How long will a 2.8Ghz or 3.06 HT be good for game

Anthony1234

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If I get a system based on a 2.8 Ghz without hyperthreading or a 3.06 Ghz with Hyperthreading do you think I will be able to run the latest games at a good framerate at high quality? (without overclocking)
That is considering I keep the same CPU and motherboard but am allowed to upgrade my videocard etc.

The games seem to require more and more hardware but I maybe eventually this madness would stop.

Also, if we get a 533 fsb mobo today with a 3.06ghz it is unlikely that we can upgrade our CPU with that board? Right? Because the faster CPUS will be 800mhz bus speed? Or will they release 533 bus speed versions of faster CPUs?

How long do you think they will keep making 800mhz bus speed CPUs? Before they get an even faster bus speed, requiring higher fsb on motherboard? I ask because if I wait for a Canterwood chipset mobo, or something that can support 800mhz fsb, then I may be able to upgrade the CPU, but if I decide to upgrade 3 years down the line, the whole 800mhz bus speed thing may be irrelevant, as they will be using even higher speed, or not?
 

Anthony1234

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Not sure what you mean. 4 years part I got, but 2 or 3 for ACTUAL athlon?? What do you mean? You mean Intel P4 for 4 years but AMD 2 to 3?

Are you answering my question about how long I can still play games or how long they will use 800mhz bus CPU?
 

juin

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How long they will be able to play newest game.

Intel platform will have a better performance as SSE 2 use in software will grow unlike the athlon who dont support this new ISA.This is not affecting A64

Just next to the lab and the bunker you will find the marketing departement.
 

dhlucke

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Your videocard is going to be the most important. I don't think one can really make too big a prediction considering the rate at which hardware is changing. Juin's 4 year prediction is outrageous. Don't plan on more than a few years no matter what you buy.

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Anthony1234

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So how many years is a "few" in your opinion? Seems like 4 years can also be considered a few?

Also, as you say the videocard is more important. So you think that even with upgrades to videocards, that the 3.06ghz CPU will be obsolete in say, 2 years?? That is, if I get a 3.06ghz CPU system now, with a good videocard, and in 2 years the computeris too slow for games, even if I get a new videocard it will be no good? I'd have to get a whole new system?
 

MeTaLrOcKeR

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Ok dude.....remember this ok....if ur computer is giving u above 30FPS than its playable.........thats technically right ???

Well....whether u get a P4 1.6....2.0...2.8...or 3.06 w/HT or an AMD Athlon XP 1700+, 1800+, 2200+, 2500+ or 2800+....the CPU itself will still be good in a couple years......lemme put it this way......an AMD Athlon 1GHZ Thunderbird CPU at 266Mhz FSB with a Radeon 9700 Pro can still deliver way above playable framerates in the latest games right now.....and that CPU is just over 2 years old now........

For Games its the VIDEO CARD that makes the BIGGEST DIFFERENCE....

As for Juin sayign P4 will be aroudn for another 4 years and the Athlon another 2 or 3.....that is totaly wrong..i'll tell u why...

The P4 will more than likely yet again change socket Design when they move to 800Mhz FSB....and even if they dont you WILL need a new motherboard to support a 800Mhz FSB P4...Therefore buying a CURRENT TOP MODEL P4 3.06GHz CPU and current top model Motherboard....they will be wasted later on.....you MAY be able to later on get a 800Mhz FSB Compatible MB and pop in ur current S478 3.06GHz w/HT P4 in there than again later on upgrade that board but than whats the point ????

Honestly?? i see Socket A being around a little longer than current 533Mhz FSB Socket 478 for P4's.....

Amd has used Socket A since the introduction of there Socket based K7 CPU's (Durons, Athlons, Athlon XP(Palomino AND Thoroughbred), Athlon MP(Palominno & Thorougbred) and now Athlon XP with the Barton Core......

