Upgrading my old computer -- Looking for thoughts/suggestions

S

Signal

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
295
I have a computer that I built for my freshmen year of college in Fall 2004 and I'm looking to upgrade a few things on it and I was wondering if anyone could answer my questions and if anyone had any suggestions or thoughts on what I was planning.

Computer's Current Specs:
- Asus P4P800-E Deluxe
- Pentium 4 3.0GHz
- 1024 MB DDR400 (512 x 2)
- 200GB Seagate HDD
- XFX GeForce FX 5600XT 128MB (AGP 8x)
- I think the power supply is around 400W.
- Windows XP Pro

As far as what the computer is used for, I mainly use it for web browsing, office applications, Photoshop work, multimedia, and some CAD things (I'm an engineering student). I rarely play PC games since I have the Xbox360/PS3/Wii; however, I am buying a 40" Samsung 1080p LCD after Christmas which this computer will be hooked up to and I see where Windows now has support for the Xbox360 controllers so I might be inclined to play some PC games in the future. I also might like to get a video capture card and use this computer as a DVR in the future.



So as far as what I plan on upgrading: I need more hard drive space, a new video card, another gigabyte of ram would be nice, a keyboard, and two 80mm fans to replace the old ones in there.

This is what I've came up with:
- Thermaltake 80mm ball bearing fan x 2
- Ultra 512MB DDR 400 ram x 2 (same brand as already in there)
- Nice USB Logitech keyboard
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320gb hdd
- EVGA GeForce 7600GT GT Superclocked, AGP 8x 512MB DDR2

All that is going to come up to about $340 shipped to me. $350 is about all I'm willing to spend since I'd just like to make this computer last a few more years before I just build a brand new one.



Here's a few questions:

1. Anything wrong with any of the products I listed that I should know about?

2. My current hard drive is not a SATA drive so I picked another IDE drive. My mobo does support SATA though, should I buy a SATA drive instead or just keep both the same?

3. When buying RAM, should all the sticks be the same size? Because if I buy a one gigabyte stick instead of the two 512's I have listed I would have room for another gigabyte later down the road -- or is that not good?


Thanks for reading/helping if you made it this far :). I figured if I was thorough in the first post I might not have to answer a bunch of questions before people can respond :p.
 
2) Go with a SATA300 drive since your board supports SATA. Despite the controller being only SATA150, the SATA300 drive will work. Stick with the same Seagate drive, just the SATA version.

3) You'll need matching pairs for dual channel operation. So, if you want to keep it in dual channel, get two of whichever sticks you decide on.


As far as upgrading such an old system, I don't think its worth it. I'd tough it out with 1GB and just buy the HDD. DDR ram is so overpriced that I don't think its worth it unless you can find a deal to price it the same as DDR2. Since you don't game, don't bother upgrading the vidcard. The SATA HDD could at least be brought over to your new system when you do an overhaul.
 
Well the thing is I have to buy a new video card since the old one is dying. I would also like something that supports 1920x1080 and will be able to play divx videos smoothly for the new TV I am buying. Is the card I listed overkill? It's only like a $120 so it didn't seem that much more than the less powerful cards I looked at.

Also the extra gig of ram is going to be about $60, that's overpriced?

Thanks for the tip on the hard drive :).
 
Signal said:
Well the thing is I have to buy a new video card since the old one is dying. I would also like something that supports 1920x1080 and will be able to play divx videos smoothly for the new TV I am buying. Is the card I listed overkill? It's only like a $120 so it didn't seem that much more than the less powerful cards I looked at.

Also the extra gig of ram is going to be about $60, that's overpriced?

Thanks for the tip on the hard drive :).
Click to expand...

When you can get 4GB of DDR2 for $75, yes, 1GB DDR for $60 is overpriced. But, if you're comfortable with that price, go for it.

The vidcard won't help you with viewing HD video content. You'll need a GeForce 8 gen card, or a Radeon HD 2 or 3 series card instead. Here, this should be good:

$113 - Sapphire 100219L Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X HDCP Ready
 
Compared to what you paid for your first dimms, you're probably thrilled at the price. I agree - your system is plenty powerful enough to do all of the things you're already doing. If you've got the upgrade bug, why don't you try cleaning your registry or reformatting? What makes you think the video card is dying?

Just read your resolution issue - The 2600XT would be my choice, too. You should be able to play new games at reasonable settings if you get that going. Pushing your system at high settings at your native resolution might be difficult, though since you're a casual gamer, it shouldn't be a problem.
 
enginurd said:
When you can get 4GB of DDR2 for $75, yes, 1GB DDR for $60 is overpriced. But, if you're comfortable with that price, go for it.

The vidcard won't help you with viewing HD video content. You'll need a GeForce 8 gen card, or a Radeon HD 2 or 3 series card instead. Here, this should be good:

$113 - Sapphire 100219L Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X HDCP Ready
Click to expand...

Wow, I didn't realize DDR2 ram was so cheap :eek:. I think I will go with that video card you posted, and everything but the ram and see how it goes from there. Thanks :).

