Parts bought, opinions on perfomance!

[SippyCupXIII]

Hey all,

I recently bought some new computer parts hopefully to revive my older computer some. What brought this about was I was recently at a LAN party where Dawn of War 2 was the main attraction. I hadnt played the game before this time so it took a couple of games to get my graphic settings set to where I wasnt lagging the other people playing. I settled at 1280x1024, texture, model and shader detail on high, all other settings on low. It was running decent for me but the main thing was I wasnt causing the game to lag.

So I thought everything was fine until the other night when me and two of my friends tried to play against 3 cpu players. The game started out fine but once the battling started everything went downhill. I was getting horrid fps and was causing my friends games to lag horrible. The next game I turned everything down on the lowest setting possible and dropped the resolution down to 1024x768. This still didnt help.....at this point I realized that this wasnt going to cut it and I needed to figure something out!

So, I started looking for an upgrade. My situation was that I am really straining for money right now. I didnt have enough to build a whole new computer now, or anytime this year. I need to get my credit card payed off before I go buy a computer. I enjoy my computer gaming so just needed to find something that would give me new life. I wasnt looking to max the games out that I am having problems with or keep me 100% for the next two years. I needed something that I could get by with and still get good perfomance. So here is what my computer was like:


Operating System: Windows XP 32bit with SP3
Motherboard: Asus A8V-X (VIA K8T800pro/VT8251 chipset)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 +3700 (2.5ghz socket 939)
Video Card: 512mb Sapphire Radeon HD3850 (agp)
Memory: 4gb OCZ Platinum DDR pc3200
Sound Card: VIA Envy24 HF
Hard Drive: 200gb/500gb(x2) Western Digital IDE (7200rpm 8mb cache)
Power Supply: Thermaltake 450watt TR2 RX Cable Management W0146RU


Just to give you a better view on how this computer setup ran with some other games...I could runs games such as Doom 3, Rainbow Six Vegas, Battlefield 2 and 2142, etc.. maxed out at 1280x1024 with basically 60+ fps. Then games like Bioshock, Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Call of Duty 4 and World at War, maxed out or close to it at 1280x1024 with 30-60+ fps. Crysis on high settings settings at 1280x1024 at 20-50 fps with some dips lower in intense battles and Far Cry 2 at high settings at 1280x1024 with 20-60+ with rare dips lower in intense battles.

Here is what my computer specs will be after I get my new parts:


Operating System: Windows XP 32bit with SP3
Motherboard: ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 (VIA PT880pro/VT8237S chipset)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo e7400 (2.8ghz socket lga 775)
Video Card: 512mb Sapphire Radeon HD3850 (agp)
Memory: 2gb G.Skill DDR2 pc5300
Sound Card: VIA Envy24 HF
Hard Drive: 80gb/500gb(x2) Western Digital IDE (7200rpm 8mb cache)
Power Supply: Thermaltake 450watt TR2 RX Cable Management W0146RU


So I replaced the motherboard, processor, memory and put a 80gb hard drive in place of the 200gb for my system drive. Total I spent on parts was like $250ish. My friend then bought parts to have a system just for normal use with some older gaming maybe in mind. That comp will be:


Operating System: Windows Vista 64bit with SP1
Motherboard: Asus A8V-X (VIA K8T800pro/VT8251 chipset)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 +3700 (2.5ghz socket 939)
Video Card: 512mb Sapphire Radeon HD3650 (agp)
Memory: 4gb OCZ Platinum DDR pc3200
Hard Drive: 200gb Western Digital IDE (7200rpm 8mb cache)
Power Supply: Rosewill 400watt RD400-2-DB


So his computer is basically my old computer without the sound card, two 500gb hard drives, slightly smaller power supply, and the HD3650 in place of the HD3850. Then a case and some other small parts were bought by him. He spent a total of $260ish. So this should actually run just about if not as good as my computer did.

So now for my general question...I was wondering what kind of perfomance I should expect out of my upgraded system. I plan on OC'ing the processor which I know that the e7400 is a exelent dual core. I know that the motherboard isnt the best but it was the only thing I could find with a agp slot. I also know that agp isnt the best by far anymore but I have looked at benchmarks and the agp version of the HD3850 didnt test much worse then the pci-e one. And the HD3850 is still a pretty good card for today.

So how do you guys think I am looking? I know this isnt top of the line by far, and I wont be able to max Crysis, Far Cry 2, etc.. at 1680x1050, ultra high settings, AA and AF, etc... but it better than what I had by a long run. So my detailed questions are the following:

1. Processor performance comparison?
2. Memory preformance comparison?
3. Graphics performance comparison?
4. Overall perfomance comparison?

The only reason why I ask about graphics when I didnt upgrade the graphics card is a lot of people have told me with my old processor, it was more than likely bottlenecking my graphics card pretty badly and it might of been running at as low as 60% of its potential. So what you guys think, will I see a pretty good jump in graphics preformance due to the processor bottleneck being gone? Plase also keep in mind that I would not be able to build a whole new computer untill mid next year at the earliest. So please dont post a bunch saying you should of just saved for a whole new computer. This was the only option that I had. Any info you guys can give me would be great!

