chump

Currently got a Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb. I'm thinking of upgrading to a Radeon X850 XT PE 256mb.

Is this worth the upgrade? I want to be able to run games with AA & AF on (currently battlefield 2 nearly dies if i turn it on) and at higher resolutions.

Thanks
Chump

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

It depends on what the rest of your rig is. If the CPU is the bottleneck, then no.


M

chump

AMD Athlon 3200+
1Gb DDR 3200
Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb
2 x Raptors RAID 0
Nforce 2 Mobo

If that helps

Daz34

Your cpu would definately be a bottleneck. Some games might see a small improvement with an X850 but on the whole you would be far better upgrading your cpu and mobo to an Athlon 64 based system. If you get an nForce3 based mobo with an AGP slot, you might find your 9800 Pro will suffice in the new system but I would just bite the bullet and get an nForce4 mobo and a new pci-e graphics card.

Iain Young

I went from a 9800Pro to a 256mb X800XT PE in my desktop system (P4 2.5Mhz with 1gb ram and 4x agp). I know the system is running quite a bit slower than the gfx card can handle, but it improved performance in games considerably. Went from 20fps in Doom3 to over 60fps (at full detail / resolution).

Not sure how this compares to an Athalon, but I know I'm glad I upgraded

Iain

ru'

AFAIK the CPU won't get in the way of AA and AF - get the card, it'll knock your 9800 into the weeds. And it'll be fine when you get a new CPU.


Having said that, I'd assume your mobo is AGP, in which case getting a brand new high end graphics card which isn't PCIX may be a bit short sighted.

Iain Young

Why? It just means that if you want to upgrade the mobo etc in a year or two, then you'll have to get a new gfx card as well. As long as you don't mind paying the money, what's the problem? Probably be worth getting a new card then anyway as technology will have moved on again by then....

Bartop

Deffo worth the upgrade - will show a big difference in modern games

King RA

Exactly the same system as me, I went from a 9800 PRO to an X800XT PE and saw a MASSIVE improvement, especially when AA/AF is concerned. I have just built my friend an XP64 based system with an X800XT and although it was better it was not massivly better. I would recommend the GFX over a mobo/cpu replacement.

bigsinky

the a64 3200 overclocks very nicely btw. i have mine running @ 2.64 ghz on air cooling. that should sort the cpu bottle neck out. i also think it would be short sighted to go for agp as pcix seems to be the way forward. some nice new nforce4 boards from abit,asus and lan party knocking around at the mo couple with the cheap a64 3200 and you could have a rig the will not prove a problem for another 18 mths.

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

Except that he has a 32-bit 3200+.....


M

chump

thanks for the replies. Yes it is the 32-bit 3200+ that i have....i'm really not fussed about a 64bit processor for some time. Personally there is no benefit to me having one at the minute.

From what i've read the X850 XT PE is pretty much just as good as any other PCI-E cards out at the moment so i think i'll bite the bullet and go for one. Then in a couple of years when the new Nvidia 7 series cards have halved in price I'll by a PCI-E Mobo and Card and go SLI

Thanks for the comments. My mind is made up

Chump

Daz34

I wouldn't say that. 64bit processors destroy the competition even when running 32bit applications. I doubt many people who use 64bit Athlons run 64bit software.