Ok, after you get done laughing, then help me.....

E

EmptyWallet

Gawd
Joined
Jul 9, 2001
Messages
896
Alright, it's been over 3 years since I've touched this computer and since I'm going to attend school again, it's time for a refresh. Look at my sig, :eek: :( now, after you catch your breath from laughing, we can begin. :) I currently have around $1500 or so to spend upgrading this thing. Maybe more depending on how good of a deal I can get. Alot of things I can keep, such as the HDD's, well hell thats about it. I'm sure I'll need a new power supply. This is going to be mostly games/school/everything so I'm not really looking to skimp in any area. I do know I'd want a XT800 PE. I'm thinking maybe starting with a A64 3200+? Is that socket 939? Thats what I want correct? Gosh its been a LONG LONG time.......
 
I forgot to add that I have an 80gig 7200RPM 8meg drive sitting here, and I'd probably get one more HDD, so that will probably make a difference.
 
Whats the question?

I recommend a socket 939, its futureproof. If you want to spend all the money for a x800PE, go for it, but post benchmarks :D

I really, REALLY recommend upgrading your hard drives. Old drives have 2 meg cache and are slow as hell. I'm on that upgrade path, already got a raptor 36 gig drive for the system, WOW does it fly (cant get it to boot though, thanks asus)


/edit: seems you have overturned my hard drive ruling :p
 
Yup, also, I'm thinking of starting with a 3400+, seems like a good choice. Hmmm, lets see now to pick a flavor of MB. Damn, I just realized I still have PC133 Ram.......:hangs head in shame:.............Basically my question was help me get this damn computer back into shape with the $1500 I have (maybe more depending on what I can get for the money).
 
EmptyWallet said:
Yup, also, I'm thinking of starting with a 3400+, seems like a good choice. Hmmm, lets see now to pick a flavor of MB. Damn, I just realized I still have PC133 Ram.......:hangs head in shame:.............Basically my question was help me get this damn computer back into shape with the $1500 I have (maybe more depending on what I can get for the money).
Click to expand...


oh you definitly can do it for 1500.

I recommend a gig of RAM. you need PC3200 I believe. Brand doesnt matter much. Do you plan on OCing this? Dont :p They dont much at this point in time.
 
Overclocking is not REALLY that big of a deal to me, unless its really worth it, like, almost gettting to the next rated chip for the price of a lower one, know waht I mean? Socket 939 is the way to go right? Hmmmmmm....That 939 CPU I linked you too up there, good deal or no? Its 939, however it only has 512kb of L2 cache..................
 
EmptyWallet said:
Overclocking is not REALLY that big of a deal to me, unless its really worth it, like, almost gettting to the next rated chip for the price of a lower one, know waht I mean? Socket 939 is the way to go right? Hmmmmmm....That 939 CPU I linked you too up there, good deal or no? Its 939, however it only has 512kb of L2 cache..................
Click to expand...

Didnt even see the link :p

cache doesnt matter at all nowadays, what does matter is the PR. in the future I can see more cache, lower freq being more desirable, when OCing comes back into play as being major. For now, you can probabily get to the next chip without much trouble (assuming you have a locked PCI/AGP bus, hint: nforce3 doesnt), but you might need more than stock cooling.
 
Get yourself a Socket 754 system. Athlon XP 3200 or 3400 with 1mb L2 cache, 2x36 WD Raptors (in RAID 0 array - main boot drive), 1x160 (or bigger) HD for main storage, some decent ram (512mb or greater) and a Radeon 9800 Pro. Have some money left over to party with at school! :)
 
At this point, I've partied my way through the last 3 years, and thats gotten me to the point I'm at now. I'd much rather get out of school, than begin to be a candidate for the real life version of the movie "Old School". See what I'm getting at? Money is not totally the problem here. However I can't justify spending $800 on a CPU however. :p :)
 
