Quick Question!

[Fhantazm]

Hey all!
First of all let me say that im not really a noob. I was on HardOCP back in 2000-2003 even before General Mayhem split from here. I havent logged in in a while and either my account has been deleted or I forgot the login info. Anywhoo heres my situation.

I know you get a lot of "What should I buy" threads, however this one is a little different. Heres the info.

Current setup: P4 1.8a@2.5 ghz/Asus P4S533/768MB of Nanya PC3200/WD Spec Edit(8meg cache) 80gb/Maxtor standard 80gb/Geforce 4 Ti4800.

What im considering/can afford at this time:
1.) Keeping the current setup, its plenty fast(But I crave upgrades)
2.) Buy a new mobo, plop the P4 2.6c 800FSB processor I have lying around on it, overclocking to 3.0gig'ish and buying 2 WD 10,000rpm sata drives connected in a RAID.
3.) Buying an AMD 2600+ overclocked to 3200+, new mobo, new cooling(Air), and a single WD 10,000 RPM drive.

Which out of the above do you think would be best? Im ready to order from NewEgg, have done homework on all of the options above, but would just like an opinion, other than mine. Thanks!!
-Alex

 

[The Bryophyte]

I would forget about going AMD since you say you already have a 2.6 lying around. I would overclock that bastard for all its worth and get yourself one or two of those raptors. Two makes me nervous just because RAID 0 is pretty unforgiving, but its your call obviously.

 

[Fhantazm]

Thats kind of the way im leaning. However, being that my current setup is running at 2663mhz with an FSB of 591.82mhz, do you think there will be a big difference running that 2.6 at around 3 gig? I know the Raptors will make a difference, but I just want to make sure the cost is going to be justified. Thanks!

 

[LadyJaqie]

I am a strong fan of AMD but its not worth it since you already have the intel parts. Go with what you already have. And if you already HAVE the 2.6? try it see what the performance change is for yourself!

 

[Fhantazm]

I am a strong fan of AMD but its not worth it since you already have the intel parts. Go with what you already have. And if you already HAVE the 2.6? try it see what the performance change is for yourself!

I tried to put in on my current board, but its a 400 (ie multiplier locked to 13x) and boots at about 1.7gig. Either way, im going to have to buy a new mobo.

 

[djnes]

How about ditching whatever RAM that is and getting a GB in 2 high quality sticks, along with an 865 or 875 mobo to take advantage of dual channel. THen, if you so decide later to upgrade, you can just get a C class P4 and ppop it in without replacing any other parts.

 

[Fhantazm]

How about ditching whatever RAM that is and getting a GB in 2 high quality sticks, along with an 865 or 875 mobo to take advantage of dual channel. THen, if you so decide later to upgrade, you can just get a C class P4 and ppop it in without replacing any other parts.

I already have a p4c 2.6 lying around that I can take advantage of. I just need to buy a new mobo. As far as the DC RAM, I will be purchasing some soon, but for now the current RAM does great and has gone to 450mhz with no issues.

 

[MindBuster]

Two makes me nervous just because RAID 0 is pretty unforgiving, but its your call obviously.

Why is that ?
Is it the "If one drive fails blablabla...." thingy ?
Well, having only one drive and it fails all your data is lost anyway.
As a home user you can use raid perfectly fine, just keep backup of your important stuff, which you also should do with only one drive.

The "RAID 0 is bad" hype is for servers in companies, huge webservers serving many daily user, for the home user RAID 0 is perfectly fine and just as save as having one drive, but is so much faster.