Upgrade Question

[confoundicator]

One of my co-workers has an upgrade question that I told him I'd put to you guys. So here goes.

He just bought a 3Ghz P4 and an Intel 865 based mobo, and he used parts from his old computer to get the system up and running. It has a GeForce FX5600 Ultra graphics card. The memory is 768MB of PC2700.

With about $200 US to put into this system he is going back and forth between a Radeon 9800 Pro to replace his current graphics card, or getting 1GB of high quality PC3200 RAM. They're about the same price. Which will give a more noticable performance increase in modern first person shooters and other games. His second priortiy is video editing.

Thanks in advance for all imparted wisdom.

 

[AMD101]

I would sell the 5600 and get the 9800pro and then save up for the RAM. The vid card would make a bigger difference for games right now.

 

[Crashman]

I'd go with the added RAM because video editing takes so long, and added RAM makes a big impact on reducing the time it takes.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[dobster99]

i'll tell him to wait a few weeks and upgrade to a 6600gt agp. he has enough performance to get through the paper launch, plus the wait will help him save up enough to buy both the vc and new ram at the same time anyway.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by dobster99 on 11/17/04 06:28 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[endyen]

If his first priority is gaming, the radeon will do a lot more for him. Note though, a change from nvidia to ati, may require a clean os install.
I hope he is running 2 X 256, and 2 X 128, in dual channel mode. If he has 3 X 256, he may be better off just using 512.

 

[confoundicator]

Thx for the tips folks. Funny that you guys are split 50/50 on what to do. Leaves us where we started. Come on man, what does it take to start a flame war around here?

ATi sux and nVidia r00lz!!
AMD is for fa6607s and Intel is KING!!!
I'm a 1337 h4X0rz and yer all a bunch of n00bt4rd5!!!!
[/flamebait]

And again thanks in advance for all imparted wisdom.

 

[HardWareBoss]

Upgrade your ram. Than your vid card.

 

[endyen]

Before hardwareboss added his 2c, I had it 3 for graphics, 1 for ram. What kind of math are you using?

 

[georgebeee]

so it would come down to how important the video editing is. the video card would give a big performance increase in your games, the ram a big increase in editing. thing is, the video card would also help with the editing and the memory would help about none at all for the gaming. your call

 

[rx7000]

Videocard will probably give you more instant gratification with the instant performance seen in games. But the ram I think will be a more behind the scenes gain that might not jump out and slap you in the face, but after a couple weeks with it, if you lost it, you would definetly notice and definetly cry.

Asus p4c800 Deluxe,1 Gig Mushkin PC3200 Dual Channel Level II V2,Pentium 4 3.0 512k 800fsb HT, Thermaltake Xaser III, Thermaltake Spark 7+, Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum Pro, eVGA GeForce 6800 GT

 

[slvr_phoenix]

so it would come down to how important the video editing is. the video card would give a big performance increase in your games, the ram a big increase in editing. thing is, the video card would also help with the editing and the memory would help about none at all for the gaming. your call

Actually, as far as HL2 specifically is concerned, I think you've got it more or less bass ackwards.

I'm running HL2 with a GF4Ti4200 and it looks great. Other than some added DX9 effects, there's not much to gain. Framerates are even pretty steady and smooth. So a new graphics card won't help much there.

I've also noticed though that HL2 is very memory intensive. The more memory you have, the less often the game pauses to load things. And I've even seen indications from comments made by various people that slow RAM may cause HL2 to stutter at times.

This is specific to HL2 of course, but if HL2 is a priority I'd have to say RAM before graphics. (And if HL2 isn't a priority then likely graphics before RAM.)

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Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life." - Steve Taylor</font color=red></b></pre><p>

 

[Cybercraig]

I agree. Games run smoother with more Ram. Especially Doom3 and FarCry. Doom3 takes forever to load with just 2 X 256 ram. Just for kicks, I picked up 2 X 512mb PC3500 to try in the XP-3000+ machine. I'll post how much difference it makes over 2 X 256mb HyperX PC3500.


Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot

 

[TheRod]

I will change the balance, the buest thing to do is to get Radeon 9800 PRO FIRST, then memory if your co-worker is not satisfied with the performance.

-
A7N8X / <font color=green><b>Sempron 2800+</b></font color=green> <- <i>Is this affecting my credibility?</i>
Kingston DDR333 2x256Megs
<font color=red>Radeon 8500 128Megs</font color=red> @ C:275/M:290 <- <i>It's enough for WoW!</i>

 

[georgebeee]

you think his geforce FX5600 ultra compares well with your GF4Ti4200?

he did say FX!!!

 

[endyen]

It would be close, after all the FX card is an ultra.