What do I need to be efficient?

[singularity2006]

I would highly recommend getting the Athlon XP 3000 at least. Those aren't too pricey these days. As for the video card, if you want to cut down on cost, there is a sale at newegg.com for a 256MB ATI Radeon 9600 from Rosewill. If possible, I would go for the one from Sapphire, though they are a little bit pricier. The Rosewill card is about 100 whereas the Sapphire is about 130.

[T[iNs]S]

IMO, it is absolutely useless to buy another processor, the difference won't be noticeable at all. You better save your hard earned money for another rig in the future (AMD 64?). Mean while, the best you can do I think is just upgrade your vid card, ram and overclock.

Add another 512mb, it will probably do for now, DDR2 is rising and will pretty soon replace DDR.

For your vid card, forget about 9600SE, 9600 and stuff like that, they will not make a significant difference enough for the money invested. Get a least a 9600XT, it will be a good 50% better than that 9600. However, the best investment would be a 9800 pro, i know they are a bit more expensive but with that money saved on the ram, its affordable and offers you a better band for the buck.

As for overclocking, you should try it. Get a good heatsink and take the plunge, its worth it. I won't teach you how to overclock and you better not ask that question over any forum because overclocking is an art by itself and takes more than a day to learn. Check the net, tutorials, articles, how-tos, etc. There is plenty of info on that subject.

Hope this helped.

[SQ2]

add another 512mb DDR ram

look on ebay for a ti4600 regardless of AGP 8X or not.

[JA-forreal]

I know my computer is not optimized for 3D performance. I like doing CG but also edit movies as well as play games. Here is what I have right now:

AMDXP 2500+
Gigabyte Nforce2 Ultra 400 Chipset
512 Mushkin Dual Channel Ram
80GB HD (For Windows, Data, and Games)
120GB HD (Strictly important Data and Video)
Nvidia FX5200 256MB

I know I have a good motherboard but I think Im going to upgrade to 2 512's in my Dual Channel Slots and another 512 in the last slot making 1GB dual and 512 = 1.5Gigs. If I were to fill all four slots I would have to find a single sided 512 stick which is unlikely for me to find. I also want to get a better graphics card like a ATI 9800XT or Nvidia 5900XT. I was thinking of an AMDXP 3200+ even though I can overclock my 2500 to that, although the heat is an issue. Should I get what I have listed???

Your setup looks ok and is upgradeable. I would swap it all out to a new AMD Dual CPU motherboard setup so that video editing will fly a lot better. It won't do much for games. Add on another 512MB or more of Ram and another 120GB or greater hard drive exclusively for video editing. And for better 3d software workflow performance get the best Quadro card that you can afford.

[imashination]

Your setup looks ok and is upgradeable. I would swap it all out to a new AMD Dual CPU motherboard setup so that video editing will fly a lot better. It won't do much for games. Add on another 512MB or more of Ram and another 120GB or greater hard drive exclusively for video editing. And for better 3d software workflow performance get the best Quadro card that you can afford.

A new cpu, motherboard, ram, harddrive and graphics card isnt an upgrade, its a new computer.

Whats he kleeping from the old one, dust? ;-)

[kylepro88]

Uh.................Thanks on the Quadro card and Dual Motherboard thing but thats for when I have 6000 to spend on a computer. My next computer will be something like that. I was looking to get a Dual Xeon Processor computer with 4Gigs of ram. That will be for when im going into college. For now Im looking to upgrade what I have now so that I can finish my movie that im doing. I have (to my understanding), one of the best heatsinks you can buy and thats the Thermalright SLK-900U. I have a 90mm fan over it and am planning to have 2 of them over it soon. So looking at what you guys suggested I think I might go with this.

ATI 9800XT 256mb 256bit Video Card

I think Im going to just leave my processor alone and just upgrade the video card. It seems to be the most logical thing.

[T[iNs]S]

Now thats good!!! The vid card is a good choice but be sure its not too pricey cuz Ive seen 9800XT only 100$ cheaper than the X800pro which performs a lot better. However, I still recommend a 9800pro as these can be softmodded to 9800XT easily.

I youre good, you can probably push your CPU up to 2.5ghz@1.9V with the heatsink you have without worrying about heat so I would suggest you give a try. I pushed my little duron from 1.6 to 2.4 and I'm only using a SLK-700, wait till I slap my watercooling in there, I will probably get 2.6 or so.

[GhostFaced]

I myself have an AMD XP 2500+ and an ABIT NForce 2 board. You should get some more cooling on your CPU and you should be able to bump it up to an AMD XP 3200+ w/o problems.

All you gotta do is change the FSB to 200 via your BIOS. Hell, my BIOS had an option to run my CPU as a 2500+ or 3200+! :thumbsup:

Other than that, I say save up for a new rig when you get real serious about 3D and video. Think about it like this, learn on your rig now. When your rig starts to hold you back via lagging viewports, scrubbing, etc. because your scenes are getting that much more complicated, that's when its time to get a new one. At least that's how I see it. :D

[kylepro88]

Already hit the lagging viewports a while ago. I dont need a completely new computer if that starts happening, I just need an upgrade. More RAM and a better graphics card should do the trick. Ill have 1.5Gigs and a ATI 9800XT by the time im done saving. Its going to cost me about $171 each for my sticks of RAM. Im going to buy 3 512 sticks from Newegg (Mushkin) that are PC3200 and Cas Latency of 2-2-2. So I think 1.5Gigs of 2-2-2 will be great. My next rig however once I graduate will be one of these:

ASUS "P5AD2 Premium" 925X Chipset Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4.0GHz (Due out this January)
CORSAIR VALUESELECT 240-Pin 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 (4 of them)
nVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra Video Card, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit
Koolance Water Cooled Case
Seagate 200GB HD (x2)
Audigy2 ZS Platinuim Pro Sound Card

Totals out around $4,100, which is alot better than getting the same parts in an Alienware for $7,000 for the exact same parts. I drool thinking of that system. I cant imagine running a computer at 800Mhz FSB. **Drools**

NOTE: Would a Vantec Tornado over my CPU accound for the better cooling you speak of? Because mine runs about 42-43C and sometimes down to 40C depending on how warm it gets in my room. I was thinking of buying some Cooling Bays which go in your remaining CD drives. I have 2 empty so it would be cool to have two of those in there. Also I havent done this yet but I was thinking of 3 90MM fans on the side door of my case. That equals 7 Case fans, 2 CPU Fans (a 90mm and an 80mm over it right now), 2 Drive Bay Coolers. That should do the trick.

[Rabid pitbull]

Not sure if you understand this but dual channel memory only works in pairs. Obviosly it all must be the same exact ram, and your mobo must support dual channel mode. I cannot tell if you will have a total of 3 or 4 dimms. Three dimms will run in single channel mode. If you have only 3 slots then you must decide if you want more memory or dual channel mode(more bandwidth).

Either way before you spend money wanted to make sure you understood this.

[kylepro88]

Oops I forgot about that, (looks at manual), anyway if I get those 3 512's then it will only run in Single Channel, but If I buy 2 of them and 2 512's that are single sided then It will be all dual channel.

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