And another "Upgrade Opinions"

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mrmagoo_83

2[H]4U
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Aug 8, 2002
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One of these days we will get a dedicated forum for upgrade and new system questions, but for now we will do by posting them in the general hardware forum section.

My current system is out of date some what, and I just received payback for my student loans, and figured I need a new system that is up to date, so why not.

I will recycle my tower, keyboard, hard drives, and all that so I basiclly need the guts. The system will be used for a range of tasks from gaming to programming to web design to surfing porn (as with all computers ever made).

I have like 3 or 4 IDE Hard Drives, a 48X Lite-On CDRW, and my tower is a Chieftec 6-Bay Full Tower, so room isn't a problem. I also have 1GB of Corsair PC3200 XMS, so if needed I can use it instead of buying more, or I can just add to it and get 2GB. I have a 9500 Pro 128MB GFXcard, which I can recycle or replace.

So here is what I need:
Motherboard (Preferably Asus, and as decked out as can get)
CPU (AMD X2 4400+, or so, figured I would go for something that would last for a few years)
PSU (Looking at the enermax 600W)
GFXCard (What is up there these days? Don't need SLI)

I want to be able to play games and actually be able to compete not just play. I hate getting killed because I lag out or my video sucks. I also want to be able to watch movies, rip DVDs, CDs, and zip stuff, and not be waiting a day like I do now.

So all suggestions and criticism are accepted.
 
If you want to go ASUS and dual core, then I would pair this with a 4400+ .

As for video card, I would pick up a 7800GT for around $450. If you want something a little cheaper then there's always the 6800GT.

I don't think you'll need a 600W PSU, so you could go with something like this and be just fine. You could probably go even lower as far as wattage goes, but I wouldn't go below 500W.

As for your optical drives, if your current burner can't read DVD's then just pick up a DVD burner, though with 3 or 4 hard drives space for IDE cables might be running a bit short. You might want to consider switching to SATA hard drives.
 
Ok yea, I figured one of Asus' Delxue models, didn't see they made a platinum.

I was hoping to get all of these for under $1k so that doesn't look like its going to happen :( Oh well.

I guess I will try my best to keep them down, or wait till the prices drop a little more on the X2s.

Is MSI, ABIT, or DFI cheaper or better for a system such as this? I have not really had any experience with any of those brands.

And I do not wish to try to switch to SATA HDDs at the moment, but maybe later. I think I might just toss in a PCI ATA Controller card to alieveate the issue. I only need 1 CDRW/DVDR drive, its just as fast these days for me to copy from the CD to the HDD, then back to the CD; than it is to copy on the fly.


So lets compare: @ the Egg
Asus A8N-Sli Premium - $195.00
AMD X2 4400+ - $729.00
Enermax 600W PSU - $150
7800GTX - $599

Other Options:
Asus A8N-Dlx - $120
AMD X2 4400+ - $714.00
6800Ultra - $439

Still high, darn it.
BFG 6800Ultra 256MB - $439
 
If you're looking at 6800Ultras, then I would just get the 7800GT (not the GTX,mind you) which I think will be around $450 when released.

Also, the reason I suggested the $120 mobo was because you said you weren't going SLI.
 
Oh good point, I did not see that. I didn't know that about the 7800s I will have to check into that.

Still debating on which MB, I need to compare the 'extras' between the two Asus boards, as I am sure I don't need all the stuff the platinum offers.

Can anyone tell me why I need two ethernet connectors onboard? I mean I have a router. And firewire isn't something I really need at all, USB on the other hand I can use.
 
Ok, I did a compare of the A8N and the A8N-Dlx, it seems by comparing the specs the only difference between the two is the ECC memory, and the Extra LAN & SATA stuff.

Which I do not have SATA stuff right now, but might in the future so that would be a bonus for the extra $26 between the two. But I saw no need for the Premium board. So I think I will stick with the Deluxe.

So here is what I have decided on:
Asus A8N-Dlx (will have to buy a new NB fan, cause this one sucks according to all the reviews)

This motherboard should allow me to last for a few years, as long as they do not dump the 939 socket completely.

on the CPU side, is the 4400+ really worth the extra ~$200 over the 4200+. Seems $200 is a bit steep for another 512kb of cache. Will I see a big enough difference in an all around system to really care?
 
Ok, by using Monarch, and their combons, I can get:

Asus A8V v2 (supports X2s supposedly)
AMD 4200+ Retail
Corsair 1GB PC3200 XMS
FarCry & Half Life 2 Included
Price: $782

But that only leaves $218 for a GFX & PSU :(
 
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