Help evaluate potential upgrade

T

Titanium Johnson

Gawd
Joined
Jul 5, 2001
Messages
703
Hi all -

Need some help determining if this is a worthy upgrade. Currently, and will in the future, play heavily into the MMO scene, so need some semi-decent graphics (tho' not to FEAR or BF1942 level).

Current system is an AMD XP 2800+ on a Soyo KT-600 Platinum motherboard with onboard 6.1 audio and ethernet. Running with 1gig DDR memory and an ATI x800 video card (also have a Leadtek GeForce FX5700 as well). Have a ~160gig Maxtor 7200RPM HDD in the system, and a Lite-On DVD drive and Memorex CD-RW drive. Monitor is solid with a 20" Sony LCD.

Looking at the following:

AMD ATHLON 64 X2 4400+ (ADA4400CDBOX) RETAIL BOXED W/1MB X 2 CACHE 90NM (TOLEDO) BUNDLE W/
# (*Free 256MB MP3 Player / USB Drive w/Purchase from 3/3/06 to 3/31/06, While Supplies Last!)FREE 256MB MP3 PLAYER
# ECS KN1 SLI EXTREME
# MWAVE 2GB DDR400
# (1GBX2)
# ASSEMBLE/TEST BUNDLE
$718.00

LEADTEK GEFORCE7800GT 256MB EXTREME (OVERCLOCK) PCI EXPRESS DDR3 W/TV & DVI #PX7800GT256EXTREME
$419.00

# THERMALTAKE TSUNAMI VA3000BNA (BLACK) MID TOWER NO POWER SUPPLY W/ FRONT I/O, 120mm CASE FAN x 2EXTRA 120mm FAN(BLACK)
# NO POWER SUPPLY
# NO INSTALLATION
$104.00

# THERMALTAKE W0049RUC SILENT PUREPOWER (BLACK) SERIES 680W EPS 12V UL & FCC POWER SUPPLY FOR ATX CASESNO TESTER
$135.00

# WD 250GB 2500KS SATA300 16MB 7200RPM (Bare drive)NO EXT.SATA ENCLOSURE
# 1m SATA CABLE
$92.50

Sub Total $1,468.50
Shipping & Handling Calculator $45.96
Total $1,514.46

Soo....worth doing?

Thanks!!!
 
That CPU/Mobo combo is kinda pricey and mediocre.

What do you think of the following?

Asus AN8 SLI $95 after MIR (until 4-3)
AMD X2 3800+ $295 (the 2x512k cache will make no difference in gpu-dependant games)
Patriot 2GB PC3200 Kit $139

eVGA 7900GT CO Superclocked $359 (OOS - set up auto-notify)

Cooler Master Centurion 532 $45 after MIR (expires TODAY. The side facing hdd bays will be nice for longer vid cards)
For quite a bit more, check out the Thermaltake Shark case. I have it and it's been the best case I've had ever. Lots of room, sturdy as can be, and feather light.

Antec TPII-550W $85 (SLI Certified and more amps on the +12V rails than the Thermaltake)

TOTAL (before s/h): $1018
 
DejaWiz said:
AMD X2 3800+ $295 (the 2x512k cache will make no difference in gpu-dependant games)
Click to expand...

Question on that tho' ... would it help waylay some of the overhead in running programs in the background (e.g TeamSpeak, TeamSpeak Overlay, etc.)?
 
Titanium Johnson said:
Question on that tho' ... would it help waylay some of the overhead in running programs in the background (e.g TeamSpeak, TeamSpeak Overlay, etc.)?
Click to expand...

All X2 are dual-core so it helps indeed. the only difference is the l2 cache and the real effect is very minimal at best in GPU intensives games.
 
Titanium Johnson said:
Question on that tho' ... would it help waylay some of the overhead in running programs in the background (e.g TeamSpeak, TeamSpeak Overlay, etc.)?
Click to expand...
What Xilikon said. ;)

Off topic - I dig your sig. RH:pOT is a damn good movie. Except for the whole missing accent thing (details, details...).
 
