some upgrading questions

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » November 25, 2005, 4:58 am

So I'm looking at upgrading my system slightly. I've currently got:

Gigabyte K8NS motherboard, socket 739, AGP
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU, socket 739
nVidia GeForce FX 5700LE, 256mb, AGP 8x

I was just about ready to click "purchase" on an EpOX Socket 739 board with one PCI-E slot and a GeForce 6800GS 256 mb PCI-E card...then I read about SLI and saw that the motherboard I was planning to get comes in an SLI version for about $30 more. Socket 739 is a dead end though, and then I started looking at socket 939 processors and boards. And got frustrated and said fuck all for now.

Should I:
* go with the basic socket 739 PCI-E board and 6800GS card (cheap option)
* get the socket 739 SLI board and one 6800GS for now and save for a second card
* hang on for a while longer, wait and get a socket 939 board, a dual core CPU and the SLIable video cards later

Keep in mind I'm on a tight budget for the next few months till I move and get a new job lined up.

As always your feedback is appreciated!

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » November 25, 2005, 7:18 am

What are you looking to play on it? My room mate has a dual core 4800 and is still waiting on his video card, but plays EQ2 at some unbelievable framerates on a cheapo 6600 because it's just so god damn processor bound.

My CPU isn't nearly so good, but video is much better so games like Fear and HL2 I get better frame rates...

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » November 25, 2005, 9:14 am

Currently playing EQ and Doom 3, will be eventually playing Vanguard.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » November 25, 2005, 9:16 am

Zaelath wrote:What are you looking to play on it? My room mate has a dual core 4800 and is still waiting on his video card, but plays EQ2 at some unbelievable framerates on a cheapo 6600 because it's just so god damn processor bound.

My CPU isn't nearly so good, but video is much better so games like Fear and HL2 I get better frame rates...

Give him your video card!

Man, 4800....the king of CPUs IMO atm although an OC'd 3800 is the king of bang for your buck. dual core, dual core, dual core! Don't know why anyone would get anything other than a dual core if buying a new MB/CPU combo.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » November 25, 2005, 9:53 pm

He's waiting on his 7800GTXUltramegabitchslapper to arrive.

Agree regarding dual core though, in fact talked him into that chip v's the single core.

Given the games, and especially looking forward to Vanguard, you might as well upgrade CPU at the same time; and hell, I'd be tempted to wait until Vanguard is closer to release and sock away some cash (stuff is only going to get faster/cheaper in the next 12 months)

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » November 26, 2005, 12:06 am

Zaelath wrote:I'd be tempted to wait until Vanguard is closer to release and sock away some cash (stuff is only going to get faster/cheaper in the next 12 months)

Having talked to a couple of folks in the beta thats what I think I'm going to do.