Upgrade choices... (ie: help me spend money)

[JCLW]

Current SMP rig in sig (hey! that rhymes...)

It's not quite as zippy as it once was so I'm looking at a few options. I can't justify paying more then CDN$1000 including tax.

(All prices in CDN$)

$690: 2x PIII-1.13-S & 2x UpgradeWare slockets
$805: 2x PIII-1.26-S & 2x UpgradeWare slockets
$920: 2x PIII-1.40-S & 2x UpgradeWare slockets
$920: 2400+ & Asus A7V333 (or equivalent) & 512mb DDR
$1035: P4 2.53 & Asus P4PE (or equivalent) & 512mb DDR
Save up for an Athlon/Barton/Xeon system

It would take a lot of convincing to get me to switch back to a uniprocessor system as I do CAD work and keep about 20 applications open at the same time but I threw them in for comparison. I'd also have to reinstall everything if I got a new motherboard which would cost me at least $100 worth of time.

I'm leaning towards the 1.26-S or 1.40-S. I don't think the 1.13-S would be much faster then what I have now for $690. Also I could sell my *matched pair of PIII-800E cB0 SECC2 with intel heatsink and fan* chips (was that too obvious?) which would offset the price even more.

- JW

[Tweaked!]

Consider option 7, New Amd duallie;) you could d*mn near build one for the about the ssame cost as your option 3. Btw, Newegg currently has the Msi k7d master mobo in their refurb section for really cheap. :D

[cmcquistion]

I agree. A dual AMD system would be faster, cost you less money, and have more upgrade potential. Definitely build an AMD system. Get a MSI K7D Master, a couple Athlon XP's, some Registered DDR, and rock on!

[DDR-PIII]

save up for Xeon ;)

[Tweaked!]

Hey CMC, did you catch the K7d's at newegg refurbed section?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=302&manufactory=1312&Type=Refurbish&sortby=14&order=1
D*mn cheap prices:)

[FunkDaMonkMan]

A MSI k7d with two Athlon XP 1600's be had for 320 USD or less, and will outperform those p3's.

[JCLW]

I hear what you guys are saying, but I bought the P2B-D with the thought that it could be upgraded later. If I switched to an Athlon MP ([quick rant]Why don't they call them Athlon DPs? :mad: They're not MP chips![/quick rant]) with the thought of upgrading later you guys would just tell me to get a Clawhammer DP system next year :p

That last paragraph could probably have been writen better but I hope you see what I mean.

For my purposes (the Tualeron is to be the gaming computer) I see no reason why the PIII-S chips wouldn't be plenty of speed (50~75% increase in processing power, 33% increase in memory bandwidth) until Prescott/Nocoma/Clawhammer have time to work their way into the market and drop in price. The Tualatins run considerably cooler (ie: 50%) then the XPs, and that 512kb L2 does nothing but wonders for multitasking. Plus my good old trusty i440BX is a known item and works well with all my components. And reinstalling everything is a big pain.

[edit1] I'd love some Xeons, but I can't justify buying them right now.

[edit2] MSI K7D, 2x XP1600+, 512mb DDR, new power supply = CDN$1200 inc tax.

- JW

[cmcquistion]

[edit2] MSI K7D, 2x XP1600+, 512mb DDR, new power supply = CDN$1200 inc tax.
Does this include hard drives and other stuff, or just the stuff you mentioned? That seems astronomically high for just the board, CPU's, memory, and PSU.
US dollars, you could get the above stuff for:
$200 for the motherboard (new) even cheaper if you can get a refurb.
$110 for 2 - XP1600's
$180 for 512 MB Samsung Reg ECC PC2700
$60 for cheap 550 watt PSU

Total $550.



Hey CMC, did you catch the K7d's at newegg refurbed section?

No, I didn't. Wish I had, though. I spent about $200 a piece on two of my K7D's. Got the third one in a trade.

[lonewolf1983]

yeah i wouldnt really bother with a p3 setup at all unless you need the cool running properties of the chips (like in a 1U server).
The XP's with an MSI k7d would be the fastest option ;)

[JCLW]

Sorry, those were 1800+chips not 1600+.

But still;
CDN$350 = $200 for the motherboard (new) even cheaper if you can get a refurb.
CDN$230 = $110 for 2 - XP1600's
CDN$270 = $180 for 512 MB Samsung Reg ECC PC2700
CDN$100 = $60 for cheap 550 watt PSU

Total CDN$950 + $140tax = ~$1100

- JW

[cmcquistion]

Do you have to pay tax on Internet purchases in Canada?

Here, we usually don't have to pay tax, unless the place we're buying from is in the same state. At least, that's the way it is in TN.

[heezer7]

don't buy 2700 ram and you don't really need ecc unless you want it that will lower the price a bit more

[cmcquistion]

If you want to be able to hit 150 FSB at the fastest memory timings and be ultra stable, get Registered PC2700.

If you want to run at 133 FSB, get PC2100. If you want to save $20-30 and sacrifice absolute stability and not be able to use more than two memory chips, get unRegistered.

[JCLW]

Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions, but I've decided to wait and see what the new year brings. Maybe 7505 boards and 3.06 Xeons will drop to $200 each.

Well... probably not.

Whatever I buy will have 512k L2.

- JW

[cmcquistion]

Maybe Bartons?

[JCLW]

Hopefully they'll be cheap and someone will make a decent chipset. :)

- JW

[cmcquistion]

Hopefully, they will be compatible with the MPX chipset...

[JCLW]

Rumor has it they'll have a 400FSB (2x400=800) so they don't get left behind when intel releases the 4x200=800FSB Prestonias, which will pretty much rule out the current MP and MPX chipsets. At the minimum they'll have a 2x166=333FSB which is a 25% o/c on the MPX chipset just to run the core at speed.

I'd rather see a new dual channel DDR400 DP chipset with a newer southbridge (like the new intel ICH5: Gigabit ethernet, SATA RAID, etc all on the southbridge)

- JW

[cmcquistion]

I've heard that rumor about 400 FSB, too. I've also heard that it's not, in any way, true. Only time will tell, I guess.

I have a feeling that AMD's not going to make anymore dual chipsets, except Hammers. It's in their financial interest not to...

[Namagomi]

Originally posted by Tweaked!
Consider option 7, New Amd duallie;) you could d*mn near build one for the about the ssame cost as your option 3. Btw, Newegg currently has the Msi k7d master mobo in their refurb section for really cheap. :D

Yeah, I second this. Was about to suggest it myself. P3's are stupidly expensive when you could get a K7D and two 1600's for dirt cheap, not to mention it would smoke a p3 rig.

[Softgod]

I currently have two 1600 XP's and a Tiger MP and I am really happy with the setup. I will have a new K7D Master here tomorrow though but I really do not look at it as an upgrade since I have one of the few Tiger MP's that will hit 150 FSB using SoftFSB.

[JCLW]

Yeah, VIA doesn't exactly have a good reputation in the SMP world.

People keep saying a 1600+ would "smoke" a PIII-S but considering my Tualeron 1.2 @ 1.7 is faster then my friends 1600+ I kind of doubt it.

They may be faster in some apps but the old P6 cores still pack a punch.

- JW

[cmcquistion]

I currently have two 1600 XP's and a Tiger MP and I am really happy with the setup. I will have a new K7D Master here tomorrow though but I really do not look at it as an upgrade since I have one of the few Tiger MP's that will hit 150 FSB using SoftFSB.

One nice thing about your new MSI K7D's, over your Tiger MP, will be multiplier control. You're still limited to 150 FSB, but you can crank the multiplier up to 12.5 with those chips.