which should i upgrade first?

[mastag]

Hello everyone this is my first post. i was wondering if i should upgrade my processor(pentium 4 2.00 ghz) or my video card(radeon 9800 pro 128). i apologize if this is in the wrong forum. any help would be appreciated

 

[Viperidae]

Personally, I'd go with the CPU. You can have a freaking 7900GTX but without a good CPU it wouldn't work well. However, looking for a new CPU can cause problems (new mobo required as well) due to new sockets and the like.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

How much $ do you have to spare? That may help.

 

[mastag]

well i im kinda on a 200 dollar budget right now. i know i can get a good video card for 200 bucks(geforce 7600 gt) but what about a processor? i was thinking maybe a pentium 3.06 ghz processor. anyone know about how much that would cost?

 

[bosox188]

I would suggest not getting a Pentium 4, but switching to Athlon 64. AMD just came out with it's new socket AM2 and I would suggest getting that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103633

You can get that Socket AM2 Athlon 64 3500+ for just $120. I'm not sure which motherboard you should get but I'm sure someone can point you to a really nice one for the remaining $80. Just by upgrading to that you should see a noticable performance improvement in games. You could then save up for a DX10 card for next year once they're out. The only problem I just thought of is that the 9800 pro you have is AGP and if you were to buy a new cpu and motherboard then it would probably only have PCI-E. I do own a motherboard that has AGP and PCI-E made by Asrock, and it's a good motherboard the AGP slot works fine I'm running a 9800 pro in it. But if you were to buy that it would be Socket 939 not the new AM2.

 

[Tyguy]

Upgrade the CPU first.....its more important, then video card....and get an athlon dual core, runs great.....

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Yeah you will probably want to save up more before you upgrade, and if you choose to go AMD, you might as well get a new computer.

 

[mastag]

thanx for the replies. will i have to get a new motherboard even if i get another intel cpu?

 

[Asus]

thanx for the replies. will i have to get a new motherboard even if i get another intel cpu?

Check what socket your CPU is. Probably a Socket 478. Only a socket 478 CPU would work in your board. Here is an issue though, your board probably only supports 400/533 FSB speed so current Pentium 4's with 800 FSB would not run at full speed.

Here is a chart showing Farcry with the 3200+ against the other CPUs using a 6800GT gfx card (faster than your 9800Pro). Here is a UT2004 benchmark. It does have a P4 2GHz on the chart as well.

Price in USD
$99 Athlon 64 3200+ (If you don't have Farcry there is a deal with this CPU and a free copy of Farcry for 5$ more)
$63 Gigabyte nForce3 250 board with AGP
Have to stick with AGP since your 9800Pro uses an AGP slot.

If you buy a GFX card as well then switch to PCI-Express instead of AGP. Buy a motherboard with a PCI-Express slot and a GFX card with PCI-Express. PCI-Express is replacing AGP as the GFX card slot in the market.

$99 Athlon 64 3200+
$70 MSI nForce4 board with PCI-Express

If your PC uses DDR memory then you are set. If it uses RDRAM (Rambus) then you will have to buy new memory if you replace the board.

 

[mastag]

how big a difference is there between agp and pci express?

 

[Asus]

how big a difference is there between agp and pci express?

It's about what cards you find on PCI-Express vs AGP. And also when you upgrade your GFX card in the future it will have to be PCI-Express.

They aren't going to be making AGP cards anymore. Right now there are about half as many AGP cards available as PCI-Express (going by newegg numbers). You will find some low end and mid range cards on both AGP and PCI-Express and they will run at the same speed but most of them are last years cards.

 

[mastag]

so if i get a pci express mobo/processor, i will have to upgrade my gfx card also?

 

[Asus]

so if i get a pci express mobo/processor, i will have to upgrade my gfx card also?

Right. It's either AGP or PCI-Express.

There is only 1 chipset that supports both AGP and PCI-Express (ULi M1695)
Game performance.
It's AGP performance is great and PCI-Express performance is average.

If you got this board then you could keep your 9800Pro until you wanted to upgrade to PCI-Express.

 

[mastag]

so if i get that motherboard and the athlon 3200+ i could still use my current video card and get a noticeable improvement?

 

[Asus]

so if i get that motherboard and the athlon 3200+ i could still use my current video card and get a noticeable improvement?

Yes

 

[mastag]

thanks everyone for the helpful replies. as you can tell i am new to this stuff and i appreciate everyone being helpful

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Oh yeah, this should be obvious but if you save up more, you can get a better processor as well, unless you definetly need a better processor, I recommend waiting, that's assuming your gonna get more money

 

[Asus]

Oh yeah, this should be obvious but if you save up more, you can get a better processor as well, unless you definetly need a better processor, I recommend waiting, that's assuming your gonna get more money

That is a good suggestion. Unless there is a game you are dying to play right now, waiting til it comes out is a good idea. By that time prices will be lower so you will get more for your money and you may have more money saved up for your PC as well.

But then again don't wait forever.