Computer Advice

CART Rulz · Post by **CART Rulz** » 08 Jun 2005, 16:58

Hey guys,

Yet again I need some help with computers. I am looking to upgrade my current P4 2.6Ghz processor. It seems like a P4 3.4Ghz is good for about $295, but is the upgrade worth the money? I suppose there would be a difference, but would it be noticable? In addition to the 800Mhz clock speed gain, there is also the change from the 533Mhz FSB to an 800Mhz FSB, which probably is noticable. Also, I think I need a new mother board along with the new processor, correct? If so, any reccomendations? Also, do you think its worth the money to upgrade my Sapphire 9800 Pro (XT) 256MB to a newer card?

Thanks in advance for all the help,

CART

CART Rulz · Post by **CART Rulz** » 08 Jun 2005, 17:07

What the deal with these PCI Express slots for video cards?

Also, any ideas on the Radeon X850 Pro? Seems like a huge upgrade from my 9800 XT, its got speeds of 520/1080Mhz, thats a big jump, and the price is pretty reasonable.

Thanks,

CART

CART Rulz · Post by **CART Rulz** » 08 Jun 2005, 17:09

I just realized, this brings up the whole Intel/AMD conflict, doesn't it

.

Let the war begin!

carrera · Post by **carrera** » 09 Jun 2005, 00:15

LOL cart,
Yep you just stirred up a can of worms.One thing you may want to take into account.Going to a radeon x850 will double your video card speed.Thats what you are most interested in.Processor speed will not make incredible differences as much as a new video card.It sounds like you only have an 8x agp port right now to run a 9800xt.Probably the best bet for you if you want to save money is to get an x800 xt which will double your speed as well with its 16 pixel pipelines and 6 vertex shader pipelines.Also you will be able to use your current motherboard and power supply and just basically plug it in ,installl new drivers and it works.
If you wanted to change to nvidia you would have to reformat the machine for sure.The x850 will only run with pci express (16x bus)and you will have to get a new motherboard.AN x800 xt is a kickass card and you won't have to upgrade anything else.I guess its your choice.Upgrade the whole system or just upgrade to an x800 xt or x800 xt platinum.
Pci express is still too much bandwisth for any of the games out now or comming out in the next 2 or 3 years.Sli is the next big step anyways.
heres an article on it and nvidias latest stuff.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22471
carrera

Steve · Post by **Steve** » 09 Jun 2005, 00:39

Also Cart, if you DO decide to upgrade everything, go with the Athlon 64, in almost EVERY benchmark, it kills P4's, the only thing the P4's beat the A64's in is compression, and major multi tasking, in gaming the A64's totally own P4's, also the A64's cost less than the P4's unless you go with the A64 FX series, those are pretty pricey, lol

CART Rulz · Post by **CART Rulz** » 09 Jun 2005, 21:22

Cool guys, thanks for the advice.

Now heres another one for ya. Are you familiar with notebook specs? I recently found this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115154

I'm thinking of getting it, but i'm not too familiar with the processor, as most notebooks seem to be Pentium M, and I'm not sure if you guys know any downside to the mobile AMD's or whatever. Also, I'll probably wind up putting in 1 gig RAM instead of 512MB. Anyway, it doesn't have to be my gaming machine, thats what the desktop is for, this would just be for college clases. And besides, it looks awesome, right?

CART

CART Rulz · Post by **CART Rulz** » 09 Jun 2005, 23:39

Update:

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news.php?newsId=1261

The Acer Ferrari 4000 releases in 2 weeks and its an insane upgrade from the previous one for the same price, and its looks much nicer!! I think I want it!!!

CART Rulz · Post by **CART Rulz** » 09 Jun 2005, 23:42

Check here too

:

http://www.amdboard.com/ferrari_4000.html

You guys know anything about this AMD Turion 64 processor?

carrera · Post by **carrera** » 10 Jun 2005, 00:40

Actually Cart,
I went to the store(staples) and coached my mother on what to buy for laptops.We settled on an averatec laptop with an amd sempron processor with cool and quiet technology.She didn't want to spend a whole whack of cash so we settled on the sempron.The notebokk only weighs 4 pounds and is very thin.The pentium 2.0 ghz notebook she had before cooked the hardrive twice and was a heat problem form the start.I don't like the pentiums because of heat.The hardrives can be overheated to easily.The amd's run at lower voltage and lower temperature.It is also very very quiet.Great for when the old man is sleeping.LOL...which is often..hahaha...The turion is basically a mobile athlon 64 and is reliable and powerful.Note books usually have a screen that has a fairly low refresh rate and high dot pitch which is not great for gaming.Sounds like the ferarri version though is a high end machine.If I had the money I would buy it for sure.
carrera