Ok, take two ... how does *this* one look?


# WD 250GB 2500KS SATA300 16MB 7200RPM (Bare drive)NO EXT.SATA ENCLOSURE
# 1m SATA CABLE
$92.50


AMD ATHLON 64 X2 4600+ (ADA4600BVBOX) RETAIL BOXED W/512KB X 2 CACHE 90NM (MANCHESTER) BUNDLE W/
# (*Free 256MB MP3 Player / USB Drive w/Purchase from 3/3/06 to 3/31/06, While Supplies Last!)FREE 256MB MP3 PLAYER
# ECS KN1 SLI EXTREME
# MWAVE 2GB DDR400
# (1GBX2)
# ASSEMBLE/TEST BUNDLE
$799.50

# COOLER MASTER RC-730-SSN1 PRAETORIAN 730 (SILVER) ALUMINUM MID TOWER NO POWER SUPPLY 4x5.25" 2x3.5" 4x3.5"(hidden) W/ FRONT I/O CONNECTOR (*Regular $125 - $20 Mwave Instant Rebate = $105, Special Offer Ends 3/31/06!)EXTRA 120mm FAN(CLEAR)
# EXTRA 90mm FAN(CLEAR)
# ANTEC TPII550 550W
# POWER SUPPLY INSTALLATION
$202.50

# LITE ON LTR-52329 SILVER 52X/32X/52X CDRW W/SW(White box-silver color)NO ACCESSORIES
# NO MEDIA
# NO CD CASES
# 36" ATA ROUND CABLE
$30.50

MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL W/SP2 #E85-04135(DSP/OEM)*Must be Purchased w/Hardware!!*
$131.00 $131.00

EVGA 256-P2-N565-AX GEFORCE 7900 GT CO SUPERCLOCK 256MB PCI-E W/HDTV & DUAL DVI (NO STOCK - ESTIMATE ARRIVAL ON 4/4/2006).
$369.00 $369.00
SKU: AA43800

Sub Total $1,625.00
Shipping & Handling Calculator $51.88
Total $1,676.88
 
What is your total budget? Are you in need of purchasing everything for this system or are you reusing any hardware from your old system?
 
DejaWiz said:
What is your total budget? Are you in need of purchasing everything for this system or are you reusing any hardware from your old system?
Click to expand...

Budget is $1500-$1750, give or take. After giving some thought, I'm going to purchase everything minus the keyboard/mouse/speakers/monitor, and either sell the old system whole, or save for a 3rd PC for my kids.

Thanks again for the help. Want to have this ready to buy by the time I go home from work today. Also...I'm sourcing/pricing this off of mwave.com (rather than newegg.com) because the X2 mobo combos have a free MP3 player with them through today - and that'll make a nice birthday gift for my eldest son come June. :)
 
Nice but don't forget memory and powersupply as well.
 
Titanium Johnson said:
Budget is $1500-$1750, give or take. After giving some thought, I'm going to purchase everything minus the keyboard/mouse/speakers/monitor, and either sell the old system whole, or save for a 3rd PC for my kids.

Thanks again for the help. Want to have this ready to buy by the time I go home from work today. Also...I'm sourcing/pricing this off of mwave.com (rather than newegg.com) because the X2 mobo combos have a free MP3 player with them through today - and that'll make a nice birthday gift for my eldest son come June. :)
Click to expand...
Wow with a budget like that you can build one heck of a gaming system.

For example, take my suggested build above ($1018), add a second 7800GT ($359), and get a good MP3 Player ($68 w/free charger) separately.

You're only looking at a total now of $1445 before s/h. Plenty of room left over to get more memory, faster cpu, etc.

I forgot to mention in my previous post, but the case I listed doesn't come with a rear 120mm fan, so you'd need to add about $8-15 depending on what you get.
 
