what to do?

[Orwellian]

u guys need to put an objective sticky thread up that lists pros/cons of stayin agp or upgrading mobo

I fall into this dilemma and am wondering what to do.

I have a crappy fx5200 that the fan doesn't even work on. have an AMD xp2200+ (1.66ghz) on a mobo that can take up to 3 ghz if i remember correctly. I'm not a super hardcore PC gamer (mostly cause of xbox360) but I would like to see some improvement on CIV 4 and EQ2 they are pretty obnoxious to play because of the slowdown and pauses. I know some of it may be CPU but was hoping to not have to change it. 1gig of cheap ram BTW. I can blow 200-300 on a vid card, if i need a new mobo as well i am goin to have to wait for a while. i really don't want to wait.

pls no overclocking... I have heat issues enough because of how my 'puter is located with not many options for changing it.

much obliged for any advice.

 

[Orwellian]

also, am I correct in assuming the curser lag and 1/2 sec. pauses in game are prolly vid card related?

 

[SolMiester]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

There are pros and cons true for staying where you are but i think the most important thing to remember is money, if you have it great, if not look for the alternatives. With iGb of RAM, you are correct in that the video card is probably the biggest liablity of your pc. With 200-300 to spare I would imagine you would have a great range to choice from but no high end cards, which I dont think would do you any good do to the cpu limit you have. The best of the agp cards at present are the new 7800GS Nvidia if you bat for the green team or the x800/850XL(XT?) for the red team. Both evenly matched., although I think the NV product not due for release until 7/9th Feb. Price wise you will have to ask the US based guys.

As for cursor lag, is that a USB mouse?. Some of the older AMD chipsets did suffer from that, as it isnt a video card issue.

 

[Munky]

My opinion on this agp issue is "get out fast while the going is good." I know that in current apps pci-e offers no measurable advantages over agp, but if the whole industry is going pci-e, you gotta follow if you want to keep up. I had a AXP (2.4ghz) and 9800p (flashed to XT) about half a year ago, and while I could have gotten a x800xt for about $250 last summer, I realized than in the long run I'd be wasting more money by staying on AGP.

In your case, since you only have about $300, it's not enough for a new gaming system. But at the same time blowing $300 in a agp card would also be a bad decision. So, my advice is get a cheap but decent agp card for now, and save up more money for a completely new system. A good choice would be a 6600gt - you can get those for ~$130 online and it's a lot faster than a fx5200. Also, if you dont mind used products, you could find some good deals in the FS/FT section. A used 9800p for $80-90 would be a good card to hold you over for another year or so, it's slightly slower than a 6600gt.

 

[CKXP]

with a $300 budget, you can build a budget setup that will offer better performance, than your current one:
chaintech 6600gt $126
sempron s754 2800 $75.50
msi s754 nividia nForce4 $62

total=$263.50
this is only to show that you can build a budget gaming setup within a $300 budget, plus you get a better upgrade path for any future GPU investments.

 

[Munky]

Yeah, good call on the parts above. That's assuming you dont need a new PSU.

 

[CKXP]

Originally posted by: munky
Yeah, good call on the parts above. That's assuming you dont need a new PSU.

good point, OP, what kind of PSU do you have?

 

[Orwellian]

300w

 

[VIAN]

welcome.

wether to stick to AGP or PCI-E?
Switch when you need them.

your situation is a bit difficult, I think I would buy a cheap gfx card like a 6600GT and save up for a brand new system.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Orwellian
u guys need to put an objective sticky thread up that lists pros/cons of stayin agp or upgrading mobo

LOL! While we're at it, we need a sticky that lists the pro/con's of CRT vs. LCD, one for NVIDIA vs. ATI, plus one for Ford vs. Chevy. There are just certain things that enthusiasts won't agree on. It really depends on what you currently have, what you intend to do with your hardware, and (most importantly) how much you are willing to spend.

Welcome to AT fourms.

 

[bigkibby]

Hi Orwellian,

I used to be in the same boat! I had a fx5200 and started getting into games last year. That card was barely cutting it on low settings! I couldn't take it, so started on the upgrade path. I won't list what I have now, I'll get to your situation.

