Help me with my upgrades! (Moving to SFF)

[ravenvii]

I have:

P4 2.66 GHz 533 MHz FSB
512 MB DDR2100
80 GB Seagate SATA HD 7200 RPM
9700 Pro
52x48x52x CD-RW

What should I upgrade? I'm thinking:

upgrade to Athlon 64 3200+ (seems like a good sweet-spot CPU, $150 at newegg... I've been out of the loop for a while, so if there's a even better bargain bang for the buck, let me know, I don't really care whether it's a Intel or an AMD)

A GF 6600 GT (AGP if I go with AMD, PCI-e if I go with Intel), $200 at newegg, seems like an sweet deal for a great performer... but is it worth the upgrade from the 9700 Pro?)

either 512 MB or 1 GB of DDR3200 RAM (I think my 266 MHz DDR stick is/will be a bottleneck).

Also, what SFF case do you recommend? I like either the Shuttle XPC cases or the Soltek Qbic cases. I want one that looks nice, have a cover for the drives and stuff. USB and firewire on the front would be nice too, but not necessary.

[Jeff]

I have:


A GF 6600 GT (AGP if I go with AMD, PCI-e if I go with Intel), $200 at newegg, seems like an sweet deal for a great performer... but is it worth the upgrade from the 9700 Pro?)

That's an excellent question, and I'd like to know the answer to this as well. I have 9800 non-pro, which is roughly equivalent to a 9700 Pro.  I'm wondering if the 6600 GT would be a worthy upgrade.

[Thin_J]

Everything I've read to this date has shown the 6600 GT trouncing the 9700 in almost everything they throw at it by at least resonable margins. Mind you the only tests I read of the card were all pre-release. I haven't checked out anything on how the actual cards perform because I ended up buying a 6800 GT before they ever appeared.

I'd upgrade.

[ravenvii]

One more question... the 3.0 GHz P4 is $180, while the 3.2 GHz P4 is $215. Is it worth $35 to move from 3.0 to 3.2? (both are socket 775 Prescotts).

[Charlatan]

One more question... the 3.0 GHz P4 is $180, while the 3.2 GHz P4 is $215. Is it worth $35 to move from 3.0 to 3.2? (both are socket 775 Prescotts).

Well, consider how long you're gonna have this machine - amortize that $35 over the time. I typically keep my machines for 3 years, so that's like $1 a month for me. Worth it. I usually try to pick the 2nd or 3rd highest available CPU speed that's available, dropping down to the first reasonable one after the bleeding edge. And for the machine I just ordered about a month ago, I upgraded to a 3.2 from a 3.0. So I think you can guess what I'd say about your decision.