Author Topic: Help me spend money (CPU,Mboard,memory) (Read 582 times)

Pollock · « **on:** December 26, 2001, 10:53:00 AM »

Ok,

I got some Christmas money ($200.00) and I am looking at building a gaming only machine and converting my old stuff to the wifes PC.
Speed and stability are key. I dont want to have to tweak anymore. I just find I spend more time trouble shooting than having fun playing AH.

Here is what I am saving:
Geforce 3 Ti 200 Vid card 64meg visiontek
Samsung cd burner 16X
Maxtor 7200 40 Gig harddrive
Windows 98SE (cannot change until SGE saitek gets their toejam together)

Here is what I think needs replacing.

Asus A7V133 motherboard
AMD tbird 850mhz
512Meg pc133 ram (in 128meg sticks)

My guess is that the memory can stay a while longer and I will keep 256meg in the game pc
But with newer boards I wonder if I will gain anything with DDR memory.

I look forward to the experts recommendations.

Maverick · « **Reply #1 on:** December 26, 2001, 12:54:00 PM »

Not an expert but I do recomensd going with the DDR memory as that seems to be the way things are going now. No reason to buy more older design stuff that might not be able to be used next time.

Definately go with the AMD. See if you can find an AMD chipset board if you can. I use a DFI, less $ then the ASUS but already set for AMD chips and I can go up a bit in speed if I need to. Pent. is ok but pricey for the same performance in an AMD chip.

Up grade in stages for later components. Have $ set aside for a new HD if yours is getting a bit old. They tend to fail when you can least aford it. Voice of experiance here.

aknimitz · « **Reply #2 on:** December 26, 2001, 12:58:00 PM »

If you are looking to build an Aces High machine, I can tell you with 100% certainty to NOT get the GF3 Ti200. There is NO improvement between that card and the GF2 Ultra with regard to fps in AH. In fact, I got markedly higher fps with my GF2 Ultra in AH than I did with the GF3 Ti200 I tested (Visiotek).

Thats my $.02 (GF2 Ultra cards are $50-ish less expensive, and a wise way to save money)

Nim

Raubvogel · « **Reply #3 on:** December 26, 2001, 01:10:00 PM »

Going to be tough to get a CPU, mobo, and mem that performs better than what you have for $200. Is your current T-bird a socket A or a slot A? If it's a socket A, you can get a 1.4 ghz T-bird and stick it in there for about $110-120.

Nimitz...are you sure that wasn't a GF2 Ti200 that you tested? There's no way in hell a GF2 Ultra can outperform a GF3 Ti200. The GF2 Ti200 is a bit lower performance than an Ultra though.

Pollock · « **Reply #4 on:** December 26, 2001, 01:15:00 PM »

Crap,

regarding Geforce 3 I have noticed the card is less stable than my former GF2 GTS 32meg DDR. My FPS in AH went up about 10 fps average from my old card, Unfortunatly that card is sold, at least i only paid $99.00 (after rebate) for the GF3.

Thanks for the replies I will go AMD maybe palomino but im not running XP (yet). I read some post from bloom25 regarding the Nforce maybe that is the way to go.

Keep the suggestions coming please.

Eagler · « **Reply #5 on:** December 26, 2001, 01:40:00 PM »

just put together a XP333 IWILL with a AMD XP1600 and 256 PC2100 ram for a friend. It has 6 channel on board sound $ 133 ATA HD support. Very quick machine but would cost closer to $300 for ram, mb & cpu...

gl

[ 12-26-2001: Message edited by: Eagler ]

bloom25 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 27, 2001, 12:28:00 AM »

The GF 3 Ti 200 is faster than the GF 2 Ultra, but only if you have sufficient CPU power to drive it. With a lesser CPU a Gf 2 Ultra is faster.

(I should also mention that GF 3 users who have via chipset boards should have the "AGP aperature" size set to 128 MB in the bios for top performance. Pollock, you need to do this on your system if you haven't already.)

Pollock · « **Reply #7 on:** December 27, 2001, 07:10:00 AM »

Thanks Bloom I think I may just buy a 1.5Gig athlon and see my results before doing the new system.

Eagler · « **Reply #8 on:** December 27, 2001, 07:53:00 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by bloom25:
The GF 3 Ti 200 is faster than the GF 2 Ultra, but only if you have sufficient CPU power to drive it. With a lesser CPU a Gf 2 Ultra is faster.

(I should also mention that GF 3 users who have via chipset boards should have the "AGP aperature" size set to 128 MB in the bios for top performance. Pollock, you need to do this on your system if you haven't already.)

what about AGP aperature size for the geforce2 64mb ultra?

qts · « **Reply #9 on:** December 27, 2001, 12:53:00 PM »

Quote

Asus A7V133 motherboard
AMD tbird 850mhz
512Meg pc133 ram (in 128meg sticks)

With a budget of $200, I really don't think that any of this needs changing.

If you've got a 17" monitor, I'd suggest you change that and go for a 19".

The other upgrade you should consider is Windows 2000 or XP for the increased stability.