I'm in somewhat of a bind for upgrading this year. I usually get a really high end system for Christmas, but there are issues with that this year.
I just got a Geforce 6800 GT in August. Of course, it is AGP. My plan all along was to get my system upgraded for Christmas, but according to what I have seen and been told, it looks like all of the new ATi cards, and probably the next new Nvidia's, are going to be PCI Express only. Given the problems I've had with Nvidia, I'm probably going to go with ATi again for my next upgrade. If I go with an AGP solution I may be stuck with my Geforce 6800 for at least another year from now. My plans were to upgrade my vid card at the end of the summer just like I did this year. (I have to buy the video cards with my own money, when I have a job in the summer) However, if all the new higher end graphics cards are PCI-E then I'll be screwed into keeping the one I have at least until next Christmas.
What I have thought about doing is getting maybe an A64 3500+ with an AGP mobo to hold me over until the end of next summer. I would keep the same RAM, optical / hard drives I have now, so it shouldn't cost too much. That way when I decide to upgrade to my video card in August I can do a complete system overhaul and convert to PCI-E, which would cost some money on my part but since I'm going for a cheap solution this Christmas I think I'd be able to get my father to help out some. (he gets parts through his business and he only has to pay half of whatever the original price is, hence the reason I can usually get nearly the best parts money can buy for Christmas).
Or perhaps the performance gain I would get wouldn't be worth the cost / hassle and I shouldn't upgrade at all this Christmas and just wait until next summer to do a complete system overhaul. What do you guys think?
Also, is there a big difference between the Newcastle and Winchester cores?
I just got a Geforce 6800 GT in August. Of course, it is AGP. My plan all along was to get my system upgraded for Christmas, but according to what I have seen and been told, it looks like all of the new ATi cards, and probably the next new Nvidia's, are going to be PCI Express only. Given the problems I've had with Nvidia, I'm probably going to go with ATi again for my next upgrade. If I go with an AGP solution I may be stuck with my Geforce 6800 for at least another year from now. My plans were to upgrade my vid card at the end of the summer just like I did this year. (I have to buy the video cards with my own money, when I have a job in the summer) However, if all the new higher end graphics cards are PCI-E then I'll be screwed into keeping the one I have at least until next Christmas.
What I have thought about doing is getting maybe an A64 3500+ with an AGP mobo to hold me over until the end of next summer. I would keep the same RAM, optical / hard drives I have now, so it shouldn't cost too much. That way when I decide to upgrade to my video card in August I can do a complete system overhaul and convert to PCI-E, which would cost some money on my part but since I'm going for a cheap solution this Christmas I think I'd be able to get my father to help out some. (he gets parts through his business and he only has to pay half of whatever the original price is, hence the reason I can usually get nearly the best parts money can buy for Christmas).
Or perhaps the performance gain I would get wouldn't be worth the cost / hassle and I shouldn't upgrade at all this Christmas and just wait until next summer to do a complete system overhaul. What do you guys think?
Also, is there a big difference between the Newcastle and Winchester cores?
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