NewEgg has an Evga 128MB Geforce 6800xt for only $110.00 right now. That's a steal, and it was my first gaming card and loved it. I unlocked and overclocked it most nicely. If you want to get out on the cheaps, and still have pretty good pwer to game, that might be an option. Otherwise hold out for a new system (PCIE), your CPU will hold you back if you go for a card with any more beef. A dual fan power supply might help out with the heat issue, but as you said your limited.

Just my thoughts, and sometimes I DON'T THINK SO GOOD.....

Good luck with your choice! Kibby

 

[RussianSensation]

9700Pro $70

This will help with EQ2. For CIV4, I think you need better cpu power because the cpu does AI calculations on each turn. I found this CIV3 bench:

Scroll Down

If you can spend a little more, A64 3000+ $150, socket 939 motherboard $60 and something like $150 X850Pro VIVO PCIe , you'll see significant gains. This X850 Pro is a VIVO version and can be possibly flashed to X800XT if I recall correctly and well worth $30 over 6600GT. I am just not so sure about that 300W PSU.

 

[shimsham]

asrock dual mobo $70

a643200 cpu $170

thats 240. so you could upgrade just those 2 items, and still use your 5200 until you can get another card. or you could pick up a cheaper pcie card if you could extend your budget right now.

6600 pcie

if you have some time to look around, you could probably find all those items in the fs/t forum for 25% less or so.

if it were me, id probably go ahead and upgrade the cpu/mobo now and stick it out with the 5200 for a little while longer. with the new gpus coming out, current cards should drop in price and you should get more value for your dollar. youll see an improvement with the cpu/mobo upgrade. not much, as youll be held back by the 5200, but at least youll have the rest of your system in place for when you do upgrade your vid card, youll have the cpu/mobo to actually take advantage of it.

just my .02.

 

[v8envy]

Your FX5200 is a huge problem, but the 1.66Ghz XP is a bigger one.

A manly video card will require a macho power supply no matter how you cut it. Look and see who made your PS, then compare it to http://jonnyguru.com/ratethebrands.html

If your PSU maker is not on that list, there's a good chance it's in the 'red' category. That, having been aged like fine cheese and filled with dust by now means it may not even feed a 6600GT reliably, never mind some firebreathing overclocked monster.

So, my man, you're going to have to upgrade the whooole thing sooner rather than later. Start with the PSU. The motherboard suggestions above are good, but I'd also recommend the biostar 6100 chipset board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138264

The on-board chipset will be a slight step up from your 5200 while you save up to upgrade. Unlikely to let you overclock anything, but should be rock stable.

This board will run with PC2100 or PC2700 ram, and in dual channel your old RAM will work until you get faster stuff.

As far as CPU, too bad socket 939 semprons aren't out yet. You're going to have to fork over for an opteron or retail venice 3200+.

 

[Orwellian]

If I were to put a good agp vid card and toss a better processor in my mobo, wouldn't that make it a serviceable rig for my needs? how much am I gonna spend on a cpu thats decent?

 

[bigkibby]

O-
What kind of MOBO do you have? I would suggest a 512 L2 cache chip such as a 2500+ Barton core if you can find one(probably about $85.00). I would suggest a mobile Barton, but since heat is an issue, you couldn't overclock it too much. Which is too bad because I have 2 mobiles running at 2.4 Ghz and one machine has a 6800 gs in it with 2 gigs of ram. Lots of air flow though. It games and renders video pretty damn fast for this platform.

But at that point, you are dropping money in a reverse direction, not forward. Really, try one of the $100 to $150 video cards (or less) that have been suggested. If you don't game all that much and are used to the absolutely terrible performance of a 5200 you will see a huge difference. Trust me, as I said, I was running an xfx Geforce 5200, overclocked to the hilt, and it really was sad.

The 6800xt I mentioned has a 256 bit memory interface which will make up for the lack of cache and speed on your 2200+. You would also be able to unlock some pipelines and shaders(hopefully) which shouldnt heat things up unless you OC too. Try things one at a time, but don't spend over $200.00 that would be kinda dumb.

Kibby