Computer Upgrade Question

[Fredless]

I've really fallen out of the loop with computers, and when I built this computer in June 2003 the P4 2.8Ghz with HT was the top of the line.

I have an Asus P4P800, two sticks of Kingston HyperX PC3200 Memory, a P4 2.4Ghz C (800mhz bus) socket 478, and a Radeon 9600SE with 128mb Agp 8X.

Basically, I just want to max out this motherboard so I'll be good for another year or two. I've been really happy thus far with the setup, but Age of Empires 3 is choppy at points and I can't play Quake 4.

There are like 3-4 different versions of the P4 and I dunno WTF my motherboard can handle. I was looking at the P4 3.4Ghz - E which is the Prescott 478 because thats the max they go on the old PPGA478.

Video cards on AGP 8X? I know they're going to PCI-E.

No AMD, no upgrading motherboards. I'll do that in another 2 years or so because I've had this install of windows XP pro running since june 2003 and I hate reformatting and starting from scratch. Just wondering how I can max out my current setup.

Thanks! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[teal99camaro]

with a new board, all you have to do is install the chipset drivers prior to installing the new board, it'll start right up with no new install. I recommend checking out Asus' website. They'll tell you whats up in terms of CPUs.

Try upgrading you're videocard, 2.8ghz should be fine with those games. The video card must be the bottlekneck.

[camaro_speedemon]

Originally posted by teal99camaro:
with a new board, all you have to do is install the chipset drivers prior to installing the new board, it'll start right up with no new install. I recommend checking out Asus' website. They'll tell you whats up in terms of CPUs.

Try upgrading you're videocard, 2.8ghz should be fine with those games. The video card must be the bottlekneck.

Werd.

Why no AMD. The dual core X2s are slaughtering the Pentium D's. The midlevel X2 is neck and neck with the top-of-the-line pentium D.

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

go with AMD

the only time you would have to refomat is if you accualy put a 64 bit opperating system on there but untill windows vista come out next year (witch is kick *** in some areas and sucks in some for the verson i got, they are releaseing somthing like 9 different versions) there are not alot of 64 bit drivers for stuff.....

so you will not have to reformat

[mwh27]

From the sounds of it, you just need a new video card, cause the 9600 cant really hold its own anymore. A 2.8ghz with at least 1GB of ram should be fine for a while.

As for WHICH agp card to get? Thats really up to you.

[MrCoffee]

Its not your vid card man. I have the same one and I play f.e.a.r. and Q4 on the regular with no problems. But You can get almost any card you want. Most of the pci-e cards are really agp cards that are converted to the pci-e interface. There are still plenty of agp cards out there.

As for your chip. I think its fine as well. I do know that the P4 "C" version chips can be overclocked more easily than normal P4s though... and you do have an Asus board ;)

If I were you I'd just make sure you have updated drivers. ESP your vid card drivers. ATI puts out a new catalyst driver every 2 months or so. Get the control center, its pretty cool.

Biggest bottle neck is at the hard drive. Defrag it and clean it out regularly. The second for gamers is the vid card.

I have pretty much the same setup as you man, and I play Q4 just fine. F.E.A.R runs good too and its more gfx intensive

[Fredless]

I do all of that regularly and sorry, I have a P4 2.4Ghz...not 2.8GHz C.

No AMD, the old Athlons left a bad taste in my mouth years ago and I won't buy them...I just want to max out this board.

So my 2.4GHz P4 isn't the bottle neck? What video card should I go with? I want top of the line I can get for AGP 8X because I know they're going to PCI-E

[phil97.3.8]

I think the 6800 GT is the highest nVidia makes for AGP. FOr ATI I think it was the X800/850. AGP is pretty much discontinued as far as current and next gen cards.

Those cards are already outdated a bit but will play your games ok, and after 2+ years I would definitely reformat anyway, just to speed things up. Just back up the files/programs you need first. It really doesn't take long.

[96firebirdgt]

The 9600 is a good card to overclock also the drivers on ati are not the best so i use omega drivers. They allow you to overclock the memory and the core.

The low amount of memory on your video card is what is holding you back since it cannot store as much data to be accessed directly.

Dont upgrade until you can do the whole thing since PCI-E is now supposed to compete with sata you will just save money doing it new than upgrading somthing that is losing support.

On the bright side of things for pc builders is that btx is dead so no worries.

http://www.omegadrivers.net/

[Josh_101]

The 6800 ultra is the top of the line nvidia card for the 8x AGP's. As far cpu's go, just look up the specs for your mobo, Asus should say what cpu's it can support. Last christmas My dad got me $1500 worth of upgrades for my pc.

Old system
1.4ghz P4
256mb DDR2100 memory
Geforce 3 vid card.
40gb hard drive
Windows ME


New upgrades
Socket 754 AMD 64 3400 cpu
Gigabyte K8NS Pro nforce 3 mobo
1gb DDR2700 memory
Geforce 6800gt AGP vid card
same hard drive
Windows XP
and a 480 watt power supply

[Josh_101]

BTW, AMD cpu's were crap back then. Now they are best choice for gaming, and cheaper than comparable pentium cpu's, mine has been very reliable so far, but sometime next year I'll upgrade to a better mobo and to a AMD x2 cpu.

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

Originally posted by Josh_101:
BTW, AMD cpu's were crap back then. Now they are best choice for gaming, and cheaper than comparable pentium cpu's, mine has been very reliable so far, but sometime next year I'll upgrade to a better mobo and to a AMD x2 cpu.

yup ruuning my 3200+ at 3800 for about 7 months now no problems

[ThatsMeGC]

You say you have 2 sticks of ram... but you don't say the size. If it's 2 sticks of 256meg maybe that is the bottleneck during the games, I don't know what the specs are on the games.

[Fredless]

Doh sorry, they are two 512mb Kingston HyperX PC3200 CL2 sticks...I have 1GB of memory.

[V6Bob]

Replacing the video card will give you the most improvement. I recommend this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814122195

Grab one now, fast agp cards are going away.

There are several p4p800 cards so I don't know what cpu is the max for yours. The asus website will tell you what is max for each of the boards. But that would be about the same money for less benefit.