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What should I upgrade?

S

Sherrill

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 8, 2005
Messages
182
Alright well here is my system...(nothing is overclocked)


AMD Athlon 2200+ (Socket A - Throughbred)
MSI MS-6380E ( BIOS 7.00T 04/21/01)
Nvidia GFTi4600
1GB Memory
WD 120GB HD
DVD player/ CD-RW
Windows XP Pro
Creative 5.1 Gamer


I have about 350$ to spend... Which I know isnt great but what should I get with that...(Also my games have been crashing/freezing on me lately..I think my video card needs to be replaced...)
 
To see what's causing the lock-ups, here's the way to check.

Run Prime95 to check if CPU is giving out error.
Run Memtest86 (or + version) to check if the RAM is giving out errors.
If your PC passes either of those tests, it's definitely your video card. Else, it might not be your video card at fault.
Also check on the voltage of PSU, sometimes it could cause instability due to wear & tear.

Now as to $350 question.....

If you manage to get $150 more by selling your old parts + adding more cash, you can go this route
$200 - 6600 GT PCI-E
$150 - NF 4 Ultra non-SLI - Chaintech and Gigabyte has those boards out now
$150 - Athlon 3000+ 939pin

If you can only spare $350 max, then run those diagnostics above and see which you need to replace.
If CPU is bad,
$150 - MSI Neo2 Plat
$200 - Athlon 939 pin CPU
If CPU is not bad, and video card is bad,
$350 - 6800GT AGP (you might need to add a little bit more $$)

I would upgrade the video card first. Simply because as PCI-E boards gets more foothold on the market in a year or so, AGP boards are going to be phased out. Also, A64 with be cheaper and more affordable. So it'll cost alot less then to upgrade the CPU to maximize the video card's performance.
 
Thank you for helping me...Alright tell me if you think this is good for now...

AMD 64 3400+

So which motherboard do you recommend with this processor? (or do you recommend a similar 64 processor around the same price?) Thanks again

*Edit*

Oh yeah, is a socket 939 better then a socket 754? :confused:

Should I downgrade to a 3200+ but it makes it a socket 939?
 
Sherrill said:
Oh yeah, is a socket 939 better then a socket 754? :confused:
Click to expand...

I would go with the 939 for the dual channel memory support alone. Plus you've got a better CPU upgrade path in the future, especially if the dual-core chips coming out in the future really will be able to go in a 939 mobo with no problem.
 
Socket 939 is better in terms of performance and future upgrade path. To go along with an A64, I would recommend an Asus board such as the A8V. I recommend Asus boards simply because I have always been very happy with them.
 
With 350$ to spend I'm not sure that s939 is the way to go. It's been shown that in the real world dual channel memory does not have any noticeable speed increase with the athlon 64.
It is true that s939 will have more of an upgrade path but unless you are going to do a major upgrade within 6 months or so the point isn't valid. By then pci express and ddr2 will both likely have made it to the mainstream athlon 64. These will require a new cpu and motherboard purchase.

Socket 754 has matured a bit more and is also quite a lot cheaper than socket 939. What speed rating is your current memory? You're going to want pc3200 to go along with the athlon 64 so if you have slower memory you will want to upgrade that as well.

Assuming you need new memory I would get one of the chaintech s754 nforce3-250 mobos, a 3200 or 3400+ processor and a gig of pc3200 ddr. If you can stick with your current memory you could probably grab a 6600 gt for a little more money along with the formerly mentioned mobo/processor and end up with a quite capable gaming rig.
 
antirush said:
It is true that s939 will have more of an upgrade path but unless you are going to do a major upgrade within 6 months or so the point isn't valid. By then pci express and ddr2 will both likely have made it to the mainstream athlon 64. These will require a new cpu and motherboard purchase.

What speed rating is your current memory? You're going to want pc3200 to go along with the athlon 64 so if you have slower memory you will want to upgrade that as well.

Assuming you need new memory I would get one of the chaintech s754 nforce3-250 mobos, a 3200 or 3400+ processor and a gig of pc3200 ddr. If you can stick with your current memory you could probably grab a 6600 gt for a little more money along with the formerly mentioned mobo/processor and end up with a quite capable gaming rig.
Click to expand...

Yeah this will probably be my only upgrade for awhile...My memory is a Nanya 2x512MB PC2700U(whatever stock settings, never messed with speed on it) , so yeah I am guessing I would have to upgrade this from what you said.

