Move to P3 or replace mobo? Which video compliments it?

[bluemax]

Okay, for starters, this is what I have:

Celeron 300A @ 450 (100% stable for almost two years now!)
ABIT BH6 1.01
128MB PC-100 (2x64)
SB Live Value 2.0 (expendable, I suppose)
SB AWE32 *ISA* (not necessary, but I do run occasional DOS stuff)
Voodoo5 AGP (willing to sell this and move to a "better" card if recommended...)


Now then, what I'd like to move to!

Option 1!
Keep BH6 and replace CPU with P3 or Celeron2
P3-600 Slot1 will cost about $200 Canadian.

Option 2! (which I'm leaning towards)
Sell BH6 + 450A and PC-100 RAM for $xxx (I'd say about $200 CDN?)
Replace with Duron/Tbird + mobo + Pc-133 for about $325-350 CDN

Another option:
Sell Voodoo5 and replace with something "better" like a Radeon LE... something with a better "future"... something I won't want to replace for some time, but still won't break the bank!
Must compliment a Duron/Tbird setup!

What Duron/Tbird mobo gets the best recommendation? RAID not wanted.
I'm thinking MSI for a motherboard.... No ABIT. :Q

 

[JohnnyTT]

If you can sell your stuff, then definitely go with the better setup. But as for the video card, I would wait a little longer. If your looking to save money, wait for the Geforce3 to come out, because it will cause all vid card prices to drop.

1. Instead of the Radeon LE, why not go for Radeon 32ddr and overclock to normal. You can find those pretty cheap.

2. Wait for the Hercules Kyro II to come out in a month.

3. Stick with what you've got and see what's better in your range after the GF3 comes out. I would do this one since you obviously aren't into intense gaming.

 

[TravisBickle]

if you can sell your base stuff, then do, you're better off that way.
you are a very fickle boy, you only just got a V5.
Radeon is same generation, flakey... if you're going to sell the V5 get real and change up to another gen like KyroII or geforce3. what's that guff about a future? the Radeon is obsolete already, technology is moving on.

 

[MGMorden]

Radeon may be outdated (of course by your logic so is the Geforce 2 Ultra), but it's not obsolete. People have just gotten way too liberal with that term. I don't even consider a P75 obselete yet.

 

[bozack]

you have almost the same setup that I did.

my old system

abit bh6 1.02
128 pc 100 (2x64mb sticks)
Celeron 300a @ 450
V3 2k
Sb live value
10/100 netgear nic


what I did in the past few months

P3 650
256 mb pc 133 crucial
32mb DDR radeon

the radeon provided the biggest performance boost out of everything I did. I have been considering getting either a new board (abit sh6)or get a kt7a with a t-bird 850 - 1000, right now I think I am leaning towards just selling all my stuff (mobo and cpu and left over ram) and getting the t-bird setup, less money and more performance, the intel option is always there and I like it because building an intel system is cake, the only worry that I have is that the t-bird system wont work with my rather pricey fortron source 300w powersupply.

if I were you I would keep you v5 since that is a nice card for now, the radeon is nice if your running 98se but from what I hear bad for 2000.

a p3 or celeron 2 option would be the cheapest of all, and if your looking at saving money then this is your best route since the board with the latest bios will support many cpus that abit does not officially support, however one thing that irked me was that the cpu mounts on the older models do not correctly work with the secc2 processors and you either have to live with being extra gentle with your tower if you move it or you have to pull out the whole board anyway and pay ten bucks for new mounts, in my opinion the work and the pita is not worth it, would rather get a whole new board.

whatever you chose good luck, it is a tough choice.

 

[bluemax]

If I'm going to replace my BH6, I'm going for a duron or Tbird. Plain and simple. Should work fine with my Voodoo5, right?
More CPU speed will really bring out the best in this ol' wonder!

 

[oldfart]

I upgraded a friends PC a month or so ago. The system was a few years old and getting tired. The old system specs:
BH6 rev 1.0
Cel 300A @ 450
128 meg PC100
Matrox G100 AGP
Voodoo2 12 meg
ESS PCI sound
6.4 gig 5400 rpm HD

He didn't want a new mobo and wanted to keep his PC 100 ram. I upgraded it to:
BH6 rev 1.0
PIII 800e @ 824 (103 FSB)
Radeon LE 32 meg reg hacked and clocked to 180 MHz
128 meg PC100
128 meg PC133 total 256
ESS PCI sound
20 gig 7200 rpm HD

The upgrade worked out well, and he is quite happy with the improved system. The slot1 PIII fit just fine. You are better off to start than he was with the V5 card.

 

[bozack]

the v5 should work fine, the only things that might be a problem are the power supply and the sound card, however i heard those sound card issues were disappearing.

personally if I were you I would give serious thought to getting rid of the bh6 and just getting a new setup, you will be better off in the long run, my system just doens't like usb that much which is why it annoys me.