DejaWiz said:
Wow with a budget like that you can build one heck of a gaming system.

For example, take my suggested build above ($1018), add a second 7800GT ($359), and get a good MP3 Player ($68 w/free charger) separately.

You're only looking at a total now of $1445 before s/h. Plenty of room left over to get more memory, faster cpu, etc.

I forgot to mention in my previous post, but the case I listed doesn't come with a rear 120mm fan, so you'd need to add about $8-15 depending on what you get.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. In looking at it in more detail, I'm leaning towards the faster processor instead of the additional video card. The process will have more life in it, and I can add the SLI in down the road when I need to. Will be doing the PS and video card you suggested tho' after looking into them with more detail.

Thanks again.
 
Titanium Johnson said:
They're in there...part of the respective combos.
Click to expand...

Oops.. i just glanced and didn't notice the compo.
 
Titanium Johnson said:
Thanks for the feedback. In looking at it in more detail, I'm leaning towards the faster processor instead of the additional video card. The process will have more life in it, and I can add the SLI in down the road when I need to. Will be doing the PS and video card you suggested tho' after looking into them with more detail.

Thanks again.
Click to expand...
If you haven't already, you might want to check out this article. Unless you are going to be doing something along the lines of very intensive programming work, games will benefit more from a faster GPU(s) than a CPU.

As an example: Before I upgraded to a second 7800GT, I was considering going with an X2 instead. By my experience and what is highlighted in the article, your gaming experience will be greatly increased at higher resolutions and eye candy with more gpu oompf. My 3000+ is running strong and fast and I couldn't be happier with my setup. The X2 3800+ packs plenty of punch for anything listed you will to do and you will see no to little gain with a 4400+ or 4600+ when paired with a fast GPU setup. I'd love to have an X2 and will get one someday, but I have zero regrets for choosing SLI instead.

Just some advice for you to digest.... ;)
 
DejaWiz said:
If you haven't already, you might want to check out this article. Unless you are going to be doing something along the lines of very intensive programming work, games will benefit more from a faster GPU(s) than a CPU.

As an example: Before I upgraded to a second 7800GT, I was considering going with an X2 instead. By my experience and what is highlighted in the article, your gaming experience will be greatly increased at higher resolutions and eye candy with more gpu oompf. My 3000+ is running strong and fast and I couldn't be happier with my setup. The X2 3800+ packs plenty of punch for anything listed you will to do and you will see no to little gain with a 4400+ or 4600+ when paired with a fast GPU setup. I'd love to have an X2 and will get one someday, but I have zero regrets for choosing SLI instead.

Just some advice for you to digest.... ;)
Click to expand...

Hrmmm....now that is mighty interesting. Soo...what would you then suggest? Downgrade to a high end AMD 64 and the second vid card in SLI? Have to see how the price comparison works out for that *runs back over to mwave*
 
Ok, answered my own question with some more research:

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2410&p=7

No QUESTION there that the dual core just isn't worth the investment, since 90%+ of the use for the computer is gaming. Sooo...end system I'll be buying is (unless someone screams here in the next few hours)

COOLER MASTER RC-730-SSN1 PRAETORIAN 730 (SILVER) ALUMINUM MID TOWER
ANTEC TPII550 TRUEPOWER 2.0 ATX 12V VERSION 2.0 550W
AMD ATHLON 64 4000+
ECS KN1 SLI EXTREME
2 x 1 GB DDR400
2 x EVGA 256-P2-N565-AX GEFORCE 7900 GT CO SUPERCLOCK 256MB PCI-E
WD 250GB 2500KS SATA300 16MB 7200RPM
LITE ON LTR-52329 SILVER 52X/32X/52X CDRW
MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL W/SP2

Total price shipped will be $1843.34.
 
Looks good. glad you went with the eVGA cards - best NVIDIA card supplier imo. Have fun building it!
 
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