expert opinions needed

[fishman09]

hi guys

just wanted to ask a question regarding an upgarde to my current rig

basically..the upgarde is going to comprise of a foxconn NF4K8AC-RS Skt.939 mobo/amd3000 venice combo and a radeon x850xtpe pci-e gfx card

apart from sourcing these items....the rest of the pc will remain as is...so in effect i will be adding the new gear to my current ram/hd/case etc

my question concerns the fact that i will be using 1gb of ddr333 2700. a friend has said that although i'll have a decent mobo/cpu/gfx card that by using the ram i already have that i will be causing a MAJOR bottleneck in the system and will loose a vast amount of the improvements i will get from upgrading in the first place. whilst i don't doubt his expertise....budget constraints mean that whilst a ram upgrade in 6mths+ is possible, for now i will have to use what i have

if anyone can advise how much performance i'm going to loose by using my current ram with the new kit i would appreciate it.

current system

msi 645f ultra mobo
2.1xp oc'd~2.1ghz
1gb pc2700 333
120gb maxtor
radeon agp 9800se = softmodded to pro

proposed new system

foxconn NF4K8AC-RS
amd3000 venice
1gb pc2700 333
120gb maxtor
radeon x850xtpe pci-e

thanks all

fish

[fullfat]

i would imagine the slower ram will effect things alot. but im no expert, just a bit puzzling though, why are you going for the x850 when theres newer technology onthe market for roughly the same price? thats working on new prices obviously if youre getting a deal then happy days

[fishman09]

lol...believe me..the whole new rig is on a 'deal'

anyhoo...i'm trying to find a way to compromise on the 850xt...freeing up some of the budget for ram

appreciate the reply tho....

[nvening]

What deal is this? Because a 7800 of some type would be better, or even a 1800 of some type. Also the 3000+ could be a bottle neck in some games. And 1GB of fast ram is a bottle neck in some games (f.e.a.r. and battlefeild comes to mind), ie 2GB is really needed. Get a single stick of 1GB now and get more later mabe. Will you be overclocking?

Is the PC just for gaming? and what PSU do you have?

[unreal]

The 3000 won't be a bottleneck if you find its a sweet variant of a Venice, which can clock really high.

I would have thought that the system would need DDR400 ram, since the FSB is 200 (and the processor and RAM need parallel frequencies) which would mean the Athlon 3000 would surely be underclocked? I can't back that one up though...

[herulach]

Ideally you would want pc3200, although you could get away (id say youd take between 10 an 20% performance hit depending what you where doing, obviously some thngs arent bandwidth limited, some are heavily) with pc2700, assuming it will post at 3200 speeds to enable you to get into the bios to turn the divider on.

[iranu]

x850xt pe is a bit ott for that rig - it's not balanced with ddr2700 as you will want to oc the 3000 to get the best out of the gfx card.

perhaps you could get a sapphire x800gto2 for £150ish and unlock the pipelines and overclock it to x850xt pe speeds and buy 1gb of branded value ram instead it's @ £70 these days.

[dodgybob]

How about a different compromise? Get an x800gto2 for £150. These are pretty much guaranteed to unlock to 16 pipes and overclock to about the level of an x850xtpe. My housemate has one and has his core at 540mhz and ram at 1200. That's without trying to push it or test the limits too much. Then if the old ram is such a worry with the money you save you can afford to buy 1gb (as 2x512mb sticks) of pc3200 corsair value ram for about £65.

Edit:

Oops, sorry iranu didn't read the second line of your last post
In other words like iranu said

[fredered]

if you do get the Gto2 you will have to risk OcUK as they seem to be the only ones with stock left, and for about £5 more than the 300+ you should be able to get a 144 opteron which is a bit quicker

[iranu]

^^ great minds think alike..........










but fools seldom differ

[fishman09]

hi guys

thanks for all the replys

@ dodgybob & iranu...i've stumbled onto the same conclusion as yourselves...get a gto2 from ocuk..for £165 then mod it and with the money saved get the ram...i appreciate the suggestions tho cos my budget is very very tight (1 x wife, 2 x kids = no cash)

at the moment i'm aiming for;

foxconn NF4K8AC-RS
amd3000 venice..with attempted oc
1gb pc3200 400
120gb maxtor
radeon sapphire gto2 modded to x850xtpe

whilst i am slightly embarased to admit it my budget is a measly £300 which tbh is not really enough to push the envelope, however whatever the result i'm hoping the above rig will offer significantly improved performance over my old rig

as i said tho...i appreciate the replies and any further comments would be greatly appreciated

thanks guys

fish

[kempez]

I would reckon you might be good going for a Opteron 144 or 146 from SCAN: their on a proper bargain ATM

[dodgybob]

I'm doing my agreeing with what other people said thing again, this time with kempez. The opterons are well worth a look: not much more than a 3000 venice but with 1mb of l2 cache and seem to be very good overclockers from what i've read.

Will be one sweet setup