Honestly I say wait a month....and get the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard.......2x 512MB PC-3200 Corsair CL2 DDR Ram sticks.......and a AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton CPU......that alogn with an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro that will definently play all ur latest games at extremely high framerates! and will still do so a year down the road......and when AMD releases an even faster Athlon XP (like lets say a 3200+ or even 3500+..whatever it may be anyways) you can buy that if u want and plunk her right into ur board....and also a year or 2 years from now u can pick up the latest and gratest video card and plunk her in as i gaurantee AGP 8X will be the standard than...its got total backwards compatibility........

You could take the P4 route but i dont see many more 533Mhz FSB CPU's coming to market if at all.....so buying a P4 setup is a waste of time right now (in ur eyes as obviously ur looking to spend big coin for big stuff) so u wanna be able to upgrade later on..........

SO yea like i said...go with the AMD setup.....and a radeon 9700 Pro..........u cant go wrong.....

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dhlucke

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The keyword is "high quality". OF COURSE you can get a 3.06 to last a long time, but you'll have to reduce the quality to medium and then low.

<A HREF="http://www.aceshardware.com/forum?read=65044805" target="_new">What was the fastest CPU 4 years ago?</A> On February 22, 1999 we were at 450 Mhz. A few days later we were at 500Mhz. A 500Mhz computer can not run all games today no matter what videocard you put in it. I'm basing my advice on that.

At high quality I'd say 2 years. Just a guestimate though. Then another year at medium quality. That might be too long though. It of course depends on the markets, economy, and software released. There's no way to tell for sure. At least I don't think there is.

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Rubberbband

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Are you the type of guy that rushes out and buys all the newest games? If you are plan on upgrading your system every two years. Most of us buy the latest games when our system is new to show it off. As it grows older we beg, borrow and steal older games (I just installed MOHAA) from our buddies and play those. When a "new game" comes out that I've been dying to play I upgrade my system (video card first and foremost if my CPU is still competitive) and then as a last resort I get a new mobo/ram/cpu combination. Usually I get whatever is mainstream (right now I'd get a 2700 XP and the Asus 333 board with PC2700 Ram).

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paulj

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A 3.06 P4 will be fine in 2 years and longer. You don't need a 3.06 right now however. Most people still have much slower systems. There is not much you couldn't do with an XP 1700+ and a good video card right now.

Another approach to your dilema, that is cheaper, is to buy a slower and more affordable processor now. Update every 18 months or so, as needed. As long as you can play the games you want you are OK. You are spending less than $100 every time you upgrade and this will save tons of money in the long run versus the 3.06.

However buying the 3.06 means you should be able to run at least 3 years. But it all depends on what you do.

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Anthony1234

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Agreed with the AMD platform, I may just get that, but let's discuss the P4 platform system again for a second. This is a lot of money and I just want to talk things through before I spend it. Not disagreeing with you. Also becausethe aniticipated price cuts of the 533fsb P4s in Feb/March.

I don't understand why you say that it would be a waste to get a p4 system right now simply because they will not release any more 533fsb CPUs. The only difference is that I will need to get a new 800fsb motherboard, right? I wouldn't put the old CPU in of course because the reason I'd be upgrading the board is because I'd want to upgrade the CPU! So instead of an AMD system where I would only need to buy a CPU, I would get a new CPU plus a motherboard which isn't THAT big a difference in price maybe 200 bucks 2 years down the line, correct? I can still use the ram and the harddisks and everything, unlike right now where I'm building everything from scratch (If I had to do that every 2 years tell me now and I'm getting a PS2.)

Also some questions in regards to the AMD setup, as I've never had an AMD computer before. When you say that they've always used the socket A, does that mean that as long as they use Socket A, I can buy any CPU and plunk it into the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard and it will work? Ok ok maybe you can't tell for sure but is that what you meant will PROBABLY be able to do, when you say that AMD system is more upgradable in the long run with the same mobo? (i.e., is the only thing that make it work whether it fits into the darn socket?)

Also why you suggest i wait a month for the Barton Core? Because as you said, I can get the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe and later plunk in a super CPU when I need. So why not save and get a 2400+ (The current "Sweet buy" here in Hong Kong) because like you said, it is still able to play the latest games, and upgrade to a 3000+ Barton later? Because when the Barton comes out I bet it'd be super expensive. Does it matter that the 2400+ is 266mhz bus speed? Everything I get with it will be compatible with whatever I upgrade later as long as it's socket A motherboard??

