Who Wants To Suggest Upgrades For My Comp?
LambdaProject
Join Date: 2002-02-20 Member: 230Members
Join Date: 2002-02-20 Member: 230Members
in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Pretty please</div> Yo, it's that time again. This summer I plan to work my **** off and save a ton of money so hopefully I can run games like HL2 UT2k4 and Tribes 3 with like 60+ fps.
But I wanted to know, what are some good upgrades that are actually worth the money?
Currently I have:
Nvidia GF4Ti4200 32mb
AMD Athlon 1.4ghz (non xp or any of that)
Gigabyte MOBO which can't take more than a 1.7 ghz cpu.
I was thinking of getting like an Athlon XP 3000+ or something and maybe like an Nvidia GF FX etc. Suggestions?
p.s. I have a clone, meaning I built the comp from scratch.
But I wanted to know, what are some good upgrades that are actually worth the money?
Currently I have:
Nvidia GF4Ti4200 32mb
AMD Athlon 1.4ghz (non xp or any of that)
Gigabyte MOBO which can't take more than a 1.7 ghz cpu.
I was thinking of getting like an Athlon XP 3000+ or something and maybe like an Nvidia GF FX etc. Suggestions?
p.s. I have a clone, meaning I built the comp from scratch.
Comments
Then, get-
AMD 64bit 3400+
Radeon 9800XT 256MB
And..yeah.
Get yourself a nice ATI video card. I've got a Radeon 9600 Pro (Built by ATI), but I can't install it because ECS cheated when they made the AGP slot on my motherboard. It runs at 4x speed but with a 2x voltage. Which means that the newer 8x/4x only cards can't run on it, they don't run at 2x voltage. I'm stuck with a Sapphire Radeon 9000 at the moment, which was the card meant to compete with the GeForce 4 MX line...
[EDIT:] <b>Also</b>, getting 1 GB of DDR RAM is an investment that will prove its worth easily.
GPU - ATi 9800XT (when the prices drop) or ATi X800 Pro
CPU - AMD 2500+ or P4 2.4C (two of the most overclockable CPUs on the market)
RAM - Kingston PC-3200 or OCZ PC-3200 (RAM brand doesn't matter much, just try to avoid suspiciously cheap products)
Mobo - Really depends on what you want to do with it.
CPU- AMD Athlon, your choice for the 32bit or 64 bit, but right now, Microsoft doesn't have an OS that truely takes advantage of the 64 bit processor. But make sure it's at least a 2600+ at the least.
MB- Supports your CPU, and for a front side bus, check to see what your CPU supports. Try to find a CPU that supports at least a 333MHz FSB. If you find a 400MHz, great, if not, oh well. Make sure the MB supports that frontside bus and processor. Also, ATA-133 IDE for some more HD performance that supports the speed, and an AGP 8x slot, but I would actually think about holding off till the PCI Express technology comes out, if it does what they are saying, then AGP will be a thing of the past and you just wasted a lot of money. Everything else is standard...
RAM- Doesn't have to be brand name, but if you're getting a great deal it seems, it may be a subpar RAM stick. If you have 333MHz FSB, PC2700, if it's 400MHz FSB, then I think it's the PC32000 RAM for that. If you aren't sure about brands, then buy the known ones, Kingston, PNY and what they sell at Best Buys and what not. A minimum would probably be a 512MB stick and a 256MB stick, but having a gig of RAM might do you good.
GPU- Again, might be a good idea to hold off. The new cards they are making blow away what is currently on the market. Not to mention that with PCI Express, making video cards for that technology would be better. But it's up to you, if you need a new computer now, then buy what I suggested. But if you can truely wait, wait for the PCI Express technology and wait a month or two after it's release to make sure all transitions with it go smoothly. All the slots made haven't had any form of Murphey in them, so they may be a bit over due...
The thing is, if you do this, build a new computer all together. The Hard Drives, CD/DVD drives, floppies, power supply what have you. When you install new stuff like that into your computer and use the current version of Windows, it may throw a fit or may cooperate and just ask for driver disks.
I've been looking at the AMD 64s and they do look hella good but since most aplications don't take advantage of the 64bit processing I feel that I would be better off buying a 64 when the price is down and more games etc. support it.
Right now I know for sure that I'm sticking with AMD. How would a AMD Barton 3000+ XP sound? They seem to be the high end of the XP processors.
I haven't ever used an ATI so how do the prices versus performance compare with Nvidia cards? From what I've seen, Nvidia cards look cheaper.
I've been looking at the Nvidia FX 5900SE which is an AGP8x card and it's pretty decent looking for the price.
Should I buy a mobo that can support AMD 64s so I can upgrade in the future?
amen
Video Card: A Radeon 9700 Pro like mine rocks, and it's pretty cheap now too.
CPU: Eh... Athlon's a good choice at almost any clock speed. Get youtrself a 1.7Ghz Athlon I guess...
~ DarkATi
I've been looking at the AMD 64s and they do look hella good but since most aplications don't take advantage of the 64bit processing I feel that I would be better off buying a 64 when the price is down and more games etc. support it.
Right now I know for sure that I'm sticking with AMD. How would a AMD Barton 3000+ XP sound? They seem to be the high end of the XP processors.
I haven't ever used an ATI so how do the prices versus performance compare with Nvidia cards? From what I've seen, Nvidia cards look cheaper.
I've been looking at the Nvidia FX 5900SE which is an AGP8x card and it's pretty decent looking for the price.
Should I buy a mobo that can support AMD 64s so I can upgrade in the future? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
The NVIDIA cards are cheaper but in the short term, aren't as powerful as ATi's cards. But in the long run, with NVIDIA constantly changing and improving the driver settings and how the chips work, you will see it keep a good performance track record over the time you have it. Where as with the ATi's, once it gets old, it gets old quickly and a new one is needed to keep up.
The only problem is that later this year new technology is going to be coming down the pipe that will hopefully be better than what is out there right now. Might want to consider this before pledging a large sum of money into a computer that you may be upgrading with a huge over haul again in maybe a years time.
And yes, the 2600+ AMD chips are the best bang for buck. Do you see a game that requires all 2.44 GHz of processor speed from the CPU? When the 64 bits become more common than the choice of upgrading to one of those will be well worth it, but till then, save about a $100 and get the 2600+. As for Barton cores and what not, all I know is that it's the material used to make the chip, no major different in performance if any...