later on down the road. If you want to keep using your current mainboard and processor however though, then upgrade your gfx card.

 

[DiebytheSword]

You are incorrect, I looked up his motherboard already, and Asus states that it is infact a 939 board. His northbridge supports FX and Opteron processors from it's initial incarnation, I don't remember them being offered in 754 pinout.

 

[Devion]

It is a 939 socket, but its with an AGP slot.

Just get an Asrock 939DUAL-SATA2, they are incredible cheap and stable.
Plus they support all the CPU's and have an AGP and PCI-E slot .

And if you upgrade your mobo, get a 7900GS or 7900GT.

Upgrade in this order, motherboard, GPU, RAM, CPU.

Your CPU is quite decent and there wont be much Dual Core games in the future, with the exception of Crysis.

P.s. Be sure your power supply is powerfull enough and of a decent brand.

 

[Kaination]

It is a 939 socket, but its with an AGP slot.

Just get an Asrock 939DUAL-SATA2, they are incredible cheap and stable.
Plus they support all the CPU's and have an AGP and PCI-E slot .

And if you upgrade your mobo, get a 7900GS or 7900GT.

Upgrade in this order, motherboard, GPU, RAM, CPU.

Your CPU is quite decent and there wont be much Dual Core games in the future, with the exception of Crysis.

P.s. Be sure your power supply is powerfull enough and of a decent brand.

Don't worry, I bought a powerful power supply like 3-4 months ago

So, I'll go in this order:

• Geforce 7800/7900 GT

• 4600

• 1 gig of ram (1g-->2g)

Sound reasonable?

 

[|Overlord|]

Hmm..... Seems a 3400+ was released on socket 939, I thought they dropped the rating name in favour of the 3500+ on the 939 platform, unless it was released as a oem chip.

So, I'll go in this order:

* Geforce 7800/7900 GT

* 4600

* 1 gig of ram (1g-->2g)


Sound reasonable?

I'd personally get a 4400+ instead (Toledo cores have 1mb of cache per core, and you'll save yourself some money at the same time too, plus this is also the 89W version meaning it has been optimized/tweaked for less power consumption). I'd go with the 7600GT I suggested to you rather then getting a 7800GS, unless you can manage to find a Gainward 7800GS+ or Gainward 7800GS+ Bliss 512mb, the 7800GS+ practically being a 7800GT on AGP and the Bliss being a 7900GT on AGP, provided you can afford them, plus they were shipped in limited quantity around the world. I'd also go for getting a 2GB memory kit.

 

[DiebytheSword]

Agreed on the Toledo Core.

 

[Devion]

Agreed, I got the X2 4400 myself, its a fricken beast.

 

[imported_Pemalite]

Unless the "Choppyness' Is incredibly bad, I wouldnt worry to much about it, Because the Scripted sequences in Oblivion game engine is a poor performer. (Done so, that It can be converted to other gaming platforms in the future easier). So you will probably allways have a little bit of choppyness in Oblivion
Just like with Elder Scrolls 3.
And if you really want to resort to it, You can run Oblivion in Pixel Shader 1.4 Mode.

I'd go with the hardware recommendations that Overlord has posted. He knows alot more when it comes to AMD processors and boards
And the Graphics card I would go for is the 7600GS AGP. Good Price/Performance ratio.

 

[Kaination]

Well, for my ULTIMATE **16th** birthday, since it IS my 16th birthday, im gonna bug my parents into getting me a 7900 GTX + amd 4400+

Haha, my birthday + christmas are like, 4 days apart, so it should work out

i'll have to upgrade my ram to about 2-3 gigs myself though.