New video card or just wait till upgrade?

[Booyamos]

Well it has been a while since I have upgraded my system.
Basically I wanted to know if I got a new video (GeForce4 4200Ti 128Mb) card now would it help me out at all, or if I should just wait till later when I upgrade my system totally.
Right now I am currently using:

Athlon Thunderbird 800
30 gig hd
Abit Kt7 mb (I believe, not home now)
512 mb pc133 ram
Hercules 3D Prophet II Geforce 2 64mb
SBlive
dvd player, cd burner etc..

But lately most of the newer games that I have been trying (BF1942, AC2 to name a few) require more than I seem to have. I have to run everyone on low res.
I use my comp for a lot of things, but a lot of gaming mainly. I am going to upgrade eventually, just gotta save enough money. But I will get a new video card, probably the GeForce4 4200Ti 128Mb.


(side note, probably going to get p4 2.4, 512 pc2700, 80gig, GeForce4 4200Ti 128Mb, not sure on mb yet. Just gotta find the parts for cheap and a case I want)

[sbp]

I'd do a total system upgrade.

[seqiro]

My wife has a 64MB GF2 video card in her slightly faster machine and she doesn't have a problem with most of the newer games at 1024x768x32, so I suspect that a major bottleneck is your processor.

Wait until your full system upgrade and whatever video card you want to buy will probably be cheaper.

[seqiro]

Originally posted by DarkFury

Luckily, she don't play UT2K3 I bet...

My GeForce 2 64 Pro plays "ok" at 800x600 on medium to low settings, but on 1024 x 768 (or higher) or on high detail at any setting it chokes like Reggie Miller.

Actually she did play the UT2K3 demo but I'm not sure what resolution she was running at, although usually she doesn't settle for less than 1024x768. I'm sure she had the detail turned down though.

I'll try it out later though, because now I'm curious!

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by DarkFury
(I'm still wondering if the NV30 is gonna be worth waiting for...)

IMO, the only reason the NV30 is worth waiting for is the subsequent drop in the Ti4600's price.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by DarkFury
the "flyby" cruised along at around 64 FPS though.

Yeah,that happened on mine too... but I think it has something to do with no sound.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by DarkFury

Well considering that it is strictly a "video" test... I don't think sound had anything to do with it.


But all that won't matter once I have the new 2.5L oops.. I mean MHz processor in there.

The funny thing is, I think it does matter. It shouldn't, but I think it does. Otherwise, I can't explain how the fps jumps 100% just by disabling sound.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by DarkFury

Ok.. you are comparing the game to the benchmarks...


I guess where we got our wires crossed was that in the benchmark, I'm assuming that they are only testing the vid card's capability... While in the "real world" we also use sound which robs CPU cycles.

I'm talking about just the benchmarks. They have some levels with sound, and some levels with sound disabled. Basically just a passover. Who knows.

[Booyamos]

well thanks for the help, I figured I would need to just bite the bullet and get a new system. Even though this has now turned into an arguement about benchmarks

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by Kacarp
well thanks for the help, I figured I would need to just bite the bullet and get a new system. Even though this has now turned into an arguement about benchmarks

Nah... just wait 'til the gloves go on.

[Cantacuzene]

Your cpu is your bottleneck, but you are also limited in not having DX8 special effects which are nice to have.

It all depend on what your finances look like, base your strategy on that.