Upgrade to Xp2100 or hold off for Bartons?

[Mattlock]

My current system (below)

I have the itch to upgrade (mainly for games). Been reading about the upcoming Bartons and I wonder which route to take?

Option 1: Upgrade to nforce2, XP2100, 512mb Ram or

Option 2: Increase current RAM to 512mb...and upgrade video card and wait for Bartons and prices to drop..

What would you do with a budget of $500?

Mattlock

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Mattlock
My current system (below)

I have the itch to upgrade (mainly for games). Been reading about the upcoming Bartons and I wonder which route to take?

Option 1: Upgrade to nforce2, XP2100, 512mb Ram or

Option 2: Increase current RAM to 512mb...and upgrade video card and wait for Bartons and prices to drop..

What would you do with a budget of $500?

Mattlock

Man, you're in a tough spot, so I'm gonna be honest with ya up front. Once you start upgrading, the overhaul you'll need is going to come out to more than $500.

I would nix option 2 off the bat. There's no point in investing more in SDR RAM if you are considering going DDR in the next 6 months. The video card does need upgrading as well though. Also, your PSU is not listed, and that could become a major issue with a new mobo, CPU, DDR, and video card. The rest of the components look completely serviceable and near the high-end. You're also going to need a new heatsink; depending on your needs, you can either spend $5-10 on a good heatsink (GC68 or GC69), or $30 on an excellent one (SLK-800). You could probably use one of your existing 80mm fans. I'll give it a shot though for a listing of high-end components:

$108....Epox 8RDA+ from TCWO
$98......XP 2100+ T-bred B from Newegg
$123....Samsung Original 512MB DDR 2700 from Newegg (or anywhere else you can get it cheaper)
$34......Thermalright SLK-800 from SVC
$66......Antec 430W TruePower from Amazon.com
$99-$160...GF4 Ti4200 (64MB or 128MB) or a Radeon 9500 (or pro)

By eyeballing it, that comes out to a little over $500 to $600 depending on the video card. For the RAM, you may want to either get 256MB of faster Corsair RAM and buy a matching stick later, but it only really matters if you plan on overclocking a lot. Same for the heatsink as mentioned above. You can save yourself about $25 by going with a lesser heat sink.

Don't bank on Barton, its gonna go for a premium on release, and its L2 performance increases are going to be figured into its PR rating to compensate for its lower clock speed. I'm not gonna look at a Barton for 3-6 months after release, as they are going to be Intelexpensive (unless they are insane OCers ).

Hope this helps.

Chiz

 

[Soulkeeper]

i would get a cheap T-bred b (1700+ to 2100+) and then upgrade to barton in another month or two
give it time to make it out the door and get tested/reviewed by people
besides you'll get the joy of an upgrade later on

 

[Soulkeeper]

it is worth waiting tho for the Geforce FX and the barton to come out just to lower prices if for nothing else

 

[UncleWai]

Ram and video cards are not worth the investment right now. Get 256 pc2700 at the moment like Chizow said.
Seeing the gf FX will be coming out soon, you should wait for a price drop on gf4 or radeon 9x00 and then upgrade.




sorry for the thread hijack, but I don't want to make a similar post.
I am using a xp1600 @ 1660mhz right now,
assuming I can sell the cpu for 45 shipped,
is it worth the money to get the xp2100 t-bred?

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: UncleWai
Ram and video cards are not worth the investment right now. Get 256 pc2700 at the moment like Chizow said.
Seeing the gf FX will be coming out soon, you should wait for a price drop on gf4 or radeon 9x00 and then upgrade.




sorry for the thread hijack, but I don't want to make a similar post.
I am using a xp1600 @ 1660mhz right now,
assuming I can sell the cpu for 45 shipped,
is it worth the money to get the xp2100 t-bred?

Just scanned over your system specs...most definitely

You'll get @ 500mhz increase, minimum, and it'll hold you off nicely until a better decision can be made about Barton or Opteron, or whatever Intel is offering at that time.

Chiz