Ok, current spec is:
AMD 3200+ Clawhammer,
1gb (2x512mb) Geil DDR400,
Radeon 9800Pro (@ XT Clocks)
I also have available to me, a P4 3.0gig Prescott LGA775, running in some crappy Intel 915 board (although I believe it does have a 16x PCI-E slot)
Im unsure what options to persue... Ideally I need to replace the gfx card mostly, as the 9800 is a bit long in the tooth now, so really the AMD system is out of the question anymore, as AGP gfx etc... are not worth investing in anymore as its a dead-end.
The problem I have is that if I use the Prescott I have available, Id like to try to get a decent overclock out of it and I suspect the crappy 915 board wont be up for much of that, so Im thinking about future-upgrades as much as possible.
My plan is to upgrade to a fairly decent GFX card (PCI-E), maybe a 7600GT or similar and stick a 1gb stick of DDR400 in with it (so I have 2gb total, as the board has 4 ram slots). Obvious downside to this is that while it will solve my current performance issues in some games (paging and low FPS), it doesnt leave much of an upgrade path, as I will have sunk £70ish more into ram that I wont be able to use should I choose to later go C2D / DDR2.
Is it possible to get a board that will either support Prescott and Conroe, aswell as DDR and DDR2? if not, is it possible to get a decent overclocking board and some ram to go with it that will not only allow me to seek some decent overclocking from my current prescott, but will allow upgrades / overclocking of a conroe later on?
As I play World of Warcraft a lot, I find that at 1280x960 res, I seem to be disk caching a hell of a lot with just 1GB of ram, would the increased speed / bandwidth of DDR2 (and an overclock) be enough to only need 1gb for now (but leaving room to upgrade to 2gb later, so perhaps 1gb modules?) and still avoid disk caching? Id like to be able to afford to buy the board, 2gb of ram and the gfx all at once but I really cant stretch to that, however if just a board and 1gb of good DDR2 would be suffice, I could probly convince myself that its worth it, to allow for future upgrades
Any suggestions / comments are welcome, also possible build sheets etc... to allow upgrade-ability to conroe etc... later, while keeping to a budget / staggered budget (like, gfx first and couple weeks later mobo and ram or whatever)
Thanks all
AMD 3200+ Clawhammer,
1gb (2x512mb) Geil DDR400,
Radeon 9800Pro (@ XT Clocks)
I also have available to me, a P4 3.0gig Prescott LGA775, running in some crappy Intel 915 board (although I believe it does have a 16x PCI-E slot)
Im unsure what options to persue... Ideally I need to replace the gfx card mostly, as the 9800 is a bit long in the tooth now, so really the AMD system is out of the question anymore, as AGP gfx etc... are not worth investing in anymore as its a dead-end.
The problem I have is that if I use the Prescott I have available, Id like to try to get a decent overclock out of it and I suspect the crappy 915 board wont be up for much of that, so Im thinking about future-upgrades as much as possible.
My plan is to upgrade to a fairly decent GFX card (PCI-E), maybe a 7600GT or similar and stick a 1gb stick of DDR400 in with it (so I have 2gb total, as the board has 4 ram slots). Obvious downside to this is that while it will solve my current performance issues in some games (paging and low FPS), it doesnt leave much of an upgrade path, as I will have sunk £70ish more into ram that I wont be able to use should I choose to later go C2D / DDR2.
Is it possible to get a board that will either support Prescott and Conroe, aswell as DDR and DDR2? if not, is it possible to get a decent overclocking board and some ram to go with it that will not only allow me to seek some decent overclocking from my current prescott, but will allow upgrades / overclocking of a conroe later on?
As I play World of Warcraft a lot, I find that at 1280x960 res, I seem to be disk caching a hell of a lot with just 1GB of ram, would the increased speed / bandwidth of DDR2 (and an overclock) be enough to only need 1gb for now (but leaving room to upgrade to 2gb later, so perhaps 1gb modules?) and still avoid disk caching? Id like to be able to afford to buy the board, 2gb of ram and the gfx all at once but I really cant stretch to that, however if just a board and 1gb of good DDR2 would be suffice, I could probly convince myself that its worth it, to allow for future upgrades
Any suggestions / comments are welcome, also possible build sheets etc... to allow upgrade-ability to conroe etc... later, while keeping to a budget / staggered budget (like, gfx first and couple weeks later mobo and ram or whatever)
Thanks all