Upgrade advice

yUDi · Post by **yUDi** » 26 Feb 2003, 21:12

I´m planning to upgrade my PC soon. All I need is a new motherboard and processor.
 I´m thinking about an Athlon XP 2000+
 and a Gigabyte GA7VAXP board.
 What do you guys reccomend?

naughty · Post by **naughty** » 26 Feb 2003, 23:56

the athlon xp2000+ is a palomino - so get an xp2100+ thoroughbred cpu. If you cannot find it at your local pc shop then cyberdyne will post one to you at a very competitive price.As for the GA-7VAXP i cannot complain since im using one too and it is okay but id buy a nforce2 based motherboard instead of a kt400 considering thaty the kt400a is just about to be released overseas and the nforce2 still has a better spec than the kt400 family. the cpu will probably only differ in price by about R200/300 while the motherboard can be obtained at around the same price as the gigabyte and if you dont have a great graphics card then you should consider one of the nforce2 mobo´s with the integrated geforce4 mx 440 cos that will save you money in the long run and you can upgrade to better graphics when you can afford it

Tree · Post by **Tree** » 08 Mar 2003, 14:32

hmmm will the onboard graphics do a good job while i save and buy a kickass card
 ?

naughty · Post by **naughty** » 09 Mar 2003, 22:02

sorry for the late reply - well on the nforce2 the graphics are the geforce4 mx440 so yeah it will be about as fast as a geforce3 without some of the direct x 8 features so it will be adequate till you can save up for a better graphics card - but you will need something really good - like a geforce fx or radeon 9700 to notice lots of difference while giving you directx9 support

OverKill · Post by **OverKill** » 10 Mar 2003, 08:22

Umm... don´t you mean as fast as a geforce2?
 I thought a geforce4 mx was as fast as a geforce2 mx with a faster clock speed. But I could just be stupid <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif">

naughty · Post by **naughty** » 15 Mar 2003, 20:21

okay - this is arguble but IMHO it is as FAST as a geforce3 whilst having the same features as a geforce 2mx (ie lack of certain directx8 features such as some of the shaders etc) but in speed terms (raw mhz) if it did have the shaders then it would have been equal to the geforce3 in benchmarks but since it doesnt benchmark as high - but in gaming terms with pure clockspeed and memory it is as FAST as a geforce3 - please note that i didn´t say that it was equal to a geforce3 but just as fast as which you also mention ie higher clocked speeds (speed will normally be measured by how high the core and the memoy are clocked so if both those are far higher than the geforce2 mx then id reasonably assume that the performance would go up as well)- hope that clarifies my point of view
 
 [ Edited by naughty On Date March 15, 2003 ]

Post by **Synkronos** » 16 Mar 2003, 03:40

Erm... I have heard of nothing but trouble with onboard graphics. They are still too new to be reliable. It was the same way with the early on-board sound cards, which they have mostly worked out now, but I would honestly give mobo´s with onboard gfx a skip.

MadAtter · Post by **MadAtter** » 16 Mar 2003, 08:04

in one of the more recent editions of pcf they reviewed a nforce 2 it has all the great features u will get its a brilliant motherboard. ive heard from two freind who hav had troubles with integrated gpu´s. wat card are you useing at the moment <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_smile.gif">

brabham · Post by **brabham** » 16 Mar 2003, 08:58

I carry around a crucifix with me to ward off the evil that is onboard graphics. <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_lol.gif"> <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_lol.gif"> <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_lol.gif"> <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_lol.gif"> <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_lol.gif"> <IMG SRC="images/forum/smilies/icon_lol.gif">

Flytek · Post by **Flytek** » 16 Mar 2003, 10:47

nforce2 onboard graphics needs 2 sticks of ram just to function half decently.

naughty · Post by **naughty** » 22 Mar 2003, 20:30

to all the guys going on about the onboard graphics you obviously have no clue about the nvidia nforce2 - it uses the same graphics chip that you have on the geforce4 mx440 onboard the mobo - so it is not the same as the sis and S3 virge onboard stuff but as good as any other directx7 card - since the geforce4mx obviously lacks the vertex and pixel shaders - it is good enough for most current games including ut2k3 which is about the most demanding game currently and when you do need to upgrade then you do have an agp slot - ps it also has the soundstorm audio processing unit with onboard sound equal to/or better than an audigy and maybe equal to an audigy 2 in certain circumstances - learn a bit about new stuff before you talk nonsense on a public forum - i mean how can anyone say that a mx4 440 will suck when that exact card is what most users will buy for their system because of the price - guys stop sleeping and wake up a bit - i know that we live in South Africa but that does not mean we have to blindly and ignorantly continue living in the dark ages [ Edited by naughty On Date March 22, 2003 ]

Mephesto-AF- · Post by **Mephesto-AF-** » 23 Mar 2003, 18:26

About NForce2 mobo: there are only two of them in the country that I know of that has a onboard GPU. They are: CHAINTECH SUMMIT 7NIF2 and ASUS A7N8X-DLX. IMHO the ASUS is the better one, but it is about R800 more then the CHAINTECH MoBo. The ASUS MoBo is the one with all the bells & wistles, where the CHAINTECH one is just a basic MoBo

naughty · Post by **naughty** » 07 Apr 2003, 15:14

the asus a7n8x deluxe does not have the onboard gpu while the chaintech does but you have forgotten the msi k7n2g-ilsr which has everything but the kitchen sink and is also one of the only three mobo´s in the world that is soundstorm certified (the asus being another)

blikkie · Post by **blikkie** » 08 Apr 2003, 13:10

There´s also a host of boards from EpoX - which adds to the 3 boards from MSI, 2 boards from Asus and another 3 from Chaintech.