Richard McLellan 1041084 Posted January 4, 2008 at 02:26 PM Posted January 4, 2008 at 02:26 PM I would like some input from the techy members. When I can upgrade, what should I go for? I was thinking about trying to get hold of a dual processor m/b for P4's at 3.4Ghz. Should I go for 64 bit instead? Which ones can be overclocked? I am after as much speed as possible. What graphics card? Again this has to be fast. Is 2Gb ram enough? I have Xp Pro waiting to be used. Your ideas and input are welcome. Vatsim PRC Virtual Caledonian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Smith Posted January 4, 2008 at 04:45 PM Posted January 4, 2008 at 04:45 PM Core duo 2.66Ghz is overclockable to 3.2 and beyond. Or, you could get the 3.0Ghz model and OC that. Geforce 8800GT is an excellent card for the money. You could wait for the Rev 2 of the 8800GTS, which will beat the 8800GT (right now the GT is faster than the rev 1 GTS, something NVidia doesn't normally do). You can spend much more on an 8800 GTX or Ultra, but I don't think the value for money is there. 2GB is generally good enough. What little I've read indicates that 64-bit doesn't see much gain (if any) for the apps as they are currently written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Gilbert 1040898 Posted January 4, 2008 at 05:39 PM Posted January 4, 2008 at 05:39 PM Have you been to They can lead you in the right direction. I used them myself when I built my last puter. At this time I would stay away from 64 bit processors. there are still a lot of bugs and and Vista is a memory hog, although with add on graphics cards in SLI mode they rival a mac as far as graphics. The real rule of thumb is to buy as much memory and as fast a processor with the fastest FSB and newest graphics cards you can afford (this can get expensive). Hope this helps. I am currently running Win XP-Pro with no problems using two 6600 GT cards 256 MB's and two Gigs of system memory. MY laptop is running Vista Home Premium and because the graphics card uses the onboaard memory they suggest a minumum of 2 gigs. Bob G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard McLellan 1041084 Posted January 4, 2008 at 05:45 PM Author Posted January 4, 2008 at 05:45 PM This is why I asked. I am not entirely convinced of 64 bit due to Vista being a complete pig. It is in my opinion nothing more than bloatware with many many issues to be resolved. This is why I am still with the idea of sourcing a dual processor m/b for the fastest Pentium 4's. This would work great with XP pro as that can manage 2 chips. MS should have got XP64 working before they launched Vista. Vatsim PRC Virtual Caledonian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Gilbert 1040898 Posted January 4, 2008 at 06:41 PM Posted January 4, 2008 at 06:41 PM That's what happens when you try to trump the competition while not having all your ducks in a row. I usually watch the new stuff pretty close before I make a move to make a radical upgrade. I had a really strange problem to confront when I built this last PC. I bought an Antec case but not one of their power supplies (cheap one, saving money). About a month after I started using it I smoked the power supply. I went to the local computer store and bought an Antec Neo 550 watt power supply. I am running an Asus P5ND2-SLI deluxe board. It would not boot up, and since I had smoked the PS I thought something else was the problem. replaced the MB and the Processor before an Asus tech asked what power supply I was using. Seems there was some sort of conflict with the early model Antec PS's and the MB I was using. About three weeks of "now what " So I guess looking at componant compatibility is something to be aware of. Bob G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Kolin Posted January 4, 2008 at 06:51 PM Posted January 4, 2008 at 06:51 PM This is why I asked. I am not entirely convinced of 64 bit due to Vista being a complete pig. Vista and 64-bitness are completely orthogonal. There are 32 and 64-bit versions of Vista, just like there are 32 and 64-bit versions of XP. Most of my production code at my job runs in a 64-bit ecosystem (albeit not Windows) without issues. In fact, the data sets are so large it cannot run in a 32-bit address space. This is why I am still with the idea of sourcing a dual processor m/b for the fastest Pentium 4's. This would work great with XP pro as that can manage 2 chips. Pentium 4s (especially the Prescott cores), compared to the Core 2 family achieve the dubious distinction of generating twice as much heat with half the performance. Anyone with even a bottom-end Core2 Allendale will probably be able to run circles around your rig. You should also be aware that the late-model Pentium 4s (the Prescotts, again) are 64-bit chips as well. MS should have got XP64 working before they launched Vista. By all accounts, XP64 works pretty well. Driver support is rather spotty, but that's not really Microsoft's fault. Cheers! Luke ... I spawn hundreds of children a day. They are daemons because they are easier to kill. The first four remain stubbornly alive despite my (and their) best efforts. ... Normal in my household makes you a member of a visible minority. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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