Complicated upgrade decision-Ram? Video? CPU?

D

DeepFreeze

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 18, 2001
Messages
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I need to upgrade my system. Video editing has become a bit more troublesome. Games I want to play (Quake IV), UT2K4, Age of Empires III, WarCraft III ..... need more.

My current configuration: Abit KG7 Raid, AMD 1600+ XP, 160 GB HDDs, 15K RPM SCSI U320...1GB cas 2.5 Ram. 2x19" trinitron monitors, Radeon AiW 9800 pro 128MB AGP . . . .

My options (that I have thought of) are: Dont want to spend more than $300 US on option 1

OPTION 1:
Upgrade video card to Nvidia 6600 GT ....6800 GT....or ATi AiW X800 XT....X850 Pro AGP.... opinions on which is the most stable? best picture? given those games?

OPTION 2:
The max the manuf (Abit) says the board will handle is AMD 2100+ XP = 1.733 GHz
My current CPU is 1.4 GHz - Upgrade CPU for $80.

Add an additional 512 MB ram pc2100 DDR for $50,

OR, I can do OPTION 1 & 2= $430, and deal with this system until the ?TX form factor is ironed out. meaning, ill use this machine for 2 more years.

OR,

OPTION 3:
Buy a Dual core CPU and M/B staying under $450 for the combo.

Buy 2GB of ram $140

Keep my current AGP video card. Which presents a problem because PCI Express is in use now....
-------------------------------------
Which will have the longest impact to keep me happy hardware and software wise?

my duties on my machine are consumer level video editing and dvix encoding.
sound editing....gaming ( UT2K4, Doom III, Quake IV, Medal of Honor, WarCraft III)

I have been out of the loop lately. Automobile road course racing cost more than PC parts lately.and the season is over for us working guys here....so i have bit more house time.

thanks for help.

D e e p F r e e z e
 
Don't put a new cpu in your mobo. Not worth it.

A video card will definately improve game performance, but won't help your vide editing.

The mobo/cpu upgrade will help your video editing, but not your game performance much (it will some).

If I were you, I'd go with a s939 mobo, a venice, and a 6600gt. You should be able to do that for just over $350.

Edit.....you have pc2100 ram :( I'm not sure, but I think you can still use it (run it at 133 in your bios) if you absolutely can't spend any more $....someone might want to check on that though....
 
option 1: no matter what video card you get youll be bottlenecked by your cpu. even your current cpu may have trouble fully utilizing the 9800pro
option 2: $80 for a 300mhz bump in clock speed is poor value IMO (and it wont be much faster!) for 150 after tax and shipping you can get a cheap s754 cpu along with a motherboard
option 3: if you do decide to go dual core youll definately be spending a chunk of change..

if youre on a tight budget i recommend the following:

cpu: 2800+ sempron 64 processor $76
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819104245
motherboard: chaintech vnf3 motherboard $58
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813152043

that comes up to 150 after tax and shipping. this setup should overclock nicely but if you dont want to overclock i recommend looking into a 3100+ sempron 64 ($26 more) or 3400+ sempron 64 ($50 more)

your ram is definately a bottleneck but whether $80 is worth it to upgrade to 1gb of pc3200 is up to you.

you can probably get by with your 9800pro. it wont play the newest games at the highest resolutions with the highest IQ but it should be good enough to play at decent settings.

if you must upgrade the video card i recommend the sapphire 256mb x800gto $194
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102608

if youre looking for a dvd burner the nec is pretty cheap at $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152047
 
Keep my current AGP video card. Which presents a problem because PCI Express is in use now....
Click to expand...

If you do decide go with a new CPU/mobo, your 9800Pro is still a pretty good card. A 6600GT is faster, but not by far. So if you keep the 9800Pro, just get a mobo like the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 which has both AGP and PCI-E

Is that 1GB RAM that you currently have PC3200?
 
Well. money is an issue.

My current RAM is PC2100 DDR. standard ram type for Athlon XP 1600+ cpus.
I CURRENTLY have 1GB of this.

As for upgrading....the rest of my system is fine....

but i am noticing age. in some operations....

I am sure, with current prices, I wont ever pay to go SLi within the next 18 months. so an SLi motherboard is not important.

IS there something noticeably faster?
 
you need a complete upgrade. mobo, cpu, ram, gpu, everything.
if you dont have the money, save it until you do.
 
Steel Chicken said:
you need a complete upgrade. mobo, cpu, ram, gpu, everything.
if you dont have the money, save it until you do.
Click to expand...
look here youngin, my machine has an audigy 2 zs, U320 SCSI 15Krpm drives, 400GB of EIDE space, lite on DVD16x, plextor CDRW48x, and Pioneer 16x dvdrom.
i dont need to upgrade that...

I only need ram CPU m/b and GPU.

My issue with that ASRock is...who is ASRock?

the companies ive always delt with are Abit, Asus, Tyan, Gigabyte, Intel, Soyo....

And I hate ALi chipsets..... I may just wait. any other options?

I guess, my hugest concern is buying a video card now, that wont transfer into a new system.

how many options have AGP AND PCI Exp?

opinions appreciated.
 
DeepFreeze said:
look here youngin, my machine has an audigy 2 zs, U320 SCSI 15Krpm drives, 400GB of EIDE space, lite on DVD16x, plextor CDRW48x, and Pioneer 16x dvdrom.
i dont need to upgrade that...

I only need ram CPU m/b and GPU.
.
Click to expand...


You look here, brainiac, I aint no younging.

heres what I said:
"you need a complete upgrade. mobo, cpu, ram, gpu, everything."

heres what you said:
"I only need ram CPU m/b and GPU."

Reading comprehension for the WIN!
Good job owning yourself. Good luck with your upgrade.
 
Steel Chicken said:
You look here, brainiac, I aint no younging.

heres what I said:
"you need a complete upgrade. mobo, cpu, ram, gpu, everything."

heres what you said:
"I only need ram CPU m/b and GPU."

Reading comprehension for the WIN!
Good job owning yourself. Good luck with your upgrade.
Click to expand...
Glad we see eye to eye, thank you for your help.
 
DeepFreeze said:
Glad we see eye to eye, thank you for your help.
Click to expand...

You asked for opinions and got one. Dont bitch because you dont like all of them and can't read to boot and think its ok to insult people who are trying to HELP you.

buh-bye!
 
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