Should I upgrade?

[jgar]

I am wondering what kind of performance increases I would get from upgrading my current system:
Dell
Pentium 4 1.8Ghz
400 mhz FSB
256 RDram
2x250GB WD Drives 8mb Cache
GeForce 2 MX



To this System:
SOLTEK "SL-K8AV2-RL" K8T800
AMD 64 2800+
512MB DDR3200 RAM
2x 250GB WD Drives w/ 8mb
GeForce 5200

Or this one:
Abit IC7
P4 2.4c
512MB DDR3200 RAM
74GB Raptor
2x 250GB WD Drives w/ 8mb
GeForce FX5200

Just let me know what you all recommend for my build. I can't get by on 256 RAM anymore it's ridiculous. I don't game, I do mostly photoshop work and multitasking.

 

[Gamingphreek]

I would personally OC your current system and just wait until later to upgrade your system when you can afford a steeper upgrade.

-Kevin

 

[o1die]

I'd go for the p4 and overclock it to about 3.0. I've used my 3 year warranty once. I suggest a "c" series p4 in whatever retail boxed cpu you can afford (and find). Check pricewatch.

 

[CheesePoofs]

It really depends on what you are doing, but for normal usage i think you would see some noticable improvements if you went with the AMD system. However, i'd consider getting a different graphics card unless there is no chance the computer is going to be used for gaming.

 

[biostud]

nm

 

[socket]

I think the general rule of thumb is to double your computer speed and that would be a 3.6 ghz roughly otherwise i wouldnt bother just go to 512 memory there is a very noticable difference going from 256 to 512 on a memory upgrade

 

[stevty2889]

Either system would be a decent improvement. Why the 2x250gb hard drives, video editing? And 1 gig of ram would be better. With the p4 sytem instead of getting the raptor, you should go with another 512mb of ram, for a total of 1gig, and maybe a 2.8ghz CPU. The hyperthreading with the P4 does help with multi-tasking, but the A64 2800+ is faster than the 2.4ghz P4. Also with that Abit motherboard, you should be able to overclock the P4 to 2.8 or 3ghz pretty easily if you wanted to stay with the 2.4c.