upgrade cpu or vid card?

[boogaloo watts]

hi there,

i'm wondering what would do me the most good for gaming, an xp3000+
cpu, or a better video card?

my system is:

cpu: xp2000+ 256k l2 cache
ram: 1gb (2 corsair 512mb pc2700 dimms)
mobo: albatron kx400+ pro w/via kt333 chipset
vid card: geforce4 ti4200 w/64mb, hauppage vid capture card
hds: western digital 80gb ata100 w/8mb buffer, maxtor 40gb ata100
cd-dvd: samsung dvd reader, sony dru-510a dvd writer
os: win xp pro

i like to play games at 1024*768 w/32bit color. but i get slight audio
stutter with tiger woods 2004 and video isn't completely smooth in
games like beyond good & evil and fifa 2004.

the xp3000+ has 512k l2 cache, so i'm thinking that would help. but
i'm sure a better vid card with more ram would to. both would be
optimal, but i don't have that much to spend now. the xp3000+ would be
the cheapest upgrade. would it make much difference?

thanks,

scott

 

[John]

hi there,

i'm wondering what would do me the most good for gaming, an xp3000+
cpu, or a better video card?

my system is:

cpu: xp2000+ 256k l2 cache
ram: 1gb (2 corsair 512mb pc2700 dimms)
mobo: albatron kx400+ pro w/via kt333 chipset
vid card: geforce4 ti4200 w/64mb, hauppage vid capture card
hds: western digital 80gb ata100 w/8mb buffer, maxtor 40gb ata100
cd-dvd: samsung dvd reader, sony dru-510a dvd writer
os: win xp pro

i like to play games at 1024*768 w/32bit color. but i get slight audio
stutter with tiger woods 2004 and video isn't completely smooth in
games like beyond good & evil and fifa 2004.

the xp3000+ has 512k l2 cache, so i'm thinking that would help. but
i'm sure a better vid card with more ram would to. both would be
optimal, but i don't have that much to spend now. the xp3000+ would be
the cheapest upgrade. would it make much difference?

thanks,

scott

If I were you since you have corsair mem - try OCing to 3200 . Sell
your xp2000 for cheap $30 or more if you can - and then add $40-50
and get a 2500 barton and OC it to the 3000 level.

If you dont notice much improvement or cant OC it due to the mem then
think about a vid card or new mem too.

 

[kony]

hi there,

i'm wondering what would do me the most good for gaming, an xp3000+
cpu, or a better video card?

my system is:

cpu: xp2000+ 256k l2 cache
ram: 1gb (2 corsair 512mb pc2700 dimms)
mobo: albatron kx400+ pro w/via kt333 chipset
vid card: geforce4 ti4200 w/64mb, hauppage vid capture card
hds: western digital 80gb ata100 w/8mb buffer, maxtor 40gb ata100
cd-dvd: samsung dvd reader, sony dru-510a dvd writer
os: win xp pro

i like to play games at 1024*768 w/32bit color. but i get slight audio
stutter with tiger woods 2004 and video isn't completely smooth in
games like beyond good & evil and fifa 2004.

the xp3000+ has 512k l2 cache, so i'm thinking that would help. but
i'm sure a better vid card with more ram would to. both would be
optimal, but i don't have that much to spend now. the xp3000+ would be
the cheapest upgrade. would it make much difference?

thanks,

scott

As for the sound stuttering, you might try changing the PCI latency in
the BIOS, or another Via 4in1 driver and/or the Via Latency Patch (if
you haven't already), a Google search'll find them. You might also
consider a different sound card, would likely sound better if you have
good speakers, and comsume fewer CPU cycles.

You wrote "better video card", but what?
Upgrading to a Radeon 9500, for example, isn't actually much of an
upgrade, but a 9800...

Too see which helps more, simply reduce the game's resolution and see
if it's then playable... if so, upgrade the video card. If not, the
CPU. On other other hand, both are relatively matched for
performance, you might want the CPU since it'll improve the
performance of everything, not just gaming. Plus, when you're ready
to upgrade the (other part) it's likely the video cards will have
dropped more in price than the CPU.

Are you sure that your 1GB of memory will run stabily at 166MHz in
that board? Even though it's rated as PC2700, you can't necessarily
assume multiple modules will run at rated speed in any particular
motherboard... might be worthwhile to drop the CPU multiplier and
raise the FSB & memory (in synchronous timing mode) to see how it
runs, perhaps run http://www.memtest86.com for several hours.
Perahps you've already confirmed these things though.


Dave

 

[boogaloo watts]

As for the sound stuttering, you might try changing the PCI latency in

the BIOS, or another Via 4in1 driver and/or the Via Latency Patch (if
you haven't already), a Google search'll find them. You might also
consider a different sound card, would likely sound better if you have
good speakers, and comsume fewer CPU cycles.

i had an sb live value and "upgraded" to a turtle beach santa cruz. no
change. i'll try changing the pci latency.

You wrote "better video card", but what?
Upgrading to a Radeon 9500, for example, isn't actually much of an
upgrade, but a 9800...

yeah, i was thinking about one of the $400 cards - radeon or nvidia.
but the cpu is much cheaper.

Too see which helps more, simply reduce the game's resolution and see
if it's then playable... if so, upgrade the video card. If not, the
CPU. On other other hand, both are relatively matched for
performance, you might want the CPU since it'll improve the
performance of everything, not just gaming. Plus, when you're ready
to upgrade the (other part) it's likely the video cards will have
dropped more in price than the CPU.

i still have the audio stutter in tiger woods if i decrease the
resolution. but fifa 2004 runs much smoother at 800*600. but i don't
like that. i want 1024*768.

Are you sure that your 1GB of memory will run stabily at 166MHz in
that board? Even though it's rated as PC2700, you can't necessarily
assume multiple modules will run at rated speed in any particular
motherboard... might be worthwhile to drop the CPU multiplier and
raise the FSB & memory (in synchronous timing mode) to see how it
runs, perhaps run http://www.memtest86.com for several hours.
Perahps you've already confirmed these things though.

i actually have run mem test on the ram for 12 hours -- no problems.
the ram runs fine at 333. i don't think it's an issue. the mobo seems
really stable. i like it.

thanks for the suggestions

scott