I'm thinking about doing a "reasonable " upgrade for my computer ,
but, what to go with , AMD or Intel processor?? I'll be replacing the mobo , and processor and I want a gig of ram at least. what do ya'll think??? what would you get and where from ??



Thanks for any help you can give !



IC

Depends. Where are we starting from as far as your current rig. Just CPU, RAM and Videocard and Motherboard please. Where are you trying to get to? How much in American are you talking about spending?

Current specs :

Pentium 4 2.4 gig/ Intel D845PEBT2 Mobo 533 meghtz fsb
512 megs PC2700 ram @ 333 mh
ATI 9800 Pro 128 Mh


wanting to keep the $$ down to a low roar !! about a grand or so
at the most about $ 1500.00

I'd like to get a decent boost without going hogwild ... basically , just below the newest and hottest thing out there ... which costs a fortune :lol:
Thanks ,


IC

Best buy has Viking ramm 512 for price $94 ( I add tax into) which bring your ramm to 1024 ram.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... uct&cmp=++
or this PNY 512MB PC2700 for $90 ( I add taxe)
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... pe=product

so that leave u $1400.If go with best buy. Somebody around forum can find u better deal.

Might I suggest this.

http://www.apple.com/imac/

Hold tight for a bit bro. I'm sure there will be surprising announcements at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/events/20SFO05A

hey chef

for that much dough you'll do fine.

I just got a new dell rig for $1,050 on a great deal:

P4 3.2 Ghz, 800 FSB, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB SATA HD, 128 PCI Express Vid card, Creative 5.1 card, and a 19" Flat LCD.

Just over 1 grand. If you're going to spend up to $1,500, hell, get yourself a new rig with a monitor thrown in! :D

Still haven't reinstalled UT on the new rig, and I gave my old one to my mother.

Mah

If you're thinking of a new monitor, the prices on CRT monitors have fallen a LOT. Get a 19" CRT and save yourself a bundle to use towards the rest.

If this upgrade is for Unreal Tournament (any version) remember that the designers have said that:

1) CPU is the most important upgrade

2) Vid card is next most important upgrade

3) RAM is the 3rd most important thing to upgrade.

If it comes down to it, get more cpu or vid card, and get 512 MB RAM for now. Get the other 512MB later on.

Hey Chef,

It is just my opinion but I think the system you have now is already pretty great. I struggle hard to think that you would even notice much of a difference if you upgraded to near brand new technology. I too have the bug to get a new system but after upgrading several times over the years, I have learned to at least wait until the mhz of the processor I have has been doubled and then buy a new system that is just a few notches down from the very best. For instance: I went from a 133mhz cpu to a 166 and then to a 266, then from that to a 300 and then to a 1000. I went from the 1000 to a 2100 and finally 2100 to 2600. Out of all of that, The only time I actually noticed a big difference was going from the AMD K6 2-300 up to a AMD Thunderbird 1000. That was an amazing difference. After that, nothing seemed like a big deal. Someone mentioned an order of importance above. True if you replace the system. If you just upgrade which is always cheaper, in my opinion, all you would need is maybe a better video card even though it already spanks mine badly and then some more ram. All of that can be had for less than $500 easily and you would still be able to do a true upgrade later with the remaining $1000 that you didn't spend this time around. The biggest thing you can ever do to your PC these days and get the most performance without changing a MOBO out is to get a new video card......the end. Nothing else can upgrade a gaming machine faster or better than a new video card. Please send me your used 9800 for saving you right around $1000. Thank you!

Well that would be great to save my money :D I was thinking about getting this though too.... ;http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=449493&Sku=CP2-P4-3000BNC
my mobo was made for this 3.06 chip , and its down to $199.00 now :) what about this for an upgrade : 1) the 3.06 chip
2) 6800 ultra
2) another 512k ram

Thats about a $850-900 worth of stuff. I've been waiting for that chip to come down ever since I got this machine. Would I be messing up if I got it while I was at it ?? that would allow me to turn on the hyperthreading function that I can't access without that chip.
Otherwise I'll get just an vid card and ram upgrade

I see its a Pentium then. OK, I would then have to say that it is time to do some homework. You need this upgrade to last a while right? Your board uses the socket 438 apparently and it supports a FSB of 533. I don't know Pentium stuff but I would find out if your board supports the 800 fsb chips too. If it does, I'd get the fastest one of those you can afford since I'm sure they all use the hyperthreading and such. If you board does not support the 800 fsb chips, then I would certainly get the fastest 533 fsb chip I could get my hands on. I just did a quick check and it looks like you may have already done this yourself. the 3.06 chip appears to be the fastest 533 fsb available. So now I'm also assuming that your board does not support the 800fsb. No matter. Sound like you got it figured out sir. That chip is the fastest for your board. That chip plus a better vid card and more ram will be all you can do for this upgrade. Won't you be needing my address to be able to send me the old, beat up, used ATI 9800 you won't be needing anymore??? (Apply Jedi mind trick here)

Damn how much does ram cost there at $199 for the chip the vid card ??? $300-400 i hope no more that leaves 512 of ram being $300-400
Damn that expensive i just bought one gig of pc 3200 for £100 -- $187

If you are going to upgrade motherboard would go with amd chip ready for the new 64 bit op when it finaly arrives and make sure its 939 pin set

Dark :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

They have menory for $60.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... pNo=513669

$1500 ???
Heck, Go with AMD. Get an Athlon 64. Whatever spped you can afford. Try to get a socket 939.
If you get a 6800 Ultra, you had better get a beefy power supply. I would get the GT model from BFG.
I will lok to find some good prices. Be back later.

Hey Chefsky,

Yeah I would recommend the BFG GT OC from BFG as Jarg has recommended. Thanks for the info Jarg on BFG, lifetime warranty is hard to beat! The Ultra requires a minimum 400 watt power supply.......insane! From what I've heard the performance FPS wise is minimal between the two when benchmarked with Doom 3.

BTW did you connect BB wise yet? I think that would make a dramatic performace difference. Just a thought, then you could play CS!

Lotus

Hermskii mentioned this earlier, and I'm thinking the same: the machine you have now is already pretty great. so what inspired you to want to upgrade? if everything you do on your computer now is working to your satisfaction, then I'd say put that money in the bank. and when your current machine is on its last legs, you'll have more money than you put in now and you'll get to choose from even better hardware. by then I'm thinking that you can get a great PCI Express video card (along with a good PCI Express motherboard), a 64-bit capable CPU, and lots of lightning fast RAM. or if you're using dial-up now, the money you have now can pay for the upgrade to broadband for at least a few years.

- c ( aegean creek / ascending dawn / QueenSeraXIX / SparklingOrinoco )