Author Topic: Upgrading my PC (Read 700 times)

Dowding · « **on:** May 09, 2003, 04:50:06 AM »

Current system:

Athlon 1.2 GHz T-bird
512MB RAM
KT7-RAID mobo
IBM Deskstar 40 GB HD
Hercules Prophet II Geforce2 Pro 64
NEC 19" Multisync Monitor
Win98 SE

All bought in April 2001.

It's starting to creak a bit, basically. I'm not sure I want to spend vast amounts of money buying a complete new system (the above cost me £1500 ($2250) only 2 years ago). Well, the monitor was meant to be a one-time only purpose and it is still excellent.

So I was thinking about just upgrading the graphics card and leaving the rest the same until a future date. I've seen the Crucial 9700 Pro for only £230 ($345), which is really cheap as far as UK prices go. Would I see a big improvement?

If I did buy this card, would it be better to completely format an re-install my system (perhaps getting hold of Windows XP)?

Mini D · « **Reply #1 on:** May 09, 2003, 05:02:25 AM »

How much would it cost you to put together a 2.4gig upgrade with a Geforce 4 video card? If its about the same price, I'd go that route. The 9700 is overkill for that CPU.

MiniD

Dowding · « **Reply #2 on:** May 09, 2003, 05:22:07 AM »

Dunno - more than £230 though. I did price this system up:

Epox 8RDA+ nForce2 mobo
Athlon 2800XP
512 MB Crucial PC3200
Crucial 9700 Pro

Comes to £570 ($855).

Now, that would mean using my existing hard-drive (which is 7200 RPM ATA100 I think) and my case and power supply. The latter is an Antec type with 2x80mm fans and 340W PSU. Are the Athlon XP mobos of a different form factor to the old Athlon mobos? If not then I can use my existing case.

I guess I would have to buy a new heatsink and fan too.

After reading Skuzzy's advice about ATI vs GeForce, I'd rather go the ATI route.

Mini D · « **Reply #3 on:** May 09, 2003, 06:10:02 AM »

I guess the question is if you want the biggest performance bang for the buck. You're adding a bit of $$$ just going with the 2800+.

Take a look at this setup:

AMD 2400 - $93
Asus A7N8X - $103
ATI 8500LE or 9000pro - $85

You can use all of your existing components (well.. may need a new fan... dunno about that though). I also don't know what these prices would be for you.

You'd definately get more out of your system with those upgrades for about the same price as the 9700.

When you get into higher, you get into the "price isn't as much of a concern" range. At that point, its really just best to do whatever you want. Get advice on the best components available and go with it.

MiniD

boxboy28 · « **Reply #4 on:** May 09, 2003, 08:43:44 AM »

FORM FACTOR are the same im pretty sure! if not when you buy the MOBO they should give you a little back panel thing the you just swap the 2 peices.

Staga · « **Reply #5 on:** May 09, 2003, 08:46:48 AM »

AMD XP2400 (2,0GHz) is pretty good choice, im running my at 2,3GHz (bios says xp2800) with water but it should do just fine with good heatsink/fan combination if you decide to over clock it.

IIRC mobos with nForce2 chipset supports DualChannel memory handling so you should buy two 256mb mem-chips instead one 512mb AFAIK to get best performance.

Radeon 8500/9000 are pretty slow already, check if you can afford 9500 or 9600 series card. Cold be good idea to buy a card which fully support Dx9.

You can use your old case and PS, nothing wrong in them.

Ghosth · « **Reply #6 on:** May 10, 2003, 07:45:07 AM »

I will strongly recomend the ATI 9000 Pro 128 video card in my curent system.

Reasonable, awesome frame rates, excellent quality at a VERY reasonable price.

bloom25 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 11, 2003, 02:05:50 AM »

Dowding, you would certainly see a boost in performance upgrading your graphics card on your current machine. A GeForce 2 Pro runs out of steam around the 700 - 800 MHz level. If you went with a 9700 Pro (or 9500 Pro, which is a good buy if you can still find one) you would be bottlenecked by your CPU, but you should see a significant boost in performance regardless.

If you wanted to do the rest of the system, a 2400+ or 2500+ would be the two best choices as far as bang/buck goes IMO. The 2500+ in particular is interesting, as it has 512kB of L2 cache and a 333 MHz FSB frequency. The 2400+ runs at a slightly higher true clockspeed, but has "only" 256kB of L2 cache and runs at a 266 MHz FSB frequency. An nForce 2 based board is definately the way to go for AMD Athlons. (The A7N8X and A7N8X Deluxe are very nice boards. I personally like the Deluxe model better, as you get a LOT of extra features for a little bit more money.)

Swag Abroad · « **Reply #8 on:** May 12, 2003, 05:01:26 AM »

Bloom,

That A7N8X Deluxe and the 2500 would be OK running with PC-2100 RAM?

Thanks

Swag

Mini D · « **Reply #9 on:** May 12, 2003, 07:58:34 AM »

They advertise it as being capable of running 2100 memory. Performancewise... it should do OK till you can get the extra $60 to get some faster memory.

MiniD

acetnt · « **Reply #10 on:** May 12, 2003, 09:58:40 AM »

Agree completely with Mini D - Just put together a machine like that. Whats missing though is the price of the RAM. Would recommend that u buy at least PC2700 RAM.

Mini D's option is much better that just the Radeon 9700 that you currently plan to buy....Plus it gives you a much better upgrade path. Only thing is you may will have to reformat and reload software for best performance....

P.S. If you buy a motherboard and CPU combo - you can normally get a reduced price

.......

Dowding · « **Reply #11 on:** May 13, 2003, 09:08:40 AM »

Thanks for the advice guys. I've fallen behind the current hardware trends; this brings me up to speed alot.

BTW do Intel PIV really run at 3 GHz? The Athlons still seem to run at sub 2GHz speeds despite being called 2800, 3000 etc. Is that just a nomenclature thing?

Docc · « **Reply #12 on:** May 13, 2003, 09:32:48 AM »

yes they do.....am running a gigabyte mb with a P4 3.06 processor, 1 gig RD RAM, twin 60 G ATA 133 hard drives with RAID striping, 22" monitor, and a ATI 9700 video card....frame rates using standard settings range from 70 FPS to 240 FPS depending on screen clutter.....total cost new $1750

Pfunk · « **Reply #13 on:** May 13, 2003, 11:16:55 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Docc
yes they do.....am running a gigabyte mb with a P4 3.06 processor, 1 gig RD RAM, twin 60 G ATA 133 hard drives with RAID striping, 22" monitor, and a ATI 9700 video card....frame rates using standard settings range from 70 FPS to 240 FPS depending on screen clutter.....total cost new $1750

And its already obsolete.

Docc · « **Reply #14 on:** May 13, 2003, 12:06:06 PM »

yup....but hey it took 6 months to get obsolete LOL