Bored....

Ok. It has been a while (few months) since I have last dabbled into my Rigs, but I am getting the itch to come out of boredom and start tinkering again. My main rig's components are as follows:

CPU : Barton 2500+ (oclocked to 3000+)
Mobo : Shuttle AN35N Ultra
Memory : 1 GB (2x512) DDR400 (Crucial) - dual channel
GPU : Sapphire Radeon 9700Pro (128MB/AGP)
OS : Windows XP Pro

Now, I am not going to bore yall with all of the other crap on my rig that is not pertinent to the question at hand, which is this - Is it worth droppin some dimes to revamp/upgrade, or should I just wait it out? I am into gaming, and have always fought the urge to get the best thing out there. I am tempted daily for FX-53, KT800 Mobos, and FireGL GPUs, but I am not sure if there is anything out there to take advantage of these components, and since times change so much, I do not want to get into anything that may not last (ie FX55 w/ new socket, PCI-Express, etc).

Anywho, what would you guys think if you were in the same boat?

if i was in a the same boat , what would i do ?

1 - Hard drive space ? got enough or need more

2 - Case ? could mod it , paint it , add window , add lights

3 - Speakers ? 5:1 with sub , nice for gaming

4 - Fan controllor ?

There are a few ideas to do with your current set-up. what you got looks like a good set-up

Dead Man...

thanks for the ideas. Yeah, you know, I am not looking into upgrading my HDD, or cosmetically making my rig more aesthetically pleasing. What I am more focused on was power (CPU/GPU), and the more time passes, the more I think I need to wait it out for a couple more months.

Unless you have alot of money, I would wait for 90nm AMD's and Socket 939. I have a feeling those are going to be good.

If you want my opinion, your current rig:

CPU : Barton 2500+ (oclocked to 3000+)
Mobo : Shuttle AN35N Ultra
Memory : 1 GB (2x512) DDR400 (Crucial) - dual channel
GPU : Sapphire Radeon 9700Pro (128MB/AGP)
OS : Windows XP Pro

Click to expand...

Would be one hell of an upgrade for me. So bassically IMO, I think what you have at the moment is pretty good. Not the best, but good. It should definatly be able to hold you off until the end of the year. I myself am waiting for 90nm AMD's.

In the mean time to cure my computer tinkering boredom, instead of upgrading, I am going to do an awsome project I have been planning for like a year. I am going to build my own clear case, and do some really neat painting idea's. I might upgrade my heatsink or go to water though. If you are looking for something to do with your comp, doing something like this wouldn't hurt, it wouldn't be too expensive, and you could still hold off until some better CPU's come out. Prices of video cards might drop slightly too.

I would have to agree with @md0Cer, what you have is solid for now, I would wait for the next gen hardware to come down in price (64bit processing)

To deal with the tinkering urge til then I would work on something that you'll be able to transfer over when you do upgrade...watercooling. You'll be able to OC further without fear of overheating and have much less fan noise to interfere with the subtle sounds of some of the latest games. (Hear the bad guys sneaking up on you)

DWolf

If I could afford watercooling, I'd go with what DW said... Small Form Factor looks like the next thing I want to try, though.

CPU : Barton 2500+ (oclocked to 3000+) -> Mobile 2400+ XP-M (low-voltage, unlocked multi goodness, 2.5-2.7GHz OC are standard)
Mobo : Shuttle AN35N Ultra -> Albatron KX18D Pro (better voltage options for tinkering)
Memory : 1 GB (2x512) DDR400 (Crucial) - dual channel -> invest in some BH-5. Winbond is out of the DDR business and there is nothing better in the foreseeable future... Should still be the best thing for A64 in the future, too. At the very least you can sell it in a few months for a tidy profit.
GPU : Sapphire Radeon 9700Pro (128MB/AGP) -> sell it on eBay and get a 9800Pro that will softmod to an XT. Better yet, sell it, my a cheap GF2MX400 to tide you over for a month or two when prices will start to plummit from R420 & NV40 releases. I'm in the same boat as you with the graphics card.

me three! when the new vid cards come out, pick up a cheap used 9800 pro. BH-5 is like art, its nice to have and it will be worth more in a feww months. its depleating fast, OCers will probly buy it at new price, used. soon as i can i'm picking up some, to up me to a gig from my current of 512.

You sound like you have the itch

I understand!!!
Maybe it would be a good time to start learning about watercooling.
If your not interested another suggestion would be to get a mobile xp a great power supply and try testing the voltages.
If niether of these sound good maybe its time to build a special purpose rig.This could be anything from trying to max out a cheap xp mobile using a homedesigned water system ,overclocking the 64, or following your FX-53 wishes. Good Luck