Upgrade help

[plk21]

So, I splurged and bought the Geforce 6800oc / Doom 3 bundle at Best Buy last week. Now I can't run Doom3 because of my system. My goal is to get Doom 3 up to a playable level.

I currently have:
Athlon XP 1700+
Epox EP-8K7A+ mobo
512MB PC2100
BFG Geforce 6800oc

So, I'm looking at updating the CPU to get Doom3 playable.

After doing some research, it looks like my mobo maxes out at an XP 2200+, so I'm guessing a new CPU/Mobo is in order. Here are my options:

1. Just buy an Athlon XP 2200+ ($74)

2. XP 3200+ / GA-7LN400 / 512MB PC3200 ($353)

3. P4 3.0GHz / 8VM533M-RZ / (I'm not sure on the ram for this one, can I re-use my PC2100 ? ) ($238)

I've been really happy with AMD's price/performance in the past, but the P4 looks tempting.

So my questions are:
What should I get, bearing in mind I want to keep the package <= $350, and can I use my PC2100 ram with the P4? It seems like it from the info on zipzoomfly, but just doesn't feel right.

If anyone has any alternative suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks!
PK

Edit: I have ordered the Athlon64 2800+ /MSI K8N Neo rig suggested by masshass81. $340 shipped from ZipZoomFly. You guys are the best!

 

[masshass81]

-754pin Newcastle A64 2800+ $143

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...sp?ProductCode=80698-R


-MSI K8N Neo Platinum nForce3 250Gb $122

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...jsp?ProductCode=241132

OR

EPoX EP-8KDA3J nForce3-250Gb $105 for a better value

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=13-123-219&amp;depa=1


-Corsair 512MB DDR400 PC3200 CAS2.5 $77

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...sp?ProductCode=80098-6


Games will run MUCH better with this A64 upgrade (dont bother with the XP 3200+, esp for the same price as this setup!!!) . Both of those mobos I mentioned received editors choice on anandtech,
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/sh...c.aspx?i=2063&amp;p=16 so it depends on which one you like better feature wise as they are both excellent performers. This is also better than that P4 setup youre looking at since I'm assuming youre getting a P4b cuz that mobo youre looking at only supports a FSB of 400/533

 

[plk21]

Very interesting.....

ty

 

[masshass81]

Supplemental... heres a review on the Newcastle A64 2800+, it shows the 2800+ beating out the Athlon XP 2800+ and even the XP 3200+ by a pretty good margin in gaming!

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/vie...=1&amp;cookie%5Ftest=1

Its also better since youll be able to upgrade up to an A64 3700+ (<---fast!!, better than a 3.6Ghz P4C/E in gaming!) on the 754 socket later, while if you were to go XP 3200+, you wouldnt be able to upgrade further since thats the fastest CPU on socket A. Also, getting that Pentium 4 mobo with only 400/533 FSB support, the highest CPU you can go is a 2.8B on that setup (which the A64 2800+ easily beats in gaming)

 

[plk21]

Good info again, Thanks.

 

[gwag]

MB should work fine with the older 2600+ as long as its 266fsb

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

I have an 1800+, and am waiting til december to upgrade, but if I were to upgrade now I would go with the MSI Neo Platinum MoBo, A64 2800+/3200+ (somewhere in that range) and then the 512 MB of PC3200 RAM. I'd probably go with the 2800+ simply to save money and leave more available for RAM, and then upgrade the CPU when it becomes a bottleneck later. I think the jump from an XP 1700/1800 to an A64 2800 would immediately noticeable and would give you room to grow in the future when the 3700's are less expensive. An even less expensive solution would be to go with the Sempron 3100, but I'm not sure how much less than the 2800+ it is at this time. Might be worth a look though.

-D'oh!

 

[plk21]

Well, I got some good advice (thanks to those that PM'ed too).

Looks like I'm going to take masshass81's advice and for for the A64 2800+.

Now I just need to wait for payday to order.

I do think selling the old mobo/cpu/proc should help defray the cost.

THANKS ALL!

 

[masshass81]

No problem. But I forgot one important thing to ask. How much power do you have in your power supply!? Make sure you have at least a good quality 350Watt PSU to power your new system! =)

 

[plk21]

I have an Antec 350W ps. Don't remeber the model #.

 

[ectx]

Just curious, how bad is it to run doom 3 on your current setup? Do you play other games, are they also un-playable?

 

[masshass81]

Great, that antec psu should be sufficient. Its most likely the Antec Smart Power SL350, I have that one too.

 

[plk21]

Originally posted by: ectx
Just curious, how bad is it to run doom 3 on your current setup? Do you play other games, are they also un-playable?

Doom 3 is totally unplayable, but I can run UT2k4 beautifully, and FarCry nicely.

 

[plk21]

Just d/l and ran 3dmark 03

7850 3dmarks

[edit]

also ran pcmark 2004 (free edition):

2472 PCMarks

[/edit]

 

[nitromullet]

3. P4 3.0GHz / 8VM533M-RZ / (I'm not sure on the ram for this one, can I re-use my PC2100 ? ) ($238)

I agree with the recommendation to go with a A64 setup. However, if you for some reason decide to go with the Intel rig you need to know a few things...

1)That is a 400/533 FSB mobo, so your PC2100 will work. FSB = 4 x 133 = 533

2)The 3.0Ghz P4 has an 800Mhz FSB, so it will not work in that mobo. You would need the 3.06GHz P4, which has a 533MHz FSB. Incidently, this cpu is a bit more than the 3.0.

http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=19-116-155&amp;depa=0

3) IMO, the main reason to go with an Intel based rig is because Intel makes very solid, stable chipsets. The mobo you have picked out is certainly cheaper than one with an Intel chipset, but I wouldn't recommend a VIA chipset for a P4 rig. Why risk stability?

 

[plk21]

Thanks everybody!

Going to order my A64 setup tomorrow morning. ZZF has free 2day shipping, hope it's really that fast. Should be up and running by Wednseday!

 

[masshass81]

Let us know how it runs when you set it up

 

[Tiamat]

cool! good luck! BTW, was yoru 1700+ a Palomino, or a Tbred-A or Tbred B. If it was a Tbred B and happens to be a JIUHBDLT3C, you probably can sell it for a decent amount since these are among the best overclockers of the AXP series, minus barton Mobiles.

 

[plk21]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
cool! good luck! BTW, was yoru 1700+ a Palomino, or a Tbred-A or Tbred B. If it was a Tbred B and happens to be a JIUHBDLT3C, you probably can sell it for a decent amount since these are among the best overclockers of the AXP series, minus barton Mobiles.

Don't know, I know it was a Tbred, when I install the a64 rig, I'll check. Thanks for the info.

 

[socket9851]

you have stated that you're athlon xp 1700 won't run doom 3 but will run farcry did you have your chip overclocked in to the fact that it wont crash on farcry and normal pc operations but when u installed doom it won't run? i overclocked my athlon xp 1600 to 1.67 and it would run everyhing solid except doom 3 so i clocked it back to a 1.53 ghz and it runs doom 3 good i to got the 6800 oc with doom 3 also
so i have a athlon xp 1600 running at 1.53 overclocked from stock 1.4 ghz

 

[plk21]

OK, the A64 2800+ is installed, with 1.5GB PC3200 RAM.

Just ran the Timedemo on Doom 3, 640x480 Medium Detail.... 53fps. I think with some tweaking, this could work at higher res, but I havn't tried it yet.

Thanks all!