Gaming on P4 2.8GHz

[cdmccool]

Currently using a 128MB GeForce 7300 LE.

Would it be worth it to upgrade to a more recent entry-level offering, or am I already bottlenecked by my processor?

The 7300 is sufficient for my needs but just barely. If $50 for a newer video card will give me better performance I figure, why not?

Any recommendations on a video card?

 

[Bateluer]

With that hardware, you'd be better off spending the money on a real upgrade rather than pointless upgrades to the video card and CPU.

Shop around, look in the FS/T forum, etc. Even a 50 dollar budget CPU today, a Pentium Dual Core or Athlon II X2 will easily best the P4. At everything.

 

[Perryg114]

You are not going to be able to play anything more than the original Unreal Tournament with that rig and that is assuming you have a pretty good graphics card. I would upgrade. There are some really fast dual cores out there that are reasonable.

Perry

 

[cdmccool]

That's unnecessary. The computer already does everything I need it to, and I get 20-25 fps in the game I play.

The 7300 is sufficient for my needs but just barely. If $50 for a newer video card will give me better performance I figure, why not?

 

[ultimatebob]

With that hardware, you'd be better off spending the money on a real upgrade rather than pointless upgrades to the video card and CPU.

Shop around, look in the FS/T forum, etc. Even a 50 dollar budget CPU today, a Pentium Dual Core or Athlon II X2 will easily best the P4. At everything.

Don't forget that he'd need a new motherboard as well, and he might need new memory as well.

On a system that old, he might be better off just replacing the damn thing.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

your p4 is ANCIENT
your going to be CPU limited.

either, 1) deal with it
2) buy a new rig

 

[Jacky60]

That rig should keep you going for another 5-10 years. Any upgrades are unnecessary so just enjoy that sweet,() sweet baby.

 

[MrTeal]

The P4 isn't a great chip, but it's not that bad. The 7300 LE was a really slow card even when it was launched, and he would definitely notice a speedup if he upgraded to something better.

You could buy new, but I'd just look for one on Craiglist/Kijiji. Most people are idiots and sell their stuff for way too much, but you can probably find something worthwhile there for $10. If not, watch Newegg for when a 5450 or something similar goes on for $10 again after rebate, and sell your 7300 for $10.

 

[Arkadrel]

your p4 is ANCIENT
your going to be CPU limited.

either, 1) deal with it
2) buy a new rig

^ what he said.... you at the very least should have a quad core these days.

What I would do:

BIOSTAR A75MH FM1 ~69$ (USB3)
AMD A6-3650 Llano ~109$ (quad core@2.6ghz) (comes with heatsink)
Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) ~39$
Seagate Barracuda Green ST1500DL003 1.5TB 5900 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s ~119$


Suddenly you have a respectable little pc

~336$

DX11 capable card
Blu Ray 3D playback
UVD3 (Universal Video Decoder) so new formats of film dont stress your cpu
USB3, so you can backup stuff, faster ect.
Quad core (4 cores, 4 threads) (will be a huge jump from your p4)
Llano's IGP
1500 GB of HD space.


That 7300 light Edition..... is giveing you around ~2900 points in 3Dmark 03?
To compair the Llanos IGP (gpu thats in the cpu) would give like ~17,000+ or something like that.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

still have my Rambus P4 3.06 speedy platform

 

[gmaster456]

If your only getting 20-25 fps in your games then yes, I think a cheap upgrade is in order. I would consider something like an HD6450, 5450, gt520 or gt430. Cheap, and not exactly powerful cards but they will be a big step up from your 7300 LE, even with your Pentium 4.

 

[gmaster456]

you at the very least should have a quad core these days.

Not so fast. Something like a Sandy Bridge i3 offers PLENTY of performance in most tasks, including most games. And your still set for years for general day to day browsing/email etc. Although I agree, for high end games/tasks, a quad core is preferable. The least he should have also depends on what he's doing, and since he said his P4 is still fine, I doubt that's much.

 

[trek554]

The P4 isn't a great chip, but it's not that bad. The 7300 LE was a really slow card even when it was launched, and he would definitely notice a speedup if he upgraded to something better.

You could buy new, but I'd just look for one on Craiglist/Kijiji. Most people are idiots and sell their stuff for way too much, but you can probably find something worthwhile there for $10. If not, watch Newegg for when a 5450 or something similar goes on for $10 again after rebate, and sell your 7300 for $10.

If your only getting 20-25 fps in your games then yes, I think a cheap upgrade is in order. I would consider something like an HD6450, 5450, gt520 or gt430. Cheap, and not exactly powerful cards but they will be a big step up from your 7300 LE, even with your Pentium 4.

I do not think you guys have any idea how slow a 2.8 P4 actually is. He would be lucky to get 20 fps for an average in hardly any newer modern game no matter what gpu that he decides to go with. Unless he is trying to play 5-6 year old games then there is little point in upgrading that gpu. A 2.8 P4 is not even half as fast as the minimum required cpu needed just to play most newer modern games.

 

[Joseph F]

For $55, you can get a new Celeron G530.
Also, for $54, you can get a cheap motherboard for it that would probably suit you well.
Another $50, and you can net a respectable Radeon 4850.