I know this is a stupid question and probably asked a million times..the nforce will work with ATI cards right? If not then what mobo should I get that works with ATI, because I think I am going to go with the X800XL so I can save money plus get a good card.

So right now I am thinking...

Processor:AMD 64 3400+ (Unless someone else says I should go with the 939 even though I probably wont upgrade till after 6 more months...)

Mobo: Still unsure... DFI? Asus K8N? GIGABYTE?

Memory: Have no clue about..I know Corsair is like top of the line? So any recommendations?

Video Card: (in feb. when this comes available) ATI X800XL
 
I would definitely go for a new s939 board and chip. Your memory should work on all motherboards (but just at it's own speed - you won't be making the most of the mobo).

Beyond that, I'm in two minds - you don't quite have enough for PCIe mobo and gfx card, but you have some money left over. Maybe get some PC3200 or PC4000 or an AGP 6600 to tide you over until you can shell out for the PCIe upgrade down the road... hard to say.
 
Hey sorry, I've been away from a computer all day. Yes, it seems like you will need to upgrade your ram. You can however recoup some of the cost by selling in our FS/T forum most likely.

'm in agreement with Colin R on the decision to stick with an agp motherboard for now and wait until pciE matures a bit more on the athlon 64 platform.

Here is what I would purchase for 350$

Chaintech Nforce 3 Motherboard

Athlon 64 3000+

1 GB (512x2) Corsair PC3200

You're geforce4 will do a passable job until you can upgrade to a new graphics card. There is talk that ATI is working on an agp version of that x800xl but I think that initially it is a pci express card. Your budget won't quite fit a pci express motherboard as of yet. However, good agp graphics cards should be available for the forseable future.
 
Hey antirush...Thanks for all tidbits...Well I ran my exact figures for now...

I can spend a whopping $487 lol...So would you still stay with what you said? Or would you upgrade some more stuff?


*Edit* nvm, I think I am going to spend the rest of the $187 and buy me a case/psu and I can make a new computer out of the parts I am replacing and already have...* Thanks again antirush


1 more question though...What heat sink should I buy for this setup?
 
My pleasure. Good call on putting those extra parts to use. You can get a pretty nice case/power supply for that money. Let me know how everything works out.
 
Actually i have a spare case that I might just mod up a little bit to look pretty good...I will for sure let you know what happens! (Also dont know if you didnt see my question above, do you know what heatsink I should get?) :D
 
Thanks Roid...Will be ordering the zipzoomfly one...

Thanks...I am about to place my order (just need to know about the heatsink)
 
Yeah, sorry about that bad link, I must be slipping ;) . As far as heatsinks go, the retail boxed cpu that comes with a heatsink is a very good deal. It's very quiet and does a great job cooling. Unless you are hardcore overclocking you won't need anything better.
 
No problemo.

Personally I'm not going to upgrade for at least a year so I think a 754 is the way to go. I'm not going to overclock, I don't want to deal with the hassel. The 3400+ clocks 400mhz higher than the 3200+ (939) and it also beats the 3500+ (939) in most benchmark tests. The motherboards are 70$ cheaper (chaintech to msi k8n ultra), and the processors are much cheaper as well.

I don't see what's so special about the 939's except possibly overclocking?

CPU testing @ tomshwardware.
http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041221/index.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20041221/cpu_charts-15.html
Untreal Tournament 2004
3400+ (754 Newcastle) - 151.1
3500+ (939 Wincher) - 146.2
3200+ (939 Wincher) - 141.6

Farcry
3500+ (939 Wincher) - 184.2
3400+ (754 Newcastle) - 182.3
3200+ (939 Wincher) - 175.7

WinRar 3.3 (lower better)
3400+ (754 Newcastle) - 3:44
3500+ (939 Wincher) - 3:56
3200+ (939 Wincher) - 4:08


While saving over 100$. I'm sold.
 
Yeah, I still have to save money so I am going with the 64 3000+ that antirush suggested.

Should this be good enough for this system? :) Or does someone find another one that is in-stock somewhere?


Already ordered from ZipZoomFly...

Mobo: Chaintec NF3

PSU: MGE XG Vigor 500W


Waiting to submit the new egg order pending the heatsink question... :)



*Edit* Went ahead and orded my stuff from newegg....
AMD 64 3000+

Corsair 512MB x 2 PC-3200 */Edit*

(Still trying to find a good heatsink for it...
 
 
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