CPU upgrade vs Video upgrade?

[cam nospam]

Hello everyone.

If I currently have an AMD XP 1600+ and a GeForce4mx 420 and I wanted to
get better preformace for Flashpoint, would I be better off getting a
CPU upgrade or a Video upgrade?

I am currently running with 512meg RAM, and my MB can take an AMD XP 2500+.

Cheers

[Uziyahu / Clif]

I would say get more RAM and upgrade your video card, but what do the rest
of you say?

--Uzi

"cam nospam" <c...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:3DF69E68...@nospam.com...

[RjM]

>I would say get more RAM and upgrade your video card, but what do the rest
>of you say?

Well, I'm using a 733 with 512 and a 32mb radeon.
Not having an agp slot on this board sucks. That would be what I upgraded,
would be the card. The game runs fine but I don't have the umph that a
different card could give.
I'd recommend ditching the mx card anyway, no matter which way you flop. A
Gforce 3 has more than a Gforce 4mx.
The mx series are glorified G2's.
Rj

[Nyder]

Yep, I replaced a Geforce 2 GTS 32 with a Geforce 4 MX 420 no performance
increase.

My Geforce ti4600 on the otherhand, WHOLE different story.

I say upgrade your video, I upgraded to a p4 for nothin

Jeff
"RjM" <dun.mer@coxinet> wrote in message
news:0SxJ9.25001$we.17...@news2.east.cox.net...

[ChrisR]

If you run in resolutions 1280x1024 and higher then probably replace the
video card. However, simulatons in general are often CPU limited rather
than video bandwidth limited and OFP is a case in point. Keep that in
mind when making a descision.

[Homer J. Simpson]

Ditch the MX video card. Lower the view distance.

Your RAM's fine at 512, unless you have to keep lots of background processes
running (which is what might be slowing down your system anyway).

"Uziyahu" -- what does your RAM usage get up to when you're running OFP??
Just wondering where you're getting your idea from with actual figures. Any
memory hogging add-ons?

[u4ia]

dont matter OPF has a bad graphics engine its ok but not the best it lags
like a bitch my system spec is this on PC1
2.4 ghz P4
1000gig DDR Ram
Ge-force 3 TI500
Audiophile 24/96 Soundcard
120gig Western Digital Hard Drive

PC2 -
2.2 Ghz P4
512MB DDR
Geforce 3 TI500
Sound Control Audioman Soundcard
80gig Western Digi

Pref -

PC1 - 4362
PC2 - 4134

as u can se changeing small bits on ur computer dont make that much
diffence ...... the game itself is some what diffent i run both computers at
this spec
OPF -

1600x1200
Detail High on all settings
View Distance is set at 1300
PC1 FPS - 50 - 65
PC2 FPS - 30 - 50
buying more things for ur computer wont make that much diffence OPF is a
system lagger its uses a shit load of system memory and system resources

[Uziyahu / Clif]

Yeah, I use lots of addons... but if a person doesn't have lots of addons
going he isn't playing OFP to its full potential. ; )

--Uzi

"Homer J. Simpson" <ro...@127.0.0.1> wrote in message
news:ZiHJ9.3222$yq.88182@news...

[Uziyahu / Clif]

> buying more things for ur computer wont make that much diffence OPF is a
> system lagger its uses a shit load of system memory and system resources

I would disagree. More RAM and going from a GeForce 3 MX to a GeForce 4
Ti4600 made some HUGE improvements.

Especially if you're playing multiplayer, you either want to be able to have
smooth hi-res or a lower-res with good anti-aliasing; otherwise some pixels
which might be your sniper opponent's arm or face might go missing.

--Uzi

[Ask & I'll Tell]

DAMN You have a Terabyte of RAM!! (1000 GB) ;)

VIDEO is king. Either get the Ti4600 or ATI 9700 PRO (if you got the cash)
to get the most bang for the buck.

Although - upgrading only 10% of processor and yielding 30-60% increase in
frame is substantial, you should see a bigger difference moving from that MX
to a Ti4600!

-sidenote: Nvidia's newest chipset will NOT be ready for the masses until
Feb, so IF you plan to buy that when it comes out, then get the Ti4600 now
and save that extra cash for the new NV30.

"u4ia" <u4...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:oAQJ9.411$721...@news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk...

[Markus Holzapfel]

Depends. If you play with 1024x768 your cpu should be the limiting factor
(and will be regardless of which cpu you buy, even a 3ghz cpu can be
brought to it's knees with enough ai to control). But if you like to play
in higher resolutions the graphics card is the limiting factor. I just
recently upgraded from gf2pro (nearly equal to your gf4mx, don't buy mx
cards) to gf4 and it's really nice to play with 1600x1200x32. It just looks
so much better. Frames haven't increased that much though.

Just try it, start fraps while playing, check your frames and change your
resolution. On my gf2 it made no difference at all as long as i selected
1280 or less. Frames were always the same, cpu in taskmanager always maxed
out.
cu,

Markus

[Markus Holzapfel]

Homer J. Simpson wrote:

I play lots of custom missions on big islands with many addons and 512mb was
always enough. But i don't run much stuff in the background when playing...
irc client, icq, irfanview and sometimes mozilla/phoenix.
cu,

Markus

[Homer J. Simpson]

I have 512MB on XP, though I don't have many add-ons (as a matter of fact I
don't have a single one right now, as I had to reinstall 1.85 from scratch
after 1.90 hosed OFP to the point where it wouldn't even launch. I still
haven't sorted that one out).

I've been doing MPEG2 encoding in the background while playing the game (!)
without any noticeable slowdown. Well, in OFP, that is, the encoder itself
slowed down quite a bit. Gotta love customizable thread priorities! :-)

[cam nospam]

Thanks for everyone's input.

I've upgraded to a Ti4200 and it's made a world of difference. Quite
remarkable the performance increase - have been able to increase range
from 1000 to 1600.

Thanks again.