is this upgrade worth it?

[Heboil]

Right now I am sitting with:


AMD Athlon XP, 1917 MHz (11.5 x 167) 2600+
Asus A7N8X-X (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 3 DDR DIMM, Audio, LAN)
1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700LE (256 MB)

I am finding running Photoshop and some other programs isn't as responsive as I would like. I am looking at a very economical upgrade.

A new game I purchased made me go get this new video card. I *JUST* bought it, so I am within my window of return policy. I was looking at adding more RAM, but I don't know if that will help out as much as other possible paths...if at all other than Photoshop.

I could get a:

NFORCE 4 ULTRA AMD SOCKET 939 Mobo
ATHLON 64 3000+
GEFORCE 6600LE 256MB DDR3

I would then be running at 400 mhz, and my RAM will work at 3200 instead of clocking down to 2700. I will get an overall increase in performance with the faster chip and the faster FSB, but will it be worth the $450 pricetag? Will this increase be marginal? I will be running Windows XP 32-bit.

What upgrade could I do that would serve me better? I am "sorta" interested in getting back into gaming (just bought Civ IV), but 1st person shooters are out of the question as I get virtual reality sickness. Would simply a better video card be a better upgrade path? I could also go to the ATHLON XP 3200+ chip for not too much money, but that is a minimal boost at best. There is a ATHLON XP 3200+ that runs at 400 mhz, but that is almost $300 by itself.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Trotter]

Yeah, it'd be worth that price tag.

I don't know about the 6600LE, though.

Definately go 64bit. 32bit Windows won't hurt you.

 

[bonehelm]

NEVAR NEVAR get 6600LE

get a 6600GT its the best bang for your bucks

go eVGA or BFG , XFX is not that good ( heating issues)

 

[Heboil]

I also have this option:

Buy a discontinued Athlon XP 3000+ 400MHZ fsb. Switch the jumper on my board to run my RAM at 3200/400. The shipping and total cost would come to nearly $180.

Faster chip, fast fsb. Worth the $180 increase, or go the $450 upgrade?

 

[Sp4rtan]

Whats your budget?

 

[Riceball]

I would go with what you were thinking, but don't get the 6600LE. BTW, i'm selling my ATI Radeon X700 Pro 256mb PCI-E video card for $130. It's only a little over one month old and still in great condition, i'm just seeking to upgrade. Just let me know if you're interested.
My AIM = gruntmasher

 

[Heboil]

I don't really have a budget. I want to do this as inexpensively as possible, but I want to get real performance upgrade. My father is also upgrading his machine, but his machine is very old. His upgrade will yield him 300+% speed increase for the same money as my $450. I am guaging this against my experience...cost per performance improvement.

I want a significant speed increase...without spending $600-$1000. If the chip upgrade will give me ALMOST the performance increase the ATHLON 64 3000+ for the difference of $180 to $450, obviously I would go with the chip upgrade only.

As I can't have all the pieces here to do the testing myself and have the results in front of me to make my own decision, I am asking for some guidance of people who have been down similar roads.

Thanks.

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

I'd really go with the cheaper option that you have there. You're not really diving into a new generation of technology too much. I'd wait out a full system upgrade for a while since yours will still have the balls to do what it needs to do.

Ryan