Best Upgrade path

[thatguyant]

I've just recently upgraded from my XP1800 that I won in the AMD giveawy a few years back, and after reading up on all new "goodies" available (gosh.. whappened to the good old days of Athlon, Duron, Pentium, and Celeron with only 1 core for each... lol now each new cpu version has not only several cores but also different sockets!!! geesh) I'm unsure of the next upgrade path I should take. This is my current system.

NF7-S v2
AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton 1.8@2.2 (3200+ speeds)
Speeze Falconrock II
2X516 Patriot PC3200 @ 2-2-3-5
XFX Nvidia FX5700 Ultra
WD 250 GB HD
NEC 2500 8X DVD +/-
Enlight mid tower with Enlight 300W PSU

The cpu is running at 49 C idle and about 56 C load (is that too high?).

I love the jump in performance from my previous XP setup, but it still lags a little behind in LOTR battle for middle earth. I'm really unsure of the upgrade path I should take from here. I know that there are many people still running on socket A platforms and are loving it. Here are some of the likely scenerio's that I've come up with. In the end if I do upgrade this current system will replace my lil bro's PIII setup as a graduation present.

1. upgrade cpu to higher end barton so I don't need to overclock (theoretically expanding the life of the cpu.

2. upgrade gfx card to Nvidia 6600GT

3. upgrade chipset to socket 758 AMD 64 3000+ combo

4. upgrade chipset to socket 939 AMD 64 combo (don't know of a good speed to start w/)

Lastly if someone could recommend a good case/psu combo for the new setup (if it's necessary) that would be awesome.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'd say if you're going to change either the CPU or the Videocard, you'd notice a bigger difference jumping from a 5700 to a 6600gt than you'd notice going from an AXP @3200+ to an A64 3000+.

I wouldn't buy a new barton if I were you. You have a very nice overclock going. If it dies, I wouldn't put any more money into a socket A setup.

A new powersupply would probably be a good idea too.

If you're getting both a case and powersupply, Antec makes some nice combos. A sonata would be very nice, or you could get something cheaper too.

If your case has decent ventilation, you could just get a new powersupply. The XClio 450watt at newegg for $53 is a nice one.

 

[biostud]

Definately change the video card to a 6600GT. Then your system is balanced. The current video card is the bottleneck. Otherwise I would save my money.

 

[AristoV300]

Upgrade the Video Card is a good price upgrade. Only other choice is going socket 939 but then you are going to have to upgrade a whole lot of items in your rig.

 

[The Green Bean]

Originally posted by: biostud
Definately change the video card to a 6600GT. Then your system is balanced. The current video card is the bottleneck. Otherwise I would save my money.

 

[uOpt]

Uh, the AMD64 3000+ will rarely be any faster than the XP 3200+, if at all. These AMD designations are not totally off.

Video card upgrade if you want to game.

If you only have a about $300 to spend there is no other way.

 

[shoRunner]

the amd64 will be faster in almost situation in gaming, and in most cases signficantly.

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2275&p=10

 

[eggrole1]

the only downside i see to getting a 6600, is that you would have to get an AGP one. THis could prove to be nothing if you get a whole new system in a year or so (including video card), or it could be bad if you decide to jump on a new mobo/cpu that uses pci-e. If you are planning to run this guy a while, just get the AGP 6600 though, if you upgrade in the future, you can always sell the AGP and get a "current" PCI-e.

 

[thatguyant]

I think I might be leaning more towards the 6600gt, but I didn't realize there was that much of a performance gap between a 3200XP and an athlon 64 3000.

I'm also looking at the super lanboy case as I'm running stable now, but my case does tend to get a little hot.

 

[imported_Kensai]

OPtion 4.

 

[Zimdesign]

Well it all depends on how much money you want to spend and how much time before the next upgrade. Moving to a new platform is ideal but will definitely cost you. The new video card will be the biggest bang-for-buck upgrade, but as eggrole1 said, the AGP 6600GT will not fit in your next rig.

 

[ixelion]

Get the Athlon 64 3000+ and you can OC it to 3500+ very easily, so it's worth it imho.

Also forget the 6600GT, go all the way with a 6800GT or an x800 XL.