"Brad Rogers" t wrote in message
...

" I recently upgraded my vid card from ATI 9500 Pro 128MB to an FX9500
ultra 256MB and I am not getting the increase I thought I would. "


You didn't state any benchmarks, so it is difficult to say whether your
gains are to your setup's full potential. If you read
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/ , you will see the
difference between your two cards. You can then work out whether the gains
you have are relative to the test-system.

Try using Driver Cleaner, and then re-install your new drivers. That may
sort out a few problems. http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/

If re-installing drivers doesn't give suitable gains, then further upgrades
could be the answer. I understand that the i850 chipset utilises RDRAM (
http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/850/ ). If you were to keep your
motherboard, upgrading the CPU and adding more RAM, this may only lead to a
futile dead-end. RDRAM may well hold some current systems up, but, with
regards to any future upgrades, it is obsolete. Your best bet is to sell
your motherboard, CPU and RAM on eBay, which will help with your upgrade
budget.

Athlon64 is very much the way to go, and you have two main socket choices,
754 and 939. Socket 939 is planned to take us into the future a lot more,
but the cheapest compatible Athlon64 (3500+) is pretty expensive ($300+).
Given the motherboard outlay ($100 - $200), and 2x 512MB dual-channel PC3200
($200 - $350), this could be out of your budget.

Socket 754 provides many more options than 939, and you've stated this may
be your intention. Motherboards are cheaper ($60 - $175) and compatible
Athlon64 CPUs are significantly cheaper than the socket 939 3500+:

- Athlon64 2800+ http://snipurl.com/6bf9 $141.00
(Newcastle, 1.8Ghz, 512KB L2 cache)
- Athlon64 3000+ http://snipurl.com/8x5h $164.00
(Newcastle, 2.0Ghz, 512KB L2 cache)
- Athlon64 3200+ http://snipurl.com/8x5p $204.00
(Newcastle, 2.2Ghz, 512KB L2 cache)
- Athlon64 3400+ http://snipurl.com/9gus $282.00
(Newcastle, 2.4Ghz, 512KB L2 cache)
- Athlon64 3400+ http://snipurl.com/9gvb $293.00
(Clawhammer, 2.2Ghz, 1024KB L2 cache)
- Athlon64 3700+ http://snipurl.com/9gv8 $497.00
(Clawhammer, 2.4Ghz, 1024KB L2 cache)

You've given the 3000+ as an example in your budgeted upgrade choice.
However, as socket 754 chipsets don't support dual-channel memory control,
you may also consider starting off with 1x 512MB DDR, getting a 3400+ CPU,
and adding the extra 512MB DDR in the future. You would certainly gain a
lot from 2x 512MB RAM, but with much-less need to purchase a dual-channel
kit with this socket, this could be a way of securing a better system in the
near future.

CPU performance in Doom3 has been banged-on about in recent times, but the
game does provide relevant benchmarking for many future games. It may well
help your decision to read this review:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...doom3-cpu.html