Now that I have money...

[miazmaticdotcom]

Ok, current PC specs are so:

1.6GHz Duron (unlocked to AXP1900+)
Albatron KX600 (up to 400fsb)
512mb PC3200
64MB PCI Geforce MX 440

It sucks, I know. Anyway, I have $150 to throw at it. I've narrowed my upgrade down to two options:

Powercolor 256-bit Radeon 9800SE ($144), hope and pray that I can softmod it to Radeon 9800 Pro.

Mobile Athlon XP 2600+ with Zalman CNPS1300 cooler (Adds up to about $125).

I'm inclined to go for the new CPU, as I hear AGP versions of the x600/GeForce 6600 are on the way, and they kick the pants off even a Rad9800 Pro.

Advice?

 

[sdk]

Get a used 9800pro on these forums, you mite get one with a vga silencer and some ram sinks for about 150.

You could get a new CPU.

I'd save up.

 

[sdk]

or

you could get a nice mobo for whatever setup you wanna get, as that will be the building block

 

[simonwh]

Hard to choose eh?

I would save about 6 times as much up and buy a new system.

 

[miazmaticdotcom]

I don't want to leave this one behind just yet.

This motherboard can do 400FSB, I'm running the Duron at 266, so there's still one more CPU upgrade left in this one.

Whatever upgrade I don't do now, I'll probably get for Christmas from the parentals.

 

[karsten]

used barton 2500@3200: $50
used ti4200/4600: $50-60
another 512MB pc3200: whatever it takes.

You'll see a huge boost going from 512->1gig, i did, and haven't looked back.
ti4200 is still semi decent, and a hell of a bargain.
barton 2500@3200 is a pretty snappy setup. you do that upgrade and let me know how much faster your system is

karsten

 

[TheMostWantedPolishTwin]

used barton 2500@3200: $50
used ti4200/4600: $50-60
another 512MB pc3200: whatever it takes.

You'll see a huge boost going from 512->1gig, i did, and haven't looked back.
ti4200 is still semi decent, and a hell of a bargain.
barton 2500@3200 is a pretty snappy setup. you do that upgrade and let me know how much faster your system is

karsten

agreed on CPU and RAM, but I'd rather get a DX9 vid card - look for a radeon 9550 with 128 bit memory and as low access time as you can find (not slower than 4ns) - you should get decent OC..