PC Upgrade ** Advice Wanted **

Hi everyone, As I am currently running a P233MMX (64mb RAM, 16mb Maxi Gamer Voodoo Banshee 2D\3D card) system I know that I am really in need of an upgrade to enable me to get the best out of the current line-up of superb sims on the market. I am running GPL, NR1999, N2 and SCGT (Demo) at present and will hopefully be picking up the full SCGT tomorrow (providing the release over here in England hasn't been delayed...). To be perfectly honest they all run quite well on my system despite it being very underpowered compared to what the majority of you people seem to be using, but now seems to be a reasonably good time to look at uprgading. What I would like is some advice on what upgrade I should be looking for. From what I have read the 'Celeron' seems to be a pretty good choice at the moment but what exactly should I look for when purchasing this as there seems to be several on the market at the moment. Do they all come with L2 cache? and if not does this make a big difference. Which is the best motherboard to go for if I do get the celeron processor and what else will be needed to enable me to put this in my current pc. I currently have 64mb SDRAM so will I still be able to use this on the new motherboard or will I have toi s***this and buy new memory as well. Finally will all the components (HD, Graphics card, modem, etc) be reusable with the celeron and motherboard upgrade. My pc is mainly used for sim racing but also has to be used for some work (Access and Excel) and of course the internet. Apologies if this has already been addressed before but just hoping for some quick advice from people whose pc usage is pretty similar to my own. Many Thanks Peter Hooper

Hey Peter, You're gonna have to upgrade the CPU, motherboard, and case (unless you already have an ATX case). If you go with the Celeron you can keep your 64mh SDRAM unless you want to overclock the Celeron, then you'll need some PC100 SDRAM. The Celeron's come with 128kb of full speed L2 cache and perform very closely to standard PII, sometimes even faster when overclocked. The best motherboard to go get is the Asus P2B-F, almost everyone will agree with me here. The motherboard, a 366Mhz Celeron, and an ATX case should put you back less then $300. Art Stealth Racing http://www.***sys.com/stealthracing.html

I agree with the replies given here. If you don't plan on overclocking, go with a Celeron 366, 400, or 433. This way, you'll be able to use your RAM , your maxi gamer, your HD, etc. I would suggest an ABIT or ASUS MB, Celeron 400, an ATX case and you'll see amazing improvements. If you plan on overclocking, you will need to upgrade your RAM as well. Have fun.

It's funny how we think things run well, until we upgrade :-). I honestly thought my P166 w/96 MB Ram and 8MB Voodoo2 was fairly good while running Nascar 2, Falcon 4 (training missions), Rainbow 6, etc. Then I picked up a Celeron 300A (overclocked to 450), 128 MB PC100 Ram, CL TNT 16Mb Video card, and I realized what I had been missing. Unbelievably smooth frame rates compared to a choppy 166. Go for a Celeron for ***, it's a great value. I would look at the 400 or 433 since they run under $150. Prob not Slot 1 so you'll have to research the appropriate MB. You can still use the ram since both chips are 66 Mhz FSB so no need for PC100 ram. And as for video, a voodoo 3 is prob your best choice since GPL Open GL is mediocre, N2 /Nascar 1999 only runs Voodoo or Rendition, and SCGT, while better on D3D with TNT will work fine with V3. For the future, however, my money is on TNT2 as the best video chip so that's what I'll buy when I upgrade the vid card this winter. Good luck.

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> Hi everyone, > As I am currently running a P233MMX (64mb RAM, 16mb Maxi Gamer Voodoo > Banshee 2D\3D card) system I know that I am really in need of an upgrade to > enable me to get the best out of the current line-up of superb sims on the > market. I am running GPL, NR1999, N2 and SCGT (Demo) at present and will > hopefully be picking up the full SCGT tomorrow (providing the release over > here in England hasn't been delayed...). To be perfectly honest they all run > quite well on my system despite it being very underpowered compared to what > the majority of you people seem to be using, but now seems to be a > reasonably good time to look at uprgading. > What I would like is some advice on what upgrade I should be looking for. > From what I have read the 'Celeron' seems to be a pretty good choice at the > moment but what exactly should I look for when purchasing this as there > seems to be several on the market at the moment. Do they all come with L2 > cache? and if not does this make a big difference. Which is the best > motherboard to go for if I do get the celeron processor and what else will > be needed to enable me to put this in my current pc. I currently have 64mb > SDRAM so will I still be able to use this on the new motherboard or will I > have toi s***this and buy new memory as well. Finally will all the > components (HD, Graphics card, modem, etc) be reusable with the celeron and > motherboard upgrade. > My pc is mainly used for sim racing but also has to be used for some work > (Access and Excel) and of course the internet. > Apologies if this has already been addressed before but just hoping for some > quick advice from people whose pc usage is pretty similar to my own. > Many Thanks > Peter Hooper

My old system was a 233Mhz K6, 64MB RAM, 8MB Rage Pro. It ran Viper Racing at 19fps in 800 X 600 with most of the "goodies" turned off. My new system, 400Mhz K6-3, 64MB PC100 RAM, 32MB RAge Fury runs at 60fps in 800 X 600 with ALL of the goodies turned on! Woohoo! So it can make a great diffference in the quality of your ***. -- Peace, love and Monkeemobiles, Galley

Personally I'd go with an AOpen board or the Abit BX6 ver 2.0. Both are jumperless which is extremely nice when dealing with overclocking.