Upgrading...

H

Holu

n00b
Joined
Jan 6, 2006
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Hello! I'm new to the Forums, well sorta. Been reading them a while, but just now getting involved. I'm looking to upgrade my PC a bit before i head off to college (Burn some of that graduation money :p).

I already have a MGE Quantum case, 100gb 7200 WD ATA100 drive & 60gb of the same type, Sound card, etc... Just looking to upgrade the business end of the Tower.

I'm upgrading from a Pentium 4 1.8ghz, no Hyperthreading or any of those goodies, 128mb Radeon 9000, 768mb of RAM, and (I think) a 450watt Antec PSU. I was considering just keeping my current PSU, but i'm not sure its compatible with everything, and Modular would be great.

I'd appreciate any comments or thoughts on this! I'm looking to stay in the neighborhood of $800, which I've done decently well with the setup below. Just looking for any pitfalls or suggestions on this before I commit ^_^.

Thanks in advance for any help!

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI Deluxe
$134.99

XFX PV-T73G-UDE3 Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: PV-T73G-UDE3
Item #: N82E16814150141
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$179.99

Kingston HyperX 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model KHX3200AK2/1G - Retail
Model #: KHX3200AK2/1G
Item #: N82E16820144114
$15.00 Mail-in Rebate
$90.99

Combo
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3800BVBOX
Item #: N82E16819103562
$279.00

Antec NeoHE 500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: NEOHE 500
Item #: N82E16817103940
-$10.00 (Combo with Processor)
$99.99

Subtotal: $792.96 ($804.60 with Shipping + $45 in Rebates).
 
Motherboard? Do you already have it?

The rest of this looks fine, but you will need a new motherboard to go with that CPU and Video Card.

If you haven't picked one yet, I would recommend this one:

Asus A8N-E, NForce4 Ultra
Newegg Item #: N82E16813131530
Cost: $92.99
 
Sorry, I missed it ^_^.

Its updated now! I'll look into the mobo you suggested, though. Cheaper is better! :D

Though i forgot to mention, i'd like it to be able to last a long while, so my eye is somewhat on the future ^_^. (Though, is it better to get SLI for upgradeability, or will it always be cheaper and more effective to buy a new single video card, rather than another old one? AKA A little while down the road, will I be better off getting another 7600GT to run in SLI mode, or just buying a single 8500GTxB(fictional :p)?)

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8N-SLI Deluxe
$134.99
 
Well...even though I have only one video card (7900gt), I put it in an SLI motherboard, because you never know. I may get a hankering to slap another card in there, and it is nice to have that capability.

The only question, regarding SLI, in my mind is this:
Video cards are such a volitile market, is my card going to be around in 6 months to a year, when I am ready to upgrade? The past has shown that budget cards (FX5500, MX4000, etc) stay on the market MUCH longer than the higher end cards (5900,6800U,7900x). I went with the 7900gt anyways, which I think is a bit of a gamble, because I wanted max performance for my dough, and I got the BFG card with a $40 combo discount (with cpu) from Newegg.
 
This is my slightly different setup for you:

Motherboard:
Asus A8N-SLI @ $106

PSU:
Antec TruePower 2.0 550W @ $99 (the NEOHE you had up before is a good choice too)

CPU:
X2 3800 @ $297

Memory:
G.Skill 2x1 gig kit @ $157

Vid Card:
XFX 7600GT @ $173 or $158 after MIR

Total: $817 w/7600GT MIR, $832 w/out

Although a tiny bit more than your previous setup, I've managed to work in an excellent 2 gig kit of RAM, as I think for most new builds today people should be aiming for this amount of RAM. To hit this target, I picked the A8N-SLI standard motherboard, as I assumed that you aren't going to be having more than 4 SATA 3.0 gb/s drives or make use of TWO 10/100/1000 ports. I say save the money by going with this motherboard and get the better 2 gig kit.
 
quadnad said:
This is my slightly different setup for you:

Motherboard:
Asus A8N-SLI @ $106

PSU:
Antec TruePower 2.0 550W @ $99 (the NEOHE you had up before is a good choice too)

CPU:
X2 3800 @ $297

Memory:
G.Skill 2x1 gig kit @ $157

Vid Card:
XFX 7600GT @ $173 or $158 after MIR

Total: $817 w/7600GT MIR, $832 w/out

Although a tiny bit more than your previous setup, I've managed to work in an excellent 2 gig kit of RAM, as I think for most new builds today people should be aiming for this amount of RAM. To hit this target, I picked the A8N-SLI standard motherboard, as I assumed that you aren't going to be having more than 4 SATA 3.0 gb/s drives or make use of TWO 10/100/1000 ports. I say save the money by going with this motherboard and get the better 2 gig kit.
Click to expand...

Does that Mobo work with Dual Core? Not from what I read from the reviews you can. Or maybe you need a new BIOS not sure, I need more clarification.
 
Rockstar_Gamer said:
Does that Mobo work with Dual Core? Not from what I read from the reviews you can. Or maybe you need a new BIOS not sure, I need more clarification.
Click to expand...

Yes, it'll work with dual core.
 
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