What would be a good CPU/MB/RAM/Video Card combo for around $600

[simsalabim24]

Okay Im not sure if this can be done. I would like to upgrade the CPU/MB/RAM/Video card for around $600 if possible.

This is what I have now:

AMD 4400 X2 Dual core CPU w/ 2x 1mb l2 cache Socket 939 (I have a thermaltake CL-P0114)
XGE AGP Radeon 1950PRO 256mb video ram
3 Gigs 1gb sticks x 3 of 400mhz PNY optima ram
Gigabyte GA-K8nsc-939 motherboard
430watt Antec Trupower PSU

I might be able to go over that budget if I have to. I primarily place fps games and Titan Quest. Im also interested in future gaming.

Thanks for any opinions.

 

[athfbum]

Sell your current system to get some more money

 

[simsalabim24]

Yeah I guess what I should have asked is what is the least amount of money I would need to spend in order to upgrade those features.

Thanks.

 

[athfbum]

A decent C2D System with a E4300, 1GB of RAM, and a 8600 GT would be around $800 maybe...

If you were to sell your rig, I'd sell it for $400 or more

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: athfbum
A decent C2D System with a E4300, 1GB of RAM, and a 8600 GT would be around $800 maybe...

If you were to sell your rig, I'd sell it for $400 or more

1. 8600GT isn't out.
2. E4300 ~ 4400X2
3. going from 3gb to 1gb

this looks more like he's spending $800 +2gb ram to play games better (worse?) than his current system. i haven't seen any 8600GT benchmarks so i'm not sure what you're basing your recommendations on. don't mean to sound harsh, i'm just a little tired

OP, how badly do you need a new rig?
what resolution do you play at?
what games do you play?
what do you mean when you say "least amount of money I would need to spend in order to upgrade those features?" a 20% upgrade? 100%?
are you planning on getting a DX10 card?

i'm sorry i have to ask so many questions but you're post has been very vague. if you answer those questions (or at least some of them) i'm sure we'll be able to better assist you

 

[theprodigalrebel]

I dunno, I kinda like your system. 2.2GHz X2, 3GB RAM, X1950pro...it's pretty neat. What exactly are you having trouble with?

I guess the dead-end AGP thing is bothering you? Or looking to head upwards of 2MP displays? You have the best AGP card on the market and IMO the next awesome step up from a X1950Pro is a 8800GTS (PCIe-only).

A part of me says get a new 939 PCIe motherboard, slap in a new Video Card and get ready to rock some games. Yes, a lot of people would say it is stupid to invest in a 939 motherboard at this point but I think a 2.2GHz X2 and 3GB RAM is plenty for most applications. $100 motherboard+$360 8800GTS would be one helluva upgrade (for a Graphics Powerhouse) - unless you want/need an upgrade path for the CPU.

And if you must go for a whole new rig,

Intel E4300+Gigabyte S3+2GB DDR2 800+EVGA 8800GTS = $175.99+$118.99+$200+$359AR= ~$850

 

[AVP]

Well if I am not mistaken getting a 8800gts/x will require a new powersupply, so throw in $100 for one of those and a new video card and your almost at $600. Maybe add another gig of ram to get dual channel. *shrug. Otherwise your doing fine in my opinion. Though the other gig of ram might be a waste of money since you might want to upgrade to ddr2 soon.

 

[Roguestar]

Just spend the money on a PCIe motherboard and a 8800GTX/GTS, or if you can wait, an 8600. Your CPU and RAM are not going to be holding you back until massive resolutions.

 

[MTDEW]

Im gonna take a "stab" at this.
I dont have these parts, so im not 100% sure how it will perform.
So you'll have to do some research.
And im sure someone here will chime in if its a bad match.

e4300 - $175.99
AsRock 775 Dual-VSTA - $57.99
Thermaltake CL-P0114 Big Typhoon - $44.99
Leadtek WinFast PX8800 GTS - $389.99
2gb of your current ram - $0.00
Total - $668.96

Sell your left over parts to cover the excess over your $600 budget.


What i dont know...
1: if the AsRock board supports the e4300
2: if the AsRock board is any good period.
3: If your current power supply can handle the new setup with an 8800GTS


So im basically just fartin' in the wind here, but it may be worth looking iinto.