Thanks Guys!
Chris Stickles

 

[jitpublisher]

I am leaning towards you wasted your money personally, I would not have spent $250 flipping dollars and STILL BE STUCK WITH AN AGP MOTHERBOARD. What are you thinking? You are going to see some improvement, but not $250 worth.
The transitional board you bought is indeed a mess. The PCIe slot only runs at 4X, so upgrading to a PCIe card is pointless. These boards tend to be low performers as they must keep everything compatable. DDR and DDR2, AGP and PCIe.
I am sorry, I do not mean to be so negative or harsh, but I call it like I see it, and I see...... well it will be probably better than what you had....by how much....heck you got it, test it and YOU let us know.

Late edit here, my 2 cents I was kinda impressed with what you said you were getting out of your old system. That new processor should help, but on that board, with that video card, I just don't know. It should run a lot "smoother" more consistant FPS than the old socket 939 single core CPU.

 

[Guest]

by keeping the same gpu, you're gaming will not change much...

 

[SippyCupXIII]

jitpublisher,

Thats cool man....thanks for your info. The more I get the better. I know that it was overpriced, but like I said. I cant afford anything more now, or really until next year. If I put that money into a pci-e board. I would be suck with a really crappy/no video card. I know agp isnt the best but it should hopefully get the job done untill I can build a whole new computer. I just wont make it with now my computer is now. If I cant run Dawn of War 2, I probably wont run much coming out for the rest of the year. I really need to get my credit card payed off and I got other bills I need to more concerned with. I wasnt looking for nothing killer, just something to get another year of gaming or so in with good/decent performance. I look at it as if i can run some of the games that I can with a single core and my graphics card being bottlenecked like crazy. I would get a pretty good bump in perfomance with the good dual core, ddr2 memory, and no bottleneck on my graphics card. We will see I guess. I will have to see how it runs. Any other info you be awesome!

Thanks!
Chris Stickles

 

[Proximon]

Yeah you asked us, so I have to say the same.

$250....

Here's how I would have done it:
Gigabyte P43 board
4830 GPU
E5300
Single G.Skill 2GB stick

That might be a bit more, but you would have had a better upgrade path and better parts.

 

[jitpublisher]

^Exactly! There is no reason you could not have gotten off the AGP deadend. Even on your budget. That is why I feel as though you have taken your tight budget, and pretty much blown it. Can you stop what you have bought and send it back? If you can scrape up another $50, you could really put something together. It is usually a good thing to come and ask here first, before you spend the money.
Very, very good ideas and help around here.

 

[SippyCupXIII]

Hey all,

I have thought about what you said and when I get those parts i am going to ship the motherboard, memory, and graphics card back. Newegg offers a 30day return policy on all unopened prodcut. My friend said he was cool with picking up some of the extra cost so I will be ordering:


Motherboard: MSI P7N SLI Platinum (nForce 750i chipset)
Memory 4gb G.Skill DDR2 pc6400 (800mhz)
Graphics Card: 512mb EVGA Geforce GTS 250 (pci-e) or 1gb EVGA Geforce GTS 250 (pci-e)


So my system Will be:


Operating System: Windows XP 32bit with SP3
Motherboard: MSI P7N SLI Platinum (nForce 750i chipset)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo e7400 (2.8ghz socket lga 775)
Video Card: 512mb EVGA Geforce GTS 250 (pci-e) or 1gb EVGA Geforce GTS 250 (pci-e)
Memory: 4gb G.Skill DDR2 pc6400 (800mhz)
Sound Card: VIA Envy24 HF (pci)
Hard Drive: 80gb/500gb(x2) Western Digital IDE (7200rpm 8mb cache)
Power Supply: Thermaltake 450watt TR2 RX Cable Management W0146RU


So my friends computer will be my old one minus the two 500gb hard drives and the sound card. I didnt realize that my power supply would work with high end graphics card but the GTS 250 only requires a 450watt. My friend will be picking up $50 of the exta cost and I will pick up the rest. I will now be able to upgrade if need be in the future.

Now for the questions:

Is the extra $20 for the extra 512mb ram on graphics card worth it?
How do you guys think this system will perform?
Do you think that my hard drives being IDE will hurt it alot?

Any info welcome! Thanks for your guys info, I appreciate it!

Thanks,
Chris Stickles

 

[Guest]

yes, anything extra for more gpu is worth it if you're gaming so $20 isn't much.
overall, you'll be much happier with the performance and although you probably won't be able to max out crysis settings, you'll still have some pretty good looking graphics. i'd probably recommend this graphics card though:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=50001561%2040000048%201068320729&name=1GB&SpeTabStoreType=0
but I don't know too much about the gts 250

also, the ide drive will be slower but i don't think you'll notice much of a performance difference.

 

[SippyCupXIII]

The GTS 250 is basically a redone 9800GTX+ that uses less power and performs a little bit better. It is my best option for performance and will work with my 450watt power supply. I want to stick with Nvdia so if I get money towards the end of the year/begining of next year I can SLI them if need be. I like ATI dont get me wrong, but just doesnt make sense to me to buy one when i I have a nForce chipset and SLI support.