What to BUY???

[Guest]

Hey can anyone here give me a good idea what I should spend some money on my lousy PC for upgrade?
it's a crappy Duron 600 w/ 128 PC133s, and a TNT 2 32mb.
After running 3Dmark 2001 it's depressing how it looks. Need some help guys.

 

[Arrow]

Video card, CPU. What's your mobo?

Rob
Please visit <b><A HREF="http://www.ncix.com/canada/index.cfm?affiliateid=319048" target="_new">http://www.ncix.com/canada/index.cfm?affiliateid=319048</A></b>

 

[FatBurger]

What are you going to use it for? You should be able to overclock the Duron enough to where it'll perform well, and if you're thinking about games (which seems the be the most common), then get a good video card.
No matter, what you're using it for, pick up another 256 meg of RAM or so. It's dirt cheap right now, so it shouldn't be a problem.

------------------------------
Apple? Macintosh? What are these strange words you speak?

 

[hammerhead]

Video card definately. I have a similar system (but with Duron 750).

Changing the TNT2 32mb to a GeForce 2 was like getting a new computer.

And (for what it's worth), your 3dMark score will be much more respectable.

 

[Porkloin]

That's what you get for running that benchmark nonsense. More than once have I seen someone without any problems run a benchmark and see that their computer didn't measure up to the latest and greatest in a magazine. Suddenly, they had a pile of [-peep-].
If you enjoy tinkering and trying to make the PC perform, that's understandable - it's a great hobby. But if you're like 99% of people who own computers (Word, Netscape/IE, Reader Rabbit), go spend your money on something worthwhile, like that Juggs subscription you're always saying you should renew or some mags for your Hyundai or a case of Mickey's Big-Mouth.
Your computer's fine.

Sweating like a rancid chunk of pork

 

[Porkloin]

Would you look at that? I'm a "journeyman".
HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW-HAW !
Only in the cyberworld can a hack like me get such a title!

Sweating like a rancid chunk of pork

 

[FatBurger]

Well, Porkloin, thank you so much for ripping apart other people's opinions.
You do have a very good point, but just try to say it nicely?

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Apple? Macintosh? What are these strange words you speak?

 

[camieabz]

For all the price of a new duron and some extra memory I'd splash out.
Check how high your multiplyers will go though.
If you're trying to get good graphics you can pick up a decent card for a reasonable price.

Like the other guy said, I wouldn't pay too much attention to these benchmark scores. I run a PII 300 and the scores are [peep], but I'm playing games like Total War & No One Lives Forever without any gliches.

If your system is that old, it might be an idea to change the mobo and see about a HDD upgrade. These are usually a bottleneck and if you have a lot of disc access going on, it can make a big difference.

<b>
"Now drop your weapons or I'll kill him with this deadly jelly baby."
</b>

 

[hammerhead]

Not sure you have much of a point at all porkloin.

Given that he's running the 3dMark benchmark, it seems reasonable to assume he plays games.

And, in my opinion, a GeForce would do a lot to improve the machine's performance.

This seems to me a logical reply to the question posed.

 

[Guest]

Lets make this more specific. Since it's like a general upgrade. most importantly I can only spend $100. Yes, I'm a very poor student who can barely afford food. hehe. Anyway, I use my PC to run website, do some RTS and some less graphic intensive FPS and flight sims.

btw, my PC runs from range of 25 - 40 *C in temperature. I've never grasped the danger temp range(since ppl gives me wide array of them from 20 - 80*C as norm). I'm planning to overclock, but whats the REAL danger temp for the CPU?

 

[hammerhead]

Well in that case why do you care about the 3dMark score?

ah heck, I'm going to have to agree with that pork person now.

Is the general performance of your machine poor, or just playing games?

If it's games, then i still say buy a GeForce card.

If not...

Your temps sound fine, try overclocking, but I guess you could just buy a faster Duron for 100 bucks.

Buy another 128mb of mem, costs sod all.

 

[Guest]

I have 1.3 ghz t-bird and geForce2 MX o'clocked to 250/220 (I can go 225 but it shows me blue crap and doesn't show much perfomance), 1.5Gb pc150 CAS2 RAM and 30Gigs ata/100 7200rpm. what should I upgrade? get geForce3 now or wait for nv30?

 

[Porkloin]

See? See?!? What'd I tell you? Hell, I run a little webpage out of the slowest, smallest machine I have. When I get a new toy, my oldest gets my former machine and hers gets handed down to the next oldest, and so on. The web machine is at the bottom of the heap. Somewhere in the middle, which is nothing near that Duron box, some pretty good flight simulator gets played.
I take back what I said about that subscription to Juggs. Fox is much better!

Sweating like a rancid chunk of pork

 

[Guest]

yo man, i am a student with little budget as well. I have a P3 with 128MB RAM and a TNT2 M64 graphics card and i play games all the time.But i really see not much of a reason to upgrade much...but if you really wanna upgrade with a budget....

What the others suggested are good choices, but these are my ideal recommandations:

-GET 256MB of RAm, they are so dirt cheap now!
or
-GET some beefy fans and try to overclock anything ranging to your CPU or graphics card. Who knows, you may get something out of nothing by overclocking!

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