Upgrading pc... Need advice

[deadman_uk]

Here are my specs..

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.667ghz
768Mb DDR400 RAM PC3200
40Gb MAXTOR UDMA133 7200RPM
ASUS A7V8-X KT400 ATA133
MSI Geforce 4 TI4200 TD64 (64meg)
Windows XP Pro

I understand you people are busy so ill make this quick...


I want to upgrade my CPU and my GFX card what should I get? I have just over £300 to spend ($553) so what is the best I can buy for this money, I also understand I will need a new motherboard, need help on that too please.

 

[psychosonik]

I would go 2600+ Barton with a mobo to match
drop a little to bump ram to 1 gig
drop the rest into the nicest ati card you can get

 

[yoda634]

Abit NF7-S should run you about $100, likewise a Barton 2500+. Buy a nice video card, or invest in dual channel RAM.

 

[yoda634]

Oh, and at 40GB, you might want to drop in a 80 GB drive.

 

[SJetski71]

Don't go for an incremental increase. An xp2000 to xp2500 and kt400 to Nforce2 isn't gonna "feel" extremely different (unless you overclock a good amount). With a decent system such as your own i'd do one of two things.

1) Save a few more pennies and go for the real deal (Newer Athlons or a P4 800fsb)

or

2) i normally hate saying this BUT, you're in a good position to "wait" for the great new hardware due within the next 4-6 months. I only say this because you still have a decent system by todays standards.

Check out all the popular review sites for roadmaps of juicy new technology to come.

 

[bradbowl]

I would have to agree with the last post in that if you could wait a few months till the prices of the Athlon 64's go down, then you would have a substantial upgrade instead of an incremental increase. If you have to upgrade now, then I'd go for an AXP 2500+, Abit NF-7 mobo, and some nice Kingston or Corsair RAM and overclock like crazy. If your current RAM is stable enough, you could put your money into a nice video card. I've seen some cheap radeon 9500's and 9700's here on the FS/FT forums lately.

 

[agentzero9]

a 2000+ to a 2600+ is small potatoes

Remember that as the numbers get larger (even though AMD doens't go by CPU speed) the difference gets less and less.


If my math is correct going from a 2000+ to a 2600+ is about the same percentage increase as going from 400mhz to 500mhz. Now three years ago you wouldn't waste the time to upgrade your mobo and cpu for a measly 100mhz. You need to think of it the same way now.

Of course there are other things like cache and newer CPU instructions/architecture but my point remains that the difference is just not there unless money is no no object and you just have to have something better. Plus these 'enhancements' are what's built into the rating "2600+," so the comparison is brought back to apples vs apples.


Don't waste all that money for a tiny upgrade such as that. And someone suggested springing for 256mb more ram? Why? I think it's just because 1GB sounds better. 512k is the sweet spot for Windows XP. Anything else is just icing on the cake.


If anything get a nice ATI GPU, and save the rest for a REAL cpu/mobo upgrade on the future.

 

[doh-nut]

i just bought an upgrade for my dad(with his money). he upgraded from a 2000+ on a k7s5a to:

abit nf7-s - $80
barton 2500+ retail - $90

i wasn't counting on overclocking heavily, just a bit, but the sucker kept stable and cool, and its sitting nicely at 195 fsb with stock cooling. which is around 3100+ speeds or so? a nice jump in speed for $170. of course you have more money to spend. so i would buy a cpu and a decent hsf to get beyond 3000+ without a sweat, then spend the rest on a good video card! good luck

 

[JSClark]

Originally posted by psychosonik
I would go 2600+ Barton with a mobo to match
drop a little to bump ram to 1 gig
drop the rest into the nicest ati card you can get

Pretty much what I was gonna say