Upgrading PC Advice

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Anime_Fan

[H]ard|Gawd
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Mar 1, 2004
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Ok my current system (in sig) I built for very cheap after getting the cpu + mobo and case free. I just got divorced and was forced to pretty much get rid of all my stuff so I am starting from scratch. Anyway I got this system up and running and its a pretty decent cheap little box :) Well I have some parts I found after I moved for sale and should have enough $$$ to get some upgrades in the works. I need some suggestions here: It seems that PCI Express will be here to stay for a while, I have considered getting an sli ready board but that is just going to be to cost prohibitive. It looks like there is some dual gpu cards in the near future anyway so I am kind of waivering now on sli. So I should have about 350 - 400 worth of upgrades soon. I am thinking this sounds the best to me

MSI K8N Neo4 mobo - $85
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice - $145
6600 GT - $160-170

Perhaps an intel upgrade path is better? Is one decent enough for gaming under 400? Ideas are welcome :)
 
My suggestion is to go with the Socket 939 AMDs and try to make your new rig as futureproof as you can afford to. If you can transfer your RAM and your HDD then that will be a good start for your rig. Get a board that has at least one PCI-E x16 slot (I haven't seen anything that uses the x1 PCI-E slots yet, so make sure you have 2-3 regular PCI slots on your board for sound cards/TV tuners/etc.) but I would recommend not getting an SLI-based mobo unless you are a really hardcore gamer. The performance increase in games is there with an SLI board, but in my opinion, it's not enough to justify the costs of buying an additional (identical) video card.

For what you are trying to do (if I got it correctly, that is to make a cheap gaming box that can easily be upgraded in the future), Intel wouldn't be a good fit right now. You would have to make the decision on what chipset that you'd want -- either 915 for "budget" (not really, but it's the cheapest of the current-generation Intel chipsets), 925 for 64-bit computing, or the new 945/955 chipsets for the dual-core processors. Plus, the new technology from Intel (64-bit, dual-core, etc.) hasn't been perfected, so there is a good possibility for some "bugs" occurring. AMD has had the Socket 939s in place for well over a year now.
 
tiraides said:
My suggestion is to go with the Socket 939 AMDs and try to make your new rig as futureproof as you can afford to. If you can transfer your RAM and your HDD then that will be a good start for your rig. Get a board that has at least one PCI-E x16 slot (I haven't seen anything that uses the x1 PCI-E slots yet, so make sure you have 2-3 regular PCI slots on your board for sound cards/TV tuners/etc.) but I would recommend not getting an SLI-based mobo unless you are a really hardcore gamer. The performance increase in games is there with an SLI board, but in my opinion, it's not enough to justify the costs of buying an additional (identical) video card.

For what you are trying to do (if I got it correctly, that is to make a cheap gaming box that can easily be upgraded in the future), Intel wouldn't be a good fit right now. You would have to make the decision on what chipset that you'd want -- either 915 for "budget" (not really, but it's the cheapest of the current-generation Intel chipsets), 925 for 64-bit computing, or the new 945/955 chipsets for the dual-core processors. Plus, the new technology from Intel (64-bit, dual-core, etc.) hasn't been perfected, so there is a good possibility for some "bugs" occurring. AMD has had the Socket 939s in place for well over a year now.
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Thanks for the advice :) Yeah my ram and mobo will transfer over and I plan on just using the onboard sound and NIC with the new mobo and I am pretty set on an nforce 4 chipset. Hopefully I'll be able to get this stuff soon :)
 
Epox EP-9NDA3+ 939 Mobo

A64 3000+ Venice

Fortron Blue Storm 500 watt psu

6600 GT AGP

will cost you around 500$ but will be a kickass budget system
 
Anime_Fan said:
I have a 550 watt powmax power supply, it gets the job done.
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Thats like saying a Yugo is a good car because it has wheels and an engine. Your PSU is more realisitically a 300W unit btw even with the ficticious rating they gave you.
 
BossNoodleKaboodle said:
Thats like saying a Yugo is a good car because it has wheels and an engine. Your PSU is more realisitically a 300W unit btw even with the ficticious rating they gave you.
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No its like saying it gets the job done because I bought it to go into this cheap box that I was on a strict budget for. And upon further review its a Chiefmax which is probably just as crappy :p
 
Originally posted by Anime_Fan
Yeah my ram and mobo will transfer over and I plan on just using the onboard sound and NIC with the new mobo and I am pretty set on an nforce 4 chipset.
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I don't know much about AMD, but I've heard that the nForce 4 Ultra has more features at around the same cost as (if not a little more than) the regular nForce 4 chipset. I'd go for a nForce 4 Ultra if I were you.
 
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