mustang91

I'm currently running a 1.25ghz Athalon, with 1GB PC2100RAM, and a Geforce4 Ti4400. I've been increasingly frustrated with my system. It bogs down, crashes randomly (XP says it's a device conflict, I blame by SB Audigy), and refuses to rip audio from CDs, with any piece of software.

So I'm looking to upgrade. I've found a buyer of my old system who will give me $450 for it. I've been looking around, watching prices and the like, but I'm still open to suggestions as to what to buy.

This is what I'm *thinking* of getting: A P4 2.4Ghz C chip 800mhzFSB, MSI Neo2-LS 865pe mobo, 512mb of Corsair XMS LL TwinX RAM, and a cheaper case that comes with a 350w power supply. Oh, and a 52x24x CDRW.

Do you think this is a wise investment? Would you recommend a different P4 chip, an AMD chip? A different sort of motherboard? (the only thing I require on my motherboard is PAT, onboard 100/10 ethernet, and the standards. Firewire ports are nice, but not necessary) Any motherboard maker recommendations? RAM maker recommendations? Cheaper cases?

Thanks in advance. I'm desperate for input.

chewybaca96

sounds like a good system, just depends on the price

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Konichiwaneko

The p4c is a great chip and a furious oc'er.

Instead of the Neo2, I would recommend and IS7-E, the first few actually came with gigabit lan onboard.

The Corsair ram is nice, and if you could go for 1 gig.

Case wise, there's a decent antec that comes wiht a 350 watt powersupply for only about $50 shipped from newegg.com


The p4 will be better for you in the long run, trust me. Plus you can't beat hyperthreading.

oh what video card did you want?

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Dragonlich

The chip is good, but a 2.6c might be an option too: only slightly more expensive. The mobo is good too, and has a nice auto-overclocking feature when the processor is very busy; you might wanne think about a Asus p4p800 too, it is practically the same price, and comparable in features - it is just easier to overclock.

The memory: you could try cheaper non-twinX memory. It is rather pricy for such a system. Try normal cas2 low-latency memory instead - that should work in dual-channel mode without any problems, and would be far cheaper. I know - we sell those p4c motherboards in our computer shop, and have installed "normal" and TwinX memory in them without a problem.

(Oh, and do NOT go for the lowest-cost case possible. They typically have the worst power supplies. You need enough power to feed your system. If you do not have enough, your system will crash randomly, which would defeat the whole purpose of upgrading in the first place...)

sixate

It's all about what you like. I'd go AMD XP over a P4. I have an AMD XP 2100+ (1.73) and every review I see it's compared with a 2.2 P4, and it out performes it and only costs about $70 at GoogleGear. So you could take the $150 or so that you would spend on a 2.4 P4 and get a AMD XP chip. The 2400+ is only $80 right now. I'd take that over the P4 any day of the week.

Dragonlich

Well... according to Tomshardware, a 3200+ AMD chip has a speed that would lie between a 2.6 and 2.8 p4c, so the 2400 would not be quite as fast as the p4c 2.4. Athlons also get quite a bit hotter than a p4 (which can be remedied with a good silent cooler, though). Other than that, it's also a good choice.

If you do go for AMD, get a 2500+ or better, because that runs at 333 Mhz FSB instead of 266. Then get yourself a nice Asus a7n8x (deluxe?) motherboard, add two DDR333 memory sticks, and enjoy the same dual-channel performance that the P4c has.

Downside of AMD: they'll be bringing out a totally new chip at the end of the year, and the Athlon is pretty much going out of production. The Intel P4c will be going along for a while longer (but will also disappear eventually...)

The_Dude

i agree w/ sixrate.

going w/ amd saves you money also

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sixate

Somehow, I knew that you've always liked me.

shakran

"Downside of AMD: they'll be bringing out a totally new chip at the end of the year, and the Athlon is pretty much going out of production. The Intel P4c will be going along for a while longer (but will also disappear eventually...)"

I regard this as an upside. It's not like the Athlons will cease to function once they're replaced, but they WILL be a lot cheaper!

Konichiwaneko

AMD doesn't not save you much money anymore when dealing with high end stuff when compared to lower end.

The motherboards will be the same price, but the Intel board is faster and has more features. (Serial ATA, support for mor ram, blah blah blah)

The p4c 2.4 has hyper threading, the 2100+ doesn't. Hyper threading makes a bigger difference now because most of us