As for the upgrade bug, this computer was reformatted within the past few months. I've been wanting more hard drive space for a while now and my nice keyboard died today so I have to order some new parts regardless. If I'm already ordering a few parts, a few more wouldn't hurt :p.

Any ideas on possibly using this for some DVR duty? Are there any video capture cards out there with a decent price to performance ratio, preferably ones that support HD?


Edit: The video card is just crappy. The fan has died on it twice and recently it's been acting a little screwy as far as the output goes. $120 for a new, nicer card, that supports HD resolutions for my new TV doesn't seem like that big an expense so I just figured I would get a new one.
 
enginurd said:
$113 - Sapphire 100219L Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X HDCP Ready
Click to expand...

I was looking on newegg today and saw that the same company has a 512MB card that costs less than the 256MB card. Why is that? The only difference I see is one says GDDR3 and one says GDDR2. Should I stick with the 256MB card or buy the larger one since it's cheaper anyway?

:confused:
 
Signal said:
I was looking on newegg today and saw that the same company has a 512MB card that costs less than the 256MB card. Why is that? The only difference I see is one says GDDR3 and one says GDDR2. Should I stick with the 256MB card or buy the larger one since it's cheaper anyway?

:confused:
Click to expand...

The one you linked is the 2600Pro. The larger memory doesnt make up for the slower clocks against the XT. I guess you could get the Pro and OC it if you like. I don't think the 512MB card has much edge over the 256MB card (the card's performance is GPU limited, not memory limited), though I may be wrong. Someone will correct me if I am, lol. I'd go for the XT.
 
The 2600 series is too weak to utilize more than 256MB of RAM. However, the there is a significant drop in performance from 2600XT to 2600PRO. You can also buy the X1950GT, which overclocks to PRO speeds.
Read the following articles to compare:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/powercolor-hd2600pro.html (compare 512MB Powercolor vs regular 256MB ATI)
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3023&p=1
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/radeon_hd_2600_performance_preview/default.asp

Bear in mind that your 3.0GHz P4 will limit performance, so at least try overclocking it if possible. I found 3 cheap coolers that might be of help but I don't know how they compare against each other:
$17 - Open Box: GIGABYTE GH-PDU22-SC EVR Sleeve CPU Cooler
$20 - Scythe SCKTN-2000 100mm Sleeve "Katana 2" CPU Cooler - Retail
$24 - Open Box: GIGABYTE GH-PCU23-VE 92mm Ball CPU Cooler
 
How old is your computer and how much longer do you want it to last? Because now would be a good time to build a new system, lol. Otherwise, if you want to get another 1.5yrs out of it, go with the upgrades listed. Then, Intel should be launching some new tech in early '09/ late '08.
 
enginurd said:
How old is your computer and how much longer do you want it to last? Because now would be a good time to build a new system, lol. Otherwise, if you want to get another 1.5yrs out of it, go with the upgrades listed. Then, Intel should be launching some new tech in early '09/ late '08.
Click to expand...

I built it in the fall of 2004 I'm hoping this computer will last me another three years, seeing as I have about two years of school left (yes, that's more than your average four years at college because I'm a double major :p). I've got other hobbies that I'd much rather dump money into, so upgrading for less than $400 is more appealing to me than building a whole new computer. Especially since I will want to build a really nice computer when I start my career after college as I will have more funds than what I get now working two or three summer jobs.

Thank you for clearing up the confusion I had about the video card. I will definitely go with the XT then.

Abu Som3a, I know how to assemble a computer and reformat and all that good stuff but I don't know anything about overclocking. Should I seriously consider doing it if I'm not a big gamer and internet/office/watching divx/some CAD work is all that I do? Will it shorten life expectancy? Because like I mentioned I would like to run this one for at least three more years.

Oh and BIG thanks to everyone who has helped :) :)
 
You can sell your computer for say $150-200 and add that to your budget. With $500 you can build a much better system.
 
I don't think OC'ing a P4 yields as much benefit as one would hope. But, its a good way to squeeze some performance out of what you've got. Though, I second the idea of selling your old stuff and buying new stuff, since an $85 Pentium Dual Core E2160 1.8Ghz can outperform your P4C 3.0Ghz easily. ;)

Just to give you an idea of how much you'd need for a new core:

$95 - HIS Hightech H260XTF256DDN-R Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB ($10MIR)
$43 - A-DATA 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2-800 ADQVE1A16K ($10MIR)
$80 - Intel Dual-Core E2160 Allendale 1.8GHz 1MB L2
$75 - WD Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200RPM SATA300 8MB Cache
$97 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX
$2 - Yate Loon 80mm Case Fan - D80SL-12 - Low Speed
$2 - Yate Loon 80mm Case Fan - D80SL-12 - Low Speed
===========
$394 + tax and shipping - $20 in MIRs

Oh look, its under $400! Oh... but no new keyboard. Ask for a new keyboard from Santa! :p
 
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