Worth Moving on to Dualcore?

[Yowen]

Right now I have the following setup

420 Watt Thermaltake PSU
Athlon64 3200 socket 754
Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
1GB DDR memory
160gb SATA HD

I am on a limited budget currently and was wondering if todays motherboards with either an ATI or Nvidia integrated GPU would blow my well aged 9800pro out of the water (god I still love that card). I was thinking maybe just getting cpu+mobo+memory and getting a gfx card later, would it make sense to do this now? for me it would make sense because I'd like to have dualcore, just wondering how much more I should expect out of current video games (at lower settings ofcourse).

Hope I'm not being too confusing, thanks for your input.

 

[sswingle]

Problem is, you are going to get PCI-E in a new mobo, but your radeon is agp.

 

[Yowen]

yeah so thats why I am wondering how todays integrated gpu's stack up to the 9800 pro, because at the moment I dont want to spend the money for the GPU yet (college student)

 

[DSF]

How much do you have to spend?

 

[Yowen]

I'd say around 200 - 250 bucks. I figured that would just about get me a cpu, memory and mobo.

 

[dguy6789]

I seriously doubt any integrated chips are as powerful as a 9800 Pro.

 

[Denithor]

Intel e5200 $83
Asus P5KPL $55
Kingston 2x1GB DDR2-800 $24
Powercolor 4830 $85AR

There you go for <$250. And if you've got an extra $16 you can swap the 2GB Kingston to the 4GB G.Skill DDR2-800 kit at newegg.

:beer:

 

[Yowen]

I just figured its been so long since that card came out, the new gfx chips in the 790GX boards for instance might outrun it. That's really my question. Its not something I can take an educated stab at and its not like anyone benches these head to head so I figured I'd get some opinions on it.

 

[RebateMonger]

ASRock used to sell motherboards that had AGP slots, DDR RAM, and used Intel Core2Duo processors. I have one of those.

In the end, I decided to switch to full PCI-E/Core2Duo motherboards. I put the ASRock board into my Windows Home Server. Decent PCI-E video cards got so cheap ($40 for an 8600 GT), it wasn't worth trying to re-use my old AGP cards.

 

[Yowen]

thats why I ask how well a 790GX mobo or whatever intels best integrated gfx is will compare to a 9800pro.

Because I want to avoid buying a quirky agp/pci-e mobo.

 

[0roo0roo]

zomg yes... dual core is soo much better for regular multitasking use than single core.

 

[Yowen]

what about gaming though?

because I'd have to do without a dedicated graphics card for a while.

 

[Yowen]

I guess the title to this topic may have been a little missleading, but I suppose my question has sort of turned into, is my current system worth upgrading if I am going to rely on integrated graphics for the time being? (IE HD3300 in the 790GX). Or will my 9800pro based system perform better, simalarly? As far as gaming goes.

 

[brett42]

The hierarchy chart at the end of Tom's Hardware's best cards for the money articles says the HD3200 in a 780g gives about the same performance as the 9800 pro. With more memory and a faster CPU, you would probably be a little better off than you are now. That may vary depending on specific games, but you would probably be OK.

On the other hand, prices usually keep dropping, and it might make sense to wait and upgrade everything at once.

Chart

 

[RebateMonger]

I just build a dead-cheap PC using an ECS motherboard. It has an Intel E2080 Dual-Core Processor, 2 GB of DDR2 RAM, and an NVidia chipset. But the built-in NVidia 7050 video isn't very good at all. It would BARELY run Crysis at LOWEST-possible graphics settings. At MEDIUM settings, it appeared the game was frozen, but it wasn't quite. It was just barely running. The PC seemed to run MS Flight Simulator 2004 OK.

 

[silverpig]

I'd get a non-GPU motherboard and a very cheap video card. It'll be better than an integrated chip, the combo of non-gpu mobo and cheap vid card will be only marginally more expensive, and you can always swap out the card later.

 

[Jiggz]

Originally posted by: silverpig
I'd get a non-GPU motherboard and a very cheap video card. It'll be better than an integrated chip, the combo of non-gpu mobo and cheap vid card will be only marginally more expensive, and you can always swap out the card later.

I'll get a Gigabyte P/G/E-31 chipset with integrated GPU and when affordable, I'll install a PCI-e card.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Yowen
what about gaming though?

because I'd have to do without a dedicated graphics card for a while.

theres no free lunch there.

single core cpu is way obsolete. games need a modern processor and a gpu. onboard gpu is good enough to run vista gui. gaming is pretty much out of the question regardless of claims.

