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Should I Upgrade to AMD?

F

funkrocker049

Member
I currently have a Dimension 8200 that has served me quite well for several years now. The specs are as follows:

Pentium 4 2.0ghz
512mb RDRAM
64mb GeForce 4 MX (pretty much useless)

I'm debating upgrading the current system with a new video card and more ram, vs. building an entirely new system based on an Athlon64 3200+. This computer uses Rambus memory, so adding anything more than another 512mb is really cost prohibitive. Is this particular processor limited to rambus or, if it's just a limitation of the 850E chipset, can I swap it to another mobo and just get 2gb of sdram?

I'm not a hardcore gamer, but I do like to play on occasion - mostly RTS and sports. Would I be better off just spending a little to squeeze a couple more years out of this system or is it not worth the investment?
 
It's not worth upgrading the Dell or keeping the CPU.

Sell the RDRAM separately on eBay from the ram-less barebones.

Buy a Socket 939 motherboard with PCI-E, 1 GB or more of RAM, an A64 3200+, and a decent graphics card (6600GT or better). See eleventy billion systems threads here for suggestions on parts.

Would I see a noticable performance increase with a move to an Athlon64?
Click to expand...
Depends on what you want to play, even RTS games use a lot of 3D and CPU power these days.

If nothing you are playing now is too slow or too ugly for you, wait and do nothing. Keep the money at INGDirect.com until there is something you want to do that needs more power.
 
You'd notice a huge performance increase in gaming. For browsing the web, you may not won't notice much of a difference. Powerful hungry programs like Photoshop and DVD ripping software would show a large difference.
 
You would see a noticeable performance increase by going to any 3GHz rated proc and by going to a modern graphics card.
You definitely have a "slow" processor and would notice the difference by buying an Athlon 3200+ or a Pentium > 3GHz.
Your graphics card is GeForce 2 technology and crippled on top of that so by going to a midrange gfx card like GF6600 of X600, you'd notice that too. You'd notice that a lot. And we're not even talking any serious money here 😉

Don't know how old RTSes you're playing, but even Empire Earth was 3D a long while ago. Sports games are typically 3D nowadays. I'd say upgrading would bring you smooth gameplay vs choppy you have now.
 
I've definitely got some ideas on parts and such...I just didn't want to rule out another option if I didn't need to. I'm probably going to go with the 3200+ and delve into some overclocking.
 
Back to the basic question - how can an existing Pentium motherboard be "upgraded" with an AMD processor?
 
Originally posted by: corkyg
Back to the basic question - how can an existing Pentium motherboard be "upgraded" with an AMD processor?
Click to expand...

No unless you are upgrading from the original Pentium to a AMD K6.
 
Originally posted by: corkyg
Back to the basic question - how can an existing Pentium motherboard be "upgraded" with an AMD processor?
Click to expand...

If you read the OPs whole post, he asks "I'm debating upgrading the current system with a new video card and more ram, vs. building an entirely new system based on an Athlon64 3200+".
 
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