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I am planning on upgrading my current Athlon XP system. So far I think I've made some pretty solid choices but I'd like to list the parts that I am planning on using in the new system to have more peace of mind that everything will come out clean after I shell out this chunk of cash. I will be using this system for gaming, multimedia, minor video editing, minor photoshopping, internet browsing, and pretty much anything else you could use a workstation for, but those are just the main criteria.
The complete system will include:
CPU - Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or Opteron 165 ( Opteron will OC better, but 3800+ is better if i'm not OCing, haven't decided which road I'm taking yet)
Motherboard -ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
RAM - My current system has Qty2 512MB sticks of cosair XMS PC3200 CL2, the new system will use this until I can afford to add Qty2 1GB sticks of Corsair XMS PC3200 CL2, therefore in the end having 3GB of RAM.
Primary HDDS - Qty4 Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10,000RPM SATA Drives in RAID-0 ( I already have 2 of these in RAID-0 in use for running applications and my OS from, I need 2 more for the extra space and the added performance of 4 drives in RAID-0, I do plan to have backups/images of this drive because of the potential failure of this array)
Storage HDDs - Qty2 Western Digital 250GB 7,200RPM SATA (Used for storage, no RAID will be used, drives are seperate.)
GPU - 7800GT (I've looked at the XFX and the BFGTech versions, both look good. At first I will only get one card, but I do plan to do SLI down the road. So I want to make sure the card I purchase will be available 6months-1year from now.)
Sound Card - Currently I have a Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum, when I do this upgrade I am not sure if I am going to install this card because it has given me problems in the past and seems like it might be a hassle, I might just use the onboard sound from the A8N-SLI until I can budget one of the new X-Fi cards.
TV Card - Hauppauge WINTV401 PCI (This card is in my current system and I plan on using it in the new one.)
Power Supply - My current PSU is an Antec NeoPower 480watt. I will have to use this PSU in the new system at first becuse I can't budget a new one right now, but down the road I plan on getting a new one. I've calculated the current PSU at being loaded to about 390 watts, which is getting close to the max, I think this PSU should be able to handle the new system for a while but I do plan to upgrade to a PCPowerAndCooling PSU ASAP, I'm pretty sure the 510watt Turbocool should be able to handle the new system, but I might go with the turbocool 850 or the new 1000 because it will give me more upgrade headroom, but only if I can addord it.
I know that's a long list, but hopefully all you smart guys can give me some suggestions or let me know of any compatibility issues you see with these parts. Thanks in advance for your help.
The complete system will include:
CPU - Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or Opteron 165 ( Opteron will OC better, but 3800+ is better if i'm not OCing, haven't decided which road I'm taking yet)
Motherboard -ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
RAM - My current system has Qty2 512MB sticks of cosair XMS PC3200 CL2, the new system will use this until I can afford to add Qty2 1GB sticks of Corsair XMS PC3200 CL2, therefore in the end having 3GB of RAM.
Primary HDDS - Qty4 Western Digital Raptor 36.7GB 10,000RPM SATA Drives in RAID-0 ( I already have 2 of these in RAID-0 in use for running applications and my OS from, I need 2 more for the extra space and the added performance of 4 drives in RAID-0, I do plan to have backups/images of this drive because of the potential failure of this array)
Storage HDDs - Qty2 Western Digital 250GB 7,200RPM SATA (Used for storage, no RAID will be used, drives are seperate.)
GPU - 7800GT (I've looked at the XFX and the BFGTech versions, both look good. At first I will only get one card, but I do plan to do SLI down the road. So I want to make sure the card I purchase will be available 6months-1year from now.)
Sound Card - Currently I have a Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum, when I do this upgrade I am not sure if I am going to install this card because it has given me problems in the past and seems like it might be a hassle, I might just use the onboard sound from the A8N-SLI until I can budget one of the new X-Fi cards.
TV Card - Hauppauge WINTV401 PCI (This card is in my current system and I plan on using it in the new one.)
Power Supply - My current PSU is an Antec NeoPower 480watt. I will have to use this PSU in the new system at first becuse I can't budget a new one right now, but down the road I plan on getting a new one. I've calculated the current PSU at being loaded to about 390 watts, which is getting close to the max, I think this PSU should be able to handle the new system for a while but I do plan to upgrade to a PCPowerAndCooling PSU ASAP, I'm pretty sure the 510watt Turbocool should be able to handle the new system, but I might go with the turbocool 850 or the new 1000 because it will give me more upgrade headroom, but only if I can addord it.
I know that's a long list, but hopefully all you smart guys can give me some suggestions or let me know of any compatibility issues you see with these parts. Thanks in advance for your help.