Need advice on upgrade!

[Kosta]

Hello everyone! My first post on these forums, I think :)

Question is: is it possible to get faster system within say €1500? (main components)

I currently own:
ASUS P5AD2-E Premium
Intel P4 550 3.4 GHz @ 4.0 GHz
Samsung DDR2 CL5 4x512MB (2x Dual Channel)
Powercolor Radeon X850XT @ PE Speeds

The system I had in mind:
Mainboard Socket-939 DDR ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Prozessor AMD Athlon 64 4000+, 2.4 GHz, S-939, Boxed
TWINX DDR-RAM 2048MB, 433 MHz, PC-3500LL, CORSAIR (2x1024MB)
HIS Excalibur Radeon X1800 XT, 512MB GDDR3, 2x DVI, ViVo, PCIe

OR "only":

TWINX DDR-RAM 2048MB, 433 MHz, PC-3500LL, CORSAIR (2x1024MB)
Intel Pentium 4 660 3.60GHz Sockel-775 boxed, 200MHz FSB, 2048kB Cache
HIS Excalibur Radeon X1800 XT, 512MB GDDR3, 2x DVI, ViVo, PCIe
Possibly watercooling in this setup... (maybe some advices for the total noob?)

This way I might have one big adventage and that is 64bit OS, and also possibly faster RAM? Is it really faster than DDR2 (CL2)?

Big question is, would it be worthwhile totally going for AMD system? My main game is Flight Simulator 2004, but I'm also playing other games like X3 Reunion.

Thank you and regards!
Kosta

[perithimus]

Definitely go for the amd if you have gaming in mind. That setup will perform very nice. Though I do suggest replacing the 4000+ with a dual core. Other than that it's good.

[Cooper]

Welcome Kosta :toast: !

Well your processor will be enough for gaming with AA and AF on - there was a review on Xbitlabs about it - so absolutly no need to upgrade your curent system. Pentium@4GHz is more than enough and greater cache won`t make noticable difference.
My advice to you is to get more RAM and more powerfull VGA - like those you have mentioned in yr list :)
And decent water-cooling setup will also make your system cooler, quiter and will allow more OCing :)
Hope that helps

[Kosta]

Why more RAM? I already have 2 GB!

I thought maybe only going for 660 and X1800XT might do some performance boost.

Can you recommend me where to start looking for decent watercooling setup? Are there some kits? Which company is the best for watercooling setups etc.?

And as noone answered my question concerning RAM, I'll ask again: Would it make a diff. going for DDR CL2? (concerning I have now DDR2 CL4)

Thanks!
Kosta

[sin0822]

id get anew mobo for that intel setup with new ram and a new video card

[softpain]

I would only get a very fast video card....hardware become obsolete very fast so I don't put to much money in it anymore....unless gaming is your main hobby and you have some great games in mind...? I don't.

[saaya]

hmmm i dont think changing to an amd plattform will give you a significant boost... id rather keep the system.

if you want a boost in fps then you might wanna consider upgrading your videocard. nvidia cards seem to be faster at flight simulators than ati cards
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/asus-en7800gtx_19.html

or you get an 1800xt, but id rather recommend an 1800xl and then oc it as they clock almost the same as 1800xts afaik.

[Kosta]

Nvidia sux as far as I heard. If you read this thread:
http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=197&topic_id=11381&mesg_id=11381&page=

And on almost the end, this thread kinda confirms it:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25807

So no 7800GTX for me... Everyone is returning them and getting X1800XT. And to say truly, the X1800XT isn't that much faster than mine X850XT PE.

Regards,
Kosta

[nn_step]

Nvidia sux as far as I heard. If you read this thread:
http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=197&topic_id=11381&mesg_id=11381&page=

And on almost the end, this thread kinda confirms it:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25807

So no 7800GTX for me... Everyone is returning them and getting X1800XT. And to say truly, the X1800XT isn't that much faster than mine X850XT PE.

Regards,
Kosta

Dude don't be such a fanboy..
Every card has it's trade offs..
A 6600gt will Pwn a x1800xt pe in Unix...
but The ATI card will bench highier