Upgrade RAM or CPU/MOBO? XP>>64

[Ace No-Money]

I just recieved this radeon 9800 pro and awesome ABIT mobo with hopes to be able to play high end games like HL2 with awesome peformance!
I clocked my Athlon XP barton 2500+ up to 2.35GHz and Half-Life 2 "Hiccups' Constantly, and you know how annoying choppy screens are?! I decided this can't be because of my Video card but either lack of memory or Construction of CPU. I closed out all my programs in the background and still get hiccups @ 800x600 and no aa/af!
I need to fix this and am trying to make a decision.

Sell:
2x256mb (Dual Channel) mushkin lvl 2 pc3200 w/2-2-2-5
and will do 240 (DDR480) with 3.2v @ 2-2-2! BH-5 Winbond

Buy:
2x512mb (Dual Channel) Corsair Value pc3200 CL2.5

- this means I will have plenty of memory but cant overclock the FSB at all! I like this option though because it is something that I can afford and not have to save for! Can Athlon Xp's really use 1GB?? I will probably get a mobile and overclock the multiplier then.

Or I can


Sell: Athlon XP 2500+/Tt silentboost/ABIT NF7-S v2.0


Buy: 939 Mobo(ASUS/ABIT/GIGABYTE/CHAINTECH)
and Athlon 64 3000+

will ths help me that much with games?? i will have to save a long time to upgrade the cpu and mobo, remember I am Ace No-Money

I guess I could do both but I hate to give up all my athlon XP overclocking dreams and that Sweet *** memory

Give some words of Wisedom or your own tips. Any Athlon Xp users notice a big difference when going from 512mb to 1GB? I feel like 1gb is too much for athlon xp! Any alternatives???

 

[mike11973]

1 gig is fine....Especially for gaming I would have a gig. Really I would say it depends on how much you wanna spend. Right now a decent 939 mobo and 3000 winnie will run you around $300.00 without even putting memory into the picture which will run another $250.00 give or take based on what you get in a 1 gig pack....which I would recommend getting the G.SKill LE's for the overclocking benefits and it being TCCD. If you dont want to spend as much then get a 35w 2400+m for around $95.00 overclock it and run it with a gig of good memory. You already have a good mobo and vid card. What is your current aquamark score?

 

[Trotter]

Ace,

Have you triedupdating your drivers (video card, BIOS, mobo)? The set-up you have should run the game decently.

 

[Ace No-Money]

I didnt think ATI had anymore radeon windows 98 drivers

MOBO drivers are on the disc

BIOS - there is nothing more I need from the bios

I can rip out about 5400 on 3dmark03.