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The wife and I have three kids. Because of this and the EIC, we're getting an unreasonable tax refund. The wife is letting me have $1000-$1500 for a new rig. I'm a gamer at heart. That means I get maybe 20 hours in a good week for gaming. BF2142 (and I will lemming BF for a few years yet), TF2 when it drops, Oblivion, and Dawn of War. I'd really like to be able to up my settings, snipe further out, that sort of thing, and I am using an old Samsung 17" CRT, so that's got to be on the list as well. My preference would be closer to $1000 than $1500 - extra monies will go towards other things.
In the past I've built my PC based on whatever my employer was using for new builds - that has been a lot of AMD/ATI/MSI stuff. My current employer sells Dells, and I don't have the patience to tweak the Dells to the point of usability (can it be done without buying an actual XPS?). I never overclock, because by the time I get home from work, I'm done screwing with it. I seldom get the fastest with the mostest. So I'm considering my options, and I am going to need some direction. The base question is this: do I upgrade around my current MB, or do I build a new rig?
Current rig: 2 year old Athlon 64 3000+ on an MSI RS480M2-IL with a one year old MSI X800 Pro, 1 GB of Kingston PC2700 VR probably. I've got a 250GB HDD with only about 30GB free.
If I'm going to upgrade, this is one time that I'm just going to pack it in a bit max out the MB completely.
CPU: $239.00 - FX-55 (I'll assume that since it doesn't list them on the MB product page, I can't get anything like this in there).
RAM: $242.00 - Corsair XMS maybe (Corsair's website claims compatibility). Would just replace the Kingston.
HDD: $169.99 - WD 500GB External - most of my space is taken up by MP3s and suchlike. USB is fine for this. I just need the space. One reviewer on Newegg complained that the HDD spins down when idle. That's not a bug for my use, that's a life-extending feature.
Video: $219.99 - The PowerColor X1950 Pro Mark reviewed the other day. I've got an old Antec server case, came with an Antec SL400 PSU, so my case is big enough and my PSU has the PCI-E power connector. Of course please recommend if I'm going to need a beefier PSU.
Audio: I've got some kind of Creative SB Audigy 2, which is fine for me for now. The MB comes with onboard sound, but the chip overheats and starts to stutter if you do anything like, say play Battlefield. The chip that I think is the audio chip is right under where the video card crosses the MB to get to the case, so cooling it would be a pain in the arse...
Monitor: Don't even know where to start. I'd like a 19" or 20" LCD, for $300 or so, I guess. Widescreen or no is fine, but I prefer that it be wide without sacrificing tall - those 19 and 20" widescreen's tend to be shorter, which I do not like. And of course, BF2142 supports widescreen only unofficially, so I'm not married to widescreen by any means. Gaming quality, right? Is this Sceptre thing any good?
That's about $1200-$1300, right, with maybe tax and shipping? I could get away with that for a good while, I think. Is any of that a waste for the MB I've got?
It wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit to just build a new rig, and the price on a decent Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD 64 X2 seems more reasonable. But I don't know what I'm comparing, right? I've heard lots good about dual core procs, and I know nothing about these Athlon 64 FX deals - the L2 cache looks sexy, but I dunno if it matters.
So. Should I run with the upgrade I outlined above? Are there other parts better for the money for the upgrade? Is the upgrade pointless at this point?
And if you say "new rig", AMD or Intel? ATI or NVIDIA?
I really am stuck here, and could use a pointer in the right direction. An excuse to get something new won't hurt my feelings, but I don't know what's good, and I worry that I'll get too expensive on a new rig, which is the reason I'm looking at an upgrade.
In the past I've built my PC based on whatever my employer was using for new builds - that has been a lot of AMD/ATI/MSI stuff. My current employer sells Dells, and I don't have the patience to tweak the Dells to the point of usability (can it be done without buying an actual XPS?). I never overclock, because by the time I get home from work, I'm done screwing with it. I seldom get the fastest with the mostest. So I'm considering my options, and I am going to need some direction. The base question is this: do I upgrade around my current MB, or do I build a new rig?
Current rig: 2 year old Athlon 64 3000+ on an MSI RS480M2-IL with a one year old MSI X800 Pro, 1 GB of Kingston PC2700 VR probably. I've got a 250GB HDD with only about 30GB free.
If I'm going to upgrade, this is one time that I'm just going to pack it in a bit max out the MB completely.
CPU: $239.00 - FX-55 (I'll assume that since it doesn't list them on the MB product page, I can't get anything like this in there).
RAM: $242.00 - Corsair XMS maybe (Corsair's website claims compatibility). Would just replace the Kingston.
HDD: $169.99 - WD 500GB External - most of my space is taken up by MP3s and suchlike. USB is fine for this. I just need the space. One reviewer on Newegg complained that the HDD spins down when idle. That's not a bug for my use, that's a life-extending feature.
Video: $219.99 - The PowerColor X1950 Pro Mark reviewed the other day. I've got an old Antec server case, came with an Antec SL400 PSU, so my case is big enough and my PSU has the PCI-E power connector. Of course please recommend if I'm going to need a beefier PSU.
Audio: I've got some kind of Creative SB Audigy 2, which is fine for me for now. The MB comes with onboard sound, but the chip overheats and starts to stutter if you do anything like, say play Battlefield. The chip that I think is the audio chip is right under where the video card crosses the MB to get to the case, so cooling it would be a pain in the arse...
Monitor: Don't even know where to start. I'd like a 19" or 20" LCD, for $300 or so, I guess. Widescreen or no is fine, but I prefer that it be wide without sacrificing tall - those 19 and 20" widescreen's tend to be shorter, which I do not like. And of course, BF2142 supports widescreen only unofficially, so I'm not married to widescreen by any means. Gaming quality, right? Is this Sceptre thing any good?
That's about $1200-$1300, right, with maybe tax and shipping? I could get away with that for a good while, I think. Is any of that a waste for the MB I've got?
It wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit to just build a new rig, and the price on a decent Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD 64 X2 seems more reasonable. But I don't know what I'm comparing, right? I've heard lots good about dual core procs, and I know nothing about these Athlon 64 FX deals - the L2 cache looks sexy, but I dunno if it matters.
So. Should I run with the upgrade I outlined above? Are there other parts better for the money for the upgrade? Is the upgrade pointless at this point?
And if you say "new rig", AMD or Intel? ATI or NVIDIA?
I really am stuck here, and could use a pointer in the right direction. An excuse to get something new won't hurt my feelings, but I don't know what's good, and I worry that I'll get too expensive on a new rig, which is the reason I'm looking at an upgrade.
