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partial or full upgrade?

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crazjayz

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
Messages
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So another semester of college has finished and now I'm looking to fill the stopgap known as summer with some "new" computer tech. At school, I've been using a dell lappy with a 1.86Ghz Core Duo (NOT Core2Duo), slow 5400 rpm hard drive, and a usable, but non-gameable 128mb ATI x1400. At home, I have a S939 AMD 4400+ and A8N-SLI deluxe just lying around from a old build, but it's missing a psu, hard drive, and video card. I was just wondering if it was worth it to use the 4400 and just buy a 9600gt, 500-600w psu, and a (veloci)raptor. The computer will be used for light to medium gaming, possible video encoding (nothing overly serious), and just the day today email, word, watching movies. I guess my question is, should I get a new cpu and mobo along with the video card, psu, and hard drive, or is a 4400+ okay? I'm looking for this to be equal or greater in speed compared to the 1.86 Core Duo of the dell. THANKS!
 
X2 4400+ is fine for a 9600GT. Just overclock the CPU as much as possible if you haven't done so already.
 
PS: You can find great deals on the Corsair 750W powersupply. Anywhere from $85 to $100 before taxes and shipping, using a small Mail-In-Rebate. I got mine for $95, with an included $10 MIR that I need to send in. Not a bad deal, when you start price shopping.

Let me see if I can find the link...
Here it is.
Although the price is different... Well, you get the idea.
 
that cpu should be fine for now, games like cod4 are mainly gpu dependent. Heres what I would reccomend

gpu: MSI N9600GT-T2D512 GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 $139.99 after mir
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127355

psu: CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply $59.99(after $10 mir)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003

hd: Western Digital Caviar SE16 400GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136076

You should be rocking along nicely with this. Just make sure you have 2 gigs of ram to keep the system happy!

GL!
 
I'm gonna agree here. Your CPU is fine. Newer titles, especially at higher resolutions are GPU bound. You'll be able to get a lot more power out of your system in games if you get a strong video card. Overclocking your processor is an option, just make sure you have decent aftermarket cooling.

Another thing you mentioned was getting a raptor. The new VP drives are $300 and 300Gb. With your system, I think you'd be better off with a quick SATA drive. The 2 platter 6400AAKS is quick and very popular. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218
 
Or the single platter WD3200AAKS would be nice, too. I agree that a 4400+ X2 is fine for a 9600GT, and hossdaddy has some great recommendations, too.
 
Thanks guys for all the responses. Cloudy, the only reason I mentioned a raptor is because of their snappiness. I'm not doing any serious number crunching or rendering, thus hardcore cpu's and gpu's aren't required, but I'd like the near instant response of a really fast hard drive. But, seeing then how the most expensive part would be my hard drive :rolleyes: maybe I'll just go with a less expensive and larger capacity drive.

Once again, thanks guys for the response. Looks like I'll be sticking to my old desktop parts for another couple months. By the way, I know everyone's been saying the 4400+ is fine for today's games and whatnot, but how does it compare to the 1.86 Core Duo?
 
crazjayz said:
By the way, I know everyone's been saying the 4400+ is fine for today's games and whatnot, but how does it compare to the 1.86 Core Duo?
Click to expand...

Core Duo is about equal to X2 A64 clock for clock in gaming. In media encoding, Core Duo is about 10% faster than X2 A64 clock for clock.
 
Toaster Oven said:
Core Duo is about equal to X2 A64 clock for clock in gaming. In media encoding, Core Duo is about 10% faster than X2 A64 clock for clock.
Click to expand...

Thanks Toaster Oven! So it seems that my stock 2.2 4400+ would be faster than my 1.86 Core Duo. NICE!
 
Wait are you talking about the Core Duo CPU for laptops or are you mixing up Core Duo with Core 2 Duo?
 
crazjayz said:
Thanks guys for all the responses. Cloudy, the only reason I mentioned a raptor is because of their snappiness. I'm not doing any serious number crunching or rendering, thus hardcore cpu's and gpu's aren't required, but I'd like the near instant response of a really fast hard drive...
Click to expand...

Actually, the new 320GB platter WD drives are as fast on data throughput as the older Raptors. To go faster now, you would have to get a new VelociyRaptor.
 
ok guys last time I checked the hd will only impact the load times and has nothing to do with the game play experience. Am I correct here?
 
hossdaddy said:
ok guys last time I checked the hd will only impact the load times and has nothing to do with the game play experience. Am I correct here?
Click to expand...

Well, games can't load everything they need into memory all at once, and have to swap at times. So the hard drive would have an impact at these times. If the O/S also needs to swap at the same time, then the hard drive will have the most impact. If you put the O/S on one drive, and the game on another, you'll get two heads seeking instead of one.
 
Just to let you guys know, I decided to keep my mobo and 4400+. I got a Samsung Spinpoint F1 750GB, evga 9600GT superclocked, Corsair 520HX, and these will all be going in a Lian Li A05b. The hard drive, video, power, and case came out to near $500 exact, so I feel that I was a pretty solid upgrade.
 
pics would be nice, too... despite us having seen so many all the time, we never get sick of 'em.
 
I got the parts last week and I'm currently setting it up and fiddling with the settings to get it fast and stable. Sadly though, I didn't take any unboxing pictures and whatnot, so you guys will just have to imagine the excitement I had, hehe =) Otherwise, I'll try to get a hold of my girlfriend's camera and snap some final product pictures. Once again, thanks for the comments and all the help guys!
 
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