Don't bother with s939, it's way too immature, and more trouble than it's worth atm. In a year, when 2nd or 3d generation chipsets come out for it, you can consider s939. XTPE = Ripoff. Unfortunately you can no longer mod your Pro to an XT either. At which point I would recommend 6800GT or X800XT OEM AGP version. You could overclock the GT to Ultra speeds, and it already has everything exact same as Ultra. Which makes it a great buy for the money. X800Pro could be unlocked to turn it into an XT, but I don't think you can do that anymore; only with the first cores. So, anyway, what you should get should be:
- A64 3200+ (1MB 2GHz version, not 512K 2.2GHz. Clawhammer core) Around $280
- or A64 3400+ (1MB 2.2GHz version, not 512K 2.4GHz !!) Around $400
Personally, I think the 3400 is a waste, since it doesn't oc any better than a 3200.
- Motherboard. MSI k8n neo platinum Around $140, or the chaintech nf3 250 board; $100
- RAM. You could get BH-5 off e-bay (around $400 for a gig), or maybe on these forums. You could get BH-6 for about (Mushkin 222 special) ~$300 a gig. You could get Corsair XL for about $320 a gig. You could get OCZ EB 3500/3700 for about $275 a gig. All are great choices, I'll leave it up to you to decide which one you will go for.
- HDD's I recommend making a RAID 0 array with two raptors. Use your 80 gig drive for backup, or something. Depending on how much money you got left, you can either buy 2x 36gig Raptors, or 2x74gig Raptors. The former is about $110, latter being about $210.
- Video card - already mentioned it. Either $420, or $540, the XT being more expensive. The XTPT is even more expensive, for no good reason. You could just flash a normal XT to PE and be happy.
- You can get a good PSU from $75 to $120. You should get no less than 480W and no more than 550W
- The rest of the money can be spent on cooling, and optical drives, if you need them. Optical drives will cost you about $120 for good dvdrw and dvdrom; and good aircooling will cost you around as much. You could go water for a little more; about $250.
 
Cool Beans. The power supply was something I'm def thinking about. So on the VC from ATI. We got the X800 Pro, then X800XT, then X800XT PE? Your saying to get the X800XT? and move it up to PE speeds? I've got one vote for socket 939, and one against. Anyone? that 3200+ with the 1meg of L2 looks like a winner, however I'm sure there are other options.
 
I vote for the 754 solution. Spending the extra money for upgrade insurance for 939 is kinda dumb in my opinion, as DDR2 is going to require a new motherboard and processor anyways. The extra L2 cache is more effective than the extra ram bandwidth in most apps anyways.

Check the Hotdeals section of this forum. I just picked up an X800 Pro for $329, and the deal is still going as far as I know. It should be plenty of power for the upcoming game titles.
 
754's fine if you plan on upgrading in 6 months, as in getting a new motherboard. if not, dont bother. just dont. you wont be able to get much higher than whats out for 754 right now.

IF you want to go 754 and save some cash, go for this deal:

http://images10.newegg.com/uploadFilesForNewegg/farcry.htm

on the bottom, proc and mobo and farcry for 223. granted its 'only' a 2800+ but thats a huge upgrade for what youre coming from :p
 
That's not a good board. It lacks bus locks. You need something with nForce 3 250 or 250Gb (the latter has some extra features everybody likes, but nobody uses). Examples would be MSI k8n neo platinum, or Chaintech znf3-250 pro zenith. I've heard some bad things about the Chaintech board, but I've only heard good things about the MSI. Plus, MSI used badass jet-black pcb for it :D :D :D
 
Epox EP-8KDA3+
Epox EP-8KDA3J
Chaintech VNF-250Gb
are the best AMD64 overclocking boards on the market right now (all available on newegg). I've also heard the MSI K8N Neo Platinium OC's fairly well (probably be better as bios updates come out). The epox and msi are not in the farcry promotion however.
 
I've never had an Nforce chipset, only VIA and the like. Could you explain whats so great? Are there any drawbacks?
 
"You only need to know one thing. VIA sucks! That leaves you with nForce."

