should I wait...or upgrade NOW??

[SoopaStar]

Okay. I am down to one PC now. Its a PIII 800 retail with the retail Intel mobo. The rest is of no matter http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif The recent changes in achitecture (of the P4) and the two versions of the Athlon keep me discouraged from upgrading. I really want to go past the 1G level, but it annoys me how the chip companies cannot decide on a memory type etc.
What do you think would be the best to go with? I dont want to start some intel or AMD war here. Serious replies. I think dualies are great too, and have considered a dual Athlon config. But, I think I read intel is further optimizing their chips for dualie. man...shoudl I wait or upgrade now??
No, I don't play many games at all. I just like fast computing and great RC5 scores http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Paul

[lynchmob]

And 800mhz isnt fast enough? I am not a gamer either but I too,like fast computing.Depending on the apps you use and the resources they crave,I'm not sure you would see a significant difference in speed.
But,then, you may like to see what you can get out of a new setup.
I take it that you dont overclock?My fastest computer has a PIII 667 cprmne.It could safely be tweaked to 733 or a max(I've been told)of 800.But I dont overclock.This cpu does everything I ask of it.Ive used 1ghz comps and didnt see much difference,but there were no intensive apps on that machine to really test it.
My take on this is,if you know you will need the extra power in the future,get the upgrades now while prices are at a low level.If you have no pressing need to spend the money,then I'd wait. My 2 cents http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif.
lynch

[Sweeper]

This question has been asked many times including by myself.
The Answer:
There is always going to be something better down the road. You think you have the best of the best, then bam...2 months later there is something better. The industry is moving so rapidly that you are never going to be able to keep up unless you upgrade with every new product that comes out. So why not upgrade while you have the $.

Sweeper

[Bovon]

I whole heartedly agree. If someone even thinks its time to upgrade, waiting to see what will be out next week/month will only get worse. Choose your 'weapon' and go with it. Whatever you do, it will be obsolete next week anyway...so, you can wind up waiting forever.

Best move?...upgrade when you are ready for it, then again in a year if the systems have the speed and/or other enhancements to warrent something new.

[elroy]

To upgrade now would be wise due to the low prices of ram and AMD processors. I believe this will change as the economy improves. [whenever that is] But are you aware that there is only about a 7% difference in performance between an 800mhz machine and a 1000mhz machine? So is it really worth spending $xxx to get a 10 or 15% increase in performance? I have 2 machines, a K6-2 550 and a Duron 800@980 [280FSB]. I am not a gamer. zero games played here. I use both machines all the time and really don't prefer one over the other as you don't see any difference when using them. I'm sure everyone here would agree that a PIII 800 is plenty of machine to surf the web, email and do word processing etc.
signed, Tightwad in Indiana

[Brangwen]

SoopaStar:

I agree with Sweeper on this one. I have a computer bud, as it were, and he constantly agonizes about upgrading: do I wait or not wait???

If he had waited he would have been buried with his 386 next to <u>his</u> coffin! I <u>finally</u> convinced him (essentially with the same reasoning as Sweeper) to upgrade to a 1 Ghz TBird. Now he's enjoying it while agonizing about other things, like: should I have crunchy or smooth peanut butter today... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

Brangwen http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Cody]

Hrrrrmm....

I must REALLY be missing something here.

My system is as follows:

PIII Coppermine 800EB MHz
512MB PC133 RAM
AOpen AX34 Motherboard
SoundBlaster Live! Value
Visiontek GeForce 256 w/ 32MB
AOpen 16X DVD-ROM
PlexWriter 8/4/32A

I am not the ULTIMATE gamer, but I do my fair share.

Since I have 56k, when I am playing online I only get about 50-100FPS.

But while I am playing a single-player mission with the full 24 bots, I get well over 200FPS

200 FPS. With everything turned up, and cheap-looking vertex lighting off.

200FPS. Wow!

You can't TELL me that ain't GREAT! (for my hardware anywhoo)

[eagle1]

Soopa -- Your current system (P3 800mhz) looks like it is doing good but I must suggest that if you want to upgrade, then upgrade! Like someone said before, prices are way low and you can get pretty good components. And keep in mind that you can use almost everything that you are using right now with your new set up.! Video cards, sound cards, drives, etc.!

[LostBok]

P3-800Mhz... I do a FAIR ammount of gaming and I find my main workstation, a dual 560Mhz plenty quick enough.... yes, I keep on thinking about upgrading, work out exactly what I want to buy and then realise.... I'm only doing it to see a few extra point on 3D mark or SiSoft or somethign equally pointless... I'm running all the 3D games I want at plenty high enough speed, no complaints at all... I have numerous computers at my diposal and can't tell any real difference between them.... yes the two dual 1Ghz Pentium 3's are both noticeably quicker than the P233mmx, but from the dual P2-300Mhz server to the P3-866Mhz and 800Mhz workstations, they all perform pretty much the same for everything except really intense number-crunching.... and benchmarks.

Tailor it for what you need it for and then be happy: I'm happier with my dual 560Mhz system than my dual 1Ghz systems, alhtough sometimes wish I could chop and change them around a bit, but then my main workstation would get stuck doign work number crunching all the time... the reason why I prefer the older computer - 'cos the sound, graphics, HDD's, etc are a lot nicer on it. I can explain, but its a long and complicated story http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif Horses for courses guys... horses for courses.

[doctj]

Personally I think the only requirements for upgrading from a 800 mhz machine is if you're into video encoding or gaming where increased performance really matters. I got a AIW radeon card which I use to record tv shows then burn to video cd. This works perfectly well with my tbird 750, 512 RAM, 7200 rpm hd. I will be looking to upgrade to palomino simply because of it's hardware prefetch and sse which will improve real time capture and encoding dramatically. I can easily get a 1.2 tbird now, but the improvement would only be modest.
Sorry to ramble but the bottom line is upgrade according to your needs. there are other things you can spend your money on like cd burners, graphics card, faster hd etc rather than the whole system.

[This message has been edited by doctj (edited 09-10-2001).]