What I would do is sell your current video card , cpu ,ram and mobo.

Then grab yourself....
Biostar TForce 965PT
2gb of good ddr2 667 or ddr2 800 ram
e4300
Big typhoon
8800gts
This would come in at around $900.00
So you'd need to get around $350 or so for your current vid card ,cpu, ram and mobo.

 

[fishmonger12]

Save your money. Your computer is adequate for at least a couple more years. If you're on such a strict budget, it's not worth upgrading now.

I'm still running an a64 3500+ with a gig of ram and a 9800 pro. It plays BF2 at medium detail full resolution just fine. Only runs into problems with oblivion. Your system is nearly 3x the performance of mine.

Upgrade when you're system can't run those future games, not in advance.

 

[lobbyone]

You could just get a 939 board with a PCIe slot and wait till the 8600 series is available.

 

[simsalabim24]

I can wait a month or so.

I play at my stupid lcds native res which is 1024x768 but that could change if I go up to a 17-20" lcd with a better response time in the future.

Like I said in the first post I mostly play fps and titan quest (diablo clone).

I guess what I mean is what is the least amount of money to get me a significant upgrade and allow me to play these games with most if not all settings on.

I think a DX10 card might be nice.

Thanks for your help.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: lobbyone
You could just get a 939 board with a PCIe slot and wait till the 8600 series is available.

if he gets a pci-e mobo now, what'll he do with his AGP card til the 8600 comes out?

Originally posted by: simsalabim
I can wait a month or so.

I play at my stupid lcds native res which is 1024x768 but that could change if I go up to a 17-20" lcd with a better response time in the future.

Like I said in the first post I mostly play fps and titan quest (diablo clone).

I think a DX10 card might be nice.

if you play at 1024x768 and you haven't gotten the new monitor yet, why are you upgrading? you seem to want to upgrade just cause you've accumulated a little bit of money but in reality it's going to be a total waste. the prodigalrebel, i think, has had the best post yet. he's told you the truth about your rig and questioned your need to upgrade (which you haven't answered yet) and he's given one of the few good solutions to upgrading.

do you have any immediate needs for upgrading? or you're just upgrading to be able to handle future games/resolutions?

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: fishmonger12
Save your money. Your computer is adequate for at least a couple more years. If you're on such a strict budget, it's not worth upgrading now.

Originally posted by: lobbyone
You could just get a 939 board with a PCIe slot

I agree.

If I were you, I'd keep that current rig. The Radeon x1950 Pro is a very good card. The only worthy upgrade would be to nVidia's 8800 series, and that's upwards of $400 just for the card.

If you must upgrade now, I'd say keep your CPU, sell your current GPU and motherboard, buy a name brand but low-end (or even used) 939 PCIe motherboard for around $50-$75, and buy a nice new nVidia 8800 video card. I say get a cheap motherboard because you're just going to throw it away when you upgrade to a Core 2 Duo rig. You won't however have to throw away your video card then.

 

[simsalabim24]

I would say I am definitely upgrading to handle future games and solutions, but also to get better performance out of the games I play right now.

Meaning I want to be able to play the games I play now with most if not all the settings on. For instance I play titanquest and I have to play it with medium reflection quality, medium texture quality and no Anti Aliasing.

I want to upgrade to get those things.

 

[Bradtechonline]

What size of monitor do you have?

 

[hennethannun]

OP:

Don't be foolish.

your current rig is still quite powerful, and to be honest it is even overkill if you only play at 1024*768.

You don't need to spend ANY money right now, let alone $600 unless it is on a better monitor (Dell 2407 is < $700 now!).

I don't think that there is a game currently available that will give you trouble with that GPU until you try 1600*1200 WITH AA.

And vista only gaming (DX10) isn't going to be a reality until christmas 2007 at the earliest.

SAVE YOUR MONEY. don't fall for the hype, your components are still above average.

(but if i were you then i would consider either dropping down to 2 1GB sticks of RAM or getting a 4th so you can take advantage of dual-channel)

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: hennethannun
Don't be foolish.

I don't think that there is a game currently available that will give you trouble with that GPU until you try 1600*1200 WITH AA.

He's not being foolish. He has a specific reason:

Originally posted by: simsalabim24
For instance I play titanquest and I have to play it with medium reflection quality, medium texture quality and no Anti Aliasing. I want to upgrade to get those things.

