CombatWombat

Distinguished
Aug 7, 2004
12
0
18,510
hey guys, my current setup is as follows Cpu: athlon xp 2600(mild OC) Ram: 1.5 gigs corsair xms 2-2-2-6(pc2700 =( @174mhz, soyo pos m/b Video: geforce fx 5900. ive been trying to hold out for building a new system till the summer but im not sure i can last what should i do ?(keep in mind my limit is around 500is) buy a geforce 6800gt knowing my processor and mem will bottleneck it 2. buy a 6800 and buy some pc 3200 or above mem and give the ol processor a good OC or 3. buy new components such as 939 motherboard mated to a 3500+ and retain the 5900fx knowing that btx is on the verge as is pci x and other new technologies ? sorry if my sentence ordering is irratic, its 4am pls any information would be greatly appreciated !! thanks
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
I wouldn't worry about BTX for a few reasons:
1.) The only reason Intel began pushing BTX was because their Prescott processors put out too much heat
2.) The Prescott failed to scale properly, so Intel is going to more efficient architecture (read, less heat)
3.) AMD isn't concerned about BTX
4.) Most home builders/Enthusiast don't see any need for BTX.

#4 is the major reason why BTX might never come to fruitation in the enthusiast market. If it DOES overtake all markets, it will be a VERY slow transition.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 

CombatWombat

Distinguished
Aug 7, 2004
12
0
18,510
thanks for the responses guys , but im looking for some more =) pls give me ur opinions on what a should do as far as upgrades go, thanks !
 

fishmahn

Distinguished
Jul 6, 2004
3,197
0
20,780
I would say 1 or 2.

What do you have your 2600 oc'd to now? If you relax the timings on the ram, can you oc your 2600 more? (My 2600 runs fine at 193fsb/2220mhz, but I'm using PC3200 ram - and a pos Soyo mobo - sounds familiar hehe)

If you can't relax the timings on the ram and oc your 2600 to near 3200 speeds, then get 1gig of PC3200 and a 6800 to overclock. Otherwise, get the gt, and oc the hell out of your proc. Heck, while the 2600 will be a (slight) bottleneck on the newest games (but it is running at 2ghz), but you could get the GT now and in a year (give or take a few mos) get a 939 agp mobo & 4000+ cpu, and you won't be too far off the top of the curve. :)

I guess if you could hold out for 6 mos or so, you could then get new mobo/cpu/ram/video all in PCIe (PCI-x is a server class PCI slot), but AGP won't be going anywhere for a little while yet, so right now either will work fine, and if you can't wait...

Mike.