A VIA K8T800 chipset will easily defeat an Nforce 3 -150 chipset in most benchmarks and there's no stability problems with it that I know of. I've had both chipsets, and honestly the VIA was better than the Nforce 3 - 150 chipset I have now. Going to be upgrading to the Nforce 3 -250gb though as the K8T800 Pro chipset is nowhere to be found as of yet.
 
EmptyWallet said:
What about that:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-416&depa=0

Plus:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-165&depa=0

Or should I pick a different motherboard?

On that CPU, (3200+) I'm guessing I could clock it to 3400 or 3700 speeds?
Click to expand...

I personally would go with the Gigabyte motherboard. Gigabyte boards are one of the most stable boards that you can get plus it's an nForce3-250 chipset board. That combo would make for a very nice, reasonably priced system. The 939 pin stuff will have to wait unless you have $$ to burn.
 
Get the MSI K8N Neo Platinum mobo. I just got mine, and so far it's awesome!
 
Lol, I'm finally buying a new rig after 3.5 years of my

Athlon 1.4ghz tbird
512 megs of pc133 sdram
30 gig harddrive
soundblaster live value
and a blazing 12/10/32 cdrw drive

Sitting beside me I have a

A64 3400+ clawhammer (CG rev)
120 gig seagate 7200.7 hd
soundblaster audigy zs
zalman 7000A hsf

Im just trying to decide on a motherboard (cant decide between MSI K8N NEO platinum or epox's new 8KDA3J) and memory (leaning towards kingston hyperx 3500)
 
I heard that the MSI K8N NEO nforce 3 250gb is sweet and AMD has said they will stick by 754s in the future.
 
freeloader1969 said:
"You only need to know one thing. VIA sucks! That leaves you with nForce."

A VIA K8T800 chipset will easily defeat an Nforce 3 -150 chipset in most benchmarks and there's no stability problems with it that I know of. I've had both chipsets, and honestly the VIA was better than the Nforce 3 - 150 chipset I have now. Going to be upgrading to the Nforce 3 -250gb though as the K8T800 Pro chipset is nowhere to be found as of yet.
Click to expand...


How does the K8t800 Pro compare to the Nforce 3 250 though? Was that a 150 in there that you mentioned or a typo? That MSI Neo board looks like it might be my ticket. Hmmmm.
 
Surly said:
Lol, I'm finally buying a new rig after 3.5 years of my

Athlon 1.4ghz tbird
512 megs of pc133 sdram
30 gig harddrive
soundblaster live value
and a blazing 12/10/32 cdrw drive

Sitting beside me I have a

A64 3400+ clawhammer (CG rev)
120 gig seagate 7200.7 hd
soundblaster audigy zs
zalman 7000A hsf

Im just trying to decide on a motherboard (cant decide between MSI K8N NEO platinum or epox's new 8KDA3J) and memory (leaning towards kingston hyperx 3500)
Click to expand...

Your kinda in the same boat as me then, with some hardware from the same generation. Kudos!! I think I'm going to go with a 3200+ though, and try and get to 3400 speeds. I would imagine your shooting for 3700 speeds?
 
freeloader1969 said:
"You only need to know one thing. VIA sucks! That leaves you with nForce."

A VIA K8T800 chipset will easily defeat an Nforce 3 -150 chipset in most benchmarks and there's no stability problems with it that I know of. I've had both chipsets, and honestly the VIA was better than the Nforce 3 - 150 chipset I have now. Going to be upgrading to the Nforce 3 -250gb though as the K8T800 Pro chipset is nowhere to be found as of yet.
Click to expand...


If you are looking for a good K8T800 Pro Board... check this link at newegg...

ABIT "KV8 Pro" K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard for AMD Athlon64 CPU

-R
 
EmptyWallet said:
I've never had an Nforce chipset, only VIA and the like. Could you explain whats so great? Are there any drawbacks?
Click to expand...

my nforce2 chipset is awesome but ive heard issues with the nforce3, most obviously the lack of WORKING PCI and AGP lock. how you could mess that up is beyond me.
 
