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System Upgrade Suggestions

W

w0lf42

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 18, 2002
Messages
77
I am looking to do a system upgrade and I am not sure what my best bang for my buck is. I do like a quiet system, so I am willing to spend a bit on noise reduction. I will most likely install Linux with the 2.6 kernel (which should take advantage of the Athlon 64).

My current system is:

Antec Sonata (with TruePower 380Watt ATX12V power supply, standard Antec 120mm fan, and Enermax Adjustable 120mm fan)
Epox 8K7A MB
AMD 1700+ CPU
Mushkin 1x256MB DDR PC 2100 and 1x512MB DDR PC2100 (Blue Line)
ATI RADEON 9800 PRO (cooled with a Zalman 80C-HP [with no fan])
IBM 100GB HD (not sure of the model)
Pioneer 106S DVD Rom
generic brand CD Burner
Click to expand...


My initial research made me think that I could just replace my MB, CPU (and cpu heatsink), and RAM:

Chaintech VNF3-250 nForce3 250 - $92
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 1MB - $270
Crucial 2x512MB DDR PC3200 CL=3 ECC - $250 + shipping
Thermalright SP-97 - $62.00
Click to expand...


For ~$675, that seems like a great upgrade. If anyone sees any better options that will give me a faster/quieter/more reliable/cheaper system, I would really appriciate it.

Thanks.
 
I have a friend who will probably be getting that Chaintech mobo. Anandtech.com likes it, and it certainly seems like a steal.

How old is your IBM HD? I've no problem with ATA, but some of these older drives simply act as a bottleneck. I've been dealing with upgrading some systems from the era of the debut of the PIII, and the HDs by today's standards are horrendus.

If you like quiet, I'd reccomend getting a Zalman heatsink, one of the CPNS-7000s. You can barely, I mean barely hear this thing with the Zalman running @ low speed and the rear 120 in my Sonata running on the fan-only connector. I have my 2.6C OCed to 3.2 - with the fan on high, load is 59C, with it on low, load is only 64C. (BTW - with the same HSF on high my load was 49C on an Asus mobo, so draw your own conclusions.) Not bad for silent. The tinny 9800 Pro fan is a bit annoying, but I'm ordering a VGA Silencer to rectify that.

Speaking of a VGA Silencer, I might as well ask others out there now - does it overclock well when turned down? Or do I have to crank it up to get decent cooling? My overclock, with the stock HSF on the VPU, is shown in my sig.
 
nice solid upgrade, chaintech mobo's are great, especially feature wise, and they look cool.

i could swear I saw a64 3200's on newegg for like 255 today. Maybe that was oem though, don't know if you like oem stuff. I usually buy all my cpu's oem, but my vid card's (especially ATI) retail, mostly cuz of warranty and extras.
 
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