Upgrade now or later

[It_The_Cow]

It seems that my PIII system has finally died on me . Now I will either have replace it entirely, or just replace the CPU and wait for the T'Breds.

I am currently eyeing the Abit KR7A RAID coupled with a XP 1800+ and 256mb of RAM. That should put me within my price range. I was looking forward towards saving up for a 2 GHz T'Bred (~2500+) with DDR333 (Anyone have a recent roadmap?).

Right now, I am reluctant beacause of the various VIA chipset issues. I am not sure if a Creative Soundblaster Live causes problems, but I would rather not find out the hard way. AMD needs their version of the 440BX. I also want a system that will be capable of doing its job for at least another six years. Keep in mind that I will most likely not overclock

 

[Oni]

The 686b Southbridge issues w/ the SB Live! cards has been addressed. There's a patch for it.

The fastest DDR chipsets currently would be the KT266a and the nForce chipsets, w/ the KT333 following behind. Once it matures it'll be an excelent chipset, but I'd wait a bit for that.

6 years!? Holy crap! That's a LONG time in the computer world, but the setup you describe might be able to pull it off, w/ subtle upgrades over the years.

 

[nihili]

Last I heard Tbreds were due in April. If there's any way for you to hold out until they come out, it's probably worth your while. Even if you eventually get an XP, the prices should drop substantially. The other thing that might be worth waiting for is the KT333a chipset.

Personally, if I were looking for a rig to last 6 years, I'd concentrate on getting a completely stable motherboard, and then buy a lower range AMD chip to put in it. Put the money saved on the slower chip in the bank and use it to upgrade the chip a couple of times in the 6 years. Just keep the chip well below the top rank.

nihili

 

[It_The_Cow]

It will have to last throughout most of my college education. Within that time, 8 and maybe 9GHz processors will be created, but I highly doubt any programs I will use, or any consumer progam at all, will require that much power. If I ever do, then I will probably pick up overclocking again.

Indeed I will still be upgrading it over time. The only things that I will most likely upgrade in that time will most likely be the video card and hard drive.

Currently, I am leaning towards replacing my dead CPU and saving up for the better system (T'Bred, KT333a/NForce 620). The Claw and Sledge Hammers look tempting, though I doubt household consumers really need 64-bit processing. The problem is, I also need to start saving up for a car.