Upgrade my AMD 475 K-6 2 OR NEW PC????

[JC]

Heres the deal, when my sister bought my IBM Aptiva 1 year ago I didn't think it was powerful enough for me. I run Half-Life and Counter-Stirke and surf the internet.
Here is the Aptiva setup:
AMD 475Mhz K-6 2 w/3D Now!
8Mb SiS 530 interated 4x AGP
Integrated Sound
64Mb RAM


If I upgrade, I will just get a Voodoo 3 3000. I have no AGP so the V3 3k will be PCI flavor. I can get the V3 PCI for 100 bucks, sounds good??? heres the problem: the SiS 530 hogs the PCI bus for too long and is causing latency problems.

I want to run my games good and with the SiS I get only about 23 FPS. Should I just get the Voodoo or a new PC? If I do, I will just get a tower only... I am willing to spend about 900 dollars on just the tower.

Thanks,
Please Reply,
JC

[drn]

Well if it were me i would go and get a new mobo A7V Tbird GeForce and 64 megs more ram.If you get a V3 3K then your cpu will be your bottleneck you will see some improvement but only to about 40fps at the most.
I run a Tbird 900 @ 1200mhz and a GeForce 1 64 meg DDR and in UT @ 1152x864 32 bit I get frame rates from 90 to 145/sec


You may want to go and look in the user to user forum you can find some good deals there
With 900 bucks you should have no trouble finding what you need

I hope this helped you make the right choice

[This message has been edited by drn (edited 11-24-2000).]

[Richard_Cranium72]

You don't mention if money is an issue.

That IBM is 100mhz FSB, PRETTY GOOD

The HD is 7200 RPM REAL GOOD.

I'd get the VooDoo and a stick of 128 PC100 and NOT tell the sister what you've done as she'll think that the pewter SHE bought you was not GOOD ENOUGH. save her feelings whatever you do.

DrVette

[Ed_S]

Doc's got a really good point there. Especially if your sister's not into computers.

My sister bought her son a new machine three or four years ago for his college graduation. Was top of the line at the time, & she paid DEARLY. An Aptiva P200, about $3K back then.
The thought of it's "already" being outmoded upsets the HELL out of her.

Go the upgrade route by all means, just don't make changes that are externally visable.

Ed

[darrelld]

I run an 450 k6-2 w/256 ram 7200 rpm HDD,V3-3000 AGP.
I'm sure my Fps are a fraction of more current systems but I have no complaints, I run Q3 in 1024 x 768 in high quality without any hesitations or problems. I don't think you'l be dissapointed if you save your money and get the voodoo. If you shop I'm sure you can find it for well under $100. Also, you could upgrade the processor to a k6-3+, this one has onboard l2 cache and can be overclocked to 600mhz easily.They're around $50 right now.

[Dave2]

Make the most out of your $900. Add 128MB RAM, T-Bird 900 MHz, Asus A7V, a Geforce 2 Ultra, and an tower with at least a 300W Athlon Approved power supply.

[nunyadam]

? would a differnt m/b fit in that case? if so he could do a stealth upgrade,and sis would be none the wiser.

[phecky]

The best upgrade for your socket 7 system is the video. Even though you'll be using a PCI card it would greatly relieve the latency. Inno3d just released a PCI flavored GeForce. Don't know much about the performance though. TNT2's are well under $100 now like the Voodoos. Another 64-128 ram would help too. Here's another thought, which is what I decided on, keep the processor, drives, ram, monitor, etc., buy an Epox MVP3G2 main board, new ATX tower, GeForce2 MX card, and in your case a new sound card and you've got something that will still run todays games. When the K6-3's hit the $40 range pick one up and put it in. Yeah the super 7 has been surpassed by bigger, badder and faster but you know what? You don't need that much horse power yet.

[elroy]

NOTE: the K6-3+ is intended for a mobile application and requires a specific bios update. So unless your board manufacturer has a new flash specifically for a K6-3+ it won't fly. Been there and tried it.