Need some guidance with short term upgrade

[imported_onetime]

Hello all...I plan on upgrading to an Athlon 64 system in about 6 months(prices will hopefully start to drop when the faster models come out). In the meantime I want to upgrade the comp I'm on now (used mostly for gaming) to hold me over for a little while longer. I have an AMD 1.4 ghz, ASUS a7n8x Deluxe mb, Leadtek 5900xt and 2x256 mb of ram. Basically I want to throw a new processor on the same mobo and buy faster ram (for a total of a 1 gig). The a7n8x deluxe mb I have is a first generation (not a revision 2). I was looking around newegg at the Athlon XP 3000 and noticed some operate at 333 fsb while others are listed @ 400 fsb. My question is, which fsb will my a7n8x(first generation) mobo support (I think it's only 333 fsb)? Also, would it make since to get 2x512 mb pc3200 ram if my mobo only supports 333 mhz fsb only? Thanks for any input

 

[DarkAmeba]

1st gen Asus only supports 333fsb. PC3200 is a waste on a 333 bus unless you plan to overclock a lot, or you plan to use the ram in your future system.

 

[Shooters]

What does your motherboard manual say about supported FSB?

With AMD processors, it's always best to run the FSB and RAM synchronously, so you can get PC3200, but if you run the FSB at 333MHz then you should do the same for the RAM (even though it's capable of higher).

 

[Harvey]

Depending on which stepping of which Athlon you have, )1600+, or older 1.4), you may be able to O/C it quite a bit and get more performance for nothing. Need more info.

I would suggest not breaking up your system because you may be able to get more for it as as a complete system than you can get for the parts. That'll give you a head start on paying for your new setup.

JM $0.0197 (inflation, you know... 😉 )

 

[sniperruff]

the thing is that prices are constantly dropping. if you want a faster system, there is no better time to upgrade than now.

since you use it for gaming, why not go for it now? in 6 months the rest of your system such as your video card or whatever is in your computer now would be going down hill already.

remember that there is no "best time" for an upgrade. prices will always be dropping...

but a nice idea would be to get some fast ram that would be used in the new system and throw them in the old box now...

i would save the money and tolerate the athlon 1700 (which i have now... 1.47ghz) for a while. seems fast enough for me...