opinion on my rig?

[Illegal Amigo]

I'm not sure about my configuration--I don't think the motherboard is well suited. I feel like my motherboard/processor combination is bottlenecking the power of my system. I know my ram isn't working as fast as it can. Any recommendations?

My specs:

k7s5a (200mhz, 4x agp :upstare
amd 2000+
9800 pro
1 gb crucial 400mhz ram
200 + 60 gb hard drive
coolermaster centurion case silver
nec 12x dvd-burner
nec 52x cd-rw

 

[iamaelephant]

You and I are in pretty much the same shoes. I have a similar (cheap) mobo and a 2500, with the same RAM and video card as you. My mobo and CPU are going to be the next to go, so that's what I would recommend. I'm going for an Athlon 64 3200 CPU, not sure on mobos yet (probably the cheapest 64 bit )

 

[Dead-Inside]

You got 260 gb on your machine? Man, who uses that much space?

Anyway, if you're worried about your mobo and processor get a new 64bits from AMD.

It does sound like that's an okay rig but, umm, if your RAM is split (2x512 mb) then you should get a dualchannel MOBO which allows it to run at 800 mhz since it runs both RAMs at the same time. And you'll never run out of ram with that much unless you're modelling.

 

[Illegal Amigo]

Thanks a lot, Dead-Inside! I'm just wondering if the AMD 64 is worth it, it is kind of new still, and new technology = lots of money.

 

[wartime]

AMD Athlon 64 2800+ 149 dollars
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 172 dollars
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 218 dollars

Then an ASUS motherboard (100-150 depending on model) and you are set.

 

[Illegal Amigo]

Yeah, but nothing can really take advantage of the 64 bit capabilites. At least current games/applications...

 

[AzzMan]

A lot of money? The Athlon64 3000+ is less than the XP3200+ on Newegg..........

 

[Asus]

If you don't want to spend a lot then you don't have to get a higher model. Grab the A64 2800+ and a good 90-110$ board with nForce 4 or VIA chipset then (Asus, MSI, Chaintech).
Any Athlon 64 will do great. The change with that core is a good one.

Here is your not taking advantage of 64bits. That is with a 6800Ultra though.

By the way, Dual channel is does not run at 800MHz.
PC3200 DDR400 memory actually runs at 200MHz.
If it is run in dual channel then one chip may be accessed while the other one is getting ready for the next transfer.
Here is your single vs dual channel performance in D3.
It doesn't depend on the board but the CPU since the memory controller is built on the CPU die. But I wouldn't worry about dual channel memory at all. Look at my single channel rig. :thumbs: