Help me spend $300 xmas money !

[MSNY]

Two choices I can think of for upgrades with $300 buks:

1) Upgrade CPU to P3-800 and have $100.00 buks or so left for something else.
2) Wait for the NV20 to come out in early spring, adding to the $300.00 for the difference (if it costs more).

Current system:

P3-650
Inwin 500 Tower, 300 watt PS
BX6-R2 Abit MB
Creative GeForce 32 meg DDR
30 gig Maxtor ATA100 & 8.5 WD drives
256 PC100 Crucial CL2 Ram
Aureal Vortex 2500 sound
HP/CDRW 10 x 4 x 32
Umax 3400 scanner

I upgraded the processor once from a P3-450. Not sure if there would be big difference
to a P3-800 or even worth it now. I do mostly gaming 60% & photo scanner work 40% of my time. I'm very patient to wait for the NV20 but not sure if my overall system will be to slow for it by then ?

Anyone shed some light on the wisdom of either upgrade with my current system ?
Thanks guys I cut teeth on the people in this forum because they are in the "know" !

 

[Stealth1024]

Faster processor would be a good choice. Of course you could save your money for a faster graphics card, however the processor would still be a bottleneck.

 

[axelfox]

I suggest you downgrade to a Celeron 366 that used to run at 550. I have a sloket if you need it

 

[goldboyd]

what o/s are you running? if nt or 2k, you might think about adding some more ram, since you said you do a lot of photo work. If you decide to update the processor, i'd go athlon, you can get a 900 and mobo for about $300

 

[Bignate603]

I would say wait for the nv20 and fiddle with overclocking if you can. I persnaooly think the nv20 will give more of a boost than 150 mhz in clock speed. That is, if this hype is all it's cracked up to be.

 

[oldfart]

Your system is pretty well balanced now. I dont think you would see a whole lot of improvement going up 150 MHz. Maybe just save the money for a larger upgrade down the road.

 

[nippyjun]

You could sell your mobo and chip and get a 1 gig athlon chip and motherboard. The new mobo and chip should be around $300. Then you can sell your old mobo and chip and put that towards the cost of the nv20.

 

[shiznut123]

get a p3700 and overclock it to 1ghz

 

[MSNY]

I'm reading them all...
All good ideas, keep em' comin guys !!

Oh win98 SE OS here...

 

[Oyeve]

Your system is fine. I say buy something fun, like a Sound Blaster Live Platinum 5.1 w/live drive. Or a digital camera, or a bunch of cool games.

 

[bigshooter]

I'd say keep your money for next gen stuff. I would at least wait for NV20 to come out. Your p3-650 is good, thats what i have now, you should see how fast your ram can go though. You should be able to overclock that thing pretty well. My 650 is running at 866 right now, I even had it higher for a while, 975, but i think my pci bus and agp were messed up. So I say overclock and wait for new vid cards.

 

[OverclockMe]

Your system seems pretty kick ass right now, so I say OVERCLOCK then use that 300 towards a huge 21" monitor, i wish i could, or you could sell you HP burner and get that new 16x speed burner but I dont think you need it. Just overclock and be happy!!!!

 

[Lalakai]

if you're serious into gaming, spend some bucks and get a GOOD set of headphones; the old style that completely cover your ears with the fully insulated rigid plastic,.........the old studio style. Even with the best speakers you sometimes miss the smaller sounds that a good set of headphones will pick up. Merge that with the "bone-phones" that lay across your shoulders and chest, allowing the resonance to actually be felt by you. Good set of headphones will run $70-$130, and the bone-phones will run about $60 (kind'a rusty on the bone phone prices so...........)

and what's your chair like??? Perhaps a Boom mouse or good force-feedback joystick???

nice thing about these objects; they don't get obsolete as quick.

 

[Syborg1211]

Yea, I am spending my money on a NICE awesome and comfortable chair or DSL or Cable modem.

 

[SF DUDE]

<< Wait for the NV20 to come out in early spring, adding to the $300.00 for the difference (if it costs more). >>




If it costs more? Uh.....yeah.

 

[DanStp]

Have you tried overclocking your P3? I have my P3 650 running 24/7 at 910 mhz......it will do a little more, just backed it down some At 133 mhz bus speed you would be running at 866? Buy an ALPHA fan and overclock would be my first suggestion.

