NEED HELP FAST

[Homerboy]

Ok here's the deal

I have (had) a Soyo Dragon + with a AMD 1600+ and 2x256 PC2100 DDR RAM. The Soyo took a cr@p on me the other day (not literally), and I needed to get my machine up and running ASAP. So I ran to CompUSA and picked up a MSI Motherboard for AMD Athlon/AthlonXP/Duron processors (@ 100/133/166 FSB), Model# K7N2-L (MS-6570-010) (weeee copy and paste). But the KILLER is they robbed me for $199.00 Mind you this is the BARE BONES model with only on-board sound/LAN... no Serial ATA, no RAI, no IEEE controller... NOTHING. So I'm going to return it now that I have a small window of opportunity here and order the same board on-line from newegg.com ($87).

So I have a little extra $ to spend here... Would I have any HUGE increase in performance if I:

A) Upgraded RAM to 2x256 PC2700 (or 1x512)
B) Upgraded CPU to something higher (2100+ or better I figure)
C) Both ;-)

I realize that option C is the most obvious, but $ IS in fact an issue here, so keep that in mind.
ANY input is greatly appreciated.

TIA

 

[Homerboy]

Oh... and if I were to get a new CPU, where is the line drawn on where I HAVE to get new RAM to use the CPU. The Barton chips?

 

[Malladine]

You might receive a 500 point increase in 3dmark2001SE with the 2100+ but of course a 2500+ barton would get you further. The upgrade from 512 of PC2100 to 512 of PC2700 isn't worth it IMO. How about 1gb of PC2700 ram?

 

[kuk]

What is the rest of your computer specs? Are you into gaming (and what games), or programming, or multimedia editing?

 

[Homerboy]

yes MB supports 333
Barton would be nice but thats $150 in itself....

 

[Malladine]

Are you into gaming (and what games), or programming, or multimedia editing

Good questions. How much are you thinking of? The $112 difference?

 

[Homerboy]

heavy gaming, some video editing, some grpahic design and HTML programming
Rest of PC: GF3Ti 200, IEEE card, 1x45gig WD, 1x20gig WD, 24x LiteOn CDRW Inwin Q500 full tower.

HD space is fine... have a server that houses the "storage" on my LAN. Burner is cool too, I don't do that much burning anymore. Video card could be nice upgrade, but thats too much extra $ really

 

[Ilmater]

Anything with a 333MHz FSB would require you to get PC2700 DDR RAM in order to get the full performance benefit from it. Getting the faster-rated RAM would do NOTHING for you in your current situation unless you were going to overclock. Getting a faster CPU will help some, but I can tell you that you probably won't notice as much of a difference as you'd like.

Save your money.

 

[kuk]

heavy gaming

What games?
If you play BF1942 or UT2k, then get memory.
Else, go for the new CPU (at least 2200+)

 

[Malladine]

A VPU upgrade seems feasible. A 128mb TI4200 costs around $135 so if you're holding the $112 already...pretty decent upgrade too. We're talking 1-2000 extra 3dmarks.

 

[Malladine]

And if you do get memory, i'd recommend buying an extra 512 of PC2100 instead of 512 of PC2700. If you're not getting a 333mhz cpu, you won't notice any significant difference between DDR266 and DDR333 but 1gb of ram will certainly help your gaming