Should I upgrade via CPU (Ath64 3500) or get a SapphireRadeon x850XT?

[Sera]

I need some advice...right now I have a 2 ghz Athlon with 9600pro, and cant
seem to run Far Cry, Half Life 2 (tech demo/lighting) at 1600x1200 w/o
choppiness. Performance wise, should I increase the CPU from 2ghz to an AMD
3500 (and get a socket 939 mb) or go the video card route? These games run
fine at medium setting on 800x600..but I want to up it to the max.
Financially, I cant get both a new cpu and a vid card. Vid card is 300 from
newegg, and cpu is 200 (but add 100 to get new motherboard).

Video Card Im considering is a Sapphire Radeon 850xt
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/FeedBack/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16814102483

CPU is the Athlon64 3500:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103533

 

[Mangyrat]

I hate to say it but right now for $300 I would get a 7800gt
the link you gave was to a PCI Express x16 card so i take it you have a pci
express slot?

 

[Shawk]

I hate to say it but right now for $300 I would get a 7800gt
the link you gave was to a PCI Express x16 card so i take it you have a
pci express slot?

Unlikely to have a PCI-E mobo with an old Athlon and a 9600Pro. To the OP
you need to do a little research on PCI-E and AGP. I 'think' you have an
AGP slot so you'll need an AGP card.

 

[Sleepy]

I need some advice...right now I have a 2 ghz Athlon with 9600pro, and cant
seem to run Far Cry, Half Life 2 (tech demo/lighting) at 1600x1200 w/o
choppiness. Performance wise, should I increase the CPU from 2ghz to an
AMD
3500 (and get a socket 939 mb) or go the video card route? These games run
fine at medium setting on 800x600..but I want to up it to the max.
Financially, I cant get both a new cpu and a vid card. Vid card is 300
from
newegg, and cpu is 200 (but add 100 to get new motherboard).

Video Card Im considering is a Sapphire Radeon 850xt
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/FeedBack/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16814102483

CPU is the Athlon64 3500:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103533

you want to go from 800x600 medium to 1600x1200 max settings and only change
one component? Not possible. A 2ghz CPU, 1gb RAM (you dont mention how much
RAM you have) and a 9800 PRO will run those games at 1024x768 high settings
pretty smoothly.

 

[Augustus]

I need some advice...right now I have a 2 ghz Athlon with 9600pro, and cant
seem to run Far Cry, Half Life 2 (tech demo/lighting) at 1600x1200 w/o
choppiness. > Video Card Im considering is a Sapphire Radeon 850xt

When you say a 2Ghz Athlon do you mean an XP2000+ (1667Mhz), an XP2400+
(2000Mhz) or a Barton XP2800+(2086Mhz)? There's no way an XP2000+ will run
FarCry or HL2 at 1600x1200, the other's won't do that well either with an
X850XT AGP. Going to a Barton 3200 and an X850XT will, without a m/b
upgrade. Really, though for this kind of high res 3D gaming you need to be
going the A64 route and going to a decent PCI-e video. The X1800XL is a
better deal performance and money wise than that X850XT.