Are you SURE a 1Ghz CPU can play the latest games? I have currently a p3 865mhz piece of crap and I have a good video card not radeon but g4ti 4200 123mb good enough decent. But can't play some of the latest games at all. I've tried the same card on a faster CPU 2ghz plus and it works wonders.

One more thing, how much importance is Hyperthreading going to be in future games? Some people say no use because it only works wonders when you running multiple softwares. But some say that "bot AI" in games will require it in the future.

Oh, one more thing to consider is if I get the AMD platform recommended, the Asus nforce2 boards do not have Gigabit Lan as the upcoming sis655 boards to. Can I benefit from Gigabit Lan if I want to have a faster internet connection on my Cablemodem or ADSL or broadband? Or is that only beneficial if I have LAN at home with a few computers?
 

Anthony1234

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I see what you're saying and I did the math too but what I'm speculating is whether this insanity will continue. There are always overclocking enthusiasts etc. etc. but these aren't exactly always the gamers. At some point the gamers may say screw it, I'm gettin' an Xbox, as I'm almost inclined to do already. Sure at the rate we're going yes, but is it REALLY going to increase by 2.5ghz clock speed per year? Or is it going to slow down after some point? Or if the hardware keeps improving, will the games written for it not continue to require more and more system resources? Perhaps focusing on gameplay rather than just graphics?
 

Anthony1234

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That is my question, how do I upgrade the CPU if they are using 800mhz bus speed for the new p4s? I can't just upgrade every 18 months I'd have to buy a new motherboard when I upgrade.
 

Anthony1234

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I don't mind "upgrading" every 2 years if it means getting a new video card and plunking it in. Or getting a new CPU and plunking it in. What I DON'T want is to build a whole new system, which getting a new mobo/ram/CPU is pretty close to. Thus asking about the upgrade paths of various current systems, so I can "Keep as much as I can", especially the important stuff, when I "upgrade".
 

dhlucke

Polypheme
This is up to you. I wouldn't buy a 3.06 UNLESS, and I stress UNLESS, you are going to be using 3.06 Ghz. Are you doing 3D rendering, encoding, and other intensive tasks? If all you are going to be doing is gaming then it's a waste. For $650 you are much better off investing it in a slower cpu. Spend $200 on a AMD cpu and $300 on a Radeon 9700 Pro and you've saved yourself $400 that you can use in 2 years towards buying a new motherboard, CPU, and videocard. From what I understand 350GB hard drives are coming out this year (at least) along with 10K RPM 8MB cache hard drives. I don't know what's down the road, but the hard drive is the biggest bottleneck and I don't see how you'll go 3 years without buying a new one (if speed is of concern to you). If you're on broadband this is especially true since you'll fill up a hundred gigs in a week if you download movies. Then there's always DVD writers, wireless technologies, etc etc which are rapidly advancing and finding standards.

I don't see the point in buying a top of the line CPU unless you're actually going to use all of it today. For longevity you can do much more with less money if you're willing to upgrade a few times. Pay someone $30 to build it if you don't want to.

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Crashman

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People freak about about nothing. Just before we moved to Coppermine core PIII's, everyone said "you'll need a 133MHz FSB board to support them", yet 100MHz bus PIII's were available right up to the 1000E. When they moved to Northwood core P4's, they gave us the "533" bus, yet "400" bus processors are available up to 2.6GHz (and I've heard rumors of 2.8). My best guess is the next P4 will normally be "800" bus, but that "533" bus versions will also be present.

Your CPU should be good for high end gaming for 3 years. You can still play the latest games at extreme settings on a PIII system if you have a 9500 Pro or better. 3 years from now I expect the same to be true of that year's latest cards on a 3.06.

<font color=blue>There are no stupid questions, only stupid people doling out faulty information based upon rumors, myths, and poor logic!</font color=blue>
 

juin

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The so call long upgrade path on AMD systemes is a myth that fan boy like to trow around.AMd have go on 3 FSB on K7.P4 as go on 2 FSB up to now.

533 FSB cpu will be support in volume for a long time you will be able to buy a Presscott 5 GHz and just flip the cpu the same will go for graphic card.

a P3 1 ghz can play all game right now just tweak the systemes a bit.

Barton 3000+ upgrade path LOL what 300 mghz maybe 200 a faster FSB in case that A64 get delay up to 2004 all of that at the price of P4 rdram.

Just next to the lab and the bunker you will find the marketing departement.
 
i liked what you said. You made a lot of good points. I was thinking about getting a 3ghz p4 but your right what is the point? My computer runs decent now. Why upgrade when you don't have to. I have a kickass video card, pretty fast cpu and a stable computer. However i may have to buy a new motherboard later because the onboard LAN and ONE USB port fried on my motherboard. That has to be a sign of parts slowly fading out and frying. ONly a matter of time until my board is dead.

Hey, would you recommend a 19inch LCD Viewsonic FlatPanel? it is 750 and i can get a 3 year extended warranty for an extra 43 bucks. I watch TV on my computer and i would like a bigger screen so i can watch DVD movies and stuff. The 17inch monitor is just too small to watch a DVD movie. I would appreciate your feedback! :) thanks! oh it has a 500:1 contrast ratio 25ms response time. that should be fast enough to watch dvd's right? The model# is VX900 19" LCD.

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don't forget 19inch LCD's flatpanels for 750! :) just a 100 bucks more than the top of the line cpu!

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Spitfire_x86

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Prescott WILL require new mobos. Same as Athlon 64. And Northwood is not going much further than 3.06 GHz, at best it can do 3.4 GHz. But again, AMD can make better than 3000+ rated Barton CPU's, since Athlon 64 is few months away.

533 FSB cpu will be support in volume for a long time you will be able to buy a Presscott 5 GHz and just flip the cpu the same will go for graphic card.
533 FSB of Intel give about 3200-3300 MB/s on a i850E platform, 400 FSB gives 2500 MB/s. In compparison, AXP 333 FSB gives 2500 MB/s with nForce2. There's a chance of 400 MHz FSB Barton, if AMD makes it, then it will completely kill the bandwidth advantage of P4.

a P3 1 ghz can play all game right now just tweak the systemes a bit.
A 1 Ghz T-bird can play a game even better. My 1 Ghz Duron (w/ nForce 420-D) can play all games of today.

Barton 3000+ upgrade path LOL what 300 mghz maybe 200 a faster FSB in case that A64 get delay up to 2004 all of that at the price of P4 rdram.
I don't understand what do you want to mean.

And keep it in mind, many games doesn't benefit from SSE2 at all. A stronger FPU is the only way to get more fps in these games. SimCity4 is an example. It has no optimizations for 3D Now!/SSE/SSE2. It only benefits from MMX and FPU. Now guess which CPU is going to rule this game.

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juin

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Presscott will be avaible in 533 fsb and celeron will move to 533.


533 FSB of Intel give about 3200-3300 MB/s on a i850E platform, 400 FSB gives 2500 MB/s. In compparison, AXP 333 FSB gives 2500 MB/s with nForce2. There's a chance of 400 MHz FSB Barton, if AMD makes it, then it will completely kill the bandwidth advantage of P4

On sisoft sandra that far from the real number.A nforce 2 send about 1 GB/S vs 2 GB/S for a RDRAM systemes.

A 1 Ghz T-bird can play a game even better. My 1 Ghz Duron (w/ nForce 420-D) can play all games of today

Under what a good old legacy software or on a SSE workload



Simcity 4000 if they have not use any SSE SSE2 it becasue they dont need or 2 Dumm programeur that have learned MS compiler and never have wonder what happen after.You know there a little option on intel compiler call auto-vectorization it SSE or SSE 2 code by itself how easy but a programeur is a programeur.


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MeTaLrOcKeR

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I don't understand why you say that it would be a waste to get a p4 system right now simply because they will not release any more 533fsb CPUs. The only difference is that I will need to get a new 800fsb motherboard, right? I wouldn't put the old CPU in of course because the reason I'd be upgrading the board is because I'd want to upgrade the CPU! So instead of an AMD system where I would only need to buy a CPU, I would get a new CPU plus a motherboard which isn't THAT big a difference in price maybe 200 bucks 2 years down the line, correct? I can still use the ram and the harddisks and everything, unlike right now where I'm building everything from scratch (If I had to do that every 2 years tell me now and I'm getting a PS2.)

Yes.....that is what im saying....you would have to wait until there are Motherboards available that support the 800Mhz FSB....who knows when there gonna hit the market and how much there gonna cost!!! As far as 2 years down the road with the P4 system and using the ram..who knows?? With a P4 u already need 32-bit RDRAM for high performance which DOES INDEED cost more than the equivalent in DDR Ram......

Also some questions in regards to the AMD setup, as I've never had an AMD computer before. When you say that they've always used the socket A, does that mean that as long as they use Socket A, I can buy any CPU and plunk it into the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard and it will work? Ok ok maybe you can't tell for sure but is that what you meant will PROBABLY be able to do, when you say that AMD system is more upgradable in the long run with the same mobo? (i.e., is the only thing that make it work whether it fits into the darn socket?)

Yes, that is what Im saying.....any CPU AMD has ever made for Socket A will work in the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard.....as Socket A is the standard for AMD's chip since the introduction of the 700Mhz AMD Athlon Thunderbird or the AMD Duron 600MHz CPU's......the only changes to the Socket A platform as a whole have been different chipsets supporting different technologies like DDR SDRAM, USB 2.0 etc. etc. but nonetheless yes, any Socket A processor will work in the A7N8X Board.......

Also why you suggest i wait a month for the Barton Core? Because as you said, I can get the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe and later plunk in a super CPU when I need. So why not save and get a 2400+ (The current "Sweet buy" here in Hong Kong) because like you said, it is still able to play the latest games, and upgrade to a 3000+ Barton later? Because when the Barton comes out I bet it'd be super expensive. Does it matter that the 2400+ is 266mhz bus speed? Everything I get with it will be compatible with whatever I upgrade later as long as it's socket A motherboard??

The only reason why i suggested to wait a month to get a Barton over a current T-Bred is to totally skip the generation of the T-Bred B's go straight to Barton as than later on u can get the latest/greatest/best CPU 2 years from now.....cuz the 2500+ Barton is GENERALLY on par with the 2400+ actually its slightly faster with less MHz...so if u get a higher clocked Barton in a month....u can even OC that and get better performance than the 2400+ will give u overclocked so u wont need to upgrade ur CPU AS soon as you would if u got 2400+...know what im saying ????

Are you SURE a 1Ghz CPU can play the latest games? I have currently a p3 865mhz piece of crap and I have a good video card not radeon but g4ti 4200 123mb good enough decent. But can't play some of the latest games at all. I've tried the same card on a faster CPU 2ghz plus and it works wonders.

I'm positive a 1GHz CPU can play the latest games with a good video card.....did u see the Toms VGA Charts Part 2 - For older systems??? It compared a 1Ghz Athlon to the Athlon XP 2700+....the Athlon 1GHz was obviously behind the 2700+ but it was by no means slow....it was giving much more than playable frame rates which showed good for decent game play......

One more thing, how much importance is Hyperthreading going to be in future games? Some people say no use because it only works wonders when you running multiple softwares. But some say that "bot AI" in games will require it in the future.

I guarantee you Hyperthreading will not make much of a difference AT ALL in games and in some instances will make the games perform worse, just like some applications perform worse with hyper-threading enabled....reason being ?? look at todays TRUE SMP Systems....Dual Xeon 2.4Ghz or even Dual Athlon MP 2400+ systems...even they are still not recommended for high end gaming as when u run a game that is NOT SMP Enabled u actually get worse performance than a non-SMP 2400+ system would have.........Hyper-threading basically just mimics(sp?) software like games or whatever into thinking there's 2 CPU's through the use of special code that is used when the hardware supports it (i.e. 3.06Ghz P4) so really you shouldnt buy a system based on hyper-threading support in games.......

Oh, one more thing to consider is if I get the AMD platform recommended, the Asus nforce2 boards do not have Gigabit LAN as the upcoming sis655 boards to. Can I benefit from Gigabit LAN if I want to have a faster internet connection on my Cable modem or ADSL or broadband? Or is that only beneficial if I have LAN at home with a few computers?

Yes I am aware of that fact that the ASUS Boards dont have gigabit LAN.....the thing is that doesnt matter.......are you directly connected to a Fibre Line ??? do u have a fibre lien running into ur house ??? I dont think so.......10/100Mbitt's is MORE than adequate for Cable/DSL/ADSL/T1's or even T3's.....What's ur DSL Connection ??? 1000Mbitt ???? 1200Mbitt ??? Maybe even 3500MBitt?? It dont matter....10/100 wont even be utilized by that......So unless ur house is wired with Fibre theres no sense in running a gigabit network/network card.......and i guarantee ur DSL service is not running on a Fibre line into ur house....u have to remember a network is only as fast as its weakest link........
Besides dude...if u for some reason decide to wire Fibre into ur house and wanna use gigabit lan locally u can pick urself up a Gigabit PCI NIC.......

Any more questions ??????????


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MeTaLrOcKeR

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I agree totally..u have a 2GHz P4 correct ?? for now anyways is there anything ur DISATISFIED with CPU wise anyways ?? i mean....im sure ur running games at decent frame rates?? i understand ur board is starting to go.....is it an Abit ?? they seem to do that quite often......Unless the condition of ur board is totaly serious right now, id say wait until 800Mhz FSB Boards show up and pick 1 up than and pop ur current CPU in there...no sense in replacign it just to have an extra 10FPS is there?? i mean u wont totaly notice it....infact ull only notice stuff like if ur ripping dvd's and doign intense rendering etc.. correct? so why waste ur current CPU ?? keep it till u no longer feel like its satisfying u or its not running well with ur games...and besides that that CPU will still prolyl be good in a year from now ull prolyl end up replacign ur video card b4 ur CPU =)

As for the LCD screen u speak of.....a buddy of mine has a 17" ViewSonic flatpanel.....i think its a similar model and if its anything like that and u have the coin to buy it id pick it up for sure.....its good for all windows based stuff its got AWESOME detail....so very nice!! btu i dunno how well it can keep up with 200+ FPS games....u might see soem motion blurr but who knows.......i say go for it u got the money....does ur video card support dual monitors?? cuz maybe u could even use ur current 1 for games and the LCD for everything else =)

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>
 
not really. Other than Simcity 4 running really slow it seems fine. I do do some rendering with Maya but i'm not doing anything serious right now anyway. I probably won't be able to until classes are over. And even still this project looks like it'll take 3 months to complete at least. so figure what, "june-july-august" so september would probably be the time when i'll want a faster cpu.

My board is an abit IT7. I'm so hoping it'll last until sepetember at least! My rule is, if the board doesn't offer at least one brand new feature you can use why upgrade. UNless your board is friend then you have no choice though. The only problem though is that i will have to buy new ram! :( i only have pc2700. Not enough to run a 200mhz FSB.

I have the ATI AIW 9700 Pro. So it doesn't have dual monitor thing. I do watch TV on here a lot more then i play games. I would like to watch DVD's on my computer. My computer is like my entertainment system lol. But the 17inch monitor i have now is actually too small to see. I also do a lot of homework on here and i do quite a bit of office work. Like programming, html and stuff. Occasional essays and writings.

as for 200+FPS i don't play any games like that lol. I play simcity 4, maybe icewindale 2. I do have starfleet command 3. Warcraft 3 and starcraft... just to get an idea of what kinds of games i play lol. I just want a larger screen. and 750 for a 19inch sounds really cheap. There is a dell that is a 20.1inch for 999 but *shrugs*. There arn't any specs on it.

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MeTaLrOcKeR

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Well in ur situation i say wait till September liek u said for the new CPU but also by than ur prolly gonan get a new CPU, Board and Ram anyways correct ???

as for the monitor...i say go for it =)
Ur not playing any FPS so the motion blurr shouldnt effect you so have fun with a nice awesome monitor =)

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>