New graphics card [Diagnostics included]

[fanaticfakke]

Hi,

The question is: which card should I buy when keeping the following in mind:

Price looking to spend = 200€ / 135£ / 275$

I would like to play games as C&C3 or Splinter Cell: Double Agent at a decent framerate.

Processor

Model : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+

Speed : 2.21GHz

Model Number : 3500 (estimated)

Cores per Processor : 1 Unit(s)

Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)

Internal Data Cache : 64kB Synchronous, Write-Back, 2-way set, 64 byte line size

L2 On-board Cache : 512kB ECC Synchronous, Write-Back, 16-way set, 64 byte line size

Mainboard

Bus(es) : PCI PCIe IMB USB FireWire/1394 i2c/SMBus

MP Support : 1 Processor(s)

MP APIC : Yes

System BIOS : Phoenix Technologies, LTD ASUS A8N-SLI DELUXE ACPI BIOS Revision 1003

System : System manufacturer System name

Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. A8N-SLI DELUXE

Total Memory : 1GB DDR-SDRAM

Chipset 1

Model : Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Athlon 64 / Opteron HyperTransport Technology Configuration

Total Memory : 1GB DDR-SDRAM

Video System

Monitor/Panel : Plug en Play-monitor

Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 6800GT (this one is broke)

Physical Storage Devices

Hard Disk : Maxtor 6L160M0 (153GB)

Hard Disk : ChipsBnk Flash Disk USB Device

CD-ROM/DVD : DVDRW 16X16X (CD 48X Rd, 48X Wr) (DVD 6X Rd, 6X Wr)

CD-ROM/DVD : HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8163B (CD 40X Rd) (DVD 5X Rd)

CD-ROM/DVD : RQ5153Q NWJ735L SCSI CdRom Device (CD 32X Rd) (DVD 4X Rd)

Logical Storage Devices

Hard Disk (C : 153GB (85GB, 56% Free Space) (NTFS)

CD-ROM/DVD (D : N/A

CD-ROM/DVD (E : N/A

CD-ROM/DVD (F : N/A

Removable Drive (G : 252MB (100MB, 40% Free Space) (FAT32)

Peripherals

Serial/Parallel Port(s) : 1 COM / 1 LPT

USB Controller/Hub : Standard OpenHCD USB Host-controller

USB Controller/Hub : Standard Enhanced PCI naar USB-hostcontroller

USB Controller/Hub : USB-hoofdhub

USB Controller/Hub : USB-hoofdhub

USB Controller/Hub : USB-apparaat voor massaopslag

FireWire/1394 Controller/Hub : Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller

Keyboard : Standaardtoetsenbord (101/102 toetsen) of Microsoft Natural PS/2-toetsenbord

Mouse : PS/2-compatibele muis

MultiMedia Device(s)

Device : Met MPU-401 compatibel MIDI-apparaat

Device : Standaardspelpoort

Device : Realtek AC'97 Audio

Power Management

Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System(s)

Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP/2002 Home 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)

Platform Compliance : Win32 x86

Network Services

Adapter : Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller

If you need any more information for a better opinion don't hesitate to ask.

Thanks in advance.

 

[FarFarAway]

Hmm something like an 8600GTS or perhaps a 2600XT?

 

[Rastalovich]

First of all, nice spec listing, some people could take note

Hmm something like an 8600GTS or perhaps a 2600XT?

Agreed, although immediately following this, I`d seriously consider a cpu & increasing my ram to 2g. Was gonna say ram being more important.. but thinking about it they`re probably equally as important here.

 

[fanaticfakke]

The ram is also going to be increased to 2gig. Forgot to mention that.

Suppose I buy a 8600GTS and get another 1g ram to go with it. Will my processor be the bottleneck? I mean, will it take full advantage of the ram and graphics card or will it not use it to its full potential.

 

[Mr. Smith]

Why not save up an extra £50 over the next week or so and get an 8800gts 320? Do it!

 

[Rastalovich]

The single cored Athlon 64 3500+ will always hold u back from here on in.

Judging costs at this point.. a new 939 cpu whether an x2 or Opteron.. and a gig of ram (which would be better if u outright bought 2x1g sticks).. I`d consider if I`d want to go the whole hog and start with a new mobo tbh.

U`r new mobo will take atleast DDR2, so the ram u buy for u`r existing board will be redundant. So that has to be a consideration.

Perhaps get the 8600, then gear towards starting with a new mobo/cpu/ram as u`r next venture.

 

[darkorb]

i dont think his CPU will bottleneck much at all other than benchmark scores

PP did testing with his 7950GT SLI with a 3000+ and a X2 4800+, the max difference was a mere 5-7 fps difference.

The ram will make a big difference in loading times, and OC"in ur cpu will load a bit quicker too

 

[FarFarAway]

I'd get the GPU and see how you get on tbh

 

[fanaticfakke]

So if I understand this correctly.

I should go with the 8600GTS and extra 1g ram and consider a processor upgrade in the future.

 

[FarFarAway]

Ye with those two you would see a nice push in framerates

 

[fanaticfakke]

I was searching around a bit and found this site:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

The 8600GTS doesn't look so good performance wise and is outrun by the 1950xt. And the xt is quite cheaper then the GTS. Is this only to the fact that the 8600GTS supports DX10 and the 1950xt not?

And is it wise to invest in a DX10 card which has less performance then a cheaper and better DX9 card?

 

[Rastalovich]

It`s very hard for people to advise u to buy an older card as they know full well that it will limited by support in the future, however near or far u`r upgrade to Dx10 might be.

Thing is, at this moment in time, if any1 asks advice for what type of card to buy, most of our answers will be 8300/8400/8500 - desktop with minimal gaming, 8600/8800GTS - desktop with mid to higher gaming, 8800GTS/GTX for higher to extreme gamers.

If we were to advise u to buy a 7950GT or something, in the short term u will be very very happy with the card. Then when u want to use Vista/Dx10 games, u`ll be upset.

The 1950/7950 type cards still will kick all kinds of butt Dx9 wize yes. Guess it depends how often u plan to keep upgrading things.

EDIT: In all fairness, i think this answer keeps repeating too many times, the forum needs to have some kind of link we can keep posting in it`s place.

 

[Pat123]

Save another £50.. like someone said earlier.. and get urself an 8800GTS 320MB you WONT regret it all !!!!!