the future?

pucker1986pucker1986
edited July 2005 in Hardware
Basically in 3 pay cheques time im off to uiniversity to study physics, in that period i would like to improve my already decent machine.
I have :
tyan s2875
Pair of opterons 244
4* 512mb ddr ecc 266 ram
couple optical drives
250gb sata
32mb geforce 2 card
nice 14db power supply

Basically i the system is all i wanted except the graphics, the motherboard takes agp 8x and i can pick up a nice 6800gt for about £240
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Prod...roductID=136443
This would make the graphics up to scratch

However i would like to run 2 19" tft monitors this graphics card supports it but i would take a performance hit when gaming? is that correct.
So i could populate one of my normal pci slots with
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Prod...roductID=159184
i might use it to watch dvds whilst gaming ect.

so for about £300 i could get a decent graphics based system.

On the other hand any one who knows the motherboard i am using knows it is relatively old in computer terms, tyan originally when the 252 opteron came out supported it but now tyan have released motherboards with the 1ghz fsb have magically with drawn the support for the 2875 and dual core support so no bios upgrades for me. The motherboard lay out to be honest sucks, 2 procesors next to each other cannot get more than 80mm fans on both, it lacks pci-e ,sata 2. The gigabit ethernet and sata on there are only connected to a pci bus so not the highest specs, also if you look at the block diagram it looks like a single processor system with a second procesor added to simply share cpu 1 tasks. all in all there is little or no future in the motherboard sure the g70 may come out in agp 8x and the ati equivalent, but no dual core support and lacking pci-x is a killer.

So basicaly i have just enough cash to purchase a s2895 £340
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Prod...roductID=208576
obviously my processors and memory can be taken over graphics this time would needed to be pci-e
most probably pick up a pair of 6600gt
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Prod...roductID=164948
i doubt i will use them in sli just kinda saves effort picking 2 out each costs about £130 so thats £600 ish for a new setup.

The question now stands with wether the extra £300 is worth the extra capability, the future proofing of pci-e and having sata 2 ang gigabit ethernet connected to the pci-e bus. also it would be a proper dual system looking at the block diagram.

which option to go for? and can anybody find a better graphics combo that is necesarily matching for the same cash (6200 and a 6800gt?)
Thanks for reading the long posts
any suggestions accepted

Plz note £1= $2 give or take, any prices may be cheaper in states however i would need to pay exchange rates and customs about 30-35% together

Comments

  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    in all seriousness I would go for the radeon X800 pro and flash it to save yourself some money, or if ya got the money (unlike me) get the X850 XTPE which is $500 and has plenty of room of overclocking and I think it beats the 6800 stock..
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited June 2005
    I'd get a GT and overclock it past Ultra speeds.
  • pucker1986pucker1986
    edited June 2005
    So you both recommend getting a new agp graphics card over getting a new motherboard and graphics, to save money.
    Its just a question of selecting which card?
  • pucker1986pucker1986
    edited June 2005
    Ok new information to bring to the scene,
    The g70 is only launched in pci-e
    g80 will only go agp if the new ati chip does in october
    Does this change anything , the worst that can happen is that i have a 6800gt in my motherboard for 3 years. Is this good or bad.
    Does the change to pci-e look forced now?
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited June 2005
    Now that you mention it, I would consider getting a new motherboard and PCIe video card over an AGP card. How long to you plan to stick with the video card before you upgrade again? A year or two?

    There's no performance increase between AGP and PCIe, and at the moment it's just a marketing gimmick to get people to buy a new video card and motherboard all over again. Depending on how long you plan on keeping the system as-is before upgarading again, you might be better off saving your money on a new mobo now and buying one in a year or two after the new motherboards and chipsets have a chance to get all the bugs worked out of them.
  • pucker1986pucker1986
    edited June 2005
    Now then
    How long to you plan to stick with the video card before you upgrade again? A year or two?
    question would be different for each motherboard,
    if i was to stick with mine at the moment then i would get a 6800gt and keep that until i updated my motherboard ,
    if was to get a new motherboard then i would get more chips (dual core) and memory next year if i had £ and a graphics card the following year
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited June 2005
    Hold on: Who's asking who the question here? Me or you? :D
  • pucker1986pucker1986
    edited June 2005
    edited post
  • pucker1986pucker1986
    edited July 2005
    bump
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