System Upgrade Advice

[rickshobbies]

My system is currently:
Intel D875PBZ MB
1GB 333 DRAM
Pentium 4 3.06 533
BFG 6800GT AGP
Audigy 2
PATA single drive
2001fp 1600x1200 LCD
I want to max out the system and then plan to move to a PCIe solution sometime next year after SLI matures a bit and I see options from both ATI and nVidia as well as the dual core CPUs coming our way.

So, this is where I plan to go for now:
Intel D875PBZ MB
2GB 400 DRAM
Penitum 3.4e 800 Prescott
ATI X850XT AGP
Audigy 2
SATA dual drive RAID striped (best performance I am told)
2001fp 1600x1200 LCD
Should I expect a big difference in performance?

I have seen reviews and benchies on the X850 XT, but do you guys think I will notice a big difference with the video card? My LCD's native res is 1600x1200, so I play games at the res mostly.

What about moving to SATA RAID instead of my current single drive PATA setup?

Thanks!

Rick

 

[montag451]

More likely to get some benefit using hw RAID controller, rather than the included one with XP or your mobo.

Do a search on TOMS HARDWARE GUIDE - they did some good tests

 

[rickshobbies]

Actually, I did finally see some feedback from this site on RAID 0 for desktops and it looks like its not a good option for a gaming rig...

But I would still like to hear feedback on the rest of my upgrade

 

[thunderroller]

nice upgrade

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Wow, I wish I had that kind of money to burn on an already nice system. Personally I'd hold off on upgrading anything until I was going to get a more significant performance jump....

A64 is king for gaming now, but I guess if you feel the need to keep that motherboard then a faster P4 is your option.
If it were me, I'd probably try to find someone I knew that wanted to upgrade their system and I'd include the intel motherboard too and get an A64 system for myself.

What game are you playing?
Depending on which one it is, an X850XT could be a downgrade from a 6800gt. Check it out.

Even if it is one of the games that the X850XT is ahead, it's not all that much ahead. But again... if you've got money to burn...

With all this money, you might be the perfect candidate for a raptor. Have you thought about getting one?

 

[rickshobbies]

Well, I will need to sell the old stuff to help finance the new, but I guess I wanted to max out the system I have with the idea of hanging onto it for at least a year, hopefully two.

At the moment, I am playing Doom 3, HL2, Far Cry, SWG, KOTOR2 and the like.

I have considered a Raptor, but it's pricey and it doesn't look like it will perform THAT much faster than by Barracuda. In fact, I am starting to wonder if I should just stay with the PATA Barracuda for now. I am reading that SATA isn't going to give me much of an improvement over PATA anyway. Any comments there?

How about the CPU upgrade?

Regards,

Rick

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

SATA drives are just PATA drives with a different interface. You're not going to get any better performance out of them.

If budget is an issue now... I'd say hang on to that system until you can make a better upgrade.

If it's slow now, then yeah, upgrade... but don't upgrade it until you think you NEED to. By that time, you'll be able to get better parts for the money and you'll get a better performance jump then.

This is me being cheap though.

You can compare for yourself in benchmarks how much these upgrades are going to affect your performance in games. A quick example of what a CPU upgrade would get you.

With my link above, you can see what a 6800gt to X850XT would get you.

Is that worth a couple hundred dollars? Maybe. That's up to you. You'll be able to turn AA and AF up a little...

 

[MonkeyWrench4000]

I personally think your wasting money...

I'm not trying to be rude, but what cant you do at lightning speed with your current setup?

 

[rickshobbies]

Good info. Playing at 1600x1200 is what I do, so there seems to be some benefit there, but not a lot. Perhaps I should wait on the video card. I was concerned that if AGP is going to be dropped from the next gen card lineup, then it made sense to get a maxed out AGP card now. Just in case the supply of enthusiast cards for AGP dry up later, which is what I hear might happen.

I have already ordere the CPU and RAM but I can still cancel the video card...

Thoughts?

 

[rickshobbies]

No worries. I welcome opinions. What actually kicked this off was the whole 533Mhz FSB limitation thing. I have been told by many that I need to get to 800FSB and up my RAM to 2GB of 400s if I want to take full advantage of my video card. Then I read the article in the recent Maximum PC that said something similar.

I guess now that I have this 2001fp LCD with a native resolution of 1600x1200, I want to use that res. Right now, I see my fps dip to a point where I notice it at times.

So, that's what got me thinking upgrade.

I definately don't want to waste money, though.

Looks like I need to think about this some more...

