Having those thoughts again...

[Silent Warrior]

I've started to believe I need to boost my RAM a bit. And also that I need better speakers. Might also be fun to have some more horse-power in the CPU... In short, I have a few expensive ambitions, not all that much money to spare, and awfully good reasons to be REALLY very careful about this.

But, one thing at a time. RAM first.

 

RAM

I'm currently equipped with 1 Gb DDR2 (2x512 Mb) PC5300. Corsair, apparently. So, how does moving up to 2 Gb sound? Not a bad idea, is it? I don't do video-editing, no fancy audio-work (save for playing music and having high expectations of the results), and gaming is essentially limited to flight-sims and RPGs. I assume I should avoid mixing types and sizes and speeds and all those things, so this should by all accounts be the 'highest bang for the buck'-option.

Meh... There are [aargh]loads of numbers and funky abbreviations in CPU-Z about my memory. Fancy a dump?

 

Speakers

I'm currently equipped with a Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 Digital, a six-seven year old discontinued product that sounds worse than my $70 headphones, which in turns sounds nowhere near as good as my 25+-years-old stereo with 7-10-years-old speakers (speakers of the serious, three-feet-high, floor-bound variety). I'm mostly missing out on bass, but I have only one CD where it might be needed. For reasons I SUPPOSE I could relate on request I have a quite astonishing mesh of connections and cables just about everywhere right now. Basically, I'd prefer to connect FOUR sound-sources to the speaker-set, and I can presently "only" use three - which is quite enough, really. Honestly. I have my headphones attached to the fourth source, no worries.

The pondering about this is still in some alpha-stage - do I get speakers designed for computer-use, or do I go for broke and hook up a glorious hi-fi rig that I can connect... well, EVERYTHING to? (PS2, computer, CD, yo mama...) Well, the analog speaker-connectors might be a problem - do hi-fi systems support them at all? How many can I expect to find on one amplifier? (Are they called RCA, btw?)

Uh, chances are sort of rather slim I can afford the hi-fi option anyway. :) I'll forgive you if you don't give me a suggestion.

 

CPU

Current bad boy: Athlon 64 X2 4200+, core ticking away at around 2210 MHz. Socket AM2. Multiplier x11, 200 MHz bus-speed and ~1 GHz HT link (whatever the squeak that is). Any games I play seem to be CPU-intensive, so I get the impression I should go for core-MHz rather than snazzy n-cores - so Phenom can go hang for a bit.

I'm actually a bit worried about my motherboard here - the BIOS is at stock revision - 0103 - and has so far worked perfectly (I hope... I sure haven't noticed anything to the contrary). The catch is that I can't update it. No way I've ever dared to try has said anything more constructive than 'Oi! I hate your BIOS!' ASUS Update just fails (if I'm lucky, WITHOUT a horrible screech of death), and other tools say something about invalid BIOS-file. I don't remember if it's the BIOS in place or the BIOS I want to update to. Put that in your pipe and smoke it... All hopefully-replacement BIOSes downloaded from the maker's official website, no beta. If I've understood the snazzy realm of MHz correctly, there's likely a limit to what CPUs are supported. I'd be better off asking ASUS about details. I think X2 4800+es were available at the time I assembled the system, so I'm reasonably confident that would work.

So, Socket AM2, 64-bit, higher than X2 4200+.:pilotfly:

 

So, what do I want? (Poll added for simplicity.)

[Silent Warrior]

Um, I posted this for a reason, you lot. :P And that reason isn't to *bump* it. So far, I have... one view and one vote for new CPU, and it's been lying here for 5-6 days already. I value your input and all, but I want some more thoughts on this...

 

(The forum didn't die altogether while I was away, did it?)

[Kuky]

I'm the one voting CPU :D reason being you will get the most out of LockOn with fast CPU. Graphic card doesn't have to be of the top line as long as you don't run very high resolution, AA and AF.

[Silent Warrior]

(Well, seeing as I'm NOT changing graphics card, I'm sound as a pound, then.) ;)

CPU's definitely better than RAM, then? Maybe I could even get BOTH - RAM-sticks are dastardly cheap these days... (Are they using kidnapped child-slaves chained to the assembly-lines, or what?) Food for thought, innit? Dual-channel doohickeys turn things upside-down.

[Groove]

The warrior wants more RAM.

[Silent Warrior]

Now things are rolling. :)

About the CPU, I've checked a bit of this and a bit of that, and it seems I can go so far as X2 5000 with 512kb cache (NOT 1Mb), if I read ASUS's list correctly. An extra 400 MHz core-speed. (Note to self: Must speak IN GREAT DETAIL with the shop-muppets, seeing as there are three versions of the same processor...)

RAM is racking up its share of advocates too. Innnnteresting.

[Kuky]

2GB of RAM is indeed good so if you can get that as well.

[fretwear]

I noticed a really nice difference going to 2Gb of ram...things got much smoother. :)

[Silent Warrior]

See, that's what I like about upgrading - things get much smoother. (Of course, playing Privateer 2 on a Pentium I 100 Mhz-machine is mysteriously enough loads nicer than playing the game on a 1 GHz-machine...)

 

Well, since no-one seems to think I should get a new motherboard or sound-setup, I'll breathe an official *sigh of relief*. :D

[Silent Warrior]

Okiday, no more chance to vote. I'll contact a 'store near me' and see what I can arrange (RAM being first priority). Thanks to all advisors. :)

[Silent Warrior]

"#¤%€$$$€{$@€%¤()(#¤! BLARGH!! Kill! Destroy! I'm going to get medieval on someone! :mad: The CPU I was looking for is apparently DISCONTINUED! (Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised - out of six CPU-variants, five are easy enough to find, while the ONE variant I can use can be bought only from places like Israel and Romania. And Germany/Austria if you're feeling central-european.) :doh: I will have to invent a new language to properly vent my frustration - I've been searching ACTIVELY for maybe three hours straight! And this is what I get? Sheesh, I got this motherboard last summer!

 

I guess there's nothing for it but to get a new motherboard if I want a funnier CPU. *BEEP* Oh well, the RAM is like a gig a penny, so there's no real rush. As long as the NEXT motherboard supports DDR2... The DDR3-development had better go for a half-year-long vacation right about now. Lest they make me sad.

 

Thank you God! Thank you bloody much!

[Silent Warrior]

I do believe I have reason to revive this - I managed to update my BIOS! How about that? Now, this means I can actually get a new CPU! AND expect it to work!

 

If I feel extreme, that means I can go from my X2 4800 (@ 2210 MHz) to an X2 6400 (@ 3200 MHz)! Or, I could be conservative and pay about $30 less for an X2 6000. Or maybe even less for a CPU in the 5x00-range. The price-span isn't all that large - about 1000 SEK for a 5000 (I think) up to 1700 for a 6400. What says the resident CPU-expertise?

 

(About the previous step: That bundle of RAM bumped performance in The Witcher like you wouldn't believe!)

[CAT_101st]

buy the best that you can aford. Not sure about you but my AMD X2 4800 is running at 2538Mh. as for the ram The was my last up grade wow what a diffrince it made thinking about going to 3Gb whin BS comes out.