Should I go for a newer faster CPU or upgrade my Video Card?

[awlchu]

Current system

P4 2.4B
FX5200 video card
XP Prof

Use:

80% Video
20% games
noise email

plenty of disk space and physical memory,

Should I upgrade to a P4 3.06 (533FSB only) or invest in a new Nvidia video card (FX5900SE)?

Both are ~$200US +/-

Advice?

[Hardcoreruss]

If you only play games 20% I would go with the CPU, and will the games you play even take advantage of the graphics card ?

By the way Nvidia suck ass, go with ATI

[flaninacupboard]

there's some real nvidia haters round here!

I too would go for CPU, though i would buy an AMD setup instead of an intel setup if you're gaming. the FX5200 however is not good. i get better performance out of a geforce 4 ti4400.

now is not a good time to update your gfx card though, with entire new ranges from ATI and Nvidia coming out as we speak, i'd hold off a month or two.

[indolikaa]

CPU.

[Nelson37]

The dollars you spend upgrading the CPU will retain their value far longer than those spent upgrading your video card, and also give benefit in both areas (video and gaming).

[awlchu]

Thanks everyone,

Newegg is shipping me a new P4 3.06 ghz as I write this message. I'm going to wait and see how the Nvidia/ATI battle results with the next generation video technology.

........Or when Doom3 comes out!

[Faustus]

If you only play games 20% I would go with the CPU, and will the games you play even take advantage of the graphics card ?

By the way Nvidia suck ass, go with ATI

Just to balance this thread I'll point out that I've owned both ATI and nVidia cards in the last few years and that ATI sucks, their driver support blows, glitchy video in almost every major game until they update the drivers.

On the other hand my nVs are champs, keep right on keeping on...

Wow they get some extra points in a frame race ok fine your cards a little faster, I stand by my statement that Nvidias are better.

/end load balancing

I'd go for the CPU if you dont play that many games.


DOH missed the last post, my entire post is moot. Well except the first part.

[rallynavvie]

The FX5200 doesn't suck as long as you get one from a good manufacturer. Those Mad Dog and Asylum cards do not count. A friend got a PNY 5200 for $80 and I'm amazed at how well it controls dual displays and gaming. I have a PNY 4400 and it's a workhorse, but I think he actually gets slightly better gaming performance than I do for a much cheaper card.

As for the ATi vs. nVidia argument I have no comments. I've used both and each have good chipsets. I use nVidia cards because of unified drivers, but I have to give ATi the edge for its anti-aliasing technique.

I'd also shoot for the CPU. If you're doing that much video it will save you a lot of time encoding, thus more time playing games

[awlchu]

My last three cards have been eVGA cards based on Nvidia technology. What lead me to them was their installation program that goes beyond installing drivers (ADM?) and looks for other conflicts and repairs them.

My current card is a FX5200 and is fine...until DOOM3 hits the market and of course that damn game will probably cost me $50+$300 = $350!!

[mujahid7ia]

The FX5200 doesn't suck as long as you get one from a good manufacturer. Those Mad Dog and Asylum cards do not count.

Yes, I was stupid enough to buy one of those damn Mad Dogs in January, FX5200, pretty poor performance, poor cooling (tiny fan, loves dust), and i still dodn't get my rebate

[awlchu]

My 3.06 P4 came in and I installed it.

I had to speak a few choosen words to get the heat sink's last leg detached from the base bracket attached to the mobo. Damn, I could not get that last latch to let go. Finally had to get a long thin blade screwdriver and *gently*pry that forth 'barbed' leg off the base. No damage etc, but I had to tell my 5 yr old to cover his ears!

Since I have an Intel mobo, when I booted up the splash screen changed slightly showing the 'HT' logo (something my older P4 2.4 ghz didn't have). So far so good, did some sample encoding at ~1.1x (~30fps) for 720x480 mpeg2. I'm pretty happy with that!

Using vdubmod, and huffy uv, I was converting mpeg2 into huffy at about 90 fps (fast mode). That I' really happy with!

Glade I decided to go with the CPU. Thanks to the board and the members that offered their advice.

[mujahid7ia]

You might want to disable HT, because you have normal Windows XP. See here: http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,107492,00.asp

[rallynavvie]

You might want to disable HT, because you have normal Windows XP. See here: http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,107492,00.asp

This also depends on the chipset. With the i875 chipset I'd leave HT enabled regardless. You'd have to look up results specific to your MCH/ICH to see if HT will help your system. Once I get the procs I'll be running HT on both CPUs, but I multi-task a computer like you wouldn't believe.

[awlchu]

I am running XP Pro SP1 with the latest directX install. Do I need to reinstall XP Pro or directX now that I have a HT processor in my mobo?

(Old CPU was not HT.)