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: rickshobbies
Good info. Playing at 1600x1200 is what I do, so there seems to be some benefit there, but not a lot. Perhaps I should wait on the video card. I was concerned that if AGP is going to be dropped from the next gen card lineup, then it made sense to get a maxed out AGP card now. Just in case the supply of enthusiast cards for AGP dry up later, which is what I hear might happen.

I have already ordere the CPU and RAM but I can still cancel the video card...

Thoughts?

The supply of performance AGP cards is not going to run out by next year if you ask me

My thoughts are that the ram is a good idea as you'll be able to use that later in a nice A64 setup.

My thoughts on the 3.4 pent4 for a gaming upgrade from a 3.06.... is... well... you should have come here first

EDIT: for your future upgrade next year to SLI, keep in mind that for gaming, a $190 A64 3200+ will perform better than your $300-ish 3.4 prescott right now. Prices will be different then, but make sure you look at AMD before you get another P4 system.

 

[rickshobbies]

Reading that CPU link you provided now...

Again, I would be moving up from a 3.06 533 FSB to a 3.4e 800 FSB Prescott with larger L2 cache. This link you provided shows the Pentium 4 530, which is 800FSB isn't it?

Intel shows:

Pentium 4 3.06
FSB: 533
L2 Cache: 512
.13 micron
No Hyperthreading

Pentium 4 3.4e Prescott
FSB: 800
Ls Cache: 1MB
90 nanometer
Hyperthreading

I can't seem to find any comparisons for these two. Anyone have a link?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You can read up on you Prescott purchase here.

Yeah, 530 is an 800fsb part.

 

[rickshobbies]

Just edited my post above to include data from Intel's site on the processor I have and the processor I planned to get. I'll take a look at your Prescott link now...

Also, with my RAM upgrade, I will be going from the 1GB of 333 to 2GB of 400 in dual channel mode. From what I understand, I would need the new RAM setup for the 800FSB to make sense as an upgrade.

Still reading and thanks for the great feedback thus far!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Here's some more CPU charts for you to look at.

You can see for yourself what a faster FSB on northwood did. Doesn't exactly apply to your Prescott core, but you can see what 800fsb vs 533fsb gets you.

 

[RussianSensation]

You are much better off waiting 5 months with your already fast system and then get A64 3800+ or so and R520. Right now you'll get maybe 20% boost for what? $300-400 it'll cost to upgrade after you sell your old components? You can overclock 6800Gt to Ultra speeds (get NV silencer if you want for $30) and you'll get your 10% boost right there. Keep the current ram and overclock the processor (Use a divider). 3.06 should get to 3.4ghz without too much difficulty. It already has Hyper-Threading.

Also who told you you need 2 gigs of ram for games? There are very few games that will benefit from more than 1 gig of ram. You are just wasting $$$ here (maybe in 2 years you'll need 2 gigs).

 

[rickshobbies]

Thanks for the links. Great reading! I actually feel pretty good about the CPU, FSB, RAM upgrade. Each of those pieces alone gave what is quoted as a "noticable" improvement, so I would think that combined they would be decent.

I am still not sure about the video card though...

 

[rickshobbies]

Well, I tend to stay in the Intel arena. I know this is just personal experience, but I have not had the best of luck with stability with the AMD systems I have had in the past (granted, it's been about 4 years since I had one) and even with MBs other than Intel. It seems that whenever I build a system around an Intel board, it works right every time and don't seem to ever get any compatibility problems. The thing just runs, so I guess I go with what I know I am also not an overclocker, probably obvious since I use the Intel MBs.

I have not tried overclocking the 6800GT.

As for the RAM, it's mostly about getting matched dual channel RAM. Also, I have been reading some articles in some gaming mags that 2GB is recommended with WinXP and SP2 with the newer games. I also figured that I would be able to take that 400 DDR with me to my next system, so I guess I am buying the RAM to last me a while.

Not sure if my thinking is totally sound, which is why I am posting this here. I very much appreciate the feedback!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Ok heh....

I think everything you upgraded was kind of a waste except for the ram which you'll be able to use over again, but whatever.

Please don't upgrade your videocard though. If you're going to get SLI in a year, an X850XT isn't going to give you anything a 6800gt wont. If you're staying in the same resolution, at most you'll be able to bump up AA/AF to the next notch.

EDIT: Things have changed with AMD.

 

[rickshobbies]

Thanks for the feedback, YOyo. I am definately taking everything you said into consideration and I will most likely be cancelling that video card for now.

 

[rickshobbies]

Also, I am running a PATA Seagate 7200rpm drive right now. Would a Raptor make a noticable difference, or should I just keep the PATA drive?

Also, if anyone else has any thoughts on the first post, I would welcome them!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Raptor will be faster, but again... I don't think it's worth the cost.