Upgrading help.....

[Guest dek]

Hi all, I am looking to upgrade my computer and would like to get some advice. Right now I am looking at an AMD 2K CPU with either, A7V333 RAID,KT333 CHIPSET, PC2700,USB 2.0 RAID ATA133, SOUND,ATX -or- A7V266-E, RAID, Socket A, VIA KT266A Chipset, 3 DIMM DDR266, 4x AGP PRO, as the MoBo. Also, anyone have suggestions regarding RAM (speed, DDR, source, etc.)?Actually open to other suggestions for a good setup.Thanx, any help would be appreciated! dek

[Francois_Dumas 10]

Dek,look down the forums page a bit and you'll find a specific hardware forum that is more suited for your question. Thanks,Francois________________________Francois A. "Navman" DumasAssociate Editor &Forums AdministratorAVSIM Online!email: fdumas@avsim.com________________________

[Guest Staalplaat]

At the moment I run the A7V333R and I'm very happy with it. It offers a lot of extra's but then again, these can be found on the A7V266 as well. Be sure to run PC2700 DDR memory(=333) with the A7V333 for a little performance boost due to the better memory bandwith. The onboard sound is of a good to very good quality.I have choosen for the A7V333 because it is more prepared for the future (new AMD cpu, usb 2.0) and is a bit faster compared to the other older boards and chipsets. A real winner to me!Be sure to throw in 512 MB RAM and fast (7200 rpm) harddisk. Still have some money left? A Geforce 4 4200 is a very good bargain.Good luck!! Regards Lennart

[Guest dek]

Thanks for the info guys, I appreciate it. Sometimes I forget there are other forums here at Avsim! Lennart, I have been leaning towards the A7V333 because of similar considerations. It is probably what I will get, with the pc2700. A question regarding the GF4 though. I now have a GF3Ti200/64 megs. Will it really make that big of a difference? Going from a GF2/32 megs card to the GF3 made a tremendous amount of difference.Thanx, dek

[Guest SD Sim]

IMHO, going up a notch in video card will not be worth it for the small improvement you'll probably see. The biggest difference will likely be improved FSAA and the ability to run smoothly at higher resolutions. While nice to have, I think you'll find your existing card more than adequate.