First, decide if you're happy with your current system's performance. Does it do what you need it to do? If so, stick with it and use whatever discretionary money you have for something else, or just save the money for now.
If you're not happy with your current system, can it be fixed with only one or two components? And what are those components? For example, too little RAM will make for a slow system no matter what the CPU (fortunately right now that is a fairly inexpensive thing to make better). And trying to run Win95 and new games on a 200 MB hard drive probably won't work too well either. Figure out what the bottlenecks in your system are. If it's the CPU only, then the PowerLeap is a good option to consider.
If you can not fix your current system with only one or two new components, it might be better for you to get the funds together for a new system. The PowerLeap fix makes the most sense only if your current system is mostly acceptable, but is just a little slow in CPU performance. A new Super 7 board or a 440BX board with a PentiumII might be better depending on your circumstances. The new board/CPU combination should be noticeably faster, but will also be more expensive and more work to install. Plus, keep in mind the need to get PC-100 SDRAM, and possibly a new ATX style power supply and case if you still have an AT type motherboard. And, hey, don't forget that snazzy new AGPx2 video card... :) (All you need is cash, lots of cash.)
One more note on overclocking: Don't count on it working as part of your upgrade strategy. If it does work for you, then it's a nice bonus. But it's far from guaranteed. And if your computer is used for critical (business) type applications, then you probably need the stability much more than the incremental speed from overclocking.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with my PowerLeap purchase. I hope this discussion of my results has helped in your decision about upgrading.
Please let me know if there is any more information that would be of help. If I can readily get that information, I'll put it up here...
Cheers,
-Martin Rogers
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This page last updated 2/14/99