To upgrade, or not to upgrade

[b4u]

... That is the question!

Hi there,

So here I am, with this current system:

Pentium III 600EB Copermine
MotherBoard ASUS P3V4X (chipset VIA AGP4x BUS133)
DRAM 256 Mb PC133
Apolo Riva TNT2 32Mb
HD Western Digital Caviar 120Gb 7200rpm 8Mb cache
Sound Blaster Live! Value
DVD ASUS 12x/52x
Plextor Writer 24/10/40 internal
Monitor Sony 420GST 19"
Windows XP Professional SP1

In another topic (link), I received the following info (thanks guys):

Originally posted by: bgeh
RAM prices are very low laately.....and it's still dropping
intel is due to launch the 3.2GHz chip in April and that'll drop prices
AMD is expected to respond and launching the Athlon XP 3200+

then in March 12th, ATI will launch the Radeon 9900/9800(don't know the real name)PRO and that'll drop graphics card prices

and

Originally posted by: techfuzz
FYI as well, Intel will be releasing their new mobile Pentium M processor and Centrino chipset around then as well.

So, since I'm a little short of ? resources , my intended actions are, and I would like any comments/opinions/whatever so I can best figure out my ideas:

[1] It's a little long before some intel/amd price drops, so I'll leave my CPU/Mobo/memory to a latter time

[2] Wait for the new ATI Radeon 9900 release, price drops, and get a 9500PRO or even a 9700PRO (depending on price)

[3] Stay with a PIII600EB / 256 RAM / 9700PRO for a while

[4] Then latter, in 2-3 months from that, upgrade the CPU/Mobo/RAM ...


My Western Digital 120Gb 8mb cache was like the first part to be replaced, looking forward not to spend money on an entire system ... one less think to worry about with my money .

Now the other parts ... does anyone have a clue or even a practical experience of the increase in performance I would gain on upgrading on ly the graphic card to a 9500PRO or 9700PRO? Can I assume about 50% increase on the system?

Will a 9x00PRO work fine in my system? I have AGP 4x ... will it bring any problems on running it?

 

[sash1]

Just note, you will be extremely processor limited: see here

You will notice an increase, but not much until that processor is switched.

Will a 9x00PRO work fine in my system? I have AGP 4x ... will it bring any problems on running it?

Yes to the first. No to the second. AGP 8x isn't even necessary. There are so many other bandwith limitations that a higher AGP mode really doesn't matter much.

~Aunix

 

[bgeh]

i'd go with option 3 and 4
by then, intel's 800MHz FSB chps with HT will be already out
if you would wait a little longer, then you'll be able to get the Athlon 64

 

[Budmantom]

IMO you should upgade with a cpu/mobo/memory first and then go for the video card. You could go with a xp2100/nforce 2 and 256 x 2 pc2700 for around the same price as a 9700pro. Then when you have all the bugs worked out of the system the 9900 will be out and you can purchase a 9700 pro for about 200ish (perhaps less) and when your done there and you see a need to upgrade your $100 cpu you will still be able to sell it for atleast $65ish and pick up a screamer for around $200. The next greatest thing is always around the corner so its always a good time to upgrade.

my .02

 

[DurocShark]

I second Budmantom's recommendation. You can get an ECS motherboard, duron 1.2, 512 PC133 for under $150. The TNT2 will keep you going for a while yet... I was using mine until just recently. If you want a 9700, once the GFX or whatever it's called is out in quantities, the ATI card will drop in price.

 

[zodder]

I agree that the cpu has to go. There are a lot of low cost AMD alternatives out there right now (the XP1600+ is going for around $50/shipped and the 1700+ and 2100+ can both be had for under $100) and you'd still be able to get a decent mobo and memory for less than the cost of the new video card. As DurocShark said, the ECS K7S5A is good board if you want to keep your existing PC133 and upgrade your memory later (it has DDR slots, too). I would hate to see you spend that kind of money on a 9700 or 9500 and not see a hell of a lot of performance difference.

 

[selfbuilt]

I would have to agree with all of the above. Around here, you could pick up an ECS K7S5A with an Athlon 1700+ and a GeForce3 Ti200 for under $300 CDN (about $200 US). That's a pretty decent overall system, and would cost you in total the same as a Radeon 9500 Pro alone!

I can understand the urge to go for the 9500 Pro (I have one and love it), but I would definitely go for the mobo/chip upgrade as well if I were you (and as pointed out previously, the bonus is that you can keep your PC-133 memory with the system for now and upgrade it later to DDR).

 

[b4u]

My original thought were to go for a system like:

Material Quant Unit Price Total
CPU AMD Thunderbird XP 2000+ 1 ? 122 ? 122
MotherBoard ASUS A7V8X LAN/1394/SATA 1 ? 191 ? 191
Memory DIMM 512Mb DDR PC2700 (DDR 333) 2 ? 255 ? 510
Graphic ATI Radeon 9500 PRO 128Mb DDR 1 ? 343 ? 343
Case CHIEFTEC Midi White 340w DX-01W-D 1 ? 134 ? 134

Those are nowadays prices, not counting with price drops ... and the first drop should be the Graphic card ... hurray!

But that would put me around (glup!) ? 1300 ... I can get a rebate of around 10% overall, maybe more (I'll have to check locally, and not over my local store online site), but it would leave me on a ? 1170 system ...

... now if I just used a single DDR of 512Mb insted of 2 of them, that would leave me with a ? 941 system (after 10% rebate).

Yes, I'm always this complicated when upgrading Every once in a while I go through this calculation/prediction mind test! Geeeee!


Just some more info ... my current system is used for programming and games ... of course I don't need upgrade for programing ASP/JSP, but I also like games ... nowadays there is no excuse for a 9500PRO for a programmer, so allright, I confess! I want to play!


What r your opinions? About the system and about the prices ...


PS: One more thing ... I always went for Intel. If I ask if AMD is secure, I'm sure you'll all say YES, and I can believe that, but what I want to know is comparing the CPU speeds ... an AMD2000+ rivals which P4? I think it should be one with a higher speed, but why is that? AMD's Technology? FSB?


Thanks

 

[selfbuilt]

I can't take offence to your choice of upgrade material ... I have almost exactly the same system! (AMD 2000+, Asus A7V8X, Radeon 9500 Pro, 512MB PC2700 DDR, etc ....). Everything runs great together. I'm sure you'll be very happy with it ... but just make sure you have a decent power supply for it all (I have the Antec 330W "True" power, and it works flawlessly).

You could always go for a P4 system as well (allows for faster RD-RAM), but I don't see the need given the fairly large price differential (around here, at any rate). I would (and did!) stick with your original upgrade plan.

 

[Budmantom]

I would go with the 2100+ they are some of the best overclockers and go with a nforce2 board such as the asus A7N8X instead of the kt400 board they have proven to be faster and more reliable. If you go with 2 sticks of 256mb ddr2700 you should see a nice performance increase over what you have now 1gig might be overkill (especially if 256mb is getting the job done now).

If you are on a budget buy your memory, power supply, mother board, processor and last gfx card in that order. I am not sure what you mean by secure? The 2100+ matches up great against p4 2.0 and 2.2ghz and when oc'd 2.4. it's nice to shop locally but it's hard to beat some of the online prices, good luck.

Tom