Worth the Change ????

[Cryptic I]

I am upgrading my curent rig from :


Abit AT7-Max2 w/ AMD Xp 2700

Geil PC 3500 1GB

Raedeon 9700 Pro

Seagate 120 SATA 150

Enermax 435 PS

Cheiftec Mid Tower

To :



ASUS A8N-SLI DELUXE NFORCE4 SLI CHIPSET SOCKET 939

AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ 512K CACHE 64-BIT 939PIN RETAIL

GIGABYTE GH-PCU21-VG 3D CPU FAN (Not Sure on this one / will it cut it ?)

GEIL ULTRA PLATINUM 1GB PC4000 500MHz DUAL CHANNEL RETAIL

[PCI EXPRESS] CHAINTECH SE6600G 6600GT 128MB DDR3 RETAIL

SEAGATE 120GB/7200 SERIAL ATA HARD DRIVE 8MB OEM

THERMALTAKE SILENT PURE POWER 560W W/ACTIVE PFC RETAIL

KINGWIN TOOL LESS ALUMINUM CASE (SILVER)

My initial intent was to do an exrtreme upgrade (FX 55 / Twin Video Cards , Raptor drives on raid) but the price tage scared me away. So I decided to set myself up w/ a smaller upgrade w/ the option to expand as my budget does and give my old machine to my son as a upgrade for him. My question is how much of a visible difference will I see from my old rig to my new one.

Thoughts Welcome.



Thank You & Happy Holidays.
:confused:

[The Lodge]

That cpu fan is for AMD XP and P4 chips. Unless you plan on oc’in, you’re not going to see any performance difference between pc3200 and pc4000. If I were you I’d keep the pc3500 for your main rig, buy some cheaper pc3200 for the sons rig and use the difference to buy a 6800 instead of the 6600gt.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

The only really noticable gain i think you would get would be from upgrading the Graphics card as planned. While the upgrade as a whole will increase performance, i doubt the CPU upgrade et. al. will be massively noticable in real world terms

--Jakk:t

[missiveusa]

Consider: The nForce4 chipset does not outperform the nForce3 Ultra in gaming benchmarks right now, though more mature drivers will help. Also, 2 6600 GT cards don't equal the perfiormance of one 6800 GT, so the only way SLI really makes sense right now is to pair 2 6800 cards, a very expensive proposition. At least a Socket 939 chipset allows you to upgrade CPU as prices drop on the FX chips (I finally bought a 939 3500+ Winchester core OEM for $299).

[Cryptic I]

Thanks for the input. However I am looking to stay under a budget of $1300. One 6800 is a $200 swing. Great Suggestion. Just can't make it work unless I do another take away.


What do you think ????


-Improvement

- Or Not

-How Much ?

Did you take the poll ?


Thank Again.



:t

[The Lodge]

Well actually it only ends up being a $62.11 difference, not $200. If you decided to only start off with 512MB for your sons rig you’d actually save $5 of your initial cost so you'd be +$5.

[missiveusa]

If you want a noticable boost in performance now in a system that can be upgraded, go with Socket 939 and PCI-E. If you want SLI capability now, choices are slim and prices high. The nVidia 6800GT is the best bang for the buck. I got the BFG OC version (370/1000 MHz stock) which has a lifetime warranty. I went with the nForce3 Ultra chipset in October because I didn't want to wait for nForce4, SLI, or even PCI-E. But my upgrade choices will be limited in the future.

Looking again at your choices, I would urge you to go with a single 6800 GT, get low latency PC 3200, use the stock cooling on the retail 3500+, and maybe save a little on the PSU by going with Enermax (~400W). Off the top of my head:rolleyes: I think you can put together an nForce4 SLI-based system for $1300.

Let us know what you decide.