Where's my bottleneck?

[jonnyapps]

Hi, excuse me for being a newbie. I had a few questions. And sorry but yes it is about 'upgrading'

Here's my current spec:
1.5ghz p4
384mb SDRAM
GForceFx5200

I'm fairly convinced HL2 is gonna look dump on my pc. This is for 3 reasons:

A - my motherboard only supports AGP 4X which, I imagine bottlenecks my FX quite considerably

B - my RAM is only SDRAM and so is slow

C - my P4's only 400mhz bus and only 256kb L2Cache

So, I was wondering what the cheapest way to achieve satisfactory Hl2 performance would be. I was thinking may a new motherboard which supports AGP8X as well as DDR Ram, presumably I can still use my old processor on the new board?

I would greatly appreciate some advice as it's my birthday in a couple of weeks and I will have to get planning.
Cheers

Jon

 

[azz0r]

SD- you might want to get a board that supports DD.

 

[Hudson]

to be perfectly honest, you cant tell the difference between AGP4 and 8

 

[jonnyapps]

thing is I no the fx5200 kind of sucks but it feels so goddam slow. Sometime's i swear my old geforce4mx440 could outpace it.

 

[dawdler]

The bottleneck is the entire computer in your case
You'll really want a new mobo, ~2.5ghz, 512mb memory and a 9600 Pro (or XT, would really advise that) as a minimum. That way you get a very good medium-high gaming experience, and it isnt that expensive.

 

[jonnyapps]

yeah but I'm talking minimum budget here. No more than £100 to play with my setup. I just moved to London and am at Uni so utterly skint. On the plus side I do have a lightening fast internet connection. Getting speeds of 800kbp/s+

So, imagining you had only £100/£150 how would you spend it on your setup?

Jon

 

[dawdler]

I'd buy a 9600XT and a little more memory (so one get 512). I have no idea the cost though, but it shouldnt be that expensive... Maybe ~$200... The memory shouldnt cost much. AND you get HL2 for free!

 

[Shockwave]

Originally posted by jonnyapps
thing is I no the fx5200 kind of sucks but it feels so goddam slow. Sometime's i swear my old geforce4mx440 could outpace it.

The FX5200 is a g4mx card with the FX5200 name on it.

 

[SidewinderX]

well, a 1.5 GHz system is completly horrible. The SD RAM could be a bottleneck, but i'd say the biggest bottleneck is your video card. Get at least a 9600pro, or a 9600XT, that will make your system run very competativly.


Don't worry about the 4x/8x AGP thing, theres only ~2 fps diffrent in the newest games.

 

[jonnyapps]

ok, so i'm gonna get a better performance out of HL2 by upping my graphics card as opposed to swapping to a DDR equipped motherboard with 8x AGP?

 

[jonnyapps]

9600 256RAM??

I just found a 9600Radeon for £100 and it says its 256megs? That's surely not right?
:bounce:

 

[Asus]

get a 9600 Pro 128mb if you can.
Key word, pro.
If they are too expensive then nvm and 256mb i wouldnt bother with.

 

[jonnyapps]

cheers for the help. All I want now is to find a technical brief of the card and compare it to my crappy fx5200.
Also any idea where to buy one cheap? I'm in England by the way
Cheers again
Jon

 

[bastard_loud]

http://www.pricewatch.co.uk/results...e=1&MaxPrice=1000&Orderby=Price&Search=Search

Do a search for the card on www.ati.com, there you'll find all the info you need.

 

[Steven Q Urkle]

1.5 is far from horrible.
my friend has been using a 500mhz computer since 98 and can play call of duty, and all these new game still.

your bottle neck is the ram, but to upgrade it you need to get a new motherboard and then a new CPU.

there is no easy way out here, your gonna have to spend 2 or 3 hundred.

 

[SidewinderX]

eh, I feel sorry, I ment to type "isn't", but it came out at "is". fyi, 1.5ghz is good.

 

[cpu killer]

Dude, dont get too anxious over being ready for HL2, if u got $100-150 now, wait maybe a month and save up 250-350, get the 9600XT, get a new mobo, and ddr ram, 512megs is good.

Also, 256mb cards are BS, most high-end games today wont even use 64, 128 is more than gr8, 256 only people who do graphics and need high rendering power will have, 256 for games is a WASTE..

Also, worry alot about ur vid man, (my bottleneck is my g4mx440, am running a p4 2.4ghz 512mb ddr333 ...makes u feel SORRY man..) - vid makes ALL the difference in games, your priority should be that 9600xt, which if impossible to get a hold of try looking for the 9500 pro with the L shaped memory, only sure place to definetely get the L shaped memory one is ebay.. http://ebay.co.uk/ ....take a look at the adv, they should tell u if its got the L memory..it can be unlocked to be a 9700 easily .

the memory is definetely priority, slower memory means it takes longer for the data to get to the cpu, corsair memory has best latencys...also, ur HD, is it 7200 or higher RPM? This makes a diff, i have a 5400rpm grand-dads days maxtor, im gonna upgrade to a 7200rpm one soon, swapping between HD and memory influences quite alot on the performance..

Just my 0.02 ...vid card above all, look than into memory, if needed a new mobo (depending on wat mobo u got might not be needed tho..)..

 

[jonnyapps]

but if i get a new MB can't I still use my old P4 on it?

 

[SidewinderX]

You can get a new mobo that suports your older p4.

 

[MrMethane]

http://komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?action=info&sku=117826&p=&t=278&l=2&AvdID=1&CatID=24&GrpID=1&cks=PRL

Sapphire 9600pro Fireblade Edition. It comes with better memory than most. (---> o/c) £135

 

[cpu killer]

Yah, just be sure to get a 400mhz BUS board..
And youll be fine (were the 1.5's 400mhz???)

....I think u could stick with ur currento mobo tho, depending on which u got...

 

[jonnyapps]

my pc's an Emachine 530, which makes it tricky to find out what my motherboard is. No any easy way to determine it? The American Emachines.com doesn't even list my pc so I can't see its spec.

I no my p4's 400mhz cos i used the Intel Frequency ID utility.

So, perhaps I should prioritise --> 9600xt, then if/when i get more money get a motherboard which will take my p4 but also give me 8x agp and DDR.

Yeah?

Also, won't a motherboard that has a faster bus still work on a slower speed?

Cheers