upgrade help -64bit or not

[hardflipman]

hello folks. wonder if you can help out, i'm thinking of upgrading my main pc. currently it has duron 1700 and kt400 motherboard and 9600xt.

i was thinking of either:

athlon64 3000, abit an8 ultra, radeon x800gt
is that a good combo? kind of want to do it as cheap as possible. i was thinking if i got an agp motherboard i could probably get a 6800 instead which may or may not be better. but i quite fancied the an8 ultra due to it's onboard sound( i do have a hercules gamethater sound card though which i could use)

or do i just go for nf7s and mobile xp processor? is it worth the extra money going to the 64 bit platform?

cheers guys

[Dougal]

Worth the extra money.

Especially for games.

[ikonia]

64bit is not worth it at this moment for the average home user, and pretty much if you get an A64 you'd find yourself using it in 32bit mode anyway. Although the A64s run very well in 32bit mode too.

Depends how long a life you want of this PC.

[sawyen]

yea.. if you're going to play games, A64 is definitely worth it.. eclipse any intel at the same price point.

[kempez]

The architecture of the A64 chips is much better than Intel atm. Whether or not they are 64bit isn't the point (although they are future-proof). They are also great bang-per-buck and perform excellently in games.

[Koolpc]

I was thinking of going the A64 route but i will hang for a bit. My mate has a winnie 3500 and i honestly can't see the difference between that and my Socket A 3200!!

[krazy_olie]

Regardless of the 64 bit or not it's a very good cpu for the price. I personally think that new motherboards should be PCI-e unless you have a high-end graphics card you wish to use anyway. Some will say the x800gt some including 6600gt, depends on what games you play, 6600gt will probably be better in terms of future proofing due to SM3, though 256mb and 128mb versions of normal 6800s can be found in pci-e.

Seeing as you can get a cheap creative card for about £12 or something onboard sound isn't really a reason to buy a mobo but it's a good mobo anyway.

[Koolpc]

Is PCI-e a necessity though? What if he doesn't want to use 2 Cards?

I would wait for some of the prices to come down a bit more as you are going to upgrade big time. A64 is the way to go for you as it would be a big improvement on your current spec.

[hardflipman]

hmm, i'm a bit confused now! sli compatibilty isn't of any interest as i would never use it i don't think. but are you saying that the x800gt isn't shader model 3 and the 6600gt is? the 6600gt is i think a bit more expensive and would appear to be slower as well!

[Oakey]

If you're upgrading now and choosing AMD it's stupid not to choose an A64 PCI-E chipset. Better to get some longevity out of it rather than buy old tech and find yourself upgrading to newer tech anyway in a few months time.

[chrestomanci]

hmm, i'm a bit confused now! sli compatibilty isn't of any interest as i would never use it i don't think.

SLI compatibility gives you some degree of future proofing, as it will make it cheaper to upgrade your graphics in 18 months time. As you appear to be the type of PC owner who keeps their kit for a while, you might benefit from a more upgradeable system. Your choice though.

but are you saying that the x800gt isn't shadier model 3 and the 6600gt is? the 6600gt is I think a bit more expensive and would appear to be slower as well!

That depends which benchmark you look at. Basically ATI cards perform better in DirectX games (Half-Life, 3dMark, Far-cry), and nVidia is better with OpenGL (Doom3, Wolfenstien ET, Chronicles of Ridick, Professional 3D modeling). So you should make your choice depending on which games you play.

Also if you have any interest in Linux, then stay away from ATI, as their Linux drivers are extremely buggy and unstable.

[kempez]

Nvidia currently pwn all the game benchies with the 7800GTX: until the r530 is out of course. Nvidia all the way atm I'm afraid

[hardflipman]

Nvidia currently pwn all the game benchies with the 7800GTX: until the r530 is out of course. Nvidia all the way atm I'm afraid

except that i'm not in the market for one of them!

is shader model 3 a reason for buying a 6600gt? or indeed a plain 6800?

[Zak33]

If you're upgrading now and choosing AMD it's stupid not to choose an A64 PCI-E chipset. Better to get some longevity out of it rather than buy old tech and find yourself upgrading to newer tech anyway in a few months time.

Oakey is very very right.


PCI Express mobo & cards are your route to not stressing about all this in 6 -12 months time.

[aidanjt]

AGP seems to be getting phased out rather rapidly too.. I need to get an x800 before christmas because i plan on keeping this system for another year or so.

[oralpain]

is shader model 3 a reason for buying a 6600gt? or indeed a plain 6800?

SM3 is no reason to pay more for a slower card. The number of games out now where SM3 makes any significant difference is zero. By the time SM3 is required/heavily utilized a plain 6800 is not gonna cut it anyway.