advice for mb + cpu upgrade

[X-hellfire]

What is a great upgrade for...

my buddy "Wellpower" got his computer at my place and we play some team based games on the internet from time to time, and as i got ADSL broadband and he doesn´t think he will get broadband, i can use it as much i want to, when he not here.

Wellpower Athlon XP 1800@2000+ mb Asus A7V333 vision 256MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro Atlantis 378/702|ViewSonic 22" P225f sound mb: cmedia 5.1 memory 512MB Samsung 333 2.5-336 storage mb: ata100 60gb ibm 120gxp software Windows XP|Catalyst 3.8


performance...
I did a 3DMark2003 p340, test previously today and got
3DMark2003 4 111

and some time ago I got...
3DMark2001 10 557

and when i ran with 6AA, 16AF, 1280x960
3DMark2001 7 305

what is really important is how it performs in games... UT2004demo 1280x960 6AA 16AF Trueform=2.0 ran very good on ONS-Torlan, 16 players

now I bought UT2004 and installed everything + patch 3104 with the D3D9 support and the latest patch 3226.

but loads much slower than the demo and is sluggish when playing on the same settings...



advice...
I got an advice from a computer dealer which suggested the following

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 2,08GHz, 512kb, Socket A, 333MHz. Barton
1000kr, $132


Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe, Nforce2, Socket A, ATX, 5 PCI, 3xDDR Dual Channel, AGP Pro/8x, 400/333/266/200 MHz FSB, ATA-133, Serial ATAx2,Serial ATA RAID, Dual Gigabit LAN, USB 2.0x2, 1394x2, 6 channel audio, Retail
1050kr, $138

for $270 it´s a bargain price/performance wise.

I read about some of the issues with ide drivers and nforce2.

I will contact the dealer on monday to find out if it is rev 2 on the mb.




your $0.02
Any other suggestions ?

maybe there some much better combo for this computer ?

tnx CC

[X-hellfire]

bump

[garnet_abx]

The nForce 2 boards rock! IDE drivers are not an issue if you use the mobo manufacturers drivers and stay away from nvidea. It's the best platform for the Athlons.
The A7N8X Deluxe is a great choice. All the brand name nForce2 boards are good.
My first choice in cpu's is the 2500+ mobile chip and then the standard 2500+. For the 2500+, you set the FSB to 200 and you're running 3200+ (2200 mhz) with no problem. (The mobile chip will run higher.) Good quality ram is a must.

[X-hellfire]

Originally Posted by garnet

The nForce 2 boards rock! IDE drivers are not an issue if you use the mobo manufacturers drivers and stay away from nvidea. It's the best platform for the Athlons.
The A7N8X Deluxe is a great choice. All the brand name nForce2 boards are good.
My first choice in cpu's is the 2500+ mobile chip and then the standard 2500+. For the 2500+, you set the FSB to 200 and you're running 3200+ (2200 mhz) with no problem. (The mobile chip will run higher.) Good quality ram is a must.

what is the "mobile chip" ?
i thought it was for notebooks, like the intel on the go, and nvidia go.


"Good quality ram is a must" well his 512MB Samsung is not the best, if i set it to any tighter timings it will freeze...

and he usually don´t want to spend too much money
but as i can´t get hold of him, he probably on vacation, and i want to play UT2004 ....... NOW

[garnet_abx]

Originally Posted by Cain Crusher

what is the "mobile chip" ?
i thought it was for notebooks

That's what it's made for, but works in desktops. It's default FSB is 266 rather then the 333 of the standard 2500+ Barton and the multiplier is unlocked (new 2500+ are not), therefore you can adjust the multiplier as well as the FSB for overclocking.
These chips overclock easily when using good ram and a decent HSF. My 2500+ mobile is running 2380 mhz in my old A7N8X Deluxe.

[X-hellfire]

i checked out your 3dmark2003 score and 5500 is great.
do you play UT2004 ?
...if yes, how does playing UT2004 1280x960 6AA 16AF Trueform=2.0 and everything on MAX in the game, and ONS-Torlan, 16 players run ?

i got some below 10fps now

is it gonna make any difference in performance going from Catalyst 3.8 to the latest 4.7 ?

[garnet_abx]

Originally Posted by Cain Crusher

i checked out your 3dmark2003 score and 5500 is great.
do you play UT2004 ?
...if yes, how does playing UT2004 1280x960 6AA 16AF Trueform=2.0 and everything on MAX in the game, and ONS-Torlan, 16 players run ?

i got some below 10fps now

is it gonna make any difference in performance going from Catalyst 3.8 to the latest 4.7 ?

No, I don't play UT2004. I play FarCry and others without any problem. The cpu is not my problem, my 9700 pro isn't up to max settings in FarCry. I run a couple settings on high and everything else on medium.

[X-hellfire]

Originally Posted by garnet

No, I don't play UT2004. I play FarCry and others without any problem. The cpu is not my problem, my 9700 pro isn't up to max settings in FarCry. I run a couple settings on high and everything else on medium.

and i don´t play Farcry... yet as i have downloaded the demo, but i figured of what i read on the web that it´s a computer killer game, on some maps, and a lot of battle going on even 6800 had performance drops to below 20 fps. maybe i will try it out.

are there any good UT2004 forums ?

[garnet_abx]

Originally Posted by Cain Crusher

and i don´t play Farcry... yet as i have downloaded the demo, but i figured of what i read on the web that it´s a computer killer game, on some maps, and a lot of battle going on even 6800 had performance drops to below 20 fps. maybe i will try it out.

are there any good UT2004 forums ?

It's a great game!
Try a google search for UT2004 forums. There should be plenty.

[X-hellfire]

Originally Posted by garnet

It's a great game!
Try a google search for UT2004 forums. There should be plenty.

yeah i figured that out but as i´m a gamer, i want all the bell and whistles on max, then surely it will hit some the performance wall, i still remembered when i played FS2000, what a disappointment, only played it a few times...

it might be the same with UT2004...
and play the demo instead.

[DCR]

Check my sig, then buy the 2500 MOBILE!

[X-hellfire]

Originally Posted by DCR

Check my sig, then buy the 2500 MOBILE!

Yes it looks like a safe upgrade

btw have you played UT2004, not the demo, how does it run ?


But they are hard to find nearby me in "known" computer shops, or websites here in Sweden.

I found one place which had one, but I never heard of the website before, it could be just fine... or ...

Anyway i´m thinking of "Plan B" it´s much more expensive, but will utilize the 9800 pro much better I think.

Plan B

Athlon 64-bit FX
and a motherboard

They did a price drop on Athlon 64 but increased it on FX ?

move the memory a 512MB Samsung 333Mhz to the new system,

B]Plan C[/b]
How are the DDR2 motherboards ?
Then its new mem altogether. expensive.

[X-hellfire]

bump

[HiJon89]

I play the UT2004 demo and full version at 1280x1024 no AA/AF but all detail settings at max and get like 40fps but it doesn't feel choppy at all.

[X-hellfire]

Originally Posted by HiJon89

I play the UT2004 demo and full version at 1280x1024 no AA/AF but all detail settings at max and get like 40fps but it doesn't feel choppy at all.

Don´t you get any slowdowns at all ?
like it is running out of RAM and swapping to harddisk.

Maybe this system is bottlenecked somewhere, or som application making a mess, but I haven´t seen this before in other games.