 

[Lifted]

If your only getting 20-25 fps in your games then yes, I think a cheap upgrade is in order. I would consider something like an HD6450, 5450, gt520 or gt430. Cheap, and not exactly powerful cards but they will be a big step up from your 7300 LE, even with your Pentium 4.

Wouldn't his P4 2.8 most likely (if not certainly) be AGP? I don't think they make any of the models you've mentioned in AGP flavors.

The last game I played on a P4 2.8, which I had for some time and was good at the time, was Battlefield 1942 which zipped along pretty well on a 9600 Pro.

My mother still uses a P4 2.8, and after being used to newer computers for probably the last 6 or 7 years (how long ago did that P4 come out?), when I use it today it feels dog slow and would not be able to handle any sort of newer games released in the last 4 or 5 years on anything but the lowest resolution and graphics settings. If you're okay with that, then a $20 video card off ebay might be what you want.

 

[trek554]

That's unnecessary. The computer already does everything I need it to, and I get 20-25 fps in the game I play.

It is most certainly necessary if you want to play newer games though. A 2.8 P4 would be slower than running just one core of a Core 2 duo at only 1.4. Your cpu is not even remotely close to meeting the minimum requirements of newer games.

 

[Lifted]

For $55, you can get a new Celeron G530.
Also, for $54, you can get a cheap motherboard for it that would probably suit you well.
Another $50, and you can net a respectable Radeon 4850.

Then RAM, SATA HDD, SATA DVD, case and power supply... it's starts to add up if the person had only planned on spending $50.

 

[trek554]

Then RAM, SATA HDD, SATA DVD, case and power supply... it's starts to add up if the person had only planned on spending $50.

If a person wants to play modern games then they need to realize that their severely outdated pc cant be brought up to snuff by spending 50 bucks. A 2.8 P4 came out in 2002 so its time to bite the bullet and move on.

 

[Ghiedo27]

Keep in mind that if you upgrade a new card may not even work in your motherboard. PCI express is supposed to be compatible across versions, but my PCIx 1.1 version socket 939 board wouldn't work with either a 5670 or 9600gt, but worked with an 8600gt. I'd try to get an older card in fs/ft or ebay if you want to go that route.

But really, it's probably time to get a new setup. You don't want to lock yourself into a shell game where you just have to replace one thing here and then there but never do much besides spending money to tread water.

 

[Arkadrel]

from wiki:

Pentium 4 was a line of single-core desktop and laptop central processing units (CPUs), introduced by Intel on November 20, 2000.....

A cpu design thats a decade old.

Their single cores right? with some of the newest models with HTT? so they can do 2 threads?
They went for a mhz design, so amd did that 3000+ PR (performance rateing vs intel) thingy.

Lmao back then AMD had the IPC crown, their 2.1ghz (3000+) was equal to the 3.0ghz P4.

Going by same logic, Id assume his 2.8ghz p4 is like a 1.5 ghz "single" core Llano or something in performance.

 

[trek554]

A 2.8 P4 would be slower than a single core from a Core 2 or Phenom 2 at just 1.4.

 

[cdmccool]

If your only getting 20-25 fps in your games then yes, I think a cheap upgrade is in order. I would consider something like an HD6450, 5450, gt520 or gt430. Cheap, and not exactly powerful cards but they will be a big step up from your 7300 LE, even with your Pentium 4.

Thank you.

Heh, the only reply worth anything in this thread came from a 2011'er.

 

[trek554]

Thank you.

Heh, the only reply worth anything in this thread came from a 2011'er.

You liked what he said because its what you wanted to hear. Most of us are being realistic but that is something that you refuse to accept. Go right ahead and upgrade your gpu though and have fun getting basically the same framerate that you already get.

 

[MrTeal]

I do not think you guys have any idea how slow a 2.8 P4 actually is. He would be lucky to get 20 fps for an average in hardly any newer modern game no matter what gpu that he decides to go with. Unless he is trying to play 5-6 year old games then there is little point in upgrading that gpu. A 2.8 P4 is not even half as fast as the minimum required cpu needed just to play most newer modern games.

A P4 is fine. The OP stated that the 7300LE he has is adequate so he's obviously not trying to play BF3 here. I honestly wouldn't even spend $50 to upgrade the PC, but he could get something that's much faster than what he has now for $20.

Pricing out budget builds is fun, but it's pretty obvious that he just wants to run what he already plays better. Pricing out complete builds at 20x the cost of what he's asking for doesn't really help.

 

[trek554]

A P4 is fine. The OP stated that the 7300LE he has is adequate so he's obviously not trying to play BF3 here. I honestly wouldn't even spend $50 to upgrade the PC, but he could get something that's much faster than what he has now for $20.

Pricing out budget builds is fun, but it's pretty obvious that he just wants to run what he already plays better. Pricing out complete builds at 20x the cost of what he's asking for doesn't really help.

A P4 is fine for what? Any game that can be played with a 2.8 P4, can be played with a 7300 LE. A 2.8 will NOT play newer modern games smoothly at all. AGAIN its not even half as fast as the minimum cpu required for newer games.