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Upgrading soon, please help!

B

bmf_rrh

n00b
Joined
Jan 12, 2004
Messages
14
Hi all. I will be upgrading in a week or 2. Could you guys help with the parts i will need. Right now i have :

Case: Lian Li
Motherboard: ASUS K8V Deluxe
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon 9800
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 2.00 ghz
Monitor: Benq 24"
Ram: 1 gb
Hard Drive: 74.5 gb

Would like to go with some bang for the buck parts that can run the current games. I dont have a ton of money, but i can do a few things at a time. Budget around 500.

Thanks Guys

Robert
 
- Which games do you plan on playing?
- Are you going to overclock?
- Do you have an unused OS already?
- Are you going to reuse the case? (Which specific case do you have?)
 
IF you are re-using case, and do not need an OS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116072&Tpk=e5200
E5200 $84
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074
320GB sata $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131125
HD4850 $145 ($20 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227267
2x2gb Reapers $53 ($30 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128345
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L $96 ($15 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703015
500W PC power & cooling $70 ($20 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136152
LG 22X dvd burner $23

total $526 with free ship -$85 mail in rebates
 
tiraides,
-I play mostly rpg games (neverwinter nights, witcher, etc.).
-No i will definetly not overclock.
-No i dont have a unused one. Cant i just use the one i have now on the new machine?
-Yes, planning on reusing the case. Have this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112040

Xiphos,
Thanks for the suggestions. Can you recommend just a couple higher end parts to start the upgrade, want it to last as long as possible before next upgrade. I will upgrade other parts when money permits.

Thanks

Robert
 
There isn't many good deals going on right now... how quickly do you intend to upgrade after this?

The best way to plan your upgrades would be to build around the motherboard. A cheap P45 board, like the Asus P5Q Pro, would allow you to use better processors and utilize dual x8 CrossFire later for when you play more graphically demanding games (like Crysis or FarCry 2). To make the most of it, you should also go with an HD4850 card, as it's capable of playing some of the more recently released games on your BenQ 24 inch monitor.

Since you have no intention of overclocking, go with a cheaper 4GB DDR2 800 kit. Mail-in rebates do you no good in this regard because you have a limited budget, and they don't translate into instant savings at checkout.

Whether or not you want additional HDD space is up to you. I normally recommend having at least 250GB of space, but that's just my personal preference... you can stick with your current hard drive, if it's sufficient for your needs. However, the newer hard drives, the majority of which are based off the newer 320+GB drive platters, perform about as well as the last-gen Raptor X HDD.

You'll have to cut corners to get this build under $500, and the easiest places to cut corners from are the processor and the power supply. (In addition, you can hold off from getting a new hard drive or optical drive... for now.) You could obtain a faster (if not newer) processor for less used than you would at NewEgg; and you could reserve a new PSU purchase for around the same time as your second/new video card purchase. (Historically, by the time most people want to use CF or SLI -- after they've built their systems and used them for a while -- there's a new card out that could outperform their proposed CF/SLI setup. You may want to take that into account if/when you decide to get the second/new video card.)

Here's what I'm proposing (in addition to the case, you'll reuse your hard drive and your optical drive for the time being):

$75 - Asus P5Q Pro OPEN BOX MODEL (free shipping)
$130 - Intel E7300 (free shipping)
$40 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 800 CL5 RAM kit (free shipping)
$160 - Sapphire 100245L HD4850 (free shipping)
$78 - Antec Earthwatts EA650 650W PSU (free shipping)
=====
$483 - Subtotal (not including taxes or rebates)

The catch here is that the motherboard is an open box model -- most likely, one that a customer bought and later returned. There's no guarantee on the board's condition or reliability. It normally comes "barebones" with only the board and the I/O shield (and there's no guarantee that it would come with an I/O shield) -- expect to see no other documentation, drivers CD, cables or other accessories.

If you're unwilling to take that risk, here's another way you could go:

$130 - Asus P5Q Pro retail board
$84 - Intel E5200 (free shipping)
$40 - G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2 800 CL5 RAM kit (free shipping)
$145 - PowerColor AX4850 512MD3-DH HD4850 (free shipping)
$78 - Antec Earthwatts EA650 650W PSU (free shipping)
=====
$477 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

The EA650 is capable of handling any single card (up to a GTX 280) or an HD4850 CF setup. (If you hurry, you could pick up the more powerful BFG LS-680 for much less.) You won't need more than 4GB of RAM for gaming, and it's pretty hard to beat that price. As I mentioned before, you'll need to hold off on getting a new optical drive or hard drive. Truthfully, I can't include the costs of an operating system without making some serious sacrifices elsewhere.
 
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What kind of a rig would you guys build with $1000. Thinking about building a new rig and giving the old one to my wife. The new one would be mostly for gaming. I would rather not overclock, dont want to deal with the over heating.

Thanks

Robert
 
I just built an AMD x2 rig for a budget build (like 2 weeks ago) to get the gaming monkey off my back and now I'm thinking of jumping ship and going with Intel. I've been an AMD fanboy long enough (many many years with AMD). I'm looking at an E5200/E7200 with a P45/P43 mobo. BTW, how the hell are you still a n00bie at 5 years?? :confused: ;)
 
Maybe he doesn't have much to say? :p

Anyhow, there are plenty of $1k rigs posted in GenHard right now, so just look through the many build threads.
 
Here is what i came up with so far:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale 3.16GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115036 $187.99

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ec48cbc426 $136.99 - $20.00 MIR

G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231209 $49.99

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102801 $244.99

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136319 $79.99

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116488 $99.99

I need a case and power supply recommendation. I will try to fix that noob label, and contribute more to the forum.

Thanks Guys

Robert
 
Drop the CPU down to the E8400 and save $20 that way. You won't lose any noticeable performance.

PSU wise, if you're willing to buy from others and want to save money, go with any of the PSUs tiraides recommended. Any of those PSUs would be enough for your system. However if you want to stick to newegg, go with the BFG LS-550:
BFG Tech LS-550 550W PSU - $80
 
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