 

[murphyslabrat]

Yowen, I am assuming your purpose is to save money by just going with integrated graphics. While solutions like Radeon 3300 and GeForce 9400 can approach a 9800's grits, a decently equipped board will run you about $100. Links 1 and 2 are the cheapest of said boards on Newegg. A better solution would be as Denithor, Silverpig, and OrooOroo all say, get a cheapo mobo and a discreet graphics card. Even with this Radeon 3850, you're still looking at a degree of magnitude even above these top-end integrated solutions. Link 3 and 4 are a GPU/Mobo combo for $20 more than the aforementioned mobos, but with $25 in Mail-in-rebates. Link 5 is to TomsHardware's GPU chart comparison of the 3850 and 6600GT, as they don't have any of of the GPU's in question. The GeForce 6600GT beats out the Radeon 9800 PRO, with an average performance differential of +%20.

Trust us, you will be much happier with a real graphics card.

1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813500019
2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813138128

3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813186151
4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102715

5: http://www.tomshardware.com/ch.../compare,794.html?prod[2123]=on?[2112]=on <-- gotta copy and paste that link<<<

To keep it under $250 for the new parts, just add these to links 3 and 4:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103272
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231122

 

[heyheybooboo]

The 9800pro is a dead-on equivalent to the base integrated graphics (Radeon HD 3200) of the AMD 780g. The IGP chip is a die-shrink of the Radeon 2400xt discreet video card and among other things, includes DX10 & SM4 support.

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-S2HP AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI: $70 AR
(the full-ATX is $90)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 2.7GHz: $75

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066: $50

$195-ish

or you could step up to an AMD 790gx: $95-$110 ...

There are others - select a model which is AM3 qualified. I wouldn't throw money at a cheap discreet video solution. Save up a little, sell your old rig and snag an HD4830 for less than $100.

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: Denithor
Intel e5200 $83
Asus P5KPL $55
Kingston 2x1GB DDR2-800 $24
Powercolor 4830 $85AR

There you go for <$250. And if you've got an extra $16 you can swap the 2GB Kingston to the 4GB G.Skill DDR2-800 kit at newegg.

:beer:

:thumbsup:

If you have a decent PSU and you stay with the onboard Video for a while you can skip the PSU upgrade.

When you are ready you can get a better PSU and Video.

You would spend more money on a better onboard Video and evantually would buy stand alone good Video, and end up to being the proud owner of an expensive Not used onboard Video.

Otherwise keep looking for the Holly Grail may be you would be more lucky than the thousands that looked for it in the past 2000 years. .

 

[Yowen]

Haha thanks a lot guys for putting thins into perspective, I hadnt used this desktop for a while as I had my trusty laptop, but it broke after 3.5 years of running 22/7, I was very impressed with that. I realized I hardly ever actually moved my laptop. So I guess I will just use this desktop for a few weeks and make my decisions as to it being worthy of an upgrade in my constrained budget. Thanks again.

 

[murphyslabrat]

Mr. Booboo,
My question, and the question of any rational person, would be, why shell out $195 for a purely lateral solution, when you can have about 7 times the framerate for an additional $10?"

For $205 ($230 before rebates) he can get a true upgrade for his rig, as opposed to your suggestion of $195 ($215 before rebate) for a move that gains only a few frames per second.

While OrooOroo goes a little too far (it is possible to game on the AMD's 780g and NVidia's 9300), you aren't gonna be able to play titles coming out in the next year. There is absolutely no reason to build a gaming rig with integrated graphics. Especially when the proposed difference is one of a mere $10/$15.

 

[murphyslabrat]

Mr. Booboo,
Your build comes in at $195 AR, while mine comes in at $205 AR. Earlier, Denithor proposed a system that would come in at $250 AR, but would blow both systems out of the water. I am making an appeal to the rational mind in saying, "Dude, Where's my car?"......er...I meant to say, "Dude, Vote dedicated graphics, and enjoy a prettier tomorrow (or 3-5 days), you will not be disappointed.

In contrast, if you skimp on that $10, you will be immensely disappointed, and end up shelling out another $100 a few months down the road. You have no idea the difference that is even the best integrated graphics an a mid-range card.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Yowen
yeah so thats why I am wondering how todays integrated gpu's stack up to the 9800 pro, because at the moment I dont want to spend the money for the GPU yet (college student)

A 790GX is probably around the same level of performance. Way more shader power, way less memory bandwidth, and about the same amount of fillrate.