Out of the loop -- Need some advice

P

poor

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Oct 5, 2004
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I'm pretty broke right now, been job searching for a few months but it's hard in IT these days. Haven't been keeping up on the new hardware and while I have been reading all I can here I wanted some advice from the guys who are up to date.

Here's my situation, my video card (9500 non pro hardmodded to 9700 pro from a while ago) finally died on me. Don't know if it was the OC or a big surge we had (yes I have a surge protector), but it's dead. I ordered a leadtek 6600gt for $200 after reading that it really is the best AGP option out now. Here's my system:

epox 8rda+
Athlon 2000 (maybe can't remember which it was) running @ 2095 (174.6x12) on air, no expensive cooling here
1024mb Generic ram @ 2.5 3 3 11

Sure, I wanted to upgrade to an A64 but it's just not an option with the money I have, I need a system that's gonna last me another year and was hoping my old one would have. Games were still fine and everything else ran great. Now that I'm getting such a better video card I was wondering if it's in my best interest to get a mobile 2400/2500 and OC it? Or will my crappy ram hold me back too much @ 200mhz so I'm better off just stayin with what I have?

Thanks for the advice.
 
how much money do you have? you can get a respectable a64 for just over 250
btw, what speed is the ram, 200mhz or 166? you imply it's 200, but i wanna make sure

also, the 6600gt is probably the best bang/buck of the cards out there at the moment
 
Eclipse,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I would rather hold on to the cash that I have and wait until I can afford a good athlon 64 (or maybe even something different in a year). It is 200mhz ram, but generic... like I said, my budget has always been low. I couldn't get it past 175mhz no matter how low I dropped the timings.

The $200 I spent on the video card was the best way I figured I could spend the money. Was just wondering if getting a sub $100 cpu was worth it or I should just stick to my 2.1ghz clocked athlon xp.

I guess I'll probably end up waiting until I get the video card on Thursday (three day priority shipping monday), but was hoping someone could give me some advice before then.
 
There's nothing wrong with that system. You will be able to play the current games and even Doom3 caliber stuff for the next year with that rig and the 6600GT. They will be playable at enjoyable rates. Will it set any speed, FPS, or benchmark records, no. Will it play games for the next year w/o a proccie upgrade, yes.

$200 is difficult to spend when money is already tight, so I believe you have picked the most solid piece. My $0.02, anyways.
 
poor said:
Eclipse,

Thanks for the quick reply.

I would rather hold on to the cash that I have and wait until I can afford a good athlon 64 (or maybe even something different in a year). It is 200mhz ram, but generic... like I said, my budget has always been low. I couldn't get it past 175mhz no matter how low I dropped the timings.
Click to expand...

Your motherboard is holding you back, most likely.

My rev 1.0 8RDA+ couldn't handle above 183. My rev 1.1 is still strong at 200, even with blown caps.

DO NOT GET ANOTHER EPOX BOARD.

If you want to spend money on a board, get a DFI lanparty, or an Abit NF7-S v2.0.
Epox has had years of bad caps, and my trust of them is shot.
 
I have an 8rda+ with bulging caps. My computer works fine. I was wondering if it's something I should worry about? Or is my PC just going to die on me one day?
 
Thanks for the responses, I guess I'll prolly stick with this system. I was happy w/my old one even though it wasn't a speed demon in high resolutions it still played all the games decent. With a 6600GT it should smoke em now, I hope.

xaeniac said:
I have an 8rda+ with bulging caps. My computer works fine. I was wondering if it's something I should worry about? Or is my PC just going to die on me one day?
Click to expand...

My 8rda+ had em for the last six months or so and it finally died one day. I had to RMA it a couple months ago, took like two weeks... sent me a new one. So yeah, eventually it may die on you.
 
You can almost be certain that a board with bulging caps will die on you some day. There's a definate chance that, in the the process, it'll take out other components (CPU, RAM, or vidcard).
 
You did indeed pickup the best bang for the buck for 200 bucks... however, now you can find s754 mobo/2800+ combos for under 200 bucks, so perhaps thats your next option?
 
xyoufailmex said:
You did indeed pickup the best bang for the buck for 200 bucks... however, now you can find s754 mobo/2800+ combos for under 200 bucks, so perhaps thats your next option?
Click to expand...

You really think that a xp 2800 is THAT much better than an athlon @ 2.1ghz? I figure it would be smarter to save up until the higher end 64s are in my price range...?
 
What is wrong with a A64 3200+ revision E which will soon be available? Or do you just not want to look in that price range?
 
too expensive for his budget.

my opinion after hearing more?

stick with your system, but upgrade the video card to either a 6600gt or 6800nu. it'll benefit you the most, and definitly save the rest of your money for a better system later
 
xaeniac said:
I have an 8rda+ with bulging caps. My computer works fine. I was wondering if it's something I should worry about? Or is my PC just going to die on me one day?
Click to expand...

at my last job we had about 6 computers with the bulging caps.. well. they had black crap on them.. stuff leaked out and hardened on the top.. for the most part they ran fine 80% of the time.. but some of them would either freeze after being used for too long or too hard.. some of the others ran fine but took 2 or 3 tries to start up.. but none of them straight died.. they jsut were unstable.


back to the original question..
i would get the vid card.. your motherboard is probaly holding you back more than the cpu.. if you can't get a higher fsb than 175 at any ram timings that is what i think is holding you back.. it could be your cpu actually.. but 200 at 3-3-3-x won't be that much better over 166 @ 2.5-x-x proabbly something like a 5-7% performance increase.. if you spent $80 on a mobile and got it to do 210 x 12.5 and were at 2.6 ghz.. that would still only really be a 20% increase or so.. for $80.. when your current cpu / mobo is worth $100..
i would stick with what you have and get the video card, then move that into an a64 setup later..

and personally.. i downclocked my cpu from 2.5ghz to 2.0ghz.. and really notice no difference.. i have been using it @ 2ghz for probably 2 months now.. i just don't do anything that demands that extra 500mhz, even though it is 25% extra clock speed..

if you do want some more clock speed possibly try a pin mod..

i don't play games though.. so maybe i just don't know
 
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