AngryBeaver
Junior Member
Wow... so many questions and so few answers. My apologies in advance for the wordiness. My thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.
First I want to say great site and great posts. I've come across a lot of intelligent discussion.
Here's the deal: I intend to build a completely new computer or seriously upgrade mine in the very near future. With all the options out there and the detailed specs that make small but noticable differences to performance I'm a little confused
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I built the system I currently have but I am not up to speed on all the new tech out there.
Current System:
Athlon 750
Asus K7V Slot A
Maxtor 40GB 7600 RPM Hard Drive
Viper II 32 MB Graphics Card (Ouch, what a mistake...)
196 MB PC133 SDRAM (128x1 and 64x1)
SB Live X-Gamer Sound Card
Toshiba 24X CD ROM
300WT Power Supply
Don't know which case I have but it accomodates the ATX board and other stuff just fine
17" ViewSonic PF775 (BTW ViewSonic repair department COMPLETELY SUCKS! I had to send back my broken monitor and one "new" monitor that ended up being "refurbished" they tried to dump on me a total of 4 times - they did pay the shipping after the first time. The refurbished model was sent back both becuase it wasn't new when they said it would be and becuase it didn't work to boot. I know VS has a good rep for their monitors but if you buy one pray it won't break becuase then you are in for some fun waiting and exercises in phone tag. They finally sent me the a truly new one that worked... so I'll keep it till it dies then buy a different brand. Whoa... sorry for going off topic there...)
As I see it here are my options:
1) Keep my current system... learn how to overclock my CPU, maybe add some more RAM, replace the Viper II with a GeForce3 Ti-500 and try that out.
2) Sell my current system intact for a couple hundred bucks and start over.
3) Replace the processor, motherboard, video card, add RAM... probably have a sweet system (for a time at least)
I'm leaning toward the last option. I'd probably get:
Athlon XP 1.4ghz (does not seem worth the extra 50+ bucks to get the 1.53)
Visiontek 64MB GeForce3 Ti-500 (I game a decent amount and feel I should fork out the bucks for the best possible graphics.)
New motherboard - this always gives me fits... i just don't know which one to get
My main problem runs along these lines:
A) The tech changes so fast I worry that the new stuff i get will be old tech in 18 months and I'll have to upgrade again... the old "buy the best" vs. "buy the cheap older stuff and live behind the times" debate
B) The darn motherboard... so many cosiderations and technical differences.
As I mentioned before I am coming to all of you for advice.
Is option 3 the best from your perspective?
Which parts would you recommend for a system? My pockets are not too deep but I'd spend maybe up to $800 on this (though i'd like to keep costs down of course) if I can count on not upgrading again in 18 months. Alas, maybe that's a pipe dream... if so please let me know so that I will get over my aversion to spending so much on the system itself rather than the games and other apps. I've heard 10ghz processors will be available by approx. 2006! Holy majoly!! I almost feel like buying a PS2... almost.
Thanks again.
First I want to say great site and great posts. I've come across a lot of intelligent discussion.
Here's the deal: I intend to build a completely new computer or seriously upgrade mine in the very near future. With all the options out there and the detailed specs that make small but noticable differences to performance I'm a little confused
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I built the system I currently have but I am not up to speed on all the new tech out there.
Current System:
Athlon 750
Asus K7V Slot A
Maxtor 40GB 7600 RPM Hard Drive
Viper II 32 MB Graphics Card (Ouch, what a mistake...)
196 MB PC133 SDRAM (128x1 and 64x1)
SB Live X-Gamer Sound Card
Toshiba 24X CD ROM
300WT Power Supply
Don't know which case I have but it accomodates the ATX board and other stuff just fine
17" ViewSonic PF775 (BTW ViewSonic repair department COMPLETELY SUCKS! I had to send back my broken monitor and one "new" monitor that ended up being "refurbished" they tried to dump on me a total of 4 times - they did pay the shipping after the first time. The refurbished model was sent back both becuase it wasn't new when they said it would be and becuase it didn't work to boot. I know VS has a good rep for their monitors but if you buy one pray it won't break becuase then you are in for some fun waiting and exercises in phone tag. They finally sent me the a truly new one that worked... so I'll keep it till it dies then buy a different brand. Whoa... sorry for going off topic there...)
As I see it here are my options:
1) Keep my current system... learn how to overclock my CPU, maybe add some more RAM, replace the Viper II with a GeForce3 Ti-500 and try that out.
2) Sell my current system intact for a couple hundred bucks and start over.
3) Replace the processor, motherboard, video card, add RAM... probably have a sweet system (for a time at least)
I'm leaning toward the last option. I'd probably get:
Athlon XP 1.4ghz (does not seem worth the extra 50+ bucks to get the 1.53)
Visiontek 64MB GeForce3 Ti-500 (I game a decent amount and feel I should fork out the bucks for the best possible graphics.)
New motherboard - this always gives me fits... i just don't know which one to get
My main problem runs along these lines:
A) The tech changes so fast I worry that the new stuff i get will be old tech in 18 months and I'll have to upgrade again... the old "buy the best" vs. "buy the cheap older stuff and live behind the times" debate
B) The darn motherboard... so many cosiderations and technical differences.
As I mentioned before I am coming to all of you for advice.
Is option 3 the best from your perspective?
Which parts would you recommend for a system? My pockets are not too deep but I'd spend maybe up to $800 on this (though i'd like to keep costs down of course) if I can count on not upgrading again in 18 months. Alas, maybe that's a pipe dream... if so please let me know so that I will get over my aversion to spending so much on the system itself rather than the games and other apps. I've heard 10ghz processors will be available by approx. 2006! Holy majoly!! I almost feel like buying a PS2... almost.
Thanks again.
