What do you guys think about these upgrades

[MTB]

Currently I have:

Pentium III 600e overclocked at 800e
ASUS P3V4X MotherBoard
Anhilator 2 32 meg ddr gts2
160 meg of standard sdram
13.6 gig Maxtor 7200 UDMA 66
Soundblaster Live X-Gamer

What I will have:
Pentium III 1 ghz eb
ASUS P3V4X MotherBoard
Visontek geforce 3 TI 200
512 meg of Cruical memory (133mhz cas2)
13.6 gig hd
Soundblaster Live

Do you think i will see a major improvement. I just ran 3d mark 2001 and got a 2500 score with my current rig. I can't upgrade the motherboard so that is the best procesor i can put in it for the momment. Please give me your thoughts and opnions. Thanks

 

[Demonicon]

The proc will not do much for you IMHO., the memory should be a great improvement (256 should be plenty).

The graphics card will be a huge improvement.


Of course this depends on what you use your PC for.

 

[DN]

I concur with Demonicon.. How much for the CPU upgrade -- hopefully it's not a lot..

 

[MTB]

I think its 150... What do you think i should do get a new motheboard and proceror instead??? if so how much will that cost.

 

[Demonicon]

Gawd, if you buy that proc for 150 you WILL want to shoot yourself, especially when you find that it only will give you very little performance boost.

As far as Intel goes, I have no idea what mobo/CPU you should get, sorry.

 

[DN]

<< I think its 150... What do you think i should do get a new motheboard and proceror instead??? if so how much will that cost. >>



The 160Mb of, as you call it, "standard SDRAM" that you currenly have in that PC is PC100..? Second question is how much are you paying for the 512Mb of PC133 (is it 1 or 2 pieces) and what is your upgrade budget..?

 

[EdipisReks]

well, instead of getting the 1gHz p3 and the 512MB of pc133 (is that about $215? i'll assume that it is about $215) i would get a shuttle ak31a (kt266a board, really sweet) for $80 at newegg, oem 1.2 gHz athlon for $94 also at newegg, and then 256MB of crucial pc2100 for about $43.50 here. thats about what it would have cost you for the 1 gHz p3 and the ram, but will give you much better performance. keep in mind that you will need a decent heatsink/fan for the athlon, but as long as you aren't going to do any overclocking, you could get by with a volcano 6cu for $18 at pham computer (which is a great reseller). if that stretched your budget, you can get a 1gHz duron for $67 (its on the same page as the 1.2 gHz chip at newegg). if you really want more performance, i would go with a new cpu/proc, as the pentium3 is really at a deadend. the 1 gHz duron should perform about the same as the 1gHz p3 (which, in my opinion, is a nice boost in speed, but not worth the price if you are just getting the 1 gHz p3), and should oc to at least 1.2 gHz.

if you go AMD, make sure that you get a decent hsf (i wouldn't go any lower than the volcano6cu, and get a nice hsf like the sk-6, or the swiftech mcx-370 if you are going to be oc'ing). keep in mind that with the amd chips, you will need a good powersupply (i would reccomend 300 watts or more), which might put the price above what you want to spend. if you decide not to spend the money or take the time for a new AMD board/proc, then i wouldn't get the 1 gHz p3: its too much money for such a small boost. what i would do would be to get a p3 733 and overclock that, or a 900 mHz celeron and overclock. if you do go amd, then you have much better chance of being able to put a future cpu in the board, and you can get a big performance boost, though they are a little tricky to put together and you might need a new powersupply.

[edit: i agree that the geforce3 ti-200 will be a great upgrade. get the vid card first, and if you are happy with the speed of your system don't get anything else, except maybe the ram]

good luck!
--jacob

 

[ugh]

I agree with EdipisReks. In fact, I just did a similar upgrade myself. Had a Celeron 900 with an 815 mobo. Bought a 8KHA+, 1600+ and 256MB RAM. I guess this system will last me for some time...

 

[Bovinicus]

I would hold off until you can do a more serious upgrade of motherboard, CPU, and memory. Get yourself at least a 50% boost in clockspeed. Any less isn't really worth the money. Get the Athlon 1.2GHz (266MHz Bus), Shuttle AK31A, and 256-512MB of Crucial PC2100. Order the memory directly from Crucial, and take advantage of the forum discount and free shipping. The Volcano5 should do you fine if you are not doing any overclocking. If you are, the Vantec 6035-D should do you well. It's only $21 with a Delta fan. I made a little order form for you, not including memory. I included a video card for you too. Make sure you PSU is at least 300W, then check this:

SHUTTLE AK31A AMD K7 VIA APOLLO KT266A SOCKET A ATX MOTHERBOARD - RETAIL New Ver.. VIA VT8366A/VT8233 Chipset. Supports AMD K7 Athlon/Duron FSB 200/266 Processors. Four 184 Pin Up to 4GB DDR SDRAM DIMM. Onboard AC97 Audio 1 4XAGP, 6XPCI, 1XCNR. Supports ATA 33/66/100 MB/s IDE Interface. **COMBO SPECIAL: Add 1 x Norton Anti-Virus 5.0 S/W ($5) for FREE** N82E16813150002 $80.00 $80.00

MSI G3TI200-D(MSI-8851) GF3 TI200 64MB DDR with DVI+VGA CABLE VIDEO CARD - RETAIL Titanium 200 N82E16814127017 $170.00 $170.00

AMD Thunderbird 1.2GHz 266MHz Bus Socket A processor OEM Version N82E16819103153 $94.00 $94.00

VANTEC CCK-6035D Copper Heatsink and 38CFM Fan. Heat Sink Material: AL 6063T5 & Copper. Dimension: 78.0 x 64.0 x 64.0 (mm). Recommended For: IIntel PIII Coppermine(FC-PGA)1.13 GHz and above AMD Thunderbird(Socket A or 462)1.33 GHz and above. N82E16835110001 $21.00 $21.00

Total: $365 w/o shipping or memory.

 

[EdipisReks]

well, there are now three of us making basically the same reccomendation. it all depends on how much money you have. if you can afford the new mobo, ram, processor and heatsink (and possibly a new power supply) then it is definitely the way to go. if not, just get a 700e p3 or a 900mhz celly and oc them.

--jacob