What would give me biggest performance boost?

[Raphael Argus]

I am running an X2 3800, 1GB DDR Corsair Ram, SB Audigy 2ZS, 250GB Western Digital HDD, and an eVGA 7900GT KO.

I'm basically a gamer, so graphic performance is what I'm after. I'm not sure which out of the following options would help give me the largest boost.

1. Buy an 8800GTX. This would also probably require me to upgrade my 550watt Rosewill PSU.

2. Buy a new socket 775 (Gigabyte 965p looks good) Motherboard and pick up an E6600 and probably go with 2GB's of ram, and keep my current video card.

What I am concerned about, is will I in any way be bottleknocked by my X2 3800 CPU if I buy a 8800GTX?

I guess I have a 3rd option, sell everything I have and build me a new system with the E6600, 8800GTX and 2GB's of ram. Prefer not to spend that much right now, so asking for any thoughts

I'm eventually going to upgrade my motherboard/CPU/Ram, but I'm just trying to find out what will give me the best performance boost for now.

Thank you for any help.

 

[vaderpro]

Going with a C2D system will require DDR2 ram, which i assume you currently don't have...

Personally I would do this:

1) Budget: Get 1Gb of ram more for 2GBS total. You WILL notice an improvement.

2) Costly $$: go with your option 2, u can always upgrade the video card later when the gtx's come down in price...

That card you have is pretty awesome...what kind of issues are you having?

 

[Raphael Argus]

I'm getting some pretty nasty stuttering in games, even in 1024x768. I just did a full format and clean OS install with all the latest drivers and I still seem to be having stuttering. I'm starting to wonder if maybe my card is going defective as I have also noticed some slight artifacts. Getting odd brightly colored dots very visible on solid backgrounds (in games and occasionally on POST screen during bootup.) The dots are NOT permanent, as in not dead pixels or anything. Also, getting huge lines in games that start from one object and go up to the edge of the screen. System is running cool, and video card seems well below bad temps. I doubt it could have anything to do with a power supply, or could it?

 

[vaderpro]

I'm getting some pretty nasty stuttering in games, even in 1024x768. I just did a full format and clean OS install with all the latest drivers and I still seem to be having stuttering. I'm starting to wonder if maybe my card is going defective as I have also noticed some slight artifacts. Getting odd brightly colored dots very visible on solid backgrounds (in games and occasionally on POST screen during bootup.) The dots are NOT permanent, as in not dead pixels or anything. Also, getting huge lines in games that start from one object and go up to the edge of the screen. System is running cool, and video card seems well below bad temps. I doubt it could have anything to do with a power supply, or could it?

Whats the warranty on the card? That doesn't sound good...hmm dots...had your eyes checked lately?

I doubt its psu related but i wouldn't have a rosewell in any of my systems...

Did you overclock that card? If you havent, go for it...are you sure temps are ok, WHILE playing??...use Rivatuner and alt tab and check the graph...

 

[Raphael Argus]

eVGA is lifetime warranty. I think I just pay for the shipping of the card to eVGA.

HeHe My eyes are fine It's most definitely the card. Actually, I noticed the dots and weird lines after I updated to Nvidias most recent drivers. Maybe I'll rollback and see if it's a driver issue.

I'll download Rivatuner and check temps via the Alt+tab route. I think things are pretty cool, but I know temps drop down fast just after you drop out of a game.

Oh, and video card idles at 40c, after 2 hours of gaming I think I may have hit 55-60c. From what I have read, these temps are decent. (I'll still try the Rivatuner and see what my temps really are)

 

[vaderpro]

eVGA is lifetime warranty. I think I just pay for the shipping of the card to eVGA.

HeHe My eyes are fine It's most definitely the card. Actually, I noticed the dots and weird lines after I updated to Nvidias most recent drivers. Maybe I'll rollback and see if it's a driver issue.

I'll download Rivatuner and check temps via the Alt+tab route. I think things are pretty cool, but I know temps drop down fast just after you drop out of a game.

yah, ive noticed a decrease in BF2 performance since newer nvidia drivers...I hate that...

try to get warranty then...


lemme know if you wanna play Bf2 ....xfire : vaderpro

 

[vaderpro]

Oh, and video card idles at 40c, after 2 hours of gaming I think I may have hit 55-60c. From what I have read, these temps are decent. (I'll still try the Rivatuner and see what my temps really are)

Should be ok, but.......i just oced my 6800gs to 500/1325 at it peaks at 51 degrees....thats a massive overclock...stock is like 425/1000...the Vf700 is the best peice of hardware in my case

 

[Cappy]

definately 2 gigs of memory would help .

 

[Nagasama]

yes more ram will help. with the settings i use in bf2 it uses A LOT of ram....about half of my available.
and i have a 7900gs. no stuttering and i play at the highest resolution of my monitor 1280 x 1024.
i think your card is the problem.
and also, like most opinions...the 93.71 are crap. i have been using the beta version with little to no issues....but i still don't like them much.