Is it worth it?

[Cutey_Kaite]

Im gonna buy some new stuff for my computer, tell me if its worth it and if its a good buy

MOTHERBOARD: MSI K7N2-DELTA-L nVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 - CND $98 US $75

PROCESSOR: AMD Athlon XP 2600 333MHz FSB Retail Box - CND $146 US $112

MEMORY: 2 Pieces of KingMax 512MB PC-2700 DDR333 SDRAM - CND $202 US$155

Total Price: CND $446 US $344

 

[Asus]

It would be if you have an older PC.
What are the specs for the PC you have right now?
What applications do you use most?

 

[Lil' Timmy]

lol, kaite the mods of the forums can move threads.. your original thread is now here, in the hardware forum too. but perhaps it's best to start over since badger yelled at us

so to reitterate:
current specs?
what are you going to use it gor (future gaming?)
asus, is that msi board the best nforce2 she can get for her buck?
(sorry if you're not a 'she' kaite, just assuming)
i'm thinking a barton 2500+ might be better since you can overclock it to 3200+ anyway (i don't think the 2600+ would be any more overclockable)
you probably want to get a non-stock hsf also.. and probably a new case, if your current one is rather old.

 

[Cutey_Kaite]

My current specs are:

Windows XP Pro SP1
NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 (128 MB)
140 GB Harddrive
384 RD RAM
ECS P4ITA2 Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4, 1600 MHz

 

[Lil' Timmy]

hmm.. well, i would say save your money.. what are you wanting to upgrade for anyway?

 

[Dr. Freeman]

So we go to the Hardware forum to pick up chicks, huh?

yup.. didn't u know?! :upstare:

hmm.. well, i would say save your money.. what are you wanting to upgrade for anyway?

good advice :thumbs:

theres whole new motherboards coming out this year.. BTX platform.. plus PCI-Express video cards.. best thing to do is wait for those..

i know theres the "theres always something new coming out" arguement.. but changes in motherboard platform are not normal stuff that gets changed every day..

if u want ur upgrades to last as long as possible, then waiting is a good idea.. but if ur the type that likes to upgrade every 1-2 years.. then ignore this advice.

ur current system isn't bad.. i have similar specs.. and don't plan to get a new pc until December at least.. maybe longer..

 

[Lil' Timmy]

yup.. didn't u know?! :upstare:




good advice :thumbs:

theres whole new motherboards coming out this year.. BTX platform.. plus PCI-Express video cards.. best thing to do is wait for those..

i know theres the "theres always something new coming out" arguement.. but changes in motherboard platform are not normal stuff that gets changed every day..

if u want ur upgrades to last as long as possible, then waiting is a good idea.. but if ur the type that likes to upgrade every 1-2 years.. then ignore this advice.

ur current system isn't bad.. i have similar specs.. and don't plan to get a new pc until December at least.. maybe longer..

yeah, but i don't think btx is worth waiting for personally (when is amd adopting btx, do you know?). she might be on a budget too, freeman. kaite, you might want to look at getting a better vid card (radeon 9600-9800) if it's just games you're concerned about for the immediate future

 

[babywax]

If I'm correct, getting two 512 sticks of ram will most likely give you 4 banks, which will give you a performance hit. Frankly I would suggest just getting a real nice 512 stick, I have 1GB ram and I hardly ever go past 512... The only time I do that is when I have like 4 IE windows, 3dsmax, photoshop and a couple other things open.
However, HL2 might be a big ole memory hog, so who knows

Of course, you should wait until Half-Life 2 is released, or whatever you're wanting to upgrade for, before upgrading. The longer you wait, the lower prices will go. Hold out as long as you can, not necessarily for the new technology, but because prices on older stuff usually goes down when newer stuff is released.

 

[Lil' Timmy]

right, it's best to set aside a certain amount of money, and see what that price point will get you when you really need to upgrade. assuming money is a constraint at all, that is.

 

[Asus]

It isn't for AMD to adopt. lol
They produce CPUs.
Motherboard companies who make boards for AMD will adopt BTX.
Intel makes CPUs and boards.
Those same boards will adopt PCI Express on Intel and AMD systems.
DDR2 is up to AMD though because the onboard memory controller.

Waiting is a good idea. I would maybe think about upgrading around summer.
I would buy all new as well. That way none of the parts in your PC are old/slow (e.i. Hard Drives).

If you don't game much then it might be worth upgrading to the Athlon 2500 right now.

The performance hit with too much RAM (non-registered) is when you go beyond 4 banks and 2 x 512mb would be 4 banks. 4 x 256mb and 2 sticks of 1gb are also 4 banks.
256mb and 512mb sticks are usually lower density dimms compared with 1gb sitcks.

 

[RandomPING]

Yea those BTX and PCI-X slots are sexy. I swear i'm not obsessed.

Seriously though, that should do you just fine for till at least year end. I mean most games will probably run on that under low graphics for 2 or 3 years. But only LOSERS run low graphics... and no one wants to play with them on the playground... and get kickballs thrown at them, even though they're yelling fo rthe teacher, but the teacher isn't listening. The teacher is too busy trying to make eyes at the grounds keeper, but even her students can tell he's sooo gay.
So uh... that's my advice.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

yeah, but i don't think btx is worth waiting for personally (when is amd adopting btx, do you know?). she might be on a budget too, freeman. kaite, you might want to look at getting a better vid card (radeon 9600-9800) if it's just games you're concerned about for the immediate future

hmm.. well it depends on whether money is an issue for her.. so until thats answered, our guesses are kinda useless..

also.. her pc right now isn't that bad.. i have very similar specs.. and granted, a pc with more power would be nice (it always is) but i think she can manage without an upgrade right now.. which means its good to save the money.. especially if shes going on a strict budget.. and thanks Asus for pointing out that motherboard/platform thing.. i was going to do it.. but would have messed up badly lol

either way, waiting for the new tech to come out is a good idea regardless of her getting it or not.. just means that if she decides not to get any new tech, she gets cheaper prices with other hardware.

 

[Lil' Timmy]

one thing you might want to try kaite is to DL the farcry SP demo and see how that runs on your system.