 

[noxipoo]

aww i thought the choices would be booze or women. or both!

 

[axelfox]

MSNY: Let me emphasize again on my suggestion......:Q

 

[MSNY]

axelfox -

Naw, I don't think so he he

DanStp -

I mildly OC, but my perforance gain seems minimal so I don't risk past 768mzh.

Thanks guys for all your responses. I think I may hold the money for the NV20.
If the benches don't turn out so well, then this will be my new system
&quot;start up fund&quot;....maybe a 1.x or a 2 giger ?

I also like the idea by nippyjun. Something to ponder !

 

[Grminalac]

Hello,
You might not want to make drastic changes, but I would seriously suggest purchasing a new KT-133 motherboard and a new processor.
I was looking around myself and a Aopen KT-133 could be found for around 109 bucks, Also a AMD Thunderbird 1Ghz could be picked up for 199 OEM. This may sound like a drastic change but it makes sense if you think about it.
Spending more money for a faster Intel CPU does not make sense since you already have 256 megs of PC 100 ram, and to really benefit from the higher CPU speeds; around 800 or so, you would need PC133. Which is probably why you didn't see much benefit from the overclocking. I doubt you'd want to scrap the 256 megs since its still pricey, and as i said buying an intel chip running on 100 mhz FSB is pretty pointless.
The AMD on the other hand will make the most out of your current memory and run it at 200DDR giving you a nice increase in memory bandwith. (which would later help the NV20 a good deal) Also a 1Ghz Thunderbird is a very very fast processor.
You could always go for a bit slower processor to save some money. Of course you'd have an extra motherboard CPU that could be sold on an auction site to recoup losses.
I currently an running a P3 733 and I'm considering making this switch myself, since its pretty cheap.
Seriously think about it.
1 ghz and a modern motherboard for 300 isn't a very bad price at all!
EDIT:
I didn't read nippys previous post, he is right, I just further explained it a little.

 

[joeryu]

oc your p3 to over 800, and save up for the NV20. the clap you have is fine for now.

 

[Grminalac]

Sure overclocking would be fine, but its risky, especially in this case. the user never said what type of processor he was running. If he has a old style processor with 512k cache, there is no way it will clock over 800 at least within reason and a 300 dollar budget. Also the ram is a gamble not too many PC100 256 meg sticks reliably do the dance @ 133. sure they boot up and pretend to run, but you get the blue screen sometimes, thats not what I call stable..
Hey, even go for a Athlon 950 for 160 a motherboard for 109, sell your old stuff for a minimun of a 100 bucks and walk away with a few dollars in your pocket and a hardcore system.
Also, many users assume the NV20 will reliably run at overclocked AGP busses, noone can be 100% sure. Since this user is running a BX board he could run into trouble later.

 

[MSNY]

Grminalac -

Your wisdom seems good. I just priced a 1.1ghz AMD Tbird and an Abit KA7 MB (I think?) assembled and tested by TC Computers for just a little over 300 buks. No problem in moving over my current PC100 ram right ? Everything else would be compatible also right ? If I could then sell the Intel setup I have on Eb*y for just $150.00 it sounds darn tempting. Of course I'm not well versed in AMD MB's as my bias has always been Intel stuff. But hey, the worlds is changing and I'm open minded. The only problem is I will then WANT the NV20 for such a system anyways..darn.

Oh I'm running a 650e coppermine...

Yes something to think about and ponder...thanks !!!

 

[Grminalac]

Yeah, that sounds like a good deal. I admit myself i have been biased toward Intel cpus for reliabilty reasons, but basically the reliabilty and speed was due to the fact that the intel chipsets were a lot better than ones offered by other companies, but now that VIA is getting its act together there is no reason why a VIA chipset wouldn be as reliable on a AMD as a Intel. (I'm running a VIA apollo pro on my pentium 3 right now.)
Some people have qualms against abit, but they seem to be a decent maker all around, I am personally looking at pairing a ASUS with a 950, but that 1100 would be a screamer.
In my opinion the NV20 would be more compatible with a newer motherboard than an older one (like you have)
You should have no compatibility using the memory in fact it will work as intended on the 200mhz ddr motherboard.