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Help me plan my upgrade path. (other views wanted)

N

nebula

Golden Member
This is what I have currently:

XP1800+ OC is in my sig
Mushkin 512 PC2700
MSI KT4 Ultra (KT400 chipset)

I want to add some more ram. I was thinking of getting PC3200 so when 400FSB CPUs get cheap I can upgrade to that. Of course then my PC2700 would be kind of useless. I know cost of PC3200 is about the same as PC2700 but for arguments sake. Therefore, do I just add some PC2700 now, then either get new ram for the 400FSB CPU or just skip that step and wait to upgrade to Athlon64?

I guess if I get PC3200 now, then I would only have to replace one stick. This seems to be the logical choice right now, then decide on A64 or not later, but I just want to hear what others think.

What kind of memory do the Athlon64s use? I haven't done much reading on them yet.

Thanks!
 
I dont see why you need more than 512mb of Ram as it is plenty enough for 99% of things.

You can run Athlon 64 or Athlon FX at DDR200, 333, 400

You can read the perfomance hit here:

Athlon 64/FX has Arrived Review

It would be more cost effective to leave the RAM you have and spend the extra $100 towards a faster videocard, hard drive or CPU. Also Mushkin is a great overclockers ram and perhaps you can take the 2700 to 3200 speeds.

 
Wait for a new system. When PCI-E mobos and graphic cards come out, then move in for the kill.
 
The future of the Athlon-64 and Prescott is DDR-II... so don't plan on keeping your RAM more than a year before it becomes obsolete. I'd simply upgrade to an XP2500 for now... and possibly an nForce2 motherboard to overclock it to about XP3200 speeds. But the Athlon-64 is too new right now to get unless you have lots of money to spare on a regular basis and don't mind upgrading every 6 months... which by the look of your rig, you don't do that =)
 
Everything that has been said so far is good advice. Computers are going to change significantly this year. I wouldn't buy now with the thought of holding parts for future upgrades. If you need more speed buy something that will increase the speed of your current system wherever you feel it is lacking (e.g., video card, processor, etc. -- probably not RAM in your case). If you don't need more speed now, this is a better time to wait than most, and like VIAN says it would be good to save your money for a hot new system with a new motherboard, a new case (which the new motherboard may require), a new generation video card, DDR-II, etc.
 
At this point if you want to upgrade, buy off the for sale/trade forum from someone reputable. I'd get an nforce 2 ultra 400 chipset board and maybe some pc3200 and sell what I had.

That's if you really need to upgrade. Why did I say that? Everyone adores new toys

but the above advice is really wisest - I'd have a hard time following it though shopper that I am
 
In the computer world its always a bad time to buy something. Accept for late 2002, that was a good time to buy a really new system. But who can predict these weird random patterns. Unless you know much math. So If your gonna buy something, buy something.
 
Originally posted by: VIAN
In the computer world its always a bad time to buy something. Accept for late 2002, that was a good time to buy a really new system. But who can predict these weird random patterns. Unless you know much math. So If your gonna buy something, buy something.
Click to expand...

Why what was so special about Late 2002??
 
What happened in 2003? Nothing.

In late 2002...

the 9700 Pro was released, Athlon XP 2800+ was released, P4 3.06 was released.

If you bought a system with any of these processor and a 9700 Pro - you still have a kick ass system. There is no reason to upgrade. Normally, a system would be totally outdone in a years time.

In 2002 AMD went from the 2000+ to the 2800+. In 2003 AMD went from the 2800+ to the 3200+.
In 2002 Intel went from the 2.4 to the 3.06. In 2003 Intel went from the 3.06 to the 3.2.
In 2003 ATI released the 9800 XT which is only a maximum of of 10 frames more powerful than the 9700 Pro. And its still run on the same generation architecture as the 9700 Pro. A 2 year card is amazing. The Ti 4600 card started to die last year after being barely a year old performing badly in many games.

CPU's only increased half the speed that they increased in 2002. A graphics card that usually lasts one year is going on 2 and remaining strong.
 
You don't need to upgrade anything. Your memory should be enough for 99% of everyday use. Your processor is fine. 1800+ @ 2 ghz at 1.55v. That's plenty and that processor still has more left. Barton wouldn't do you any good. Your motherboard is fine too. You're not going to feel any real world speed difference in upgrading to Nforce2 board.
 
Well thanks for all the ideas. I was feeling that my system was sluggish when I was doing many things simultaneously, burning, encoding, etc., mainly when I was browsing directories. So I was thinking 256mb more may help. But just yesterday, I disabled a couple of unneeded XP services, Auto Update, System Restore, and probably the most important, the Indexing Service. I also made sure Indexing was turned off for every drive, now things seem much snappier! My system doesn't seem slow to me other than that one thing was annoying me.

I agree that I don't think a 2500 would buy me much. If I OC'ed that to 2.2GHz, that's not much more than where I am now and I haven't even tried to push my chip, my temps are reasonable (42C load) so I have some headroom.

I think I'm convinced to save the ~$50 and use it toward a DVD burner and media.

Thanks for the discussion!
 
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