New CPU or Graphics Card?

[Guest]

I have a PII running at 448mhz on a Gigabyte BX motherboard and a Viper V770 TNT2.

Should I upgrade the processor, or graphics card first?
CPU to a PIII 800 (which I'll probably overclock)
Graphics card to a GeForce GTS Pro

I am going to do both when I can afford it, just wondering which will give me the best performance gain in the short term (I mostly use my PC for games).

 

[Guest]

Even only for games, it is difficult to say because P2-448 is slow, it will never be able to allow the GTS2 to perform up to max performance and sort of makes it a bottleneck.

This is not true, but serves as a simple description, you can see from toms previous articles that alot of games benefits from both CPU and graphics card upgrade.

I am thinking since CPU gives performance boost to everything and could increase your V7700 a hell lot (from p2-448 to p3-800) then upgrading the CPU should be the first choice.

Think of it as everything you do no matter games or whatever will be faster.

Instead of only games which you cannot enjoy the full benefit of the powerful GTS2

Best regards
cx5

 

[Guest]

I forgot to mention, your BX chipset only runs AGP2x, which is 66Mhz times 2 into 133Mhz.

the new card you want can run at AGP4x, = 266Mhz. you should mind as well the change the MOBNO, and upgrade the HDD to ATA100, 7200rpm, only cost around $100

and since you might change mobo get one of those DDR PC-2100 that runs at 266Mhz, but this calls for CPU change from Intel P3 to AMD Athlon/Duron, its your choice at the end

Saying that, assuming your Gigabyte BX can run at FSB133, then your AGP will run at 89Mhz and then times 2 = 178Mhz, this will give you a big boost, not to mention with the help of PC133 at 7ns C2.

My old Asus P2B succesully runs at FSB133, good luck to you.

But AGP178Mhz, is still a waste if you can't use the full benefit of AGP266Mhz.

Best regards
cx5

 

[Guest]

one last thing, the price of GTS2 Pro

could be used to buy
1) A new MOBO with DDR chipset, with ATA100,
2) 128MB of DDR PC2100,
3) plus an AMD Athlon/Duron CPU around 900Mhz or 1000Mhz.

I would go for 3 items instead of one, and since your V7700 can run at AGP4x (I think) then you would benefit from a hell lot instead of just GTS2 Pro

Your V7700 on the new mobo with DDR with K7 core cpu will kick ass and you will enjoy the performance of the V7700 like never before.

Best regards
cx5<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by fcchin on 01/12/01 06:59 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[HamsterSlayer]

If you're going to buy a GeForce2 Pro, you probably want to get a new CPU first, as the Pentium II will be a severe bottleneck to the new graphics card.
If your GF2Pro's performance is going to be reduced by a slow system, it isn't worth the high price. Get the CPU first, then the graphics card.

fcchin has a pretty good point about the price of the GeForce compared to that of a whole Duron/Thunderbird system. Definitely worth a thought or two...

 

[Guest]

you will benefit the TNT2 better with a cpu upgrade than you would benefit the 448 with a GTS graphics card..

***Hey I run Intel... but let's get real***

 

[rcf84]

The get the the p3 800.

and get the radeon 32mb ddr or geforce2 mx

ABIT BP6 + ATI RADEON 32MB DDR RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Arrow]

I would also say get the CPU upgrade over the video card upgrade. Make sure that you'll have enough RAM in your machine to match it all up, though.

Rob
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