I took a hiatus from computers for a couple years, next thing I know
there's Core 2 Duo and Crossfire motherboards on the market and I have
no idea what they are or how they perform.
I upgraded my PC last month to an MSI 500 SLI motherboard with an
AMD 64x2 3800+ CPU and 1 gig ram (and a geforce 7600gt). I mostly use
it for gaming.
Ok, and does it not game acceptibly? If not, the problem
isn't the board or CPU, rather the video card. Don't get me
wrong, a 7600GT is a wonderful combination of
moderately-low-cost performance, and very power
conservative, but right now the video card is the bottleneck
for most 3D gaming unless you are only playing older games,
at lower resolutions, or have (practically) all the eyecandy
turned off.
Now I am wondering.... did I just buy something old and out of date?
Of course, everything is obsolete by the time you have it
assembled and configured the way you want it.
Computer upgrades are a tredmill, unless you are willing to
pay 2-3X as much you wil never have something that isn't
aging and soon out of date. By paying 3X as much you might
get to use it another 6-12 months before it's then aging and
out of date. So as aways, the idea of age is irrelevant,
the relevant parameter is taking the budget and applying it
to your needs most appropriately. Thus if gaming is most
important, you'd want to spend more on the video card next
time. If you have equally important other uses it was a
fair balance to the rest of the system.
So I have some questions:
#1. Is my motherboard a decent motherboard and will it serve me well
for a couple more years? Or is it on its last legs compared to what's
out there now?
It's fine. We can't see what you'll be doing in a couple
years nor know how often you tend to upgrade your systems,
but it is not some antique platform or anything like that.
It was a good value but as always every time you wait a few
months, the next-faster parts have dropped to that price...
and so it was with the parts you bought, a few months
earlier you would have bought slower parts than those for
the same total cost. Don't even think about it like you
are, you will never be able to be satisfied if you can't
accept that computer technology is always rapidly evolving
and there is no way to stay "Modern" if you don't pay a lot
more and upgrade more often than every 2 years. That's just
the way it is. No point thinking about it, you don't have
to be a slave to your computer instead of sticking to your
budget then enjoying it, getting the desired use out of it.
#2. What is the difference between Duo Core and Core 2 Duo ?
One is two words that don't describe any CPU and the other
is an Intel CPU. Maybe you meant "dual core" instead of duo
Core. One is two cores and the other is a specific (Intel)
product with two cores. Another specific (AMD) product with
two cores would be your Athlon 64 X2.
#3. What is the Crossfire motherboard all about? I see that ATI is
associated with it - would an ATI graphics card perform with a
Crossfire motherboard better than nvidia card ?
One has nothing to do with the other. Crossfire is ATI
chipset method of using two cards in parallel for higher
gaming performance. Equivalent to nVidia's SLI. The better
performance depends on the actual video cards you use. Two
slower cards in SLI is slower than two fast cards in SLI (or
Crossfire).
#4. What is the difference between the Core 2 Duo and Crossfire? And
which is better?
You need to do some research on these terms before asking
about them, so you have a basis for asking more applicable
questions.
I'd appreciate your advice. I'm wondering if I should return my PC.
No. Returning your system will have no gain. It is
(assuming you paid the fair market price) what you choose to
spend... if you chose to spend more you would get a faster
CPU or video card, or more memory, etc... but these are
things you can still upgrade at any time so long as the
compatible parts are still in the market.
Why did you buy the system if you weren't sure? It is a
fine value system, but if you have some task it won't
perform satisfactorily, I suggest you upgrade the bottleneck
and in a couple years, make you (then) most demanding task
the criterion for parts selections.