EmptyWallet said:
Your kinda in the same boat as me then, with some hardware from the same generation. Kudos!! I think I'm going to go with a 3200+ though, and try and get to 3400 speeds. I would imagine your shooting for 3700 speeds?
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm hoping that a simple 10% overclock should will be easy and hassle free. I just want 2.4 ghz and thats it...
 
kronchev said:
Whats the question?

I recommend a socket 939, its futureproof. If you want to spend all the money for a x800PE, go for it, but post benchmarks :D

I
Click to expand...

Come on, if there's anything everybody here knows, it's that nothing is future-proof. What will you say when the future comes and people are throwing away socket 939 boards for the latest socket X board?

It's true that since socket 939 is just now available that there will be more upgrades for it in the near future, but just like Super Socket 7, it will eventually pass.

Don't take this the wrong way, I'm sure you mean future-proof for the near future, and that's what most people read it as. It's just that blanket statements like that tend to draw my ire because of the fallability of being able to predict the future. Don't take it personally :D
 
Look at my wishlist HERE .... remove the 400$ hdd and BAM... your done. There is a lot of research in that configuration. You can change the processor to a 3200+ if you wish and maybe upgrade the X800 PRO to an XT or whatever. But that is just a waste in my opinion, you dont get that much more from an XT, and the PRO overclocks well I hear. Don't get the 939, not worth it.
 
if you plan on upgrading right now, dont bother with s939. it probably won't become a very realistic solution in terms of performance/cost until late 2004/early 2005.

the 3200+ clawhammer athlon 64 is a good decision, an oc to atleast 2.2ghz (3400+ speed) should be very possible.

right now the only card really available at its MSRP from the r420/nv40 series is the x800 pro (this will change in the next 2-3weeks). it really depends on how you like to game, in terms of AA/AF levels and resolution. For many people a 9800pro should be more than ample, and it is a great deal at only ~$220.
 
Abit KV8 Pro is a terrible board. It has more bug-- erm, I mean "undocumented features" than documented ones.
 
Heres what i went with which is on the way by fed ex as we speak:

i dont care bout case I just saw that it had a 420W psu and bought it at newegg it was 40 bucks

A64 3200+ $280
visiontech x800 pro $329 (good luck finding this offer again :p)
MSI K8N Neo PE $137
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

just pick up some mem and maybe a lil extra cooling and you gota lot of money left for stuff you need in college.....

like beer
 
I got my A64 for free :p. It's a 3200+ ClawHammer brown PCB :eek: revision "CG". It's also the same exact stepping as the 3400+ Mobile chip in the Newegg picture. Guess I got one of the good ones eh :D
 
M4d-K10wN said:
Abit KV8 Pro is a terrible board. It has more bug-- erm, I mean "undocumented features" than documented ones.
Click to expand...


The only problems that I have heard of thus far was the lack of the lock on the bus... that should be fixed in the next bios...


If he's not OCing then there should be no problem.

-R
 
Oh, trust me there's many more than that. And it's not the BIOS that causes problems. Bus lock works with BIOS 14... just for 20% of the boards. And they are all random revisions, so if that doesn't point at VIA, I don't know what would. And then again, there are many more issues than that. Try reading Abit's own forum under "VIA-based socket 754 motherboards".

Oh, and to OP - 2.4GHz should be easily attainable. Make sure you have ram that can handle it though. OCZ EL 3200 Limited Platinum Edition or Mushkin 222 Special are great BH-6 sticks. You could also get BH-5, but that's really expensive & hard to find. You could also get OCZ EB 3500/3700, great ocers, although timings aren't that great. You could also try Corsair XL, but Samsung TCCD chips aren't great overclokers. Sure, you could stay at stock voltage the whole time, but adding more will have no effect. Other than a chance to fry your CPU's memory controller.
 
Flocke said:
visiontech x800 pro $329 (good luck finding this offer again :p)
Click to expand...

actually i heard frys outpost wont actually be shipping their visiontek x800's for awhile, july something i think
 
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