Hyperwhatnow? Help buying PC bits needed.

Graag · December 31, 2002, 21:34

I'm planning to give my PC a long overdue overhaul and need a bit of help...

I can't afford more than a P4 1.8 Ghz, or should I buy the faster AMD alterative?

Should I get a motherboard that can support Hyperthreading, and what is it?

Will I still be able to use my 768 MB DDR RAM?

It's the motherboard that confuses me the most. Any help is muchly appreciated.

Provost Harrison · December 31, 2002, 21:35

What system do you have at the moment? With the amount of memory and the nature of it, it sounds like your computer isn't that bad anyway and that that level of upgrade would be quite pointless...

Skanky Burns · December 31, 2002, 21:39

Besides, what computer parts shops are open now?

Graag · December 31, 2002, 22:32

I've got a PIII 600MHz, 768 MB DDR RAM.

I need a much faster CPU for video and effects editing and rendering.

My main issue is if I should get a motherboard capable of upgrading to the latest P4 3Ghz with HT when the chip comes down in price. I can afford to get at best a P4 1.8 or AMD 2100 now but would hope to upgrade in a few months, maybe in the summer and don't wan't to have to buy a new motherboard.

Skanky Burns · December 31, 2002, 22:47

Personally, I would get a motherboard capable of being upgraded to whatever you plan on using in the future, as well as being compatible with the CPU you can afford now.

Check your power-supply wattage too, chance are you will need to upgrade that at the same time if it's as "old" as your current CPU. Newer CPU's use much more power than older ones did. The Intel or AMD sites will tell you what the minimum power supply for your computer should be.

Edan · December 31, 2002, 22:51

Quote:

Should I get a motherboard that can support Hyperthreading, and what is it?

Hyperthreading

Urban Ranger · January 1, 2003, 09:31

Graag,

Perhaps you can wait a bit for the Clawhammer to come out, see how that affects pricing.

Dr Strangelove · January 1, 2003, 11:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Graag,

Perhaps you can wait a bit for the Clawhammer to come out, see how that affects pricing.

Odd, I seem to recall that the clawhammer was invented years ago. I must admit it is an amazingly effective computer modification tool though.

alva · January 1, 2003, 12:32

Video-editing --> P IV
anything else -->AMD

Thue · January 1, 2003, 13:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Graag
I've got a PIII 600MHz, 768 MB DDR RAM.

I need a much faster CPU for video and effects editing and rendering.

Are you sure it is DDR RAM and not SD RAM? I was under the impression that DDR RAM came later than the PIII 600.

Urban Ranger · January 1, 2003, 13:14

Quote:

Originally posted by alva
Video-editing --> P IV
anything else -->AMD

Unless the software specifically runs SSE2 instructions, I can't see the difference.

Provost Harrison · January 1, 2003, 13:22

My thoughts exactly Thue...A P3 motherboard does not support DDR...AMD supported it first and my Athlon 700 is too old to support it yet so a P3 600 system most certainly wouldn't. I'd check the memory again Graag, I suspect you have PC100/133 SDRAM...

Andrew1999 · January 1, 2003, 13:40

I need a new PC too. Most of the parts are OK, but that Celeron 533 has got to go, and it's going to take a lot of stuff with it.

I suppose at some point I should get rin of Win98 too

Provost Harrison · January 1, 2003, 13:51

I'd like a new system at some point too, but this one runs well enough and I have bigger priorities for things to do with my money. So it will have to wait...