![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
As a general acknowledgement, I know that this is an exciting yet weird time for computing technology. New interfaces and chipsets are just becoming available on motherboards, DVD/CD burners are becoming faster and (contradictory to normal economics of such a technological trend) cheaper, and hard drives are finally not the bottleneck that they once used to be thanks to SATA II, 16 MB buffers, and faster spindle speeds. However, availability of said new components is generally lacking if not unavailalbe entirely, save the aforementioned drives. Tell me the last time you saw an ATI X800 series or an NVIDIA 6800 series graphic card available in PCI-Express form? How about a sub-$200 i915p or i925X motherboard that didn't have inconsistent quality reviews?
This is my quandry...
I've been a system builder for at least two years, and I have formed an alliance with a few friends to form a consulting group. I have given up most of my major components to the cause of the company from my original PC that I built back in June, save the Abit IC7-G motherboard, a pair of 80 GB HDD's, and a PNY GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. I have acquired a few parts in the meantime, but they are not what I would consider quality PC gaming/workstation components (such as a P4 Prescott 2.8 GHz with no HT and a 533 FSB). I have a working system, but it feels a bit slapped together and it doesn't perform as well as my original system did.
I'm considering upgrading, but upgrade to what? I know I want an AMD Athlon 64, but PCI-Express isn't readily available yet on that platform, not to mention more forward-thinking and less power-consuming DDR2 memory. I'd consider Intel since they have their new processors and chipsets more readily available, but since there is hardly any speed to gain currently from a new set of their components over the last generation, I would have felt that I had cheated myself if I went in that direction (that and I'd like to avoid getting into water cooling if it can at all be avoided,if you catch my drift). When PCI-E does become available for AMD, I'm faced with the possibility of paying $200 + for a new motherboard (maybe more for a SLI board) along with the cost of a new processor (it has to be fast out of the box; I prefer a fast stable system over a compromised overclocked system). Then we get into the cost of a barely-available and overpriced PCI-E graphic card. Add that to the cost of a new case, a beefy enough power supply, drives, etc., the cost (time and money-wise) is overwhelming for someone who is only rich enough to buy a component or two at a time. At the same time, I don't want to rebuild with what is now considered "last generation" and be stuck with a dead-end upgrade path.
I'm patient enough to wait out the new technology for another month or two, but if I wait any longer it's going to impede upon productivity (that and I'd like to play Doom 3 and Half Life 2 on my own machine with the settings at a decent image quality). Any upgrade advice would be appreciated at this point. Thank you in advance.
This is my quandry...
I've been a system builder for at least two years, and I have formed an alliance with a few friends to form a consulting group. I have given up most of my major components to the cause of the company from my original PC that I built back in June, save the Abit IC7-G motherboard, a pair of 80 GB HDD's, and a PNY GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. I have acquired a few parts in the meantime, but they are not what I would consider quality PC gaming/workstation components (such as a P4 Prescott 2.8 GHz with no HT and a 533 FSB). I have a working system, but it feels a bit slapped together and it doesn't perform as well as my original system did.
I'm considering upgrading, but upgrade to what? I know I want an AMD Athlon 64, but PCI-Express isn't readily available yet on that platform, not to mention more forward-thinking and less power-consuming DDR2 memory. I'd consider Intel since they have their new processors and chipsets more readily available, but since there is hardly any speed to gain currently from a new set of their components over the last generation, I would have felt that I had cheated myself if I went in that direction (that and I'd like to avoid getting into water cooling if it can at all be avoided,if you catch my drift). When PCI-E does become available for AMD, I'm faced with the possibility of paying $200 + for a new motherboard (maybe more for a SLI board) along with the cost of a new processor (it has to be fast out of the box; I prefer a fast stable system over a compromised overclocked system). Then we get into the cost of a barely-available and overpriced PCI-E graphic card. Add that to the cost of a new case, a beefy enough power supply, drives, etc., the cost (time and money-wise) is overwhelming for someone who is only rich enough to buy a component or two at a time. At the same time, I don't want to rebuild with what is now considered "last generation" and be stuck with a dead-end upgrade path.
I'm patient enough to wait out the new technology for another month or two, but if I wait any longer it's going to impede upon productivity (that and I'd like to play Doom 3 and Half Life 2 on my own machine with the settings at a decent image quality). Any upgrade advice would be appreciated at this point. Thank you in advance.