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well,i have recently got the urge to upgrade my computer but i do not know what is the smartest way to go about it.
firstly, let me give you my current pc config:
MSI K7N2 delta-ILSR motherboard
AMD athlon xp 2500+ barton 333FSB(not overclockable, i tried)
corsair 2x512MB PC3200 ram running in single channel mode at PC2700 speeds
ATI RADEON 9600PRO 128MB video card
WD 250GB SATA hard drive
PLEXTOR px712 optical drive
the way i've been laboring over my upgrade decision is that i have two paths i can take. the first is just upgrading my current setup where i would purchase the following products:
AMD athlon xp 3200+ 400Mhz FSB
ATI radeon 9800PRO video card
the secong option is going full out and getting the following products:
ASUS A8N-SLI motherboard
AMD athlon64 3500+ socket 939
nvidia PCI-E 6800GT videocard
The way i see it, in the first scenario i am maximizing my current setup. i wouldn't have to completely rebuild my computer. reinstall windowsxp or bother with windows 64bit yet (which i really want to try out). save myself a lot of money but i will probably spend it anyways i think in about a year. In a year or so, i will have the option of going with DDR2 which i do not have right now.
i am currently leaning toward the first option because i don't want to spend that kind of money when i know i will not be at least doubling my performance in dvd burning and games. but the two questions i need answering are:
1) is it a significant upgrade going from an athlon 2500+ to 3200+. it is theoretically a 21% increase in speed but there is also the fact that i am going from a 333Mhz FSB to a 400Mhz FSB. by significant i mean, will dvd burning (stickly analyzing and decoding in dvdshrink) go down from the current 47-50 min to 35-40min?
2) how good is the 9800PRO or 6600GT in current games such as halo2 or doom3 compared to my 9600PRO?
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