HW-upgrade
 

just had a nice chat with RB, and made my mind up. current setup:
KR7A
1700+ JIUHB, does 2100 mhz on 1.75 vcore
GF2Pro
256MB XMS Corsair PC3500 CL2
80GB HDD
48x CDRW
Koolance w/ 350W Enermax PSU
WC for vidcard, chipsets, HDD and CPU perhaps
budget: 300-500 euro

plan #1:
Asus Nforce² (old mainboard then for backup rig): 80€
other ram: I'll sell my Corsair and get 2 sticks of 256MB
vidcard: Thinking of an R9000@Funcomp, 9100 or 9200. it will be a lot better then my GF2, and I'll wait and save my money for an affordable vidcard that can run DoomIII decently

plan #2: get a decent vidcard NOW, and save little money

plan #3:
keep my KR7A, sell XMS mem, buy 512Mb Twinmos. my FSB will be limited to 190 (170 if i want to watch movies:( ), the speed difference with the nforce² won't be huge and I'll save my cash; no possibility for a backup rig either.
but I'll be able to afford a killer vidcard like an R9800

Thx a lot to Rich Bastard, but I'd always like to have a 2nd opinion
I'm actually thinking to follow plan #1: I can order the vidcard rightaway with the last bucks on my bank account, but I don't know if I should choose the 64Mb 9000 over the 128mb 9200

what do you think?

Your mobo is still fast enough imo. Better look for an ti4200 and mayb a barton2500+.

well the first option seems the best (if you don't buy twinx corsair :p)
i only doubt it that the 9000pro will make that big difference with the GF2pro, in my humble opinion you better keep the geforce 2 and buy a decent videocard when its needed.
but an abit or epox looks better to me (and cheaper)
don't like ASUS verry much.

and the idea for a killer videocard, wait till doom3 passes and then buy a videocard , it will be 1) cheaper and 2) there will be new "techniques" then so you're pc will flawlessy run the modern games.
but thats just my opinion ;)

or as Vulkaantje says, buy everything secondhanded: will be much cheaper.

the 9000 would be a lot faster



8500 <> 5400

in any case, I won't keep my GF2Pro in this rig... what other vidcard also gives good performance (and perhaps good overclocking) at a low price?

As said, ti4200.

i would go for #1, but in stead of buying asus buy something else where you can get an good oc with ( asus isn't the best for that )

greetz

The ASUS board doesnt like high FSBs, the Abit and the Epox are much better boards, especially the Abit NF7-S Rev2.0.

Craig

My third 8rda+ just died for no obvious reason... i wouldn't recommend EpoS any more unless you don't mind getting a new one every 3 months.

This just leaves the excellent Abit NF7-S and the budget Asys A7N8X-X.

Because money is a big issue, i'd recommend the asus. It doesn't overclock as well, it doesn't have S-ATA, and it's with the budget NF2-4000 chipset (single channel), but in the end you don't notice the performance difference unless you push it to the max.

I recommended a 900Pro, because it's bottom price (70 eur) and decent performance.

just bought myself a 9000pro 3 days ago - the AIW version, that is - and the difference between this one and a GF2 (even a Pro) is quite noticeable ... it would be a shame if it weren't, right? :p

it's quite a good budget card (the non-AIW), but my Ti4200 got me higher 3dmarks

TA, 3dmark scores from those cards?
I'll get a R9000 new, or a ti4200/9600 2nd handed

mainboard: Abit NF-7. I'm very satisfied with my KR7A-R so I'll stick to abit