Component choices are always difficult, especially since there is always something better out there beyond our means. Obviously most of us are in your shoes. The trick is to set a budget and maximize performance within that budget. A word about overclocking: Several years from now, your PC will start to feel slow. At that point, when your components are "aging", and you don't care as much about their well-being, you will most likely attempt overclocking.
Athlon Venice and X2 chips seem to be overclocking wonders. Most people need do nothing more than adjust the FSB in the bios to get those chips to perform at least one grade up. No voltage adjustments, no extra cooling. Therefore, the component lifetime is not really decreased (worst case scenario, you take away several months from the chip's 5-year lifetime).
My Venice 3000+ is now running as 3800+ for a year. No problems at all. I've read numerous reliable accounts of X2 3800+ running as X2 4400+ and 4600+. I don't know about you, but getting the performance of a $550 chip for $295 warms my heart.
There is one caveat: Your RAM must be able to support that FSB increase. That's not to say that you need to blow >$200 on RAM. My suggestion of Corsair XMS was merely an example. There is plenty others (e.g. OCZ, Mushkin). You need a reputable manufacturer. Also, if you want ultimate assurance, just get RAM rated higher than DDR400 (PC3200) -- e.g. DDR433 (PC3500), DDR466 (PC4000). The prices are virtually the same. I promise you that the extra $20-30 that you will spend of better quality RAM will go a long way.
The video card upgrade for Vista will be warranted for 2 reasons: 1. Home Theater PC (Media Center) outputs to HDTVs will require a card to support HDCP (content protection); 2. Direct-X 10 standard compliance. I feel bad for people who have just invested in 7800 GTXs or X1900's.
That's my two cents. I hope it helps.
Athlon Venice and X2 chips seem to be overclocking wonders. Most people need do nothing more than adjust the FSB in the bios to get those chips to perform at least one grade up. No voltage adjustments, no extra cooling. Therefore, the component lifetime is not really decreased (worst case scenario, you take away several months from the chip's 5-year lifetime).
My Venice 3000+ is now running as 3800+ for a year. No problems at all. I've read numerous reliable accounts of X2 3800+ running as X2 4400+ and 4600+. I don't know about you, but getting the performance of a $550 chip for $295 warms my heart.
There is one caveat: Your RAM must be able to support that FSB increase. That's not to say that you need to blow >$200 on RAM. My suggestion of Corsair XMS was merely an example. There is plenty others (e.g. OCZ, Mushkin). You need a reputable manufacturer. Also, if you want ultimate assurance, just get RAM rated higher than DDR400 (PC3200) -- e.g. DDR433 (PC3500), DDR466 (PC4000). The prices are virtually the same. I promise you that the extra $20-30 that you will spend of better quality RAM will go a long way.
The video card upgrade for Vista will be warranted for 2 reasons: 1. Home Theater PC (Media Center) outputs to HDTVs will require a card to support HDCP (content protection); 2. Direct-X 10 standard compliance. I feel bad for people who have just invested in 7800 GTXs or X1900's.
That's my two cents. I hope it helps.
- Jan 28, 2005
- 2,146
- 26
- 91
My trouble is I could have spent whatever I wanted, budgetwise, well OK, not anything I wanted. I have reached the point in life where this is possible, thanks to having no dependents, a 10 year old car, etc. No, I'm not wealthy, but I have maintained a debt free lifestyle for years now. I even get some of my clothes at the Goodwill store! I know, shocking, but I find NEW clothes with tags on them donated by major department stores. Got some Ralph Lauren pants there the other day for $4.00. Funny thing is, I have friends making 3 to 4 times what I do, and they want to borrow money from me. Well, enough of that crap.
So for me, it mainly came down to what features would I really use. I could have spent a lot on a gaming PC, but I wouldn't use it enough to justify it.
I ordered the Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2 2GB Kit DDR400 XMS3200 Memory w/Black Heat Spreader for 176.00 after rebate, last Saturday. It wasn't that much more than the regular ram anyway. So, I'm done with my parts purchases, just waiting for the ram, hard drive, power supply and case to arrive. Thanks everyone.
So for me, it mainly came down to what features would I really use. I could have spent a lot on a gaming PC, but I wouldn't use it enough to justify it.
I ordered the Corsair TWINX2048-3200C2 2GB Kit DDR400 XMS3200 Memory w/Black Heat Spreader for 176.00 after rebate, last Saturday. It wasn't that much more than the regular ram anyway. So, I'm done with my parts purchases, just waiting for the ram, hard drive, power supply and case to arrive. Thanks everyone.
It's also wrong. RAM dividers mean that you don't need to increase the RAM speed with the FSB. Also since A64s don't suffer much performance loss from the dividers the advice is to generally go for lower cost RAM, as the high performance RAM is not worth the 3-5% performance increase seen.
The RAM you chose is nice enough stuff, should do quite well.
Yes and no. 
No if you're not overclocking, yes if you are. If you do overclock then you'll spend hours going into and out of bios tweaking it.
No if you're not overclocking, yes if you are. If you do overclock then you'll spend hours going into and out of bios tweaking it.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 21K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter