Expertise Needed

[Trigger Aurelius]

Okay, after searching and trying to sift through the endless topics on these boards I think I at least know the right questions to ask -- maybe, maybe not.

Anyways, I'm doing some upgrading on my system (2 yrs old) as I'd don't want to do a complete overhaul yet. Would like another year out of my current rig until next years tax check. Just looking for some pointers/suggestions -- I only know enough to make me dangerous.

Current System
Asus P4PE -- 845 Chipset
P4 2.4B -- 533 FSB
1 Gig of PC2700 Kingston (2X512MB)
9600 Pro
120 Gig HD
Stock PS -- raidmax 350 I think

Nothing's OC'd, just haven't had a reason too I guess. I just bought a BFG 6800NU and should recieve it tomorrow -- hoping that will buy me another year and I'll see some improvement in the graphics dept. I do a lot of gaming -- mainly BF1942, but have DOOM3, HL2, and Farcry but hate playing on low settings. Hopefully the 6800 will take care of that.

Anyway, any suggestions or areas that I'm really lacking in? Have a few bucks to spend if it's cost effective -- just don't want to get crazy. I've seen references to dual channel for the P4, but I'm pretty sure the 845 chipset doesn't support that. Would a mobo upgrade be worth it?

Anyway, thanks in advance for your thoughts -- I have tried searching but haven't had any luck with my specific setup. Thanks again

 

[wisdomtooth]

At the very least, change the motherboard.

The i845 supports only AGP 4x IIRC, and no dual-channel. Get yourself something like an Abit IS7 (i865) or IC7 (i875), your P4 2.4B should work on those boards. The i865 and i875 boards are AGP 8x and have dual-channel.

Also get yourself a Thermalright XP90 heatsink, and you might be able to overclock that 2.4B to well over 3gHz.

You should be able to score a used IC7 pretty cheap these days (check the FS/FT forum) and a Thermalright XP90 shouldn't cost more than $40-50 with a good fan (and you can still use it with better CPUs like the Athlon64s in the future).

I would also upgrade the PSU to something better and quieter, but it's not quite as urgent as the other items.

HTH!

 

[airfoil]

While its not going to be the fastest around, it will probably be enough to survive on until the dual cores come out. You're going to be the one who decides though.

Also, you've severely limited your upgrade path by buying that 6800NU - AGP is on its way out, so your next rig is probably going to use a PCI-e slot.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

There is a possibility that that 6800 will not function properly with the P4PE, myself and another guy here have had difficulty with power hungry 8x cards in that board in the past. My 5800U wouldn't even boot and his x800XT didn't run properly despite several bios revisions and some tweaks and driver changes. Even if it runs perfectly I'd still grab a dual channel board and overclock, all 3 of the 2.4Bs I had did 2.8-3ghz and with dual channel should help reduce the bottleneck while keeping upgrade cost very low.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: airfoil
While its not going to be the fastest around, it will probably be enough to survive on until the dual cores come out. You're going to be the one who decides though.

Also, you've severely limited your upgrade path by buying that 6800NU - AGP is on its way out, so your next rig is probably going to use a PCI-e slot.

Actually Sapphire is releasing the fastest ATI cards in AGP shortly so there is life yet in AGP

 

[Blain]

You could just upgrade items that you can use in the future.
A quality PS and case would be a nice base to build off of later.

 

[airfoil]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: airfoil
While its not going to be the fastest around, it will probably be enough to survive on until the dual cores come out. You're going to be the one who decides though.

Also, you've severely limited your upgrade path by buying that 6800NU - AGP is on its way out, so your next rig is probably going to use a PCI-e slot.

Actually Sapphire is releasing the fastest ATI cards in AGP shortly so there is life yet in AGP

That is good to know - but would you want to be shopping for a motherboard in a year's time with an expensive AGP card in tow? I'm guessing there aren't going to be too many chipset options to choose from.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: airfoil
That is good to know - but would you want to be shopping for a motherboard in a year's time with an expensive AGP card in tow? I'm guessing there aren't going to be too many chipset options to choose from.

You could be very wrong in that guess though. For precedent, observe how long ISA support lasted. I think we will continue to see AGP solutions offered so long as they sell well. Add the fact that hypertransport is very flexible so you can have PCIe and AGP on the same board and I doubt AGP support will be totally lacking in a years' time. Sapphire makes mainboards too, so perhaps the will support the cards with ATI based chipsets themselves? Anywho, he will be able to grab a used 3ghz+ P4 for cheap next year that can hit 3.4-3.6ghz and drop it in his new board, and with a 6800 would be plenty of gaming power for a couple years as long as you don't demand 16x12 or higher res and/or high AA/AF, and judging by the fact he made it 2yrs with his current setup, he certainly doesn't

Myself, I have a dual opteron with 6600GT system and I'd just drop in a used 6800U or X850 and a couple of used 250s for cheap down the road and be happy Not everyone is still infected with bleeding edge upgrade fever, I got better and intend to stay that way! :beer:

 

[Trigger Aurelius]

Thanks for the replies guys. I got the 6800NU for $210 shipped to me off of the FS/FT threads -- didn't want to go PCI-E yet since that would have meant a complete overhaul. Plus I figure I can get a few bucks out of my 9600 Pro to help offset some of that cost.

I've only ever ran 1024X768 but would like to try something a little higher -- just got a nice 19" CRT so I'll have to experiment. I've also never turned on the AA/AF, so don't know what I'm missing yet -- hope to find out here shortly.

Thanks again

 

[Ausm]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
There is a possibility that that 6800 will not function properly with the P4PE, myself and another guy here have had difficulty with power hungry 8x cards in that board in the past. My 5800U wouldn't even boot and his x800XT didn't run properly despite several bios revisions and some tweaks and driver changes. Even if it runs perfectly I'd still grab a dual channel board and overclock, all 3 of the 2.4Bs I had did 2.8-3ghz and with dual channel should help reduce the bottleneck while keeping upgrade cost very low.

Even if you have an ample power supply?

Ausm

 

[amdskip]

I would personally change your power supply out first. I wouldn't want my expensive equipment fried by a $5 power supply.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Ausm
Even if you have an ample power supply?

Ausm

I was using a true430 with it, the other guy had a good PSU, I don't remember exactly which one now, but when he bought a new board as I suggested, problems vanished. Put the card in a nF2 boxen with true330 I had and it ran perfect, ran perfect with the true430 on another rig later too. Voltage signaling issues aren't unheard of so I suspect we both had one.

 

[Zepper]

Looks fine to me. The only way you might need more RAM is for specialized applications.

.bh.