Could someone give me some upgrade suggestions?

[Ime]

I am going to be upgrading my existing system in the next couple of weeks, and was hoping for some helpful hints on what to get. I got the system below about 18 months ago, and am looking to upgrade it to something that will go another 18 months. I have no ISA hardware in the box, and am an avid game player (I just gotta see Tribes 2 and Black & White running with all the bells and whistles). While money isn't a big concern, I'd like to keep it below the cost of buying a brand new system. Here's my current config:

Mobo: MS-6167 (MSI)
CPU: Athlon 500mhz (Slot A)
RAM: 128MB PC100
Hard Drives: 30GB/UDMA-66 5400RPM, 40GB/UDMA-66 5400RPM
CD-ROM: 12x DVD-ROM, 4/2/16x CD-RW
Video: GeForce 256 SDR
Sound: SB Live! Value
NIC: Linksys
Modem: Generic PCI WinModem

I've already decided on a couple of things. I'm buying a VisionTek GF3 card, and I'm keeping my CD-ROM's (I do all my CD burning at work, anyway). I am looking for suggestions for Mobo/RAM/CPU combo's, as well as whether or not I should consider swapping out my HD's for faster ones. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[w74656]

1.33 AXIA T-Bird
256MB PC2100 RAM
MSI K7T266 Pro

 

[clockhar]

Hm ... I love trying to help out people's boxes. Anyway, my suggestion would be 1.2-1.3 GHZ T-Bird (of course), an MSI, abit, Asus or Iwill board w/ KT266 chipset. To go w/ the KT266 chipset, you need DDR RAM. So go for 256 MB of PC 2100 (266 speed). Oh yea, make sure you get a T-Bird w/ 266 FSB (to compliment your RAM). Anything else?

 

[nortexoid]

Soyo K7VTA-Pro kt133a chipset, T-bird 1.133Ghz

i consider those the best/bang for buck high-performance mobo/cpu...mobo has all essential o/c features and memory tweaks.
that cpu should o/c just as well as any 1.33ghz as well...then again, so will 1ghz AXIA chips, so....
also, u could probably still use your pc100 at pc133 (though Cas3 w/out 4-way interleaving enabled)...otherwise, pc133 is cheap, and ddr isn't worth the money yet (perhaps ever).

use those 70GB of hdd space for backup - buy a single small and fast 7200rpm drive for apps (i.e. fujitsu MPG3xxxAH series 20gb platter drive - come in 20gb, 40gb and maybe 30gb sizes)..mad quiet too (fluid dyanmci bearing)...

 

[benjamit]

a faster chip, more mem or faster mem and certainly faster drives
just faster drives would have a difference
but since you are a gamer a faster cd rom would be good

 

[nortexoid]

the kt266 chpset is a piece of crap at the moment...or at least the implementation of it is.

 

[clockhar]

Its the best implementation of a DDR chipset so far ... unless u can find a board w/ AMD chipset. But then again, who knows how long they will support that (since it is a short term fix)
Besides right now the KT266 is doing OK. A few BIOS upgrades and it will be fine.

 

[Mytv]

Everything depends on your hard drive so make that your biggest investment. Like a maxtor 7200 rpm series HD or better

 

[Whitedog]

Well, I'm TOTAllY surprised no one told you to get a New video card!

Geforce SDR is totally outdated compare to GTS or Ultra.

I'd suggest a New Mobo + GHz or more Tbird.
256 Megs of SDR (use the old ram for 384 megs)
and MOST CERTAINLY a Geforce2 GTS.

You would have MORE frame rate just putting a GTS in your current setup than you would getting a 1.3 gig system with the old SDR vid card.

Everyone knows the video card is the bottle neck when you get up into the ghz cpu's.

All your drives look fine to me, and they Certainly aren't anything that's going to slow you down very much at all.

 

[nortexoid]

whtiedog - probably because he stated that he's getting a gf3 visiontek card for sure...

i forgive u - i often don't read the totality of psots.

 

[nortexoid]

oh yeah, i'd take the ali magik over the via ddr chipset...

a couple bios updates will fix it?...haha...hopefully anyway.

 

[mikefromwa]

get rid of those bottleneck drives and use em for mass storage, get a fast drive for boot/os!

 

[Axolotl]

Well... All this about faster disks. No way, not for games. It would make so little difference.

I have done many upgrades and always bit by bit so I think I know what is a good upgrade. My new HDD sped up sound stuff and recording video but games did not see any difference. My 900MHz Duron was a great upgrade, as was an extra 128MB memory. Few things to consider... Looking at the reviews, graphics cards do not need the support of VERY fast processors - I would get an Athlon with a garantee to overclock... Try a 1.0 to 1.2 or something... I'd say no to DDR memory. GF3 should rock. Make sure you go to over 200MB RAM though. My 900 runs consistently on Black and White and never jerks... Not as smooth as my friends machine but I'm using a standard Rage Fury with 16MB RAM... He has a 128MB P3 866MHz with a 32MB GF2 MX... Fast graphics card good but memory needed to back it up. Try these before the processor... May decide to leave that for now. A good keyboard and mouse will help your satisfaction as well. I use an optical MS mouse and it is wonderful. I love my IBM keyboard as well. The little things help so much.

If you can find anyone willing to give you a few bucks for the Sound Blaster Live, you might want to consider the 5.1 version as you have DVD...

That will do for now...