 

[hennethannun]

I don't buy that the OP cannot play titanquest at 1024*768 with high settings and AA. It he's having problems getting that game to run smoothly i would look at drivers and compatability issues before i started blaming the hardware.

Either he made a mistake when typing up his specs, or there is something wrong with his setup, because an x1950 Pro should kick the ass of titan quest and any other game available at 1024*768. Benchmarks give that card 60+ fps with BF2142 at 1280*1024 WITH 4xAA and 8xAF. and he can't even get medium textures at 1024*768?

His specs (as written in his original post) are firmly in the 'power-user' segment. the AGP would have been a real bottleneck BEFORE the x1950 pro came out last year, but now he is pretty much all set. he doesn't need a new pc; he needs a new monitor (at least 17" and preferably 20"). after THAT he could start thinking about a PCIe gpu and DX10.

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: hennethannun
I don't buy that the OP cannot play titanquest at 1024*768 with high settings and AA. It he's having problems getting that game to run smoothly i would look at drivers and compatability issues before i started blaming the hardware.

Either he made a mistake when typing up his specs, or there is something wrong with his setup, because an x1950 Pro should kick the ass of titan quest and any other game available at 1024*768. Benchmarks give that card 60+ fps with BF2142 at 1280*1024 WITH 4xAA and 8xAF. and he can't even get medium textures at 1024*768?

His specs (as written in his original post) are firmly in the 'power-user' segment. the AGP would have been a real bottleneck BEFORE the x1950 pro came out last year, but now he is pretty much all set. he doesn't need a new pc; he needs a new monitor (at least 17" and preferably 20"). after THAT he could start thinking about a PCIe gpu and DX10.

full agreement with this post

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: alimoalem

Originally posted by: hennethannun
I don't buy that the OP cannot play titanquest at 1024*768 with high settings and AA. It he's having problems getting that game to run smoothly i would look at drivers and compatability issues before i started blaming the hardware.

Either he made a mistake when typing up his specs, or there is something wrong with his setup, because an x1950 Pro should kick the ass of titan quest and any other game available at 1024*768. Benchmarks give that card 60+ fps with BF2142 at 1280*1024 WITH 4xAA and 8xAF. and he can't even get medium textures at 1024*768?

His specs (as written in his original post) are firmly in the 'power-user' segment. the AGP would have been a real bottleneck BEFORE the x1950 pro came out last year, but now he is pretty much all set. he doesn't need a new pc; he needs a new monitor (at least 17" and preferably 20"). after THAT he could start thinking about a PCIe gpu and DX10.

full agreement with this post

Yeah, very good insight. OP, have you tried optimizing your current rig for gaming? Perhaps a clean windows XP install or something?

 

[hennethannun]

Just a quick update with more info.

I have not tried titanquest myself, but IGN's review reported that the AA feature for the game was 'oddly taxing'.
cannot confirm or deny the report myself, but maybe someone else can? and I thought it might be relevant to the OPs complaints...

 

[simsalabim24]

Its a 15" LCD 20milisecond response time.

 

[simsalabim24]

I did a clean install of winxp for the card. New drivers. TitanQuest seems to be a resource hog!! I thought that this equipment would handle it too, but I get stuttering issues if I crank up the graphics. Its not just me check this out if you dont believe:

www.titanquest.net

The go to the technical corner.

Not

 

[simsalabim24]

Okay so I just did a benchmark in TitanQuest using FRAPS

Here are the results this is with nothing running in the background but FRAPS:
Detail level: High
Texture Quality: High
Shadows: Medium
Reflection Quality: High
No AA

Vsync: On


I get 36 fps when in the Village of Tegea walking around

I got 40fps on the road from the village of Tegea walking up through Arcadia, got into a battle with a hero and a little more then halfway to the bluffs of Margera.

Far cry from 60fps!

TitanQuest is not the only problem, when playing Prey I have noticed with all the settings pretty much high if in a room with a long hallway or a long vista or even in small rooms there is no precision with the mouse it basically semi floats past enemies I want to attack. I have a decent mouse too or so I am told its the Logitech MX518 drivers installed.

Ill see if I can get some more benchmarks.