Upgrade time!

[omegaRED]

Well the time has come: I`m upgrading my PC.

I`ll be using it mostly for 2D work, 3D work and gaming. I`ll be keeping my G400 for the time being, until i save some cash to get a new vid card.

So, i had 2 options in mind.

1. MSI 745 Ultra with Athlon XP 1800-2000 and 256 DDR (for now)
2. A mobo with the VIA P4X333 chipset (i can get an ECS P4XVASD2+ cheap) and a P4 Celery 1.7 - 2.0 gHz with either 512 SDRAM or 256 DDR

Money is an issue, the prices here are approx 10-20 % higher than those in the US. And the reason i included SDRAM in the choice is because the prices of the DDR have gone waay up lately and the ECS MB has 2 SDR & 2 DDR slots so i was thinking i`d get some DDR sticks once their price lowers.

So the budget is gonna be something around 250-270 $.

I`d like to hear your oppinions/suggestions.

edit: I`m not looking for a top of the line PC, i want a decent config that`ll enable me to play current & next year games (ofcourse with a new vid card) at, say 1024x768, med/high-ish settings..

[K6-III]

The AMD solution will whoop the P4 Celeron with SDRAM....no contest....

[omegaRED]

How about the Celeron with DDR?

[K6-III]

128kb L2 cache on a P4 just doesn't cut it...

and a P4 on .18micron doesn't cut it either...

[jmcgoblue]

The Athlon will definitely be faster in either case. Celerons are not very competitive when it comes to multimedia & 3D. You can find lots of hardware reviews at www.anandtech.com.

[WyWyWyWy]

Just don't do what I did! (see my sig)

ECS boards = no overclock
SDRAM = 2/3 or 1/2 performance only for games. About 20% lower for general usage

And, you know... VIA = trouble!!

By the way, for Celeron, 2.0 is far better than 1.8... 0.13 process I tell you what! Easily overclocked to 3ghz with default voltage! Still slower than a 2ghz 512k P4 in some occassion though...

And, 256mb is not enough.. you know... so, a MSI 745 Ultra & XP 1700+ or 1800+ (or even 1600+) & 512mb DDR266 is my suggestion if money is a concern.

For really low cost P4 boards, check Shuttle out... instead of ECS.

And finally, FYI, some people with a P4 1.8g and 256mb DDR can double my framerate...

[Wombat]

DDR if you can swing it, but definitely 512MB if you want to play today's games.