Help with upgrade decision

[shakmasta]

I have a kt3 ultra2 mobo and have 2 X 512 memory now. There are only 3 dimm slots on the board and I was wondering if it is advisable to put another 512 dimm in the 1 remaining slot? Will this help, hurt or do nothing to my performance?

I currently have a Athlon xp 2500+ I am thinking of upgrading to a xp 3000+.

I am specifically wondering if it will help run games like battlefield 2 and half life 2?

I also have a geforce 6800 GT video card.

If I had to chose, which would be better to increase performance, the cpu upgrade or adding 512 ram to increase to 1.5 gigs? Would both be even better?
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[Bucks]

I think you would find the most improvement if you just bought a new S939 motherboard and an AMD Venice 3200+ and keep your existing ram and perhaps sell you agp 8600 for a PCI-e version. Going from a 2500 -> 3000 won't be that significant. If you are going with AMD now-a-days, it would be foolish not to get an A64The ram would help in BF2, but I think if you just kept your 1gig and had an all around better system (A64) then you will get the most improvement

 

[shakmasta]

unfortunately, that kind of upgrade is not in the budget. I wish. I need to maximize with the system I have now. I have about $150 to improve. I can probably do both memory and cpu with that budget, but I am wondering if one is better than the other or if both would help together.

Thanks for the suggestion. Again I wish I could but not now.

 

[kitkat22]

If what bucks comment won't work for you, I would add the RAM first.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

I don't think adding to the 1GB of ram is going to add much. 1GB ram should be fine for your setup. The 6800GT is probably waiting on the CPU. I do agree that it's not much of a CPU upgrade. An XP 3200+ might be more of an improvement. You may be able to find a retail version in your price range.

 

[shakmasta]

The problem with upgrading the cpu is that the bios will only accept up to a 3000+xp, I can't go to the 3200+. I will check with MSI to see if there is a BIOS update that lets me move to a 3200+ but I have doubts they have upgraded the bios.

I checked the bios and the last time it was updated was 2003. I got the latest so the highest I can go up is 3000+.

 

[Fern]

I don't think that mobo will get to FSB 200. I have one but can't say I've checked. That said, it does have vcore, FSB and multi adjustments in the BIOS under "Frequency/Voltage Control" section.

Somebodies using the PC now and I can't check what parameters are offered.

My manual says FSB up to 133, but don't know if it'll get 166 (guess it does if you've got a 2500+ in there unless it's underclocked). Anyway, I believe you cound drop a mobile XP chip and jack up the multi. Just pull up your BIOS and see how high the multi can be adjusted. If you can get to at least a multi of 13 or 14 you'll have approximatley the equivlent of a 3200+. FSB 166 X 13 multi = 2.158 ghz, or 166 X 14 = 2.324 ghz. The XP 3200+ is at 2.2ghz.

You might wanna OCing your 2500, most of those will reach 3000+ speeds anyway. Even with stock cooloing. If your 2500 is older than say week 39 of 2003, it's multi is likely unlocked like the mobile XP and you'll have a better chance of a good OC.

You can see the date of manufacture in the stepping codes if you wrote them down b4 installing it.

If you wanna OC the 2500 might wanna make sure this mobo has a n AGP/PCI bus lock, but shouldn't be neccessary with the mobile @ 166FSB

Fern

 

[Hacp]

Just get an extra stick of 512. Will def help in the future, when games need more ram like BF2 does.

 

[GuileVsGuile]

get some decent cooling and overclock your cpu...i'd say that'd be the most economical option. Cause if you're not overclocking that 2500 already and you wanna upgrade to a 3000 and still not overclock, you might as well just overclock the 2500 and you can get the performance of a non-overclocked 3000...hope that wasn't too confusing.