Upgrade Time?

[Devlyn]

I'm currently on a 1.8A / BD7-II setup with a 512mb stick of Corsair XMS. Its running at stock settings now since I've been to inept to figure out how to clock it with what I think is an outdated bios since it won't post at anything. I just picked up the 6800OC from BB and successfully unlocked it... now I'm thinking its time to give it a new home and upgrade my girl to this computer.

I'm budget minded, so I don't want to upgrade for minimal results however. I'm looking at the standard MSI and 3200+ 64 90nm 939 processor combo and ofcourse a yet unknown brand/timing/anything RAM other than it will most likely be a pair of 512s. Am I going to see reasonable improvement from this or should I just clock my 1.8A to 2.2-2.4 and be happy or will the 3200+ give me further improvements over and above?

Thanks for the input, researching individual pieces has never been an issue, but figuring out if it is worthwhile has been.

 

[frankierx]

I just oc'd my 2500+ to 3200+ speeds. I am thinking of upgrading to a 6800gt next year be4 making the A64 switch. I would like to know as well.

 

[stevty2889]

Going to an A64 3200+ would give you a good performance gain over overclocking that 1.8a. Thats assuming you are gaming, since you got a 6800OC. No need to go overboard with the ram either, a pair of 512mb PC3200 corsair value select would be plenty good enough.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Maybe its just me, but I wouldnt use MSI just because of their reliability record

 

[frankierx]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
Maybe its just me, but I wouldnt use MSI just because of their reliability record

I agree. I am plenty happy with Epox mobos. Their customer service is very user friendly on their site as well.

 

[Devlyn]

Yes, I do plan on gaming... Far Cry, Half Life 2, and Everquest 2 are what its being used for now and its showing its age, particularly in EQ2.

Have I made a mistake going with an AGP video card and not holding out for the PCI / SLI boards? Or at my price point should I be happy with my 6800OC for $200 including the HL2 game? It was able to unlock the pixels and shaders plus overclock a fair amount.

Corsair Value Select was mentioned, would this be capable of overclocking the 3200+ to the 2.4/2.5 ghz levels that many are hitting, but normally with better ram? I'd prefer to get 2gb of value select type ram vs 1gb of xms type ram do to the overusage of ram by EQ2, but I don't want to sacrifice my overclock and processor performance by doing so.