Upgrading 1.2 Athlon

[zylan]

I am a game junkie that needs help upgrading my computer. I play mostly 3D intensive games like Everquest, Quake, Ghost Recon, and (when it comes out) Unreal Tournament 2003.

I currently have a:

1.2 Ghz Athlon
Aurora Motherboard
512 MB DDR PC 2100 RAM
40 GB 7200 RPM IDE HD
Geforce 3

running on a Windows ME platform.

I am considering the following upgrades: Windows XP, more RAM, *Geforce 4 TI 4600*, faster Athlon, and a better HD. I am limited to spending $500. I really want the Geforce 4 but want your thoughts on (1) whether any of these upgrades will make a difference and, (2) which upgrades will give me the best performance gain.

Thanks for all your help.

Zylan

 

[nja469]

Processor and video card will make the most difference when it comes to gaming performance. You can get a XP 2000+ for $97 from googelgear. As for video cards, the prices of G4's will likely drop in 3-4 weeks due to the ATI 9700's finally avail retail in a couple weeks. The ATI card will be way too much at $399 or maybe somewhat less, and since the G4's will likely drop alot once the ATI's are out, the G4 would probably win for performance/value. All the G4's Ti's are virtually the same. Slower clocked GPU's and ram. The 64MB G4's are faster, due to less but higher quality RAM. Since you seem to be an avid gamer you'll likely upgrade next year anyhow so a ti4200 64MB version should last you well into the next x-mas season of gaming, plus it overclock easily to ti4400 specs and possibly 4600 specs. Currently newegg has one at $133.

You seem to have plenty of RAM and hard drive space. Unless you're running low of drive space I'd skip that and RAM this time around. Upgrading to XP from ME would be a very good idea. XP is much more stable, and with XP SP1 and DX9 right around the corner it could become the best gaming OS yet. Add another $95 or $195 for XP (<A HREF="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp" target="_new">depending on if you want Home or Pro</A>) and you're at around $305/405 and you've got a great CPU and GPU upgrade, as well as getting rid of that pile of crap code called "ME". Add another $25 for a volcano 7 cooler for your AXP and you'll be set. eBay your old card and CPU and you'll end up doing the upgrade for really cheap!

"Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one"

 

[lhgpoobaa]

what the frootloops is an "aurora" motherboard???
what chipset does it use?

best route for more performance is a new graphics card, followed by a new cpu, but that depends on your motherboard.

could get a geforce4... or wait a bit for the brand new radeon 9700pro!

<b>MegaHertz Matters! ... But not without Cache our a decent chipset!!! </b>

 

[BuddyAtBzboyz]

Judging by your games the video card would give you the best boost. Those games are mostly limited by the gpu not the cpu.

 

[zylan]

Thanks for the advice everyone -- especially nja. I decided to go with an Athlon 2000 XP, Geforce 4 TI 4400, and Windows XP. It's within my budget and I am hoping it will noticeably increase performance on my system. (Especially since UT 2K3 is coming out soon) After I make the changes, I'll post some benchmarks and see if any of you guys have any additional suggestions for tweaking performance.

Thanks again,

Zylan

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

Dude.......just remember to upgrade ur BIOS BEFORE you put in ur new processor......which means even now....download thr latest possible bios for ur motherboard.......update it......and u wont have ne worries when u put in ur XP chip =)

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