granite bay or nforce2?

[mordeki]

Hello all. I know that everyone has their opinion on what chipset is best but I was looking for help about choosing my next setup. I am coming from 1.4 tbird with 266 ddr and a 300 watt powersupply.I was looking to use the memory I have to help keep the upgrade cost down.I have 3 sticks of 256mb. I am debating about which way to go granite bay or nforce2. The prices are close enough that features/extra costs will make the difference. Other things I was wondering about were powersupply upgrades needed? In the case of amd would barton be a bad choice because of the fsb speed running at a different speed?Or would the cpu make up the difference? Lastly any hidden stability differences? Thanks .

 

[paulj]

What kind of prices are you finding for Granite Bay boards?

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>

 

[Lamoni]

It is funny how you mentioned that you were looking to use your current memory to help keep the cost down and you are also looking at Barton.

My first recommendation would be to keep your current setup for a while longer. It is still sufficient for everything.
If you really want to upgrade, I would go with an nForce2 board using your current RAM. and getting an AXP 1700+ to 2100+. Anything higher still costs too much money in my opinion. With that upgrade you would get nice onboard sound, USB 2.0, firewire, but you wouldn't see a big jump in performance from your 1.4 GHz.
Or you could spend more money on a faster CPU (AXP 2400+ or higher) with new RAM (PC 2700 or faster), but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have lots of money to burn.

'It's easy to sit there and say you'd like to have more money. And I guess that's what I like about it. It's easy. Just sitting there, rocking back and forth, wanting that money.'

 

[paulj]

You are being cruel.

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>

 

[mordeki]

Actually I thought it would cost me a bit of money to get 3 sticks of 333. If it wouldnt cost me a lot then I would upgrade that too. Plus when I mentioned Barton I was looking at the 2500 or 2800 that were supposed to be coming out which I thought were supposed to be cheap in comparison. I could of sworn I had seen kinda cheap granite bays on places like google gear but I cant remember for sure.