Memory/CPU Upgrade or Mobo/Memory/CPU ugrade

[remybfg10k]

I'm stuck in two minds at the moment:

Current "internet" PC is the following:

Sempron 2.2Ghz (Sockect A (462) - Overclocked to 2.4Ghz
AsRock K7VM3
2 x 512mb Kingmax PC3200 DDR1 - 400Mhz
XP Sp2
Maxtor 120GB Ide drive 5400RPM

Either i chuck in a faster CPU and replace both memory sticks with 1GB each, and then plug in my 80GB Hitachi 7200RPM drive and reload windows etc

or should i look at replacing the mobo, cpu & memory (i have a 250GB Sata drive i can use instead of the 80GB ide drive)

Cost so far looks like this:

Upgrade:

Memory:

KingMax 1GB DDR400 Desktop Memory R371.69 (inc VAT) x 2 = 743.38

Prices exclude whatever delivery costs apply.


http://www.prophecy.co.za/kingmax-ddr400-desktop-memory-p-23638.html


CPU:

Don't even know where to start looking hehe (Sempron or Athlon XP CPU required) Any idea's?


or

Replace:

Will be looking for a budget mobo/cpu/2GB mem minimum board (still has an AGP slot though)

 

[PostmanPot]

That R750 can just about get you a new CPU (Celeron) and mobo (G31) with DDR2.

2GB DDR2-677/800 = another R250.

So for ±R1000, you can pretty much get a new system.

 

[remybfg10k]

Thanks PP, will have a look quick

 

[remybfg10k]

Bethesda:

Intel Celeron D 440 2000 512K 800FSB EM64T Processor - R567.60 excl vat

or

Intel Celeron Dual Core 1.6Ghz 512K 800FSB EM64T Processor - R544.50 excl vat


Mobo, can't see the difference between the two G31's so will take the cheaper one (with a PCI Express slot)

Intel G31 Pearl Creek Main Board - R672.10 excl VAT

Samsung 2048MB DDR2 800 Desktop Memory Module - R261.80 excl VAT


R1501.50 excl VAT total

Will look around for cheaper prices today

 

[PostmanPot]

I'll get back to you with better prices when I'm home.

 

[.Froot.]

Bethesda:

Intel Celeron D 440 2000 512K 800FSB EM64T Processor - R567.60 excl vat

or

Intel Celeron Dual Core 1.6Ghz 512K 800FSB EM64T Processor - R544.50 excl vat


Mobo, can't see the difference between the two G31's so will take the cheaper one (with a PCI Express slot)

Intel G31 Pearl Creek Main Board - R672.10 excl VAT

Samsung 2048MB DDR2 800 Desktop Memory Module - R261.80 excl VAT


R1501.50 excl VAT total

Will look around for cheaper prices today

You have a dealership or access to one?

 

[.Froot.]

You cannot use a RAM chip on it's own. It needs to be in doubles (2x1024).

 

[remybfg10k]

ah thanks froot

 

[PostmanPot]

You cannot use a RAM chip on it's own. It needs to be in doubles (2x1024).

Eh? That's only if you want the RAM running in Dual Channel, which in fact gives an extremely negligible performance increase (±5%) over single channel.

 

[.Froot.]

Eh? That's only if you want the RAM running in Dual Channel, which in fact gives an extremely negligible performance increase (±5%) over single channel.

I found it to give quite a decent increase...

 

[PostmanPot]

I found it to give quite a decent increase...

I'm not disagreeing with you, but in which areas did you really notice an improvement? General use? Specific applications?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-channel_architecture#Performance

Tom's Hardware found little significant difference between single-channel and dual-channel configurations in synthetic and gaming benchmarks (using a "modern" system setup). In their tests, dual channel gave at best a 5% speed increase in memory-intensive tasks, not even close to the two times that the term "dual" suggests. It should be noted that the test results published by Tom's Hardware had a discrete graphics comparison. The difference can be far more significant in applications that manipulate large amounts of data in memory.