TeuS

I've thought a bit of upgrading my rig.
current setup:
KR7A-R
1700+JIUHB
SLK800
GF2Pro
Corsair XMS 3500

I know it's quite slow, because it's limited by the vidcard and the chipset. I thought first of buying an entire setup, but I decided not to: I'm want to save some cash and watercool a bit (vidcard & NB). I'll have a job this summer, and I want to spend 200-300€ to my system.

I'm going to buy a new mainboard and a vidcard, XMS mem and the JIHB will be used.
for my 'old' setup then I'll buy a cheap proc, pop my backup DDR mem in it and use it as server.

now I need a new mainboard and vidcard.
mainboard will be Socket A, what do we expect in the near future for those Socket A boards?
it will take too long until a gaming platform for the Opteron has arrived AND it's affordable. that's a choice for later then, but feel free to discuss offcourse.

vidcard: I absolutely don't have a clue about this. Ati/Nvidia, it doesn't matter, though I've heard the ATI cards have way better visual quality then those Nvidia's . Vidcard doesn't need to be new, it just has to be price/quality; I'd prefer to buy a 2nd handed, fast vidcard over a new, slower vidcard.

what do you, pro's, think? Will this setup stay speedy for more then a year, and is it a good way of spending my money?

RuB87

Mobo : abit nf7-s ver 2.0
Vga : if you can find a softmoddable r9500 .. it is the 1

Da_BoKa

I think it's gonna take quite a time untille the athlon 64 will come out ( for an reasonable price )

so you will only buy an new mainboard and graphic card

if you would by it now i would suggest an ABIT NF7-S rev 2.0
and something like an raedon 9500pro

the choise of the graphic card depends on when you are an absolute gamer or an accasional gamer

the problem is that you will have to buy another stick of ram becase the mainboard is an nforce2

greetz

Da_BoKa

you will only find an softmoddable card 2nd hand

now you can't find them anymore

greetz

FreeStyler

Well, I can personally say, Epox 8RDA+ is a good choice mobo. only a lack of chipset voltage setting. The 8RDA3+ could be a good choice too, but in my eyes only if they pop a MCP-T on it.

As for videocards, I currently strongly favor ATI. Hercules division gets my preference, might not be the cheapest, but qood quality and attention to detail. Some soft 'n games included, might or might not be to your likings.
Budget is 9500 or 9500Pro, try to soft-mod them if you want to risk it.
With a bit more money to spend, 9700 and up is good works. 9700 and the pro version have only their clockspeeds as a difference. 9800 is again about 1000 points extra on 3DM2k3 (stock settings on P4 2.8) a bit better optimized core, but not much else)

Nvidia has some options but 5800 (pro) is expensive, loud and WAY underpreforming. 5600 is cheap, but with preformance to match. 5200... can you say MX instead of FX.
Don't like their cards, expensive, relatively slow, and bad dual monitor and TV-out. Image quality is indeed much better on ATI.

With a bit of luck, expect at least 2.0GHz on that CPU, and a good ATI card will keep your desktop nice and frisky.
That should keep you running for at least a year. Might be a nice jog at the end, but at least you won't be limping like your current setup will have you do.

If anything, get a better vidcard, that is, if you're into gaming off course.

RuB87

1 stick corsair pc3200 gave me this score in sisoft .. i know , 2 is better but if you need to buy another stick corsair xms pc3500 .. verry "uncheap".

Some german shop sell pretested softmoddable card but i lost the url

Abit is better cause it has sata , 8rda+ not , in the future more and more drive will be sata interface

TeuS

thanks for your advice

Nvidia is a no-go this time, shoulda go ATI then. How about the R9600? price is about the same as the 9500 and it also performs the same (http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic...416/index.html).

but we'll see in august then. I'll buy a new mainboard that has established the reputation of superb stability (not extreme OC).

I'll prolly buy a 2nd handed R9700 (pro?) then, how much would they be worth in 2-3 months?

RuB87

200~230 i gues

RichBa5tard

The R9600 Pro is a bit slower than a R9500 Pro, but more expensive. A bad buy at the moment, but they will prolly be a good buy this summer (although they'll have a hard time competing <ith the FX5600 ultra).

I'd buy a R9700 (200~220 this summer) and a Abit NF7-S rev2.0.

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HTPC (mac osx): Mac Mini | Core Duo 1.6Ghz | 2GB DDR2 | 26\" TFT
Development (mac osx): Macbook | Core 2 2.0Ghz | 4GB DDR2 | 250GB HD
Games (win xp): E2160 @ 2.4Ghz | HD3850 OC | Asrock 4coredual-vsta | 2GB DDR2

jmke

I find the bios of the Epox 8RDA a pos !

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