Opinion on Performance

[Pyros]

What would give my system in my sig the most signaficant performance boost ? Upgrading to a NF2 mobo, upgrading from my xp1700 to a Barton 2500, or purchasing another 512mb of the same ram Im currently using (for a total of 768mb) ? Concider that my main uses for this rig are movie conversions, DL'ing, gaming, and general surfing in pretty much that order. Ive been going over which to do for a few weeks now and just cant decide which is best. Thk for your opinions.

 

[Pla]

What is the chipset of your current mobo? Can you do safely 166 MHz FSB?

If you cannot I wouldn't update the cpu before the mobo.

Also you are getting 2GHz of your cpu. If you go barton 2500 you would get 2.2 - 2.3 GHz which is not worth the money.

So IMO I would upgrade the ram - it is easiest and will help in gaming.

For DL'ing and surfing you don't need to update anything besides going to broadband (if you're on dial-up now).

For movie conversion both cpu and memory would help. If currently your OS is swaping when using movie conversion software your best bet is to update the memory. If it is fine with 256MB then memory may not change anything.

Try to see if your memory is enough (no swaping).

It is a complicated decision.

Good luck.