Up up up(grade) and away!

[Cdr]

Okay dokey, I'm looking to upgrade my current machine - I recently installed a ATI Radeon 9700, and think its being 'held' back by the rest of my system.

I have roughly £600 to spend. After a bit of searching I found these parts and wondered what you think;

CPU - AMD Athlon "Barton" XP3000+ 333FSB (Socket A) CPU - Retail (CP-035-AM)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_AMD_CPUs_51.html
£210.33

Mobo - MSI K7N2G-ISLR - nForce 2 on board GF4 VGA x8 AGP+Lan+6Ch Sound+USB2+Raid+SATA
http://web6.scan.co.uk/Products/Info.asp?WPID=53216
£106.93

Mem - 2x 512mb DDR PC3200 • CL=3 • Unbuffered • Non-parity • 5ns • 2.5V • 64Meg x 64
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/listmodule.asp?module=DDR+PC3200&Attrib=Package&cat=RAM
£133.92

Total - £451.18

Any suggestions, hints, tips, loans, changes, donations are welcome.

Ta

 

[adams901]

What CPU you got at the moment?. I was thinking of getting the XP3000, but then I decided to try and overclock my xp2200 (if it went bang I would have had an excuse to get one then).

I Managed to get the CPU from 133x13.5 up to 172FSB x 11 Multiplier (with the memory running at 350MHz) things are certainly a lot faster, I can play BF1942 with full AA and AF with an average FPS of 70 (a massive improvement).

I have always used Asus boards, never had a problem with them and they are easy to overclock with, if I was gonna get an xp3000 I would probally get this board http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductInfoComm.asp?ID=7021.

my tip is try to overclock the CPU you currently have, you have nothing to lose, if it burns out then you get the xp3000, if it doesn't you may decide to save money and not upgrade yet.

 

[Cdr]

Currently have XP1800.

I'd rather just upgrade (as the old parts will be going into my other machine )

Thanks for the help Adams, that board you suggested looks good.