Given my current setup, when would be a good updgrade time?

F

Flak Pyro

Gawd
Joined
Sep 9, 2003
Messages
527
Alright in the winter of 2004 i did some updates to my current "main rig" its specs are as follows:

P4 3.06Ghz 533FSB 512k L2 cache
Asus P4PE Motherboard
Corsair 1Gb pc2700
Evga Geforce 6800nu
120Gb WD 8mb cache

I play Hl2/CS source at 60+ FPS with everything on high with 4xaa and 8xaf, i load games about as fast as my friend with a athlon xp3000+. Now i figure this setup is great for gaming now, so i was about to build a new linux box to replace my old 500mhz. Thing is i dont wanna be short on money when it comes time to build a new gaming rig, i was planning on a new gaming rig around xmas. I am waiting for these dual core processors for sure, they simply look to interesting to pass up, i was hoping to see the next wave of PCI express cards before then too as i dont really want to trade my AGP 6800 for a PCI-E 6800 and gain very little preformace.

Now my question is, how long will my current setup last me? Will i be able to last till this great new hardware comes out or will i have to update at least one more time in order to keep gaming. If thats the case linux will have to live with 500mhz
 
you'll prolly be ok until the next wave of 3d engines hit, then you may be forced to upgrade to get all the eye candy, to see what I mean take a look at how Unreal 3 is shaping up.
 
AGP 6800 for a PCI-E 6800 and gain very little preformace.
Click to expand...

you are aware that there is absolutely NO performance difference between pci-e and agp 8x
you would be wasting your money...if you want to upgrade wait till the x800xl agp version comes out that way you dont have to change any of your other hardware
 
it's true that agp and pci-e have no performance differeance right now. however, agp is an old man, and pci-e is but a child. pci-e has great potential, and agp has all but reached it's.
BUT- I wouldn't upgrade, you are fine. Their is something to be said for tried and true systems. I would just not put to much money into that linux box. You don't need to buy to of the line every time you get a system. When 1 step down is just a little worse, but a hell of a lot cheaper, bragging rights be damed.
 
his system is totally fine thats why i suggested the agp graphics card because that would be the only component he would need to replace...however if i were you id wait till the r520 comes out (there will be an agp version)
 
A good linux box probably doesn't need as much power as you'd think. Geeks.com has a dual p3 board that would plain rock as a linux box, put together for about $300. You could also get a 2200+ sempron box for $200ish. It's not that expensive an upgrade, and it'll improve your opinion of Linux a lot when it responds fast even on relatively slow hardware.
 
I think your set-up as is... is good for about a year without upgrading one thing.

A year from now, Dual Core will be out and abundant, 2GB of Ram will be the High end instead of 1GB.... SATA II Hard Drives will be around, etc....

So I say leave your comp as is... and in a year, get a new setup totally
 
*waits for Hate_Bot to come in a tell him he needs an X800XL* :D

No, seriously, you're fine. Just wait for the next wave of hardware that's supposed to hit around the middle or end of this summer. Then upgrade. G80 graphics card...dual core CPU...Intel nForce4...all the good stuff.
 
Alight ill be waiting for those new parts before i upgrade the main box, for the linux box upgrade i just ordered a AMD Semperon 2400+ and the ABIT VA-20 VIA KM400A microATX board, i plan to throw my old Geforce 4 ti4200 in there, so the onboard video is wasted but even with the extra expence of the crappy onboard video it was still cheaper then similar boards, should make a fine linux box. :)
 
A quick thought, please don't go out of your way to get a mobo that supports SATA 2. While it sounds cool, and it's 2!, their isn't a HD out thier that can fill a SATA bus, let alone one double the size, not even a 15,000rpm scsi. If it comes on a mobo you like, sweet, get it, but don't let that be the deciding factor.
 
If you want a linux server, your 500 is probably fine. If it serves a lot of files, its probably at its limit. I'd look for a used p4 system for under $200 lock stock and barrel to make a new one.

I found that I am going to be spending more on disk space than proccie/mobo/ram combined for my new server build. I was gonna go for a 2800, the AOpen s754 mobo with 6 sata ports (cpu+mobo <$200) and some valueram ($100) for my new addition.

At any rate, getting back to the original question.... Your current setup is fine, I bet it will be fine for at least 18 months before you cant get 40+ fps in the new games at 1280x1024.

Forget about the new buzzwords. SATA2 is nice, but as another poster said, no current drive maxes out the existing ATA bus yet. PCIe is nice, but AGP4x has barely been exceeded.

The only thing I lack with my current system is lack of a dual-core path. But you know what? I dont care. Dual-core will only show promise if games and applications I use are written for multiple processors (ie Multi-threaded). Secondly, Prices upon introduction are going to be sky high. I'm not spending $400 on a proccie that works in a server environment and wont get me extra FPS. Now, in 2 years when its less enthusiast leve and more mainstream, game/app developers will probably integrate those features and I will upgrade then.

If I see an immediate reason to do PCI-e, it is for hardware RAID controllers. The PCI-e bus is fantastic for raid5 and above applications where the existing PCI bus is just too bottlenecked. However, I dont need that right now, but its the only TANGIBLE reason I can see to go PCI-e.

Yer fine, but you have to accept the fact that your system will be strictly mid-low range in 18-24 mo, but then, it will be time to upgrade. If you can live with that, you are fine. If you cant, open the checkbook and prepare to drop some cash :)
 
yeah i can live with that fact that my system will be mid-low end in 18-24 month, that can be my target upgrade time. I only use my linux box for hosting teamspeak/ventrilo servers for my clan and as a file stoage server on my local network as well as ideling on irc, i am upgrading it because i want to start using it for common tasks more often, it is simply too slow to use as a web browsing tool compared to my machine sitting beside it when it comes to todays sites, flash ownes the thing and mozilla is a memory hog to start with, but a mighty nice hog at that :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top