here's 500 dollars.

J

jmahler

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 21, 2003
Messages
348
(get your attention? good. :))

My system-

AMD Mobile @ 2200mhz (was @ 2500 but it was heating my room too much and the performance difference really wasn't that huge so whatever)
Asus AN78X-E Deluxe
1 Gig DDR 400
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Alphacool watercooling (nice setup w/ dual 120s)
Hard drives, dvd burner, blah blah
Dell 2005FPW
Antec power supply of some sort, i think it was 450-500w, can't remember offhand right now. i have a few laying around, too.


Alright, 500 dollars to upgrade it or thereabouts. Whatcha gonna do?
Wish list:
PCI-E, SLI capability, if possible
Dual core if possible (if not, then i want to be able to go to it eventually)


What do I use my system for?
gaming, writing, research, etc. power consumption is a factor also. plus i need to figure out if i can adapt my watercooling setup to whatever socket format it used next. I am completely out of it. :) I want to be able to play the upcoming morrowind @ 1680x1050 painlessly. i want a million dollars.

Thanks in advance!!
 
I would say to get a better video card. I personally like Nvidia. You can get 7800 GTX's for about $500 now.
 
JOKER_JOKER said:
I would say to get a better video card. I personally like Nvidia. You can get 7800 GTX's for about $500 now.
Click to expand...

Someone didnt even spend a second thinking.. durrrr

He has an AGP motherboard. I think he would have a hard time to get that pci-e card to fit in it..well maybe if he had a hammer.

To do this right, I think your going to need to replace your motherboard, cpu, and video card... > $500. Probally $650 for a good start. If you cant get that much money together, I would try to find a used 6800GT ($250?) and another GB of ram ($80?) and save the rest for the next upgrade.
 
You could get an X850XT-PE for under $500, and that performs very close to the 7800GTX, then you don't need to change your mobo.
 
amdoverclocker said:
To do this right, I think your going to need to replace your motherboard, cpu, and video card... > $500. Probally $650 for a good start. If you cant get that much money together, I would try to find a used 6800GT ($250?) and another GB of ram ($80?) and save the rest for the next upgrade.
Click to expand...



you think?

Okay, 650 then. Let's see what you can do. at worst I could resell my cpu, mb, and old vid card (9800pro w/ silencer could pull in what, 75ish used?)
 
something along the lines of a amd 64 3200+ evga 7800GT with the free EVGA motherboard.
 
pandora's box said:
something along the lines of a amd 64 3200+ evga 7800GT with the free EVGA motherboard.
Click to expand...

would that be much of an improvement in performance? i am unfamiliar with the rankings / performance of today's vid cards, honestly. been a while since i was in the market... and the 3200 - is that much of a jump? does it OC well?
 
dandragonrage said:
Yes to all.

Never buy an AGP card again.
Click to expand...

Why? This card will be faster than that 6800ultra posted aboe, and he won't have to replace his mobo. Socket (whatever AMD uses right now) is on the way out, and Intel is also about to do a major shift. Upgrade the card for $380, have plenty of speed, and upgrade everything else a year from now when the new platforms hit.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch.hmx?SCriteria=3722850&CartID=done&nextloc=
 
this is interesting

so here's the thought process now then -

i am upgrading NOW. I want to upgrade enough that in a year if I want to upgrade more, I can buy a new CPU, vid card, or ram and be happy about it. IE - add another card for SLI, go to dual core, whatever....
and 939 seems to offer that, exactly.

i am looking @ newegg right now for ideas and am not sure what MB's to get - but the cpu is probably going to be the 3800 X2. i think by doing that I am blowing my budget, but oh well. :)

what MB? What's the sweet-spot for price/performance on vid cards in this case?
 
Get a GeForce 6100 or 6150 microATX board for less than $80, then toss in whatever video card you want... 6800GS seems to be the sweet spot.

$322 + $75 + $200 = $600

SLI is crap. In a year or two when you go to upgrade the video card, tossing in another 6800GS is going to be way less cost effective than getting a new card entirely, and when you factor in the unnecessary $40 premium on an SLI motherboard it's even less attractive.

You can also save $100 and hit your $500 mark by getting an A64 3700+ and still toss in an X2 later.
 
kumquat said:
Get a GeForce 6100 or 6150 microATX board for less than $80, then toss in whatever video card you want... 6800GS seems to be the sweet spot.

$322 + $75 + $200 = $600

SLI is crap. In a year or two when you go to upgrade the video card, tossing in another 6800GS is going to be way less cost effective than getting a new card entirely, and when you factor in the unnecessary $40 premium on an SLI motherboard it's even less attractive.

You can also save $100 and hit your $500 mark by getting an A64 3700+ and still toss in an X2 later.
Click to expand...


http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Special.asp?listType=combo

hmmm
interesting
there IS the deal as posted before about the evga mb and 7800gt - add in an X2 and the price comes out to 704....

in this case SLI is free pretty much, and the video card is a really nice one (if I'm not mistaken).

of course, i might need a new power supply then.... shit.
this is getting to be a headache :)
 
jmahler said:
http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Special.asp?listType=combo

hmmm
interesting
there IS the deal as posted before about the evga mb and 7800gt - add in an X2 and the price comes out to 704....

in this case SLI is free pretty much, and the video card is a really nice one (if I'm not mistaken).

of course, i might need a new power supply then.... shit.
this is getting to be a headache :)
Click to expand...
If I had $700 for the upgrade I'd definitely do it that way.
 
kumquat said:
If I had $700 for the upgrade I'd definitely do it that way.
Click to expand...


beginning to think so, yeah. This is looking like the way to go the more i think about it....
 
Don't bother with the combo, cause you can get the card for like $100 cheaper here and then get a non-sli motherboard because as someone said earlier, SLI isn't all that great. I have heard great things about this board even though I do not have it.
 
weird

there's a difference between your card and the one i posted - hmm

mine @ 379
Free SLI Motherboard with purchase.
eVGA 256-P2-N518 Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

* Model #: 256-P2-N518
Click to expand...

includes an SLI motherboard that's well-reviewed


yours @ 304
eVGA 256-P2-N515-AX Geforce 7800GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 VIVO PCI Express x16 Desktop PC - Retail

* Model #: 256-P2-N515-AX
* Item #: N82E16814130247
Click to expand...

does not include a motherboard, but the one you listed is 69, which has about the same overall pricing, and i DO like chaintech overall....

hm
wonder what the difference between the 2 vid cards is?
also, what's up with the card being VIVO? does that mean I can do video capture with it?
 
I'm pretty sure the cards are the same, just the one I listed is less expensive but you can't include the free mobo with it, and the one I listed has a $20 rebate bringing it down to $284. If you'd rather go the SLI route, then go for it but a number of people(myself included) think it is a waste of money.

edit: VIVO stands for video in, video out and is described as a "display adapter with analog video capture and analog video out (NTSC out) capabilities."
 
LongShotHero said:
I'm pretty sure the cards are the same, just the one I listed is less expensive but you can't include the free mobo with it, and the one I listed has a $20 rebate bringing it down to $284. If you'd rather go the SLI route, then go for it but a number of people(myself included) think it is a waste of money.

edit: VIVO stands for video in, video out and is described as a "display adapter with analog video capture and analog video out (NTSC out) capabilities."
Click to expand...


mmkay, so essentially, i would be spending 20 dollars more my way (with the combo deal) and getting SLI as the main benefit.

the question I have to answer for myself then is, which MB is better, and is SLI capability worth 20 dollars to me?

crud. i hate thinking. :)

thanks for that - and yeah, i shoulda figured out VIVO myself :)
 
I've heard a bunch of good stuff about the chaintech, but I've never heard anything bad about the eVGA. I haven't really heard much about the eVGA, actually. There is a thread about them in the motherboard section though, so go in there and check it out and see what people say about it there.
 
excellent, i will.

at this point it's like completely a coin flip. :) maybe i'll cap off this thread with that flip.
 
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