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cheesemoney · 01-24-2004, 06:48 PM

I'd say you'd be far better off selling your mobo/cpu, buying the AMD 2500+ and KSI mobo for 150-160 bucks... assuming you got 100 bucks or so for your mobo/cpu (I have no idea what that would sell for, but Pentium's ARE expensive, so you may get a bit for em.) Damn, after looking it up, the PIV 2.0 ghz goes for 123 bucks alone, so maybe you could get 200 dollars for the combo.

If you only get 150-160 for the combo, that leaves you with zero net after the AMD Cpu/mobo upgrade (this will make a difference... it really takes NO additional effort to overclock this through bios... just change the setting from 166/333 to 200/400 mhz). Then you effectively have a 3200+ athlon (which destroys a pIV 2.0 ghz), and 400 dollars to spend on a video card. Don't worry about the hard drive right now, you can find deals on them all the time. Look for rebate deals from techdeals.net and slickdeals.net. My current HD is 120 gigs and only cost me 40 bucks after 3 rebates that could all be used together. It is a fast 7200 drive with 8mb buffer, a great performing seagate. I have seen western digital 8mb drives for 30 bucks at circuit city through these deal websites. Be sure to print out the rebate(s)
and bring it into the store.

Techdeals and slickdeals also have good deals on video cards too, and sometimes you'll find mistakes like video cards that are better than advertised on the box at fry's or compusa, etc (in other words, they put the wrong card / upgrade in the box and don't market it as such).

I look at it this way. If you are lazy, get a great video card. For gaming, this is the most important bottleneck that you need to get over.
If you really want a sweet system for 400 bucks, and are willing to do a little work, get the AMD 2500+ and KSI and overclock that sucker just through bios. Sell your Mobo / PIV (175-200 bucks probably).

-150 - 200 Selling PIV/Mobo
+160 AMD 2500+ and KSI Mobo
+20 Extra case fans just cause you can't ever be cool enough
+388 GeForce FX 5950 256 megs ram

Totalling to about 400 bucks...

I don't know if this GeForce is a good card or not.. Its just the one I saw on pricewatch for about 400 bucks.

They list radeon 9800 pro for 325

And I am sure that you could add a cheap HD for 40 bucks if you just keep an eye out on techdeals and slickdeals.

Probably 100 bucks with 60 bucks in rebates.
I got a 120 gig one about 3 months ago, so maybe now you'd get 160 gig or so for the same price.

01-24-2004, 06:48 PM	#25 (permalink)
cheesemoney Loser Location: Paradise	I'd say you'd be far better off selling your mobo/cpu, buying the AMD 2500+ and KSI mobo for 150-160 bucks... assuming you got 100 bucks or so for your mobo/cpu (I have no idea what that would sell for, but Pentium's ARE expensive, so you may get a bit for em.) Damn, after looking it up, the PIV 2.0 ghz goes for 123 bucks alone, so maybe you could get 200 dollars for the combo. If you only get 150-160 for the combo, that leaves you with zero net after the AMD Cpu/mobo upgrade (this will make a difference... it really takes NO additional effort to overclock this through bios... just change the setting from 166/333 to 200/400 mhz). Then you effectively have a 3200+ athlon (which destroys a pIV 2.0 ghz), and 400 dollars to spend on a video card. Don't worry about the hard drive right now, you can find deals on them all the time. Look for rebate deals from techdeals.net and slickdeals.net. My current HD is 120 gigs and only cost me 40 bucks after 3 rebates that could all be used together. It is a fast 7200 drive with 8mb buffer, a great performing seagate. I have seen western digital 8mb drives for 30 bucks at circuit city through these deal websites. Be sure to print out the rebate(s) and bring it into the store. Techdeals and slickdeals also have good deals on video cards too, and sometimes you'll find mistakes like video cards that are better than advertised on the box at fry's or compusa, etc (in other words, they put the wrong card / upgrade in the box and don't market it as such). I look at it this way. If you are lazy, get a great video card. For gaming, this is the most important bottleneck that you need to get over. If you really want a sweet system for 400 bucks, and are willing to do a little work, get the AMD 2500+ and KSI and overclock that sucker just through bios. Sell your Mobo / PIV (175-200 bucks probably). -150 - 200 Selling PIV/Mobo +160 AMD 2500+ and KSI Mobo +20 Extra case fans just cause you can't ever be cool enough +388 GeForce FX 5950 256 megs ram Totalling to about 400 bucks... I don't know if this GeForce is a good card or not.. Its just the one I saw on pricewatch for about 400 bucks. They list radeon 9800 pro for 325 And I am sure that you could add a cheap HD for 40 bucks if you just keep an eye out on techdeals and slickdeals. Probably 100 bucks with 60 bucks in rebates. I got a 120 gig one about 3 months ago, so maybe now you'd get 160 gig or so for the same price.