I really want to upgrade my PC and I'm looking for some answers about what do do. As you can see in my sig my main rig is pretty behind as far as technology is at now. I built that 2 years ago and it has done a very good job for me, but it just isn't cutting it anymore. I don't make ass loads of money yet and I just bought a house 6 months ago so a lot of extra money is going into the house. I want to make the best choices with my money so that I won't be pissed off a year from now with what I have.
I like to get something that has a decent upgrade path and won't become completely absolete in 2 years like my vidcard has.
Vidcard
Currently looking at what is out now and on the horizon, I will likely get a 6600GT for a vid card replacement. From looking around, it appears this is only in the PCIX flavor and not AGP. This bothers me as I would love to buy one today but somehow the upgrade path seems limited if it is in AGP soon. This also leads me to another question : "Will the new PCIX mobo's also have an AGP port or will they all just have the PCIX or dual with SLI?" If there is no AGP port, I guess I'll be waiting to upgrade the mobo and processor as well.
Proc
To be said that the 1700+ did a kick ass job on overclocking is an understatement. A 400mhz overclock with stock air cooling is absolutely incredible!!!. I mean I just got around a 30% overclock, it was the best $50 I ever spent for anything!!! Alas, it is to be retired to my new htpc I will be building with parts leftover from this upgrade. I would love to get another processor with this type of overclockability, but somehow I don't think it is possible.
I would love to just get a 2500+ barton and overclock it, but somehow I don't think that will satisfy me for long. Socket A has gone the way of the dodo bird and is truly dead. This leads me to think that an A64 system should be what I want, new technology, good upgrade path. etc. But the problems I see now are the sockets:754 and 939. I guess the best approach would be to get the 939, as this would be the upgrade to the future. The question I have now is
"How long unitl the socket changes again?"
I also would like to know
"How do 754 A64's compare to 939 A64's as far as overclock and upgrade?"
"Which processors are the best to buy right now in terms of overclock?"
Motherboard/RAM
From what I've read here and there, Nforce 4 boards are likened to the second coming so I think that will be where I go. These I guess will have PCIX and SLI which I think is helping me make up my mind on the vidcard. If it has Gigabit lan or wireless lan built in I'm sold, but my question on this is
"How long is it going to be until NF4 comes out?"
"Which socket, unless you will not have a choice"
The other part that is bothering me is RAM, what type of RAM should I get. Will the new boards support DDR or will I have to get a new type of RAM. This is one I have not seen much on but I have noticed that DDR2 is selling on newegg and want to know if this will be another hurdle for an upgrade.
I know I wrote a lot on this, I didn't think it would be this long, but I hope some of you will be able to answer some of my questions. What would you do in this situation? Thanks in advance to any of you who can help.
I like to get something that has a decent upgrade path and won't become completely absolete in 2 years like my vidcard has.
Vidcard
Currently looking at what is out now and on the horizon, I will likely get a 6600GT for a vid card replacement. From looking around, it appears this is only in the PCIX flavor and not AGP. This bothers me as I would love to buy one today but somehow the upgrade path seems limited if it is in AGP soon. This also leads me to another question : "Will the new PCIX mobo's also have an AGP port or will they all just have the PCIX or dual with SLI?" If there is no AGP port, I guess I'll be waiting to upgrade the mobo and processor as well.
Proc
To be said that the 1700+ did a kick ass job on overclocking is an understatement. A 400mhz overclock with stock air cooling is absolutely incredible!!!. I mean I just got around a 30% overclock, it was the best $50 I ever spent for anything!!! Alas, it is to be retired to my new htpc I will be building with parts leftover from this upgrade. I would love to get another processor with this type of overclockability, but somehow I don't think it is possible.
I would love to just get a 2500+ barton and overclock it, but somehow I don't think that will satisfy me for long. Socket A has gone the way of the dodo bird and is truly dead. This leads me to think that an A64 system should be what I want, new technology, good upgrade path. etc. But the problems I see now are the sockets:754 and 939. I guess the best approach would be to get the 939, as this would be the upgrade to the future. The question I have now is
"How long unitl the socket changes again?"
I also would like to know
"How do 754 A64's compare to 939 A64's as far as overclock and upgrade?"
"Which processors are the best to buy right now in terms of overclock?"
Motherboard/RAM
From what I've read here and there, Nforce 4 boards are likened to the second coming so I think that will be where I go. These I guess will have PCIX and SLI which I think is helping me make up my mind on the vidcard. If it has Gigabit lan or wireless lan built in I'm sold, but my question on this is
"How long is it going to be until NF4 comes out?"
"Which socket, unless you will not have a choice"
The other part that is bothering me is RAM, what type of RAM should I get. Will the new boards support DDR or will I have to get a new type of RAM. This is one I have not seen much on but I have noticed that DDR2 is selling on newegg and want to know if this will be another hurdle for an upgrade.
I know I wrote a lot on this, I didn't think it would be this long, but I hope some of you will be able to answer some of my questions. What would you do in this situation? Thanks in advance to any of you who can help.