My decisions

[grimbob]

Hi,
I'm going to be upgrading my computer (Athlon XP2100+, 384PC2100 ram, Geforce FX5200) since I have a bit of money available.
I have come down to a few choices:
Celeron 2.8Ghz, + new motherboard + 512mb pc3200 ram
Athlon 2.8Ghz Barton, + new motherboard, + 512mb pc2700 ram
or
Something like a ATI 9800 / Nvidia FX5900 + more ram

Which would give me more of a performance increase while gaming?
I'm kind of interested in the Celeron since I have heard it's good for overclocking.

Thanks for any help, and your ideas would be appreciated.

[nichomach]

Forgive me for saying this, but - CELERON? ARE YOU MAD?

Secondly, I assume you mean a 2800XP Barton; this isn't 2.8GHz, but performs like a P4 of 2.8GHz (or better). I can tell you what the response around here from a lot of people will be; don't get either. Get an Abit NF7-S SoA motherboard, with some TwinMOS PC3200 w/Winbond chips and get a 2500 XP-M mobile Barton (as per http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...roducts_id=392). Get a decent heatsink on it and clock the bejasus out of the Barton. How much did I leave out?

[blockers]

Discount celerons, as they are slow, and only good for video encoding/decoding afaik.

Next, the ideal AMD set-up for overclocking/gaming/price is Barton xp2500, abit NF7-S, 9800pro/xt, and 512mb/1gb pc3200. (in dual channel.)

What motherboard do you have?
I would say, leave your processor, as that is ok for now.
I would definatly upgrade your graphics, FX5200's are piss poor. A 9800 pro (round £135 at komplett) will give you a HUGE performance increase.
Next for gaming/general loading get some good RAM, i.e. 512mb/1gb of PC3200. (as you can run it synced with the processor giving better performance as there are no delays.) If you are overclocking, which i think is unlikely with a xp2100 then i would say any PC3200 RAM will do, for overclocking you want to pay a little more to get better timings, and higher overclocks.

So option C basically

Hope that is of some assitance.
Will

[steve threlfall]

Forgive me for saying this, but - CELERON? ARE YOU MAD?

Secondly, I assume you mean a 2800XP Barton; this isn't 2.8GHz, but performs like a P4 of 2.8GHz (or better). I can tell you what the response around here from a lot of people will be; don't get either. Get an Abit NF7-S SoA motherboard, with some TwinMOS PC3200 w/Winbond chips and get a 2500 XP-M mobile Barton (as per http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...roducts_id=392). Get a decent heatsink on it and clock the bejasus out of the Barton. How much did I leave out?

Amen

NF7-S and a mobile barton fromm www.cpucity.co.uk- that'l clock to 2.2GHz at least, mines currently at 2.4GHz

You'l be wanting at least 512mb of TwinMos 3200 with winbond chips available from www.komplett.co.uk

Aslo definately go with a 9800pro from www.scan.co.uk

[grimbob]

Would the T/TAKE A1607 XP3400+ VOLCANO 11 XASER RED be appropriate for the mobile XP2500 (when overclocked)? Or would I need something more powerful.

I have decided to get the Abit NF7-S Ver. 2 and the XP-M 2500+ (and a new case + heatsink) this month, and get the ram/graphics card next month, as I might as well build myself a new computer instead of upgrading this one as I have a few bits lying around the place :>

[blockers]

Good plan, man. You wont be disappointed.

That cooler would be good for cooling an overclocked barton. They (mobile bartons) run cooler than one might expect as they use less voltage at stock. xp2500-m is 1.45v, where as the regular is 1.65v (not totally sure that is correct...) this means they can overclock well before reaching the stock level of a none mobile xp2500.

What PSU are you going to be running with this? The CWT 450watt from scan, and teh Tagan 480watt from somewhere are both highly recommended.

As for cases, i would advise an aluminum as they are nicer

[steve threlfall]

Would the T/TAKE A1607 XP3400+ VOLCANO 11 XASER RED be appropriate for the mobile XP2500 (when overclocked)? Or would I need something more powerful.

I have decided to get the Abit NF7-S Ver. 2 and the XP-M 2500+ (and a new case + heatsink) this month, and get the ram/graphics card next month, as I might as well build myself a new computer instead of upgrading this one as I have a few bits lying around the place :>

good idea

As blockers says that hsf will do the job nicely

[grimbob]

Well I've just run 3DMark 2001SE and got a score of 3800 (on a xp2100, 384mb ram, GF FX5200) so I'm presuming it's my graphics card that is giving me such a bad performance (I can remember getting 3100 on my athlon 1ghz, 256mb ram and gf3 ti200) or could this be something more. I installed the latest motherboard and graphics drivers before this test.

[blockers]

Basically mate, your graphic card (FX5200) is terrible. My system, xp1700 (at 1.8 at the time) 512mb pc2700 (at 360fsb from 333fsb) and a ti4200 got 13000+ in 3dmark 2001SE.

You will see such a huge performance increase in a 9800pro it will be unreal.

3dmark 2001SE does like graphic power, and fsb. I managed to get a higher 3dmark01 score with a higher fsb, and overall lower clock speed (9x190 or something) than a lower fsb, and higher overall clock speed (11x180.)

I would say the two main parts in your system holding you back are the graphics and RAM.