richard dower

So i went crazy this year and spent some ?2,000 on a custom build PC, top of
the line...but tried to get good deals.

Now i've got that "upgrade" bug again, i was considering moving over to the
800MHz FSB, but does that make sense right now?

Later this year we will see the new Prescot chips with the new 0.09 micron
fabrication, lower temps for sure...but still socket 478.

So will there need to be new motherboards to run this CPU?, even further
into the future i see the Grantsdale chipset/ICH6 and the Prescot moving
over to the socket 775.

So in terms of value for money and time wise...what is the best thing to do?

When do you upgrade?, wait until Prescot?, Grantsdale and socket 775 appear
in the Q1 2004?

Will the second generation of SATA 300 appear by then?, PCI Express?, DDR
600?

Thoughts welcome.

__________________________________________________ ________________ Richard
Dower ICQ#: 114343804 Current ICQ status: + More ways to contact me
__________________________________________________ ________________

livewire

of

the


Not really, but then again, I can't seem to practice what I preach. I
started a thread a couple months back titled something like "Is now a good
time to build a computer" which argued the point that it's probably a bad
time to purchase with the 64 bit platforms and PCI express due out soon.
However, I think I've purchased two motherboard/cpu combo's since then and
am probably on my fourth in the past year. At the rate I have been
upgrading over the past few years, I never really seem to notice much of a
speed increase.


do?

Probably wait, which is something I am terrible at. However, a very good
point brought up in the aforementioned thread is that there will 'ALWAYS' be
new technology on the horizon.

--
LiveWire


do?


appear

jk

Boring. AMD will have its Athlon 64 out in a few months. If you want a
nice upgrade, move up to a 64 bit processor.


You didn't mention what you have now. I assume that spending $2000
got you some decent hardware?

LOL! Soon 32 bit processors will probably seem slow and low end.
That will especially be the case as X86-64 64 applications start
appearing.The Athlon 64 will run 32 bit applications quite rapidly
with a 32 bit operating system, and perhaps much faster with a 64 bit
operating system, but with 64 bit applications the pewrformance
will really be superb. With Athlon64 one can also run 32 bit
applications side by side with 64 bit applications using a 64 bit operating system.

jk

It is a good time to build an inexpensive system with an Athlon XP2600+ 333.
Those who want a very high end system may want to wait for Athlon64.


That seems silly. I like the idea of spending less and upgrading more often,
but imo upgrading the cpu and motherboard more than once a year or so seems silly.


Since you have upgraded not so long ago, wait for Athlon64.

minidisc_2k2

Sure. 800MHz is going to be much more efficient than the earlier generation
533MHz or 400MHz. I'm a bit mad that I bought the 533MHz board that I did
when I knew that 800MHz was also out. I have dual-channel DDR400 so I could
get up to 800MHz, but the FSB simply won't allow it. I can overclock it up
to 656MHz but anything higher simply won't POST. 800MHz is going to make
your system much more efficient.


Also more expensive. Lower temps really only mean something to overclockers.


do?

Depends on how much you're willing to spend. I can almost guarantee that
they're going to be more expensive, but they might just be perfect too. For
example, I can get my 2.4GHz Northwood chip up to just below 3GHz (2.95GHz).
The .09micron chip means that voltage adjustments will be less necessary,
and will mean easier and more bountiful overclocking.

I really don't know when stuff comes out, I just decide when I need to
upgrade and do it to the latest stuff available. I would just say that if
the 800MHz FSB backbone is pushing your budget, don't wate for the .09micron
chips. Of course, if you want to get extreme overclocking and pay a bit
more, you should wait.

-- MiniDisc_2k2
To reply, replace nospam.com with cox dot net

necro

Ah. A kindred spirit. I thought I was the only hardware junkie roaming the
earth. Just bought an Epox 8RDA+ in January w/ an AMD AthlonXP 2000+. Am
considering Upgrading the Mobo to an Nvidia Nforce2 Ultra 400 W/ an AMD
AthlonXP 3000+. By October I'll be wanting an Atlon64 system. I need a 12
step program....... )
nECrO

livewire

I just put together an 8RDA+ w/an Athlon XP 2200+ for a coworker. I liked
it so much I had a difficult time turning the system over to its owner.
Lucky for him I don't have a need for a third computer. Then again....I
barely have a need for my secondary computer, but can't seem to convince
myself to sell it.

--
LiveWire

richard dower

Why not?...i wanted the best i could get, thus i bought the best parts
available at the time i was building the PC.


Intel still have the clear edge over AMD, read the Anandtech review of the
Pentium 4 3.2GHz.


I did mention, goggle my post whereby i listed what i bought, on this NG.

stacey

Invest in real estate?


--

Stacey

stacey

Nah, there are MUCH worse things to spend money on..
--

Stacey