The Big Upgrade

[grand_witch]

The Big Upgrade

It has now reached the time when the big upgrade must take place. For me it is a yearly event (No counting hardware replaced due to explosion or destruction) where I drown in labs and charts and reviews to find the best options.

I require a new Graphics card, Motherboard and Processor.

IN terms of Graphics card I am torn between the better value Hercules 9800 Pro 128 and the not so practical 9800xt 256.

When it comes to processor I am in a state of utter confusion. Do I go for a Athlon 64 or take advantage of the price drop on the P4's or get a precott? (come to think of it what the hell is a prescott?).

Anyway I would apreciate some advice on these items. Please help before I am forced to read another complicated set of bar charts and tables gauging everything from clok speed to the exact time it take to open the packaging.

[Korky]

between the two gfx cards id choose the Hercules 9800 Pro 128mb, and i would also go Athlon 64 because im not convinced with the prescott and if u get a p4 32bit then ur big upgrade is immediately old technology.

[emul8]

i was thinking of getting the Hercules 9800 Pro 128mb,
and have just bought Pentium 4 "Northwood" 3.0GHz (800FSB) with HT Technology
Abit IC7-MAX3 "Canterwood" (Socket 478) Motherboard
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus9 Serial ATA 80GB 8MB Cache x2
MSI DR8-A 8x DVD±R/±RW (Black)
480W Thermaltake Black Butterfly
Corsair TwinX 1024Mb C2 3200<B>ProS
all wrapped in a Coolermaster Black Widow Atcs-201b-bxt
have i just bought old technology

[Korky]

well its alot of money to spend in 32bit at this time, its old technology in that sense but the system is still a beast.
Hurry up and overclock it so we can see some 3d marks ;-)

[Swafe]

get a 64bit athlon, say a XP3000 or something, wont be too wallet breaking

rad 9800 pro

[Korky]

Swafe he said hes just bought all that p4 gear, telling him to get a 64bit athlon isnt going really going to help ease his mind is it :S

Anyway im not sure if ur tryin to be smart emul by askin me this question (rhetorical perhaps?) it just comes across this way...

[emul8]

Anyway im not sure if ur tryin to be smart emul by askin me this question (rhetorical perhaps?) it just comes across this way...[/QUOTE]
no just trying to decide what gf card to get
happy with my purchase havent got the case yet

[Korky]

ok :-> i can vouch for the herc 9800pro 128mb, had one for about 4 months, does 425/365 on default cooling which isnt to bad.

[Allen]

Swafe he said hes just bought all that p4 gear, telling him to get a 64bit athlon isnt going really going to help ease his mind is it :S

Anyway im not sure if ur tryin to be smart emul by askin me this question (rhetorical perhaps?) it just comes across this way...

I'm sure that Swafeman's post was directed at the post originator, grand_witch, who was asking for help to choose between the Athlon 64's and Prescott's and the 9800PRO and 9800XT.

I'd say go with the Athlon 64 and 9800PRO too, would give you the most future-proof out of the 2 options.

[afraser2k]

You should have a look at the Crucial 9800 Pro. I bought one a few months ago and it was a bargain at the time. There's also a lifetime warranty as a bonus, which would save you money for more RAM or faster CPU.

[Steve]

Who says 32bit is old technology? I'm sorry but that's rubbish.

There isn't even an x86-64bit version of Windows out yet, therefore no windows programs are x86-64bit.

The merits for getting an Athlon64 are for its speed compared to a P4 in 32bit applications and things like an on-die memory controller.

I like the look of the 64's, but personally I'm hanging on for the 2nd incarnation of them as they're always miles better - look at the Northwood P4's or the Thunderbird Athlons.

[Zak33]

/\ and that's the reason he is member of the month.....another proper bit of advice.

I warn you all.....64 bit or not, the Athlons have more changes due....its all too...complex for punters right now...

2 socket formats, 3 diff models.....its all too much.

And XP doesnt suuport it, so while the internal structure is good to have (on the mobo) its not that good in reality.....not pound for pound.

I have had Athlons myself for a long long time but have now witnessed P4 power...and if you get a good value version.....just sub 3 gig....its fast.

I sadly dont know your CURRENT specs......but if you are ABOVE 2 gig already....then just a card is my advice.

9800Pro.....128 mb version...from whoever.....that will make you smile

if you are way behind....then maybe a stop gap.....nforce 2 board, 2500 XP M and some memory...then look again later this year

[Steve]

Yeah Zak's right about the sub 3gig P4.

People seem to get a good o/c out of them, and of course, you find the price of processors is near exponential - you pay a ridiculous amount for the top model compared to the ones that aren't really that much slower.

[Stoo]

Personally I'd just do a cheap "stop-gap" upgrade until the market settles down a bit, something like a 2500+ XP-M from cpucity, nf7s v2, a 512mb stick of pc3200 (samsung or twinmos) and whichever 9800 pro you can get the cheapest.

Something like that should easily be enough for just about anything, then if you get tempted when A64 etc sorts itself out in 6/9 months or so you can always flog the chip and mobo and hop over