Ressurecting a P4

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drewcwsj

n00b
Joined
Aug 2, 2009
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4
I've got an old P4 system with a Soyo p4i875p Dragon Platinum motherboard that has just died. I'd like to resurrect it as cheaply as possible. I want to be able to do some basic gaming - Civ4, Command and Conquer, Oblivion etc. Here is what I have:

Soyo p4i875p Dragon Platinum motherboard - Dead
P4 2.8 Ghz
2x512MB Geil DDR400 CL2.6-3-3
Radeon 9800SE w/ 128MB
Full Tower Case w/ four case fans
Turbolink 420ATX-12V 420 Watt ATX Supply
2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120GB
WD Caviar SE WD2500 250GB IDE
Plextor PX116A DVD Drive with IDE
3.5" Floppy
Acer G24 24" 1920x1200 Monitor (just bought)

A motherboard swap seems easiest but all newegg has is one socket 478 board

BIOSTAR P4M900M4 478 VIA P4M900 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

It doesn't have AGP or support DDR memory. It does have integrated S3 Chrome graphics but I don't think it can handle my LCD.

Here are my thoughts:
Option 1 - get the biostar board, 2GB of DDR2 and a decent PCI Express graphics controller. Probably get a new power supply just to be safe. I'll take suggestions on anything but want to get everything ordered ASAP.

$54.99 Biostar P4M900M4
$26.99 Crucial 2GB DDR2
$39.99 MSI N94GT-MD512 GeForce 9400 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Optional $29.99 CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS

Total $120.97 (free shipping too) or $149.96 with PSU

Option 2 - Spend a few bucks more and step up to a phenom or E7400. Definitely have to replace the supply. Am I nuts trying to save a P4???


Thanks for any and all suggestions,

Drew
 
I have a socket 775 board with DDR/DDR2 support with AGP for sale. Cheap pm if interested.
 
Well the two above posters have brought forth tow very good options: buy a used mobo for roughly $30. That's all I would spend on an old P4 setup.

But if you want something new, just go get a new setup. You can do it for rather cheap these days:
$113 - AMD Athlon II X2 245 CPU + ZOTAC GF8200-D-E AM2+/AM3 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard Combo
$46 - Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) CT2KIT25664AA800 DDR2 800 RAM
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
--
Total: $209 plus tax and shipping.

Try out the onboard video and see if it's to your liking. If not, then go ahead and get a GPU.
 
So I went for the upgrade - just ordered everything from the egg:

Phenom II 550 Black Edition
ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO Motherboard
4GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600
Corsair 400CX Pwr Supply

Also got a CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000 - but from Amazon as I am Prime there and get free 2-day shipping


All in for a little under $500

Thanks for the input!!
 
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