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What upgrade would give me the most boost until I do a complete overhaul this summer?

SithSolo1

SithSolo1

Diamond Member
Ok here's my current system:

1ghz Tbird w/ AXIA stepping, not O/C'ed
512MB PC133 ram, not O/C'ed
Iwill KK266-R KT133a mobo, raid not in use
16x Lite-On DVD-rom
12x10x32xa Plextor Plexwriter CD-RW
Dual 30GB 7200RPM DiamondMax Plus60 ATA100 HDDs, not in raid
C-Media based soundcard
Retail 64MB Radeon 8500, not O/C'ed
Netgear NIC card

I think thats it, if I left anything out please let me know.
As for video cards I'm partial to ATI but I don't have a major problem with Nvidia.
 
Get a 9500Pro to carry over to your upgraded system in the summer.
Or save by using your current setup and get a 9700Pro when you build the new system.
 
Your vid card is great.......I have it myself!

When I upgraded from a KT133 chipset mb, the biggest improvement came from bandwidth of the ddr. Thats what you'll find with ddr and an XP cpu.

Your choice whether to wait for awhile or buy used now. Any of the KT266A chipset motherboards and up would be good value with an 1800+ XP. Cheap too although ddr is expensive due to the xmas runup of price/demand. It should fall in the new year.
 
I would get
AMD ATHLON XP 2100+/266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU: $95.00
MSI Motherboard for AMD Processors Model KT3 Ultra2-R: $94.00
KINGMAX Memory 512MB PC2700 DDR RAM: $120

Those changes would speed up your system nicely.
 
Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
I would get
AMD ATHLON XP 2100+/266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU: $95.00
MSI Motherboard for AMD Processors Model KT3 Ultra2-R: $94.00
KINGMAX Memory 512MB PC2700 DDR RAM: $120

Those changes would speed up your system nicely.
Click to expand...

Like Dr Smooth said ... these would be good for an upgrade
I have had the MSI KT3 Ultra2-R board with an Athlon XP 2000+ CPU since August and no problems at all.
Good Luck with the upgrade

DX
 
I probably should have mentioned this, what ever I get has to last me atleast a year and a half.

I was hoping to get a clawhamer setup but I don't think I'll have enough money for it by my birthday in July. 🙁

Job search, here we come.
 
Your setup is fine. Just get a better processor (1.4 ghz) and grab another 512mb of ram. SDRam is so cheap now, so another 512mb wouldn't hurt your budget. You could prob get a 1.4ghz t-bird andf 512mb sd-ram for around $120, then sell off your 1ghz t-bird for like $20 and it's a $100 upgrade. I'd recommend getting a good heatsink and doing some overclocking also. If you overclock it to 1.6ghz or around there, you'll have one fast proc !!! equivelant to a 1700+ probably 😉

I don't know if it will last you for 18 months though, that's pushing it. It really depends what you use it for though. I just bought my step-dad a 1.2ghz duron system with 256mb ram and I plan for it to last him 2-3 years. So like I said, depends what you use it for 😉
 
Going DDR would be good but you would need to spend more $$$. You should get quite a big jump out of just putting an XP2100+ or XP2200+ on, if you can get one fairly cheap, and make sure you put the latest BIOS on first so there's some chance of it being recognised. I wouldn't go any faster than that.

Having said that, it'd be a shame to get a middling CPU now and upgrade the mobo and RAM later... Can you sell the current system, or at least the mobo/ram/cpu, on to someone and get all new that way?
 
DDR mem prices are high and very slowly falling and your current setup is fairly balanced so I voted to wait it out.
 
Depends on how much you $$ you have for the upgrade. I would go for the ECS K7S5A and an XP1900 for $115-$130 or so on Pricewatch. You could still use your SDR ram for a while, or drop another $50-$60 now and get DDR. I don't have the ECS but I know someone who has 5 of them in his house and swears by them. It should hold you over until next summer.
 
Originally posted by: texun
Depends on how much you $$ you have for the upgrade. I would go for the ECS K7S5A and an XP1900 for $115-$130 or so on Pricewatch. You could still use your SDR ram for a while, or drop another $50-$60 now and get DDR. I don't have the ECS but I know someone who has 5 of them in his house and swears by them. It should hold you over until next summer.
Click to expand...

do NOT buy anything from ECS. they are teh suck.
 
Originally posted by: hdeck

do NOT buy anything from ECS. they are teh suck.
Click to expand...


Are these the words from someone with personal knowledge of this board? It's not an overclocker and it's not an Epox or ASUS, but he is asking for advice on what to get that will hold him over for a few months. According to the 700+ users who bought this board, it should fit his needs as long as he has a good PSU. He can always do an RMA if it is indeed, "teh suck."


 
I am an experienced system builder and have attempted to use about 20 ECS mobos and all of them have some major problem or are very unstable. Now I only recommend the big names like Asus, Epox, Gig, etc.
 
I am not a big expert but a new CPU + mobo will probably do the most. But on the other hand a new video card will definitely take care of any GPU limiting factors.

Not much help.
 
personally, i'd wait. btw what speakers do you have? if you have halfway decent ones i'd get a better soundcard.
 
I just bought that soundcard about 3 weeks ago.
At the time, all I had was an old Altec Lansing 2.1 set and a set of headphones.
I am getting a set of Logitech Z-560s for Christmas(I know this because I bought them), I want an Audigy 2 but its a little on the expensive side. 🙁
 
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