Upgrade Dilemma

[Helevitia]

I currently have an Asus A7V266-E 266FSB mobo w/ a Athlon XP 2000+(1.67Ghz).

I already have 1GB memory, Radeon 9700Pro, and everything else is really up to par. Even though the system is getting kind of old now, it still performs very well.

Recent BIOS changes will allow me to install a:

2400+ Thoroughbred or Thornton core 266FSB.

or

2600+ Thoroughbred care 266FSB.( I can't find this CPU for sale anywhere!)


Should I upgrade my CPU and hold off until the second half of this year to upgrade? Or should I do something else? But what? It seems like a bad time to upgrade a PC due to the many changes this year.

And last, Is upgrading the CPU from a 2000+(1.67GHz) to a 2400+(2.0Ghz) or 2600+(2.13GHz) worth it? You think I'll be OK until the second half with my current config?

[az]

I would never upgrade until I feel the need to (ie. something I want/need to run won't run properly). You'll always lose money and/or performance if you upgrade too early (too early=before it is needed).

AZ

[agallag]

I'm with az, I don't upgrade unless my machine is holding me back from doing what I want. My Athlon XP 1700+ and Radeon 8500LE are still trucking along just fine, and I can play any game that I've come across so far. I may get myself an AIW9600 at some point, just because I want the extra capabilities of that card, but I'm in no rush.

[bsdgeek]

Same, but with XP1800+ & Parhelia. My system is significantly slower than yours, but everything runs ok. I wouldn't upgrade until Socket 939/PCI-Express at the least, and personally I might wait for BTX.

[Byock]

I would wait for the price to come down on the A64.

[leech]

I'm with everyone else.... Just upgrade when you start finding things that don't run right, or fast enough, or whatever. I wouldn't worry too much about running out and getting the A64.... since not that many things are optimized for it yet... unless you're going to run linux Even with the WinXP for the AMD-64's being out, that doesnt' mean much of the software is optimized for it. Granted it kicks ass with the standard 32bit stuff too.... but you'll be left wondering when the 64bit stuff will be out.

Personally I plan on keeping my general setup for quite a long time. Besides getting some more space, or perhaps more ram, I'm good. Well, maybe if ATI or Matrox come out with a faster card than the Parhelia that is capable of doing surround gaming....

Leech

[Chrono_Wanderer]

ya, i am with everybody here. I'd get a SiS PCI-Express board w/Socket 939 A64.

And if BTX comes soon,why not (along with DDR2)

[RC Agent]

Re: Upgrade Dilemma

Originally posted by Helevitia
And last, Is upgrading the CPU from a 2000+(1.67GHz) to a 2400+(2.0Ghz) or 2600+(2.13GHz) worth it?

IMO, it's not worth it to go from 2000+ to either of those cpus. Have you considerd oc'ing the 2000+? Could be an option to get you by for a bit.

[UtwigMU]

Depends:

You won't see substantial gain from CPU upgrade and your new CPU will be end of line.

Unless you can score a new CPU cheap and resell the old one/build another system from it and plan to use the system for at least 1-2 years, I wouldn't do it.

IMO it would be much better, if you would go about upgrading, to swap CPU/Mobo/RAM combo for Nforce2/2500+@3200+/PC3200 dual channel combo.


Pros for waiting a while/cons for upgrading.
- AMD is shifting to new socket, soon even budget CPUs will go socket 754
- Intel will shift to LGA in the second half of year
- BTX, PCI Express, new sockets, new chipsets, widespread X86-64 are just over the horizon, compared to that, our current boxes will be like XT Pentiums were in 1999 to 400-600MHz PIIs, PIIIs and Athlons with AGP, DIMMS and ATX form factor

[spadnos]

I'll second (or ninth or whatever) everyone else.

Even if the system speed went up proportionally to the CPU clock, you'd only be getting 20% faster performance. Unfortunately, it's far from lonear. You would probably see about 3-5% improvement with the faster CPU.

I'd wait until you can replace the CPU, MB, and RAM at the same time. Usually, those core components should be treated as a single unit - other than increasing RAM, which can be very useful (but not after you have 1GB).

- Steve

[rugger]

Helevitia,

I would just leave it for now ... why waste money on something is still works very well.

Leave it for a year and see where PCI-express and everything goes.

[Marshmallowman]

I would go for a 2400, as they run nice n cool (compared to palominos) and overclock very well.

But if you don't want to overclock then it it is a borderline kind of decision...do you want/need anything faster. You Video card is good so any CPU upgrade is going to result in real performance gains.

[GuchiGuh]

If I was to upgrade your system, I'd go for the 64bit generation of mobos and cpus

[Helevitia]

Thanks for all of the feedback.

Looks like I didn't explain myself well. What I was really trying to say is that I WILL upgrade to a next gen system by the end of this year. In the mean time, should I just leave my system alone and be happy with it's current specs until the time comes that I do upgrade, or should I throw another CPU in it? Based on everyone's feedback, I should be just fine with my current setup until I decide to upgrade.

I don't always follow the path of "it still works, so no need to upgrade". I am a gadget/PC junky and so I upgrade faster than I should.

I mainly use Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and game less then I used to, but still like to play the latest and greatest So after reading your replies and writing my response, I realize I don't need to upgrade. I just need another monitor

[SitFlyer]