djtech2k Posted December 29, 2007 Posted December 29, 2007 Hello all. I think I am stuck in a corner right now. I currently run a DFI LanParty NF4 SLI-DR. I have an AMD x2 4400+ retail on it with 2GB of DDR500 OCZ Platinum EB memory. I use Asus 7800GTX 256mb for grafx. My issue is that I need an upgrade to handle new apps/games better. I am trying to begin a nice yet stable oc on my cpu/memory, but thats not getting what I want thus far. I would like to build a new rig, but dont have funds sitting around, plus my rig is too nice to trash. So I thought of upgrading mine. The issue is now that I cannot find anything to upgrade at least for a decent price. All CPU's I find are slower than the one I have and theres tons of new things, like pcie2, sata3, core2duo, etc. Overall, I want a very nice system performance boost in overall speed and performance. The newer games run on my pc, but I want much better performance. Like I said though, I do not have a $1000 extra dollars laying around. My question here is if you were me, what would you do? Would you upgrade certain parts, if so which ones with what new parts? Would you try to oc this system a great deal more? If so, how/what settings would you oc? Here are my current settings: Thanks in advance. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Games Posted December 29, 2007 Posted December 29, 2007 there's absolutely ZERO reason to upgrade anything in your system except for the video card if you want games to run better. Go get yourself an ATI 3870 512MB PCI-E vid card or an Nvidia 8800GT 512MB PCI-E video card and watch the games actually play like never before! (trust me on this, I've got a 7800GT and 7800GTX and even using an X1900XT 512MB increased my gaming, and when I put an 8800GTS 320MB in, it became much much more of a gaming powerhouse...the new ATI/NV cards will go even further towards fulfilling your gaming needs!) do all of this for less than $300. Check our Storefront thread and click some banners to Newegg (best all-around deals generally), ZipZoomFly, and TigerDirect (some kick-butt deals there, but generally not on the newest stuff) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
djtech2k Posted December 29, 2007 Posted December 29, 2007 Hmmm. OK. I was just thinking that that may be wasting money since the new pcie slot is on along with the new cpu slots. The cards are not cheap, so I didnt want to spend hundreds of dollars to only be able to use it for 6 months. Ok, so I will check it out. BTW, just a few minutes ago, I was playing cod4 and my system rebooted. I am guessing its the new oc settings I am using. No idea what is wrong since it seemed to get thru Prime95 with no problems. I stopped it on test 5 and it was fine. I suppose I will have to back it down to where it was. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Games Posted December 30, 2007 Posted December 30, 2007 I was just thinking that that may be wasting money since the new pcie slot is on along with the new cpu slots. The cards are not cheap, so I didnt want to spend hundreds of dollars to only be able to use it for 6 months. er...I've never heard a single whisper that PCI-E slots are being phased out. Not sure where you heard this, but if that's what you heard, you need to punch whoever in the face or never listen to them again. If you were just mistaken and heard all the new boards are coming with PCI-E 2.0 slots and that made you think that your current PCI-E slot won't work with new cards, that's just a misunderstanding. PCI-E is backwards compatible 100%. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
s1ick Posted December 30, 2007 Posted December 30, 2007 And even if there were a new PCI-E slot (which there isnt) look at how long AGP card's were/are produced after board producers stop making them... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RHKCommander959 Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 3850's are cheaper and can easily perform as good as the 3870.. just get a pre-oced one with 512mb ram rather than stock and 256 :tooth: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReelFiles Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 If money ain't an issue, get 2 Raptors for RAID-0 and run your OS off them, then use the other 2 drives for storage. I agree with Travis though; you really shouldn't need to upgrade anything besides the GPU, but your card really isn't a slouch, especially if it's OCed. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Games Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 If money ain't an issue, get 2 Raptors for RAID-0 and run your OS off them, then use the other 2 drives for storage. I agree with Travis though; you really shouldn't need to upgrade anything besides the GPU, but your card really isn't a slouch, especially if it's OCed. you don't even need to overclock anymore. All you need is a good video card. Games utilize the video card now, not the cpu. You need a cpu to turn the machine on of course, but you really won't find much difference between single core 2Ghz Athlon64 vs quad-core 2.4Ghz Intel when it comes to gaming because as I said, games take advantage of the gpu more than anything. praz and I both have tested games on everything from low-end 1600Mhz Semprons to 4Ghz Core2/Quads, and the majority of the time the game doesn't care about the cpu, only cares about the gpu. Running resolutions of 1920x1200 etc of course you'll want a bigger cpu, but anything less than that...what you got is PERFECT. I still game on a 2Ghz 3800+ X2 w/X1900XT 512MB video card and 2GB RAM, and it runs like a champ. Absolutely ZERO difference between it and the same hardware but on a Core2 E6600 2.4Ghz cpu, nor when I overclock that E6600 to 3Ghz. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReelFiles Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 you don't even need to overclock anymore. ..your card really isn't a slouch, especially if it's OCed. I meant OC his video card, not the CPU Travis. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angry_Games Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 I meant OC his video card, not the CPU Travis. having one of THOSE types of days...(FLOPPY DISK HELL) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
red930 Posted January 4, 2008 Posted January 4, 2008 Buy an nVIDIA 8800GT 512MB GFX card for less than $250 and that should do it for you, trust me! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gynuine69 Posted January 6, 2008 Posted January 6, 2008 hate to hi-jack a thread but i didnt want to start yet another "should I upgrade" thread. I am looking to upgrade one more time before converting over to AM2. I have been looking at the Opty 185 but they are running $250. I game (mostly source), and would like a processor that would allow me to run source to the best of its ability and also let me play some newer games fairly well. My sig should have my system info but i have a 3700+ San Diego with a 7800GT and 2x1G OCZ Platinum DDR400 Ram. Newegg has a 4000+ for $50 and a 3800 x2 for $60. Would it be worth the money to buy either the 4000 or the 3800 x2? If i were to go for the opty 185, would i get my money's worth in the $250? Im trying to get the most bang for my buck and be as cost effective as possible. Thanks in advance! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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