Motherboard Upgrade?

[dapellegrini]

Quick question for everyone up on the hardware scene:

I am currently running a budget system:

AMD Athlon XP 1700+
ECS K75SA 1.0 MotherBoard
512MB 2100 DDR Crucial RAM
GeForce FX 5600 (Palit Daytona)

I am frustrated and sick of my ECS board, and would like to get back to ASUS or ABIT, but again, am low on funds... I am considering the following:

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe - $60 Refurb
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton", 333 FSB, 512K Cache (Possibly OC to 3000??) - $81
Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - $88

My question is, how significant would this upgrade be (would it be worth the $229 that I would be putting into it) from my current system? Or seeing as the Athlon XP is on the way out, would it be better to wait until the 64's come down in price and look at getting a low/mid end board (nForce3) in maybe 6 months?

Thanks in advance.

 

[mechBgon]

What will you be using the system for, where are you looking for a return on your money? Gaming, encoding, or what?

 

[jpeyton]

ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe - $60 Refurb <----This is a good board. Not bad for the price.
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton", 333 FSB, 512K Cache (Possibly OC to 3000??) - $81 <----This is the only mistake. Get a Athlon XP-M "Mobile Barton" 2500+ from Newegg, about $88 bucks last time I checked. They overclock much better than the regular desktop 2500+. If you have a good heatsink, you'll probably end up with a chip rated between 3200+ and 3400+, which is significantly faster than your current 1700+.
Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - $88 <----Good RAM too.

However, if you're gaming, it would be wiser to wait until you can afford a graphics card update. That will be the weak point in your system.

 

[dapellegrini]

I game from time to time... Mostly weekends... GTA Vice City, PoP, and recently Far Cry. Computer is also used for coding, Photoshop, Illustrator and various work related apps. Running Win XP...

It was Far Cry and Splinter Cell2 that prompted a lot of my frustration with my current setup... Perhaps the bottleneck is bigger with my Video Card?

 

[jpeyton]

Yeah I think so. Looking at this, even if you had an A64 3200+, your card would only get 20FPS in FarCry Demo001 at 1024x768.

 

[Jiggz]

You can probably find a cheaper mobo/CPU combo price on the For Sale/Trade section . Most cost less than $100.00. As for the Video Card you might want to try something better if you're using it for gaming.

 

[Blain]

You've got some big needs for such a tight budget. But here's what I'd do until more funds rolled in...

* Buy a good OCing NF2 MB.
* 1700+ T-bred CPUs are good OC'rs. Keep it and OC. 1700+ Palaminos aren't bad OC'rs either. Maybe keep it.
* After assembling the 1700+ and new MB, try and see how far the 512mb Crucial PC2100 will let it go.

You say what kind of cooling you're using. You'd need good cooling to get the 1700+ very high.

Like my sig says, I try and find the biggest bang for the buck! No reason to spend $$ if you don't have to.

 

[dapellegrini]

If I looked at upgrading my video card, what is the best bang for the buck? My FX5600 runs relatively smoothly with Vice City and PoP... Though I guess it could be better (crank the AA and AF up a bit, and maybe the resolution to 12x10)... Was actually thinking that a better MB and CPU might give it enough kick...

I spent a lot of money in the past keeping current with hardware, through TNT2 Ultra days... After that I started to get a little bit more conservative with my computer budget, with a family and all... The FX 5600, I got for $100 from NewEgg back in December as an upgrade from my GeForce 2 GTA card, because it was the best priced dx9 card available at the time... I am relatively unfamiliar with all of the new video card hardware...

Thanks a lot for all of your advice!

Dan