Upgrade!? Is it worth it?

C

Cleric_PGHL

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 4, 2004
Messages
144
Christmas is coming, and that means time to upgrade my system,

My system specs are in my sig, and I am wondering if upgrading from a 2600+ Barton to a faster Barton would be worth it? Overclocking is not an option because I do not have the cash to replace my system in the event that crap hits the fan. I have also considered a new video card, like a Geforce 6 6800 but I'm not sure if I can justify the upgrade. What does everyone think?
 
I'm in a similar (but slower, see sig) boat, and I say wait. My next upgrade is to 2x512MB of quality PC3200, and maybe to a 2500+M if a friend will let me have his for cheap (because my memory won't run much faster than 333MHz and my 2500+ is clock-locked, and unlike you I'm an overclocker)... but I'd say wait until you can go A64.
 
Yea an Athlon XP upgrade wouldn't really be worth it. Wait until you can buy a new A64 2800+ or 3000+.
 
it's not that hard to get ur 2500+ over 2.0ghz... lots of people with bartons 2500+ get that thing well over 2ghz with stock air cooling etc etc....
 
to be honest if it's reliability and stability that's keeping you from overclocking, you shouldn't worry.

overclocking the xp-m's is completely effortless. even if you don't want to try to get 2.6ghz out of it, 2.3-2.4 is perfectly attainable, and easily. you're in the same boat i'm in, i don't want to blow up my proc, so i'm not overclocking any more than i already have...but 2.3ghz running nice and cool on crappy cooling for $70 isn't a bad deal no matter how you slice it.
 
30% or so in most games.. sometimes less but u also have a chance to unlock the 4 pipelines and 2 vertex shaders :)
 
well if you check my sig comp you'll see i'm running a similiar setup and with my new 6800OC i've found that my cpu is a big bottleneck so I can't suggest an upgrade to the 6800. for instance, my fps in far cry and doom3 did not benefit much at all. maybe 10-15 fps here and their but overall I couldn't make the card do what it was meant to do.
 
I'd suggest going the A64 route. Right now you can get a 939 setup for ~ $300, motherboard, HSF, and thermal grease included. Mine came out to exactly $299.95 shipped from newegg.

Your 9800 AIW ( I think thats what your sig said) should keep you above sea level until you can afford another card.

Just my $.02
 
It's a 9800 Pro, but same difference. It's fine with most games, but it chokes a bit in FarCry and Doom III. I am just worried that my processor is a bottleneck right now. Plus if I upgrade my motherboard, I am going to wait for the nForce 4 boards to come out so I can go PCI-E.
 
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