Should I wait or ?

Well I was planning to upgrade to one of the Dual Channel systems, but they didn't turn out all that great. The next things would be the higher FSB chips, but thats looking to be a summer release. So what do I do about my aging KT266 board and ancient 1800+? I was thinking just get something decent to hold me over. I also don't want to spend too much, so I have enough saved for a REAL upgrade later. Nforce2 doesn't give much over KT400, and even KT333 keeps up with a little OC, so I was thinking maybe a refurb 333 or 400 board, and a faster XP? I got a good H2O setup and my 9700 is begging me for a faster system. Or I could just live with it for awhile. Opinions?

-Rav

Waiting never works. There will always be "the next great leap around the corner!" and if you allow this credo to dictate your hardware purchases, you'll never buy a damn thing. However, if budget is a concern, it may be better to hold off until you can do a more thorough upgrade.

That being said, on the AMD side of the fence, NForce2 + the Thoroughbred Bs look like a pretty solid choice. Coupled with some good RAM, these setups make formidable rigs. OC-wise, I would definately not expect 2.5 ghz. 2.1-2.4 seems more realistic.

If you're considering going Intel, OCed 845 PE chipsets w/ good memory performs quite well and can compete with Granite Bay (and will be much cheaper too). RDRAM/850 chipsets perform about the same as granite bay but the overclockability is slightly prohibited when compared to DDR. C1 Stepping cpus seem to be getting fairly good results with many people reporting 3.0ghz or more.

if you go for an AMD go for the Nforce 2 (finally something not made by those suckers via), in life there's never time to wait. If you're going Intel, go for RDRAM (look at my pimpin rig)

Dang Johnny, nice fokking rig!!

Hmm I'd have to sell my car and get a rig like that. No, I'm just looking for some suggestions on hardware to hold me over until the good stuff comes out. I'd like to stick with AMD because my watercooling is set up for that (I rather not invest in a P4 block). Think an nforce2 would play nice with my Kingmax 2700?

-Rav

method().man said:

Dang Johnny, nice fokking rig!!

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thanks, i'm planning on getting another Cheeta 15k.3 18GB soon and maybe a 200GB for more backup, don't have enough space for more pron

Rav i would go for the nforce2, it will last you at least two years.

Johnny Knoxville said:

Rav i would go for the nforce2, it will last you at least two years.

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I doubt it: his current setup is only 6-10 months old and he's already feelin' the itch .

Its a year old this month. My two main problems are the pitiful memory bandwidth I'm getting (its a KT266 chipset, not 'A') and that I'm stuck at 150Mhz FSB, which I think is a board limit because the CPU won't go higher even with voltmod. Plus I'm looking to do the RAID thing and I rather have onboard than a card.

Oh, will the nforce2 support the 200Mhz Barton chips? Then it looks a little better.

-Rav

lol, im in the same boat as you. I too have an 1800+ and a KT266, although mine is a KT266a. Its acuatly quite nice, well, unless you take into the fact that the temp diode is jacked up. Epox 8rDa+ for me. Imma keep my CPU, though. RAM costs a lot

I'd hang off till just after christmas if money is a concern. The 333 t-breds should have come down in price a little by then. Prices are alway inflated just before the christmas rush, then they drop off.