Which upgrade would be better?

C

CefiroZ

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 17, 2004
Messages
218
I currently have an AMD Athlon 1.2Ghz (Tbird - Socket A), MSI MS-6380 motherboard (KT266R I think?), 384MB RAM, RAID 1 Array (80GB ATA), cd-rw, and dvd-rom, nvidia geforce4 4200ti (AGP), 300W PS

My motherboard has recently crapped out on me, giving the 3 beep warning that is telling me something is wrong with the base 64K of memory. I have tried using each of my two sticks of RAM in all of the available slots of memory to no avail. I am going to get a stick from work to try just to make sure both sticks are not bad. But, barring that, I believe that the memory IC is bad so I need to perform some upgrading.

The problem that I am having is which route to pursue.

1. Replace strictly the motherboard and keep all existing components. The reason for this would be that it's cheap, easy, and might make more sense in the future. This is because in a little while socket M2 will come out for AMD and prices of graphics cards will come down as ATI releases more of their cards to compete with nvidia.

2. My system is a bit on the low end so I can go the complete upgrade route. This would involve getting a new mobo (nforce4), CPU, graphics card, power supply, and more RAM. Obviously the much more expensive route but also a much nicer computer.

I have not been gaming much lately due to school taking up much of my time (universities really pound it on before graduation don't they?) but this may also be due to the fact that my current rig really can't run anything new. So, what do you guys suggest? Go the immediately cheaper route with an assumed upgrade sometime in the future after M2 comes out and prices come down on graphics cards (maybe even by then a refresh of nvidia's line thus pushing down current prices). By this time the new versions of consoles will be out and I may try one of those out for some of my gaming needs relieving some of the burden from the constant upgrades in the PC arena. Or, should I upgrade now with the knowledge that my brand new LanParty and Athlon 64 939 will not be very upgradable in the future?
 
Most of the replies here you're going to get are to go with the complete rehaul option. I agree with that route. But if you are stuck on cash, I'd wait aother couple months for, as you said, the prices to come down. If you want to play newer games, I'd say total-upgrade now. If you can wait, just get an el cheapo motherboard. But even that may be hard to find since your system is so old.
 
it really just depends what you will use it for..

you can get a socket A board.. but then again.. that's a waste of money.. casue you can get a s754 board for the same money.. drop a $60 sempron 64 in and $45 for 512mb of memory..

if you can come up with a cheap socket A board and get some ddr for it you would have a computer that can do anything but game. my mom uses a 1.2 duron with ddr and the computer is fine for anyhting she would ever do..

it just depends on how much money you are willing to spend.. and how much you care
 
I agree with Qonfused. If you have the cash I'd upgrade now, but if you're strapped for it then wait. It also depends on what your budget is and what you're going to use it for.
 
The computer will be used for gaming and math/computer science work (undergrad now, graduate school next year).

I think my best choice would be the route of a 754 mobo with a cheap sempron in it. I'd rather not blow $500 or so now on a computer if I do not have to considering the price drops to come and future upgradability.

That leads to another question: will a 300W PS handle a nforce with a sempron? I'm assuming it will but I'm not up on my power supply information.
 
what kind of psu do you have? generic? it will probably work fine.. but it is usually a better idea to get a good psu.. i can argue either way...
 
CefiroZ said:
The computer will be used for gaming and math/computer science work (undergrad now, graduate school next year).

I think my best choice would be the route of a 754 mobo with a cheap sempron in it. I'd rather not blow $500 or so now on a computer if I do not have to considering the price drops to come and future upgradability.

That leads to another question: will a 300W PS handle a nforce with a sempron? I'm assuming it will but I'm not up on my power supply information.
Click to expand...

Socket 754 will be relegated to a value platform. The future performance line is in 939 then moving to socket M2 in the future. You will by no means be buying into an obsolete platform with socket 939 and will probably not see a tremendous difference between socket 939 parts and early M2 stuff. A 3000+ Venice in an NF4 board provides plenty of expandability for dual core processors, PCIe graphics boards, various I/O stuff, and SLi if you want to invest for that. Socket 939 will be around and supported in the mainstream for quite awhile. Socket 754 will be what the socket A Semprons were/are. Whatever you do, don't invest a penny into the socket A hardware. It has absolutely no future.
 
Waiting for "The Next Big Thing" is a losing deal. Buy when you're ready, because if you wait for the next big thing, then you'll read about the next next big thing and want to wait again. Just buy now, skip the next big thing, then get the next next big thing when it comes out.
 
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