I Need A Motherboard/Processor For $150 (Shipping Included)

T

The Doc

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jan 2, 2005
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I have a $150 gift card that I want to blow on a new motherboard and processor. I will migrate my remaining parts to complete my system. I plan on using this system for heavy video encoding, backing up my DVD library, and some gaming. I want to order these parts tomorrow so I need some feedback ASAP.
 
Well:
- Does the gift card have to be specifically used at one place or is it some gift card accepted at most places?
- What are your remaining parts?
- Will you be overclocking?
 
Danny Bui said:
Well:
- Does the gift card have to be specifically used at one place or is it some gift card accepted at most places?
- What are your remaining parts?
- Will you be overclocking?
Click to expand...

1) The giftcard can only be used at Newegg.
2) 1GB Corsair DDR2 667, 400GB hard drive, 6800GS, TT 750W PSU, DVD Rom, DVD RW drives
3) No overclocking
 
The Doc said:
1) The giftcard can only be used at Newegg.
2) 1GB Corsair DDR2 667, 400GB hard drive, 6800GS, TT 750W PSU, DVD Rom, DVD RW drives
3) No overclocking
Click to expand...

In that Price Range you will most certainly have to go the AMD Route, but you can get a decent AM2 Board w/at least an AM2 5000+ Black Pearl CPU for around $80 and Decent Gigabyte, MSI, ASUS for around 60 just look around at Tiger or NewEgg.
 
Jaguar Jim1 said:
In that Price Range you will most certainly have to go the AMD Route, but you can get a decent AM2 Board w/at least an AM2 5000+ Black Pearl CPU for around $80 and Decent Gigabyte, MSI, ASUS for around 60 just look around at Tiger or NewEgg.
Click to expand...

Sadly, I have to agree. I tried the lowest-possible Pentium Dual-Core (didn't want to stoop to Celeries), and simply couldn't find a decent motherboard for it with the money remaining. Black Edition is out, both because he's not overclocking and because it doesn't come with a heatsink/fan. So I decided that the motherboard was more important than the processor, as the processor is easy and quick to replace, whereas the motherboard not so much. And the stability of the whole computer can be at risk by getting a crappy motherboard. So I managed to squeeze in an AM2+ motherboard by a reputable company (Biostar), which is already compatible with Phenom and should be compatible with AM3 CPU's also, with a cheap (but very serviceable and better than single-core Celerons by far) Athlon 64 X2:

Biostar TA770 AM2+, AMD 770 chipset ($82, $6.60 shipping)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane ($60, free shipping)

Video encoding is the harshest task that you listed for the CPU. That motherboard will be ready for a quad-core when you get the money for it, and that is a domain that actually benefits greatly from additional cores.
 
farfromhome said:
Video encoding is the harshest task that you listed for the CPU, and won't really be any better with the 4000+ than with your current 939 3800+, but it will be ready for a quad-core when you get the money for it, and that is a domain that actually benefits greatly from additional cores.
Click to expand...

He already has an AM2 motherboard. If you look at his response to my questions as well as his sig, you can see that he has 1GB of DDR2 RAM, which an S939 could not support, and has an AM2 motherboard already.

Anyway, $150 is not enough for a worthwhile CPU and motherboard upgrade. Especially since you are not overclocking. I recommend just getting more RAM, which is pretty cheap these days, and an X2 5000+ Black Edition CPU for $99:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194

The non-BE X2 5000+ is OOS at the Newegg so the BE X2 5000 is the next step up. Just reuse the HSF from your X2 3800+ with the X2 5000 BE.

EDIT: OR is your sig out of date and you really do need a new mobo and CPU? If so, go with farfromhome's recommendations
 
Danny Bui said:
He already has an AM2 motherboard. If you look at his response to my questions as well as his sig, you can see that he has 1GB of DDR2 RAM, which an S939 could not support, and has an AM2 motherboard already.

Anyway, $150 is not enough for a worthwhile CPU and motherboard upgrade. Especially since you are not overclocking. I recommend just getting more RAM, which is pretty cheap these days, and an X2 5000+ Black Edition CPU for $99:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103194

The non-BE X2 5000+ is OOS at the Newegg so the BE X2 5000 is the next step up. Just reuse the HSF from your X2 3800+ with the X2 5000 BE.

EDIT: OR is your sig out of date and you really do need a new mobo and CPU? If so, go with farfromhome's recommendations
Click to expand...

My signature is out of date I need to update it.
 
Danny Bui said:
He already has an AM2 motherboard. If you look at his response to my questions as well as his sig, you can see that he has 1GB of DDR2 RAM, which an S939 could not support, and has an AM2 motherboard already.
Click to expand...

D'oh, I missed that. I just glanced at the 3800+ and assumed it was 939 like my old one was. :D Oh well, sig is out of date anyway after all.
 
Intel Option:

Intel Pentium E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz 1MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
BIOSTAR TFORCE945P LGA 775 Intel 945P

Total before shipping: $122


AMD Option:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane 2.5GHz 2 x 512KB L2
BIOSTAR NF520-A2 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 520 MCP ATX

Total before shipping: $134

gl!:D
 
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