Benchmark help with my older system

[Bruck]

I am considering upgrading my main components (CPU,RAM,MOBO) but I have a very stable and IMHO fast pc. I built it to last, and apparently it has. It has outlasted my want to upgrade, before this pc, I was upgrading on a 12-18 month cycle.

I am running a pentium III 600mhz 256mb ram, Asus P2b-S w/ a fujitsu 18gb 10krpm (MAG3182LP) drive. I have made minor upgrades since building this machine, the hd is new(er), the audio card has been updated, and i recently added a promise controller IDE card and a WD 120gb 8mb cache second hd.

Now I would like to benchmark my system to see scores for my CPU performance, hd tach speeds etc.
I'd like to know what type of benchmark scores I could get if i upgraded to say a 3.0ghz P4, 512mb ram(of course the ram would be much faster than my PC100 ram), and a new mobo. I think my hd is still very close to industry standard speeds. But my other compents should be lacking.

Basically I ran doom3 alpha and i got like 1 frame per 4 seconds. IT was horrible!!!

So my next upgrade will be for my gaming, because for some reason this processor setup does not seem as slow as it should. I think that the HD solution is what keeps this machine so quick, but I'd like to see what i'd be gaining if I were to invest $800-$1200 in a new mobo/ram/cpu.

p.s. Usb2.0, firewire, better graphics and blistering response time to double clicks would be nice, (only the newest of systems seem to impress me with windows performance, for a while my pc was faster than most store boughts that i used)

I'd like to know what software to use to benchmark, and if the software will have pre-recorded avg scores for the components I will likely upgrade to, or if people could post example scores, so I can see what a difference I would see. I know benchmarks are not everything, but if you compared my system to the benchmarks of a self built 3ghz machine, I'm sure it would be laughable.

 

[magomago]

If you are content with your machine right now and want to play Doom3 later (you mentioned it, no?) Then I reccomend to wait till it actually comes out. Then the P4s will be cheaper and Athlon64 will be out and R360/NV40 will be out...

Either way the reason you got 1 frame per 4 seconds is probably b/c of your videocard/cpu - your HDD can only do so much and increasing your FPS isn't one of them (unless you don't have enough ram and the computer starts swapping)

I guess SysoftSandra and Pcmark and Symark (one of them I owned by Intel and artifically raises the P4 scores...I don't remember which one tho) will do the job and you can compare them to newer setups too

 

[Redviffer]

It's always nice to have a good second computer for regular stuff like email, internet, etc. Why don't you keep it as is and build a new one. It won't be too much more, and you get the added reliablilty of having a second working computer if one ever goes out. I've gone the upgrade route many times, but sometimes I find it's easier to just build a whole new box.

 

[Bruck]

I will be getting a graduation present of an apple powerbook. So the idea of a second pc would be served by my laptop.

besides, my girl (whom I live with) has an emachine sitting in the same room. So, keeping this pc would be a waste of many things like

1) cd drive
2) a hd
3) a monitor
4) a power supply
5) a nic card
6) space
7) the money i can get from the compenents if i sell them on the sale/trade forum.


plus a house this small with 2 of us, definately dont need 3 desktops and a laptop... oh and a Tungsten C and an Ipaq.

 

[StraightPipe]

if you want to really strecth this machine consider a vid card, you didnt mention what you have now, and that scares me, if you want higher performance in games thats where to put the money.

one thing to keep in mind is that a PS2 is only 700mhz processor, but it is entirely devoted to games, no OS. plus the GPU is probly pretty big. but the system is dying of old age, and will be replaced by Ps3 in another year or so.

I like the above idea of keeping the old box on hand, I've got a PIII 450 that gets used as a downloading box, plus it's backup storage, and a typewriter. (I put my lady's celeron box in the closet and moved her files to my old box.)

you can even get these switches that let you use one set of keyboard/mouse/monitor/speakers for 2 systems if you wanna save space, or not get another monitor.