Ok, I did a bit of searching last night, but was unable to find something that gave me a quick reference. I am trying to determine how up to date certain parts of my PC are as I'm am probably going to be doing an upgrade. Specifically, there is a game I want to play, NWN2. The processor requirements are listed as Pentium 4 2.4 ghz, Athlon XP 2000 or equivalent. Well, I have an Athlon 64 3000 (at least that is what Windows tells me, I haven't dug out the box yet to verify). If I read AMD's chart correctly, then my Athlon 64 is superior to an Athon XP, but I'm not 100% on that (MAN do I mis the days of just looking to see the first number of the processor, the mhz and if it was DX or SX!). I bought it in December of 2004, so I guess it is getting old, but again, if I read their chart right, while it is not dual core, it's not as obsolete as I thought. Any suggestions? I'm going to have to get a new motherboard since my current one has only an AGP 8X slot (No PCI-Express since I was being a cheap bastard back then!), and I think the configuration of my chip slot is the 939, so I'm thinking maybe I can get by with just getting a new motherboard and video card (the REAL downer on my system). Man, I guess it's time for me to turn in my Geek card. I used to know this stuff backwards and forwards, but these days, I'm beginning to feel like my father!
I have a new in the box ASUS A8V-XE Socket 939 motherboard with PCI-E x16. I bought it and it turned out that I did not need it. It will take PC2100, PC2700, and PC3200 memory.
Upon further review, I may have a 754 socket chip (at least according to AMD's site). I'll check tonight and get back to you. Of course, that doesn't answer my original question!
What kind of video card do you currently have? I'm able to play NWN2 pretty well on an aging ATI 9800xt and an even older 2600xp processor. If you're dead set on upgrading your current video card, you're correct in not wasting your time and money on an older AGP card. Your pickle here is that you have a pretty good processor (very capable of running NWN2) , but would most likely have to upgrade that if you upgraded your motherboard/video/ram. If you chose to find a 754 board with PCI-E (I don't know if you even could) , you would likely find yourself wanting to upgrade your processor in a few years which would require another motherboard (AMD's new dual cores are socket AM2) and newer memory. If I were you, I would just buy a new AM2 processor (They are very nice and can be had for around 100$) along with the motherboard, video, and memory. Like I said though, you could have a capable video card for NWN2 but just don't know it.
Thanks Dr. Fear, that worked great! Does look like I have the 754 chip (I thought I recalled being a cheap bastard and not getting the 939 chip to save a few bucks!). Vicerous, my card is a 64MB ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 7500. I bought it in 2003, and IIRC, it was sort of dated then, but I just needed something quick and cheap as my old Diamond Viper S770 was finally brought to it's knees by NWN1! I thought about doing a full upgrade, but I am now married so I'd have to slip that one past the wife! And since I just bought a Zen W two weeks ago and a Wii 2 months before that, I'm thinking it ain't going to happen! I found this 754 board that has PCI-Express on it: Foxconn NF4K8AB-RS I figure I can then spend a little more on the video card and not have to replace the video card for a couple years. I try to stretch out my major upgrades to 3 years at least, and I figure since my game time is limited these days, if I can play NWN2 and a couple other games I have my eyes on, that will keep me good until the end of '08. By then I can squirrel enough of 'my money' away for a major upgrade and my wife can't say squat! BTW, how are you liking NWN2? I've heard mixed reviews, but it seems like they fixed a lot of the things I didn't like about the first one (mainly the lack of true party based play). IIRC, many of the developers were Black Isle guys, so I have faith that I'll like what they put out!
Duo vs Quad core comparrison I poked around to see what I might look at buying if I can convince my wife, and found this article. It looks like Intel has left AMD in the dust! Outside of laptops, I've had AMD chips for close to 10 years and never had a desire to pay the premium for the Intel chip, but it looks like that might have to change.
Your CPU is fine, and though PCI-express is the future, there are still plenty of high end AGP cards out there. Link It is really difficult to decide between upgrading a component or two or replacing the system altogether. If money is an issue at all, I would slap in one of the X1950Pro cards, and wait until I needed something more powerful to replace everything.
you can get a lot more chip for you money if you go AMD. AMD is also coming out with a quad core. Unless you can tell the difference in the performance of an X2 6000+ and an upper middle C2D, then you might as well stick with the AMDs which are running at sometimes $100 less for similar speeds. There's pretty much nothing a home user uses that would even approach taxing an X2 6000+. If you already have an AM2/940 mobo there's no reason to switch to Intel. AMDs quad core is supposed to run on AM2 boards so its not the doomsday scenario that some are making it to be. Basically AMD X2s are fine for everything but serious overclocking and are cheaper. Intel's are much better overclockers and currently have a higher upgrade path. That won't always be the case.
Intel just dropped their prices, which is why the article seemed to be favoring. I actually do a fair amount of DivX encoding as well as some photoshop and 3D work on the side, so it looks like I may get benefit from a quad chip, especially once they start building games to take advantage of them. Regardless, I think I am going to just get an AGP video card (didn't realize I could get one that will be more than enough for me for less than $100), then maybe in 18 months or so do a full system upgrade (when hopefully AMD has come out with their chips and pushed prices down further).
Well, since it appears that I can get an AGP card that will handle everything I want to do in the near future, and my processor/memory/etc. is more than powerful enough, it would seem the prudent idea. I enjoy good graphics, but I'm not a graphics ***** that needs the absolute top output of every game to enjoy it.
I honestly don't know the answer, but what's the timeline for graphics card companies and driver support? With DX10 cards coming out, doesn't it make sense for then to stop supporting AGP? You can get a decent 7600GT PCI express card for eighty bucks, a mobo for eighty two shipped, and a chip for $150. Honestly, if I were you, I would get this setup: mobo (2 year warranty) Core (3 year warranty) 2 duo chip. Or $70 more for a quad core above mentioned graphics card (lifetime warranty) That should definitely do the job in a timely manner and give you some comfort of not having to upgrade for a while... hell, you might even have a pretty nice system to work on. What kind of RAM do you currently have, DDR-400?
Obviously you missed the part about needing to convince my wife to do a full upgrade! I think my memory is DDR-400, but I bought it the same time as my chip and motherboard, so it may be a bit slower. I also know that it is dual channel (Came in a package of 2 sticks), and that the motherboard supports that. However, that CPU testing program claims it's single channel?!?
I play World of Warcraft which can be pretty graphic intensive. I was running on an old nVidia FX series card. I was in the same situation that you are in in that I was not "allowed" to do a full on upgrade. I bought this instead for my AGP slot:The Link At the time, they had a $50 rebate so I paid a little over $100. The difference was night and day. I could max out all my video settings where as they were at the minimum before and still get 2-3x the frame rate. Great upgrade. So yes, upgrading your AGP video card to make your computer last another 18 months is a worthwhile trek if you ask me.
No offense, but WoW is hardly graphics intensive... One of my roommates plays it on an AMD 2500+ w/ 1 gig of ram and a low end AGP card. The game is old, and doesn't require much to run well. That being said, that game is probably applicable to what HR is looking for (although I don't know enough about the games he wants to play). UCLA, if you got that card for $100 you did good (just by looking at its current price of $180). Maybe the 1950GT is a better option?
I think I convinced myself I got it for $100. After looking at my receipt, I got it for $130 after rebate, still a good deal and it should keep my computer "acceptable" for another year+ until warhammer or SC2 comes out.
