Finalizing upgrade.. what do you think?

[RancidWAnnaRIot]

I currently have...

2000+ Palomino
512 RAm PC2100
Abit Kr7a-133

I'm considering upgrading to

2500+ Barton core
512 PC3200 (2x256 dual channel) or 1 gig (2x 512 dual channel)
Abit - NF7-S ver 2.0

I use my machine mainly for school. THe programs i run are mostly design and simulation programs. I just need to figureout the RAM situation. Price is an issue here for i am in college, and i gotta keep the fridge stocked with beer.

MATLAB, PSPICE, ORCAD,AUTOCAD... etc.

good move?

What do you guys suggest in terms of RAM. I don't know how much of a difference RAM would help with these programs. On my current setup some of the simulations i do take quiet a while, so i was blaming it on the CPU. i don't know.. what do you think?

 

[bobsaget]

I don't really know that that would be much of an upgrade... (for the programs that you use)

Do you use 3d in acad? A $100 video card would do you better if you use 3d in acad...

 

[RancidWAnnaRIot]

Not much in autocad.. i'm just going to take one autocad class, very little 3d. the program i use the most is PSPICE, and the programs i will be using the most are all 2d circuit simulation programs.

thanks for the input.. so as of now you think i should jus stick with what i got?

I also play occasional games on my PC

I also woudn't mind having the extra mobo and CPU left over so i can experiement with Overclocking.. i don't feel comfortable overclocking my main machine at this point in the game.

 

[Geshtar]

I used to run matlab and pspice on my machine for my school assignments I have never had anything take more than 20-30 seconds(and thats only for large data sets in Matlab doing FFTs and crap to them) with a computer slightly less powerful than yours. Perhaps I'm just doing smaller simulations though.

Unless you have a non-educational version of pspice though(I am assuming that your pspice is part of orcad) and are running large circuits for long analyses(as an estimate; step sizes of 1/10000 or less than your total simulation time), you should never experience lengthy simulations with the computer you have.