Looking for CPU/Mobo upgrade suggestions

[Eyedea]

I am about ready to upgrade my 1.4 GHz AMD Thunderbird processor and in doing so will also need a new motherboard, my current one is maxed out with the T-Bird.

I'd like to upgrade to an AMD (to keep the price down) but the wide variey of chips and opinions have me confused to say the least. I hope that some people could give me their personal reccomendations based on their experience.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Eyedea]

Forgot to mention that I have 2 X 200 GB hard drives and 1 60 GB hard drive.

I would like to hook these drives up the fastest way while still keeping price in mind.

 

[pitsi]

You didn't tell as exactly how much you are willing to spend. If you can afford it, I believe the Athlon 64 3200+ is currently the best choice. The reason is that it performs similar to the Pentium IV 3.2c but it costs a little less and it has better upgrade potential. It is a bit expensive though.

Your second choice should be a i865 motherboard along with a Pentium IV 2.6c processor. Asus' motherboards claim compatibility with Prescott, so that motherboard should be able to take CPUs until about 3.6GHz maybe.

Last, you could go with an Nforce2 motherboard and a Barton 2500+ if you are on a tight budget. As you see, it all comes down to how much you can actually spend. Note that the last choice which is the cheaper will be an excellent performer too, but with not much upgrade potential though. I believe that should be a serious factor in your decision, unless you can buy new mobos every few months.

 

[Eyedea]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm looking to spend about 400 for both, does that eliminate/add any options?

 

[Crashman]

400 puts you in a P4 2.6C and an Abit IS7 with nearly $100 left for your RAM upgrade fund.

<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>

 

[pitsi]

Go with what Crashman suggested. Prices below are from Newegg:

ABIT IS7,Intel 865PE chipset for Socket 478 P4 ATX motherboard RETAIL $104
Intel Pentium 4 / 2.6CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB - RETAIL $213
CORSAIR MEMORY XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series (Twin Pack) 512MB(2 x 256MB) 2x(32MX64) TWINX512-3200C2PT With Platinum - Silver Heat Spreader.Retail $138

Total is $455 including shipping. It's a little bit more than what you said but let me tell you that this is an excellent system, no matter how you see it .. CPU, motherboard, memory, all top quality. Also note, that Intel announced some upcoming major price reductions which will be performed on the 26th of October. At that time, the price of 2.6c will come down to $178.

 

[Guest]

>Intel Pentium 4 / 2.6CGHz 512k RETAIL $213

For $152 you get a Barton 2800+, for which you can get plenty of excellent and cheap nForce2 boards. The 2800+ should also have pretty decent overclocking headroom (up to 3200+ at least) and saves you a few bucks to get a better videocard. I am also pretty confident the 2800+ will outperform the 2.6 P4 on most apps and games, save media encoding.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[pitsi]

I won't disagree with you to the fact that the Barton 2800+ is an excellent processor. But just to be a bit accurate, if you check the latest THG's CPU benchmark, you will see that the 2.6c performs equal to the 3000+, not counting of course anything that has to do with media encoding. And also the 2.6c can be a great overclocker as well. The way I see it, since he has a budget at around $400, he should go with Intel. If he had $300 or $600 to spend then that's where AMD would be the best choice (Athlon XP / Athlon 64).

 

[Guest]

My bad then.. I rarely or never check THG benchmarks
There are, however, precious few 2800+ Barton review that I can find, not sure if this is much better than THG, but this is what I found:
<A HREF="http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109580,00.asp" target="_new">http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,109580,00.asp</A>

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[pitsi]

PCWorld? This site is by far the worst review site I have ever visited. If you can call what they have there a review, then I am an astronaut! And btw, this is not only about the review that you mentioned but generally, those guys are ridiculous. I'm too bored to get into details but I assume you can see why yourself.

 

[SJJM]

I found it funny that they compare 1gb of ram(ddr) to 512mb of rambus. I hope that you really don't believe that the 3000+ could beat a 3.06. I would put money that the 3.06 will win 85% of the time.

Well back on the subject. I think both cpus are great, it depends on what you want to get. you can get more with the amd, meaning video card and some ram. Intel cost more but the performance is right out of the bag, meaning that you do not have to overclock to get great speed.
Just to let you know I was thinking of 2500+ vs 2.6c.(not 2800+).

Well back to the subjectnge of the 2800+.

Well back on the subject. If you are willing to overclock and don't want to spend to much money then I would say that the 2500+ would be a great chip to use and you would be able to get a nice video card at that.

<font color=blue>"You know, that my backstab attack does double the damage. I can make an off button for him." </font color=blue> <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by sjjm on 10/19/03 10:01 PM.</EM></FONT></P>