Help me choose an upgrade path!

[butch84]

Hey there folks, i most likely wouldnt absolutely NEED to upgrade, but thats jes the way i am

Anyhoo, i currently have two systems that are quite powerful (and a lot of other slower stuff). Anyway, those two systems are as follows:

Current Main Rig:
P4 2.53 533fsb
Asus P4P800
1gb micron pc3200 (4x 256)
radeon 9800
340gb hd space


Secondary Rig:
Athlon XP 2500+ @ 3000+ @ default voltage, havent tried higher, multi ocing
768mb pc2700, not matched and thus no good for dual
Abit KD7-S (kt400 mobo)
Geforce 3 (Gainward)
46gb hd space

Now, the question is, what should my upgrade be? Price is definately a factor! It seems my athlon @ 3000+ would be faster than my current p4 system. To save money, would it make sense to move my hard drives and radeon over to the athlon and make that my main box? Would i even notice the performance? Otherwise, i was thinking of getting a 3.0 - 3.2ghz northwood / prescott. Now that prescott reviews are out, it doesnt appear to have any advantages at the same clockspd as northwood, and only shines at higher clocks. Since i only have micron ram, i prolly wont be overclocking much. Would prescott give me any long term advantages? Which would you guys go for?

Overall, which option is best? Athlon rig, new northwood, or prescott (the last two using my current mobo and ram, etc etc obviously)..

Thanks guys,

Butch84

EDIT: I had a poll, and i deleted it. How do i get it back / make a new one? Or must i start a new thread?

 

[mrweirdo]

I would go for the northwood

 

[RaymondY]

Worth considering the AMD Athlon 64 3000+

 

[butch84]

Yea, i was thinking about the A64, but i really dont want to invest in a new motherboard. On top of that, I really want HT, because while my cpu is prolly not holding me back by a huge amount in games, im not happy with my multitasking performance.


Any other thoughts guys?

 

[Alex]

lol tahts awesome i wish i had that problem, having 2 amazing rigs and want to upgrade...

im an amd guy but the northwood has more upside if you dont wnt to change your mobo

 

[EmoshBZ]

I would get an Intel 2.6c (800 mhz) and overclock the hell out of it!!

 

[butch84]

thats tempting, but i dont think my micron (crucial) memory @ cas 3 would be that great for overclocking ....

 

[Farmer]

This is just a suggestion, but I hardly think your system(s) needs any upgrading.

In any case, I'd say wait for socket 939 A64s and new chipsets that take advantage of all of A64's features (along with a 64-bit windows, if you are a windows user), or wait for higher clocked Prescotts. Either way, I my opinion, is better than upgrading right now (since these computers without an upgrade can probably last a year or two more before becoming completely outdated.)

And for an A64, you will definitely need RAM that is rated for cas 2.

 

[dullard]

I don't see anything that will buy you a noticible speed change without costing an arm and a leg. Therefore my suggestion is to go donate plasma (twice), add that money to the amount you were willing to spend, then come back in a few weeks and bump this thread. Otherwise, just stay as you are.

 

[EmoshBZ]

Well in that case I would wait till summer for an upgrade. You can save up more money till then and prices will be cheaper for current procs of course.

 

[MrRobercik]

seems like you just want to blow some money... there's nothing wrong with your comps, anything you upgrade will not make any major improvement.. get yourself some decent clothes and maybe a date ...