Limited Budget Upgrade

S

Swat

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 25, 2002
Messages
1,186
Didn't know where to stick this since it falls under a few categories. Guess let me start off by tossing out what I'm using at the moment.

WC'd AMD XP 2500@2.2ghz with an ATI 9800pro (not OC'd) on an Abit NF7-S. I have Mushkin PC3200 (1gig) lvl2 black

Anyways, I would like to possible upgrade my CPU/MB/GPU if possible. My budget is $500, though depending on what people suggest I can go over that price a little. I pretty much only play Lineage2 which runs fine and dandy but I guess I've just had my setup for quite sometime and want a change. I'm basically looking for an improvment in overall performance that will be noticable, because if not I'd rather spend my money on other things of course.

So if it possible to upgrade to a "better" setup then I currently have now I'm all ears :p
I more then likely will probably WC this new setup after a while and ponder OCin' as well in the future, just cause once you WC and OC you can't get it out of your system and the term "stock settings" usually doesn't fit in my vocabulary.

Thanks ahead of time for helping me out in trying to upgrade what I call my dinosaur system :D
 
CPU - 3000+ Venice (939) $100 used
MB - DFI Ultra-D $100 Used
GPU - USED 7800GT ($210) or a new 7900GT / x1800xt


That is how I intend to do it.
 
EBAY!!!!

go with the nivida card, I love my 7800gtx. I am not a big fan of the catalyst drivers.
 
tshontikidis said:
EBAY!!!!

go with the nivida card, I love my 7800gtx. I am not a big fan of the catalyst drivers.
Click to expand...


Guess I just love newegg to much. This would be my first Nvidia card, so of course I'm swaying towards the ATI. Though if the performance are about the same I will prolly give Nvidia try. Also, since I'm new to Nvidia is Albatron a decent company as far as it comes ot thier cards?

Thanks again :D
 
i would go with a evga, xfx, or bfg on nvidia side

i personnally like evga the best

stay away from pny
 
Although that is a good set of parts listed above, since it is a bit over your budget I thought I might suggest a less expensive mobo, namely the Asus A8N-E for $92. If you're looking to overclock though, that DFI board is the better choice because of it's excellent range of options in the bios (not to say that anything is guaranteed to overclock well).

The main reason I felt I should mention a less expensive alternative is because of the (probably) necessary PSU upgrade you'll have to factor in. This is a fantastic dual rail Fortron PSU for $50.

The 3200+ listed above is a great choice, though if you're looking to overclock this Opteron 144 might be a better selection.

Videocard wise I'd suggest getting the x1800XT for $289, or $269 after MIR. The other options are the 7900GT for $319 (overclocks VERY well, and with a tiny voltage mod [no soldering needed] will get near GTX speeds), and the x1800XT 512mb for $319.

The speeds of the cards listed above are like this (fastest to slowest): x1800XT 512, 7900GT, x1800XT 256. Keep in mind that the delta between the fastest and slowest card on that list is only a few frames, so it's really up to how much wallet abuse you can take.
 
Swat said:
Guess I just love newegg to much. This would be my first Nvidia card, so of course I'm swaying towards the ATI. Though if the performance are about the same I will prolly give Nvidia try. Also, since I'm new to Nvidia is Albatron a decent company as far as it comes ot thier cards?

Thanks again :D
Click to expand...
I would too go with newegg 99% of the time, but that 1% when I really need to watch the budget I will check ebay.

As for the maker of the nvidia, I would also recommend the evga, very high quality board. I have never used an albatron video card, but I have seen a few albatron mobos fail.
 
tshontikidis said:
I would too go with newegg 99% of the time, but that 1% when I really need to watch the budget I will check ebay.

As for the maker of the nvidia, I would also recommend the evga, very high quality board. I have never used an albatron video card, but I have seen a few albatron mobos fail.
Click to expand...

Vid card manufacturer's can differ in four areas:
1. Cooling solution
2. Clock Frequencies
3. Warranty
4. Bundle (today not many companies offer bundles with their cards)

Once you've decided on a price range, model card, and need to pick between companies, it usually comes down to warranty.
eVGA: Lifetime with the ability to trade out the stock HSF and not void the warranty (good if you're wc'ing)
BFG: Standard lifetime warranty
XFX: "Double" lifetime warranty which is a lifetime warranty that is transferrable to a second owner.
PNY: 3 year warranty (usually enough for most people)
 
quadnad said:
Although that is a good set of parts listed above, since it is a bit over your budget I thought I might suggest a less expensive mobo, namely the Asus A8N-E for $92. If you're looking to overclock though, that DFI board is the better choice because of it's excellent range of options in the bios (not to say that anything is guaranteed to overclock well).

The main reason I felt I should mention a less expensive alternative is because of the (probably) necessary PSU upgrade you'll have to factor in. This is a fantastic dual rail Fortron PSU for $50.

The 3200+ listed above is a great choice, though if you're looking to overclock this Opteron 144 might be a better selection.

Videocard wise I'd suggest getting the x1800XT for $289, or $269 after MIR. The other options are the 7900GT for $319 (overclocks VERY well, and with a tiny voltage mod [no soldering needed] will get near GTX speeds), and the x1800XT 512mb for $319.

The speeds of the cards listed above are like this (fastest to slowest): x1800XT 512, 7900GT, x1800XT 256. Keep in mind that the delta between the fastest and slowest card on that list is only a few frames, so it's really up to how much wallet abuse you can take.
Click to expand...

Much appreciated and I will definetly think a lot of my buys over this week since I don't plan on purchasing anything until atleast Thursday. Oh and for the PSU , I currently have an Antec TRUE430 ATX 430W Power Supply , so I'm wondering if this would be enough to power what I need.

Also I saw a DFI *refurbished* for about $40 less which if the case of the Opteron being a better choice in terms of OCin' , that will take care of the price difference between the Venice and the Opteron. Anyways, time to pack up my stuff and head home from a long day at work, thanks again everyone.
 
*bump*


Just wondering if my PSU is sufficient enough for what I may be purchasing :D

Thanks
 
Swat said:
*bump*


Just wondering if my PSU is sufficient enough for what I may be purchasing :D

Thanks
Click to expand...

I don't think that your current PSU will cut it for your new system. However, I'd post in the power supply area just to be sure. I took a look at what I thought was your PSU (here) and I don't think it's got enough amperage. If you do indeed need a new PSU, that fortron I posted earlier would be a great match for your new components.
 
quadnad said:
I don't think that your current PSU will cut it for your new system. However, I'd post in the power supply area just to be sure. I took a look at what I thought was your PSU (here) and I don't think it's got enough amperage. If you do indeed need a new PSU, that fortron I posted earlier would be a great match for your new components.
Click to expand...


Ya that link you posted is exactly the PSU I'm running atm, but ya even if I dip into the mid 600 dollars for the system I'm talking about I'll be ok. Thanks again :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top