What do you guys think?

My "old" tiger is starting to turn into a kitty. I started
building her about 2 years ago, and now boasts XP 2500, Abit NF7-S with
nForce2, 1024MB of RAM, and a Radeon 9800pro video card. What was
awesome performance then, and up until recently, seems to be degrading.

For instance, I do a fair bit of multi tasking, having many
applications and processes running at the same time. Not so
worried about games too much.

At the moment, Im looking at these parts:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800

2048MB Corsair PC3200

ASUS A8N-E nForce4 Ultra

ASUS Radeon X800 256MB

I wish I didnt have to get a new video card, but PCI-E is the way
things are going, and I'd rather get a PCI-E video card, then buy a AGP
motherboard and then in a few years have to upgrade both. Then
again, Im hoping this stuff will last me a good 3 or 4 years.. or more.

Any comments appreciated before I convience myself to take the plunge.

Wild Card said:
Then again, Im hoping this stuff will last me a good 3 or 4 years.. or more.

Somehow I bet you had the same thought when you built this one. Getting 2 years out of any system is about all one can expect.

Have fun making your new dream.

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There is no history until something happens, then there is.

Dude, you can do better. Get a 7800 GTX instead, X800 compared to that
card is NOTHING. Weak. Crap. :smile: (plus it has Shader Model 3 so you can
run LC on high quality :biggrin: )

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HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee

Well, Im an ATI fanboy.. and I have limited monetary resources.

Madedog said:
(plus it has Shader Model 3 so you can run LC on high quality :biggrin: )

Not if the rest of your machine cant handle it. Put a 9600pro in a 1ghz machine, most games run slower than the same machine with a geforce2 (I know this from experience).

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

I don't think the rest of his machine is lagging behind a 7800 wilson :razz:

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

No, but its a common problem... and I didnt read the first post...

But most of all I just want Madedog to shut up about that card :razz:

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"If you talk at all during this lesson, you have detention. Do you understand?"

• My yr11 Economics teacher

But most of all I just want Madedog to shut up about that card :razz:

Why? I don't own that card :biggrin: I just say it's the best one on the market you can get :biggrin: and ofcourse I recommend it :biggrin:

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HL2 tutorials 'n' stuff: http://madedog.pri.ee
217.159.236.34:27050 - CSS Server - Clean | koffer.ee

But most of all I just want Madedog to shut up about that card :razz:

Why? I don't own that card :biggrin: I just say it's the best one on the market you can get :biggrin: and ofcourse I recommend it :biggrin:

You're damn right you dont own me! No one owns me.

I'm picking up the 2 gigs tonight after school and I'll let you all know the results.

I had my system for two years before I did a minor upgrade in ram and CPU (just cause I could) and overall have had the thing for almost four years ... I'm just now running into an inability to run certain games. So, having a system for more than 2 years is actually pretty easy. Just buy main parts (motherboard) that have a lot of room for upgrading.

Uh, about your system. You don't have to get a X2 yet, just get a board that supports it then get a cheaper CPU now, so you can do a minor upgrade in a couple years (it'll project the longevity of the system anyway)

You wont need that much ram right now, so I'd suggest get a gig now ... and add by gigs later, since it'll be cheaper then anyway.

Other than that, you know what you're doing ... so why ask here?

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

<div><div>Other than that, you know what you're doing ... so why ask here?</div></div>

I want to make sure Im spending my pennies right. I have a gig of
ram as it is, and I tend to run out of RAM easily. Or so the
advanced system monitor on Smartbar XP tells me. Anyways, I have
the RAM on order already since I can just put that into my current
motherboard without worry. Its PC3200 and I run PC2700.

I wanted to try the X2 since its quite the leap in technology from the
XP2500. I realise the pricing is expensive, but I dont know if it
would be better to simply get.. say a 64 3200 and then later upgrade.

You would. It'd probably cost a little more to buy now then later as well. But it's negligable. (additional $100 maybe. You may end up saving money by that time, because the price will drop) Not to mention, you could get something better later on AND be satisfied now.

I'm sure it clocks down, but you may want to make sure it does. I've heard some ram really funks up at lower clock speeds (as in they don't work, not that they get hurt or something like that)

So, maybe keep that in mind. Most all work at lower speeds though.

Up to you though. I'd suggest the cheaper route, since nothing will use that extra power right now.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I would think Corsair's RAM would do fine? lol. Be weird if it didnt.

As for my computing. I run Folding@Home at 100% whenever my
computer is online. I also use Smartbar XP as my taskbar
replacement. After that, AVG, Zone Alarm, VM Ware (virtual
machine), LimeWire and eMule, and then games.

I though having a dual core would help.

Right now, a 64 3200 goes for $234 and a 64 3800 goes for $407.
So I figure an extra 40 bucks for dual core is well worth it?

On that note, one of the things I was trying to avoid was an upgrade soon. Which is why I was interested in the dual core.

If you think two years is soon ... okay.

I forgot stuff is more expensive and priced oddly there. Sorry. Price should be your intuitive guide. So, go with what seems better there. (All X2 in USD is far more expensive than single core 64 chips)

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Us Canadians are special :razz: But yea, I dont know what the
difference is for you, but thats the pricing here. When I bough
my XP2500, it was $120.

As for upgrading, I've lasted almost 2 years with my current
specs. Although orignally I only had 512MB. I upgraded to a
full gig last year.

I would like the X2 and the 2gigs of RAM to last me at least that long for sure.