Upgrade NOW? or wait?

[SXMP]

Ok heres my current setup:

Epox 8kta2
Athlon T-Bird @700mhz (oc's to 900 mhz but I got tired of the occasional lockup)
256mb pc133 ram
Geforce DDR 32mb
SBLive! Value
40Gb Maxtor 7200rpm
13Gb Maxtor 7200rpm
2 nics
firewire card
Samsung 19in 955sl monitor

I really feel its time for me to upgrade. Newer games are really starting to run slow, even at graphical settings (ie: Dungeon Siege at 640x480x16 with medium detail hits in the 10-20fps range a lot.) Not to mention I am really starting to notice lag in Photoshop and Flash MX and Dreamweaver.

My problem is that next spring, (when I graduate) I will be building myself a new computer, most likley giving this one to my sister. She could really care less if she had a geforce or a tnt, she wouldn't know the difference, only using the computer for office apps and the like. So now, I am left with the question of not upgrading at all, and holding out until the spring time, or of upgrading some of the components (maybe more ram, switch to ddr mobo and ddr ram, new processor, and new video card) but then that is going to ring up fairly expensive. So I don't know what to do at this junction, your input is greatly appreciated. Thnx

 

[KangGax331]

Definitely wait until spring. A whole lot of new things will be out by then, just a few being:

Athlon 64 & Barton Athlon XPs
More HT Pentium 4's with new 800 MHz FSB
Dual DDR400 mobos
Serial ATA
GeForceFX

 

[CrazySaint]

I agree that waiting until Spring is the way to go for a full upgrade, but if you've got an an extra $120 or so laying around, you might consider this intermediate upgrade:
Radeon 7500 LE 64MB DDR W/DVI+TV OUT for $61
Athlon XP 1700+ RETAIL for $65

Total $126 (includes shipping) should provide a HUGE boost in both gaming and overall performance. Also, that 1700+ is a TBred, meaning it should hit at least 1.8GHz if the rest of your system can handle it.

 

[Dogsbody]

I think CrazySaint has the right plan. It's they way to go. In your situation I would definitely wait until spring to upgrade. I have to say though, I've built or purchased a couple of dozen systems over the years, and I can't think of one time I didn't say "gee, if I'd only waited a couple of months I could have got a (fill in the blank!). I'm sure that by next spring we'll still be saying "maybe I should wait until fall when (fill in the blank again) will be coming out. I guess that's part of what makes upgrading so much fun. Good luck!

 

[Athlon4all]

I too agree with CrazySaint except unfortunately, I don't think your board will run an Athlon XP Because it is a KT133 board (correct?)and doesn't support 266fsb of the Athlon XP and if you got the 1700+, you would be able to run the 1700+ only at 1.1GHz instead of its stock 1.47GHz. My suggestion would be to see if you can get a 1.4/1.3/1.2GHz 200fsb T-Bird cheaply. If worst came to worst, you could pickup a Duron 1.3GHz Retail for $59, or just run the 1700+ @ 1.1GHz. It wouldn't be as fast as an Athlon XP 1700+ but it would be faster than your current T-Bird. Honestly, I'd lean towards taking the Duron 1.3. I don't think the Athlon XP's architechure advantages (ie Athlon XP has 256K L2 Cache, Duron has 64KB) could overcome the 200MHz difference.

 

[FrustratedUser]

May I suggest the ECS K7S5A ($56 @newegg) and a AMD XP1700 retail for $65.
Use the other part you already have and see a huge boost.

 

[bgeh]

Originally posted by: KangGax331
Definitely wait until spring. A whole lot of new things will be out by then, just a few being:

Athlon 64 & Barton Athlon XPs
More HT Pentium 4's with new 800 MHz FSB
Dual DDR400 mobos
Serial ATA
GeForceFX

besides that,ati's R350 will be launched

 

[Athlon4all]

May I suggest the ECS K7S5A ($56 @newegg) and a AMD XP1700 retail for $65.
Use the other part you already have and see a huge boost.

Maybe, but that GF DDR is likely being pushed to the max as it is by the 700 T-Bird. I'd still say get a Duron 1.3 and Radeon 7500 DDR. You might take a look at Ace Hardware's 2 "Upgrade" articles. They start with a base configuration and then run lots of benchmarks to see which upgrades yeild how much performance. Here's the more recent one at the T-Bred launch and here's the older one at the Athlon XP launch last year. The "older" base system is similar to yours. KT133 mobo, Duron 800, GF2 GTS. I would suggest looking at it.

 

[Sniper82]

I'd say go with a Newegg 1600+ for about $55-$60ish and then hop on these for sale/trade forums and score you a new/used Radeon 8500 OEM for about $80-$85 shipped.

This will run anything you throw at it cranked up and will hold you over till spring and prob longer if you decide to wait for prices to drop on the new stuff. Some KT133a(if he has KT133a) supports the low end XP's. He didnt mention what board he has.

 

[Athlon4all]

Some KT133a(if he has KT133a) supports the low end XP's. He didnt mention what board he has.

He doesn't. He's got an EPoX 8KTA2 (first line of his spec list), which according to EPoX's site, is KT133, so I think his best option is the Duron 1.3 Retail and a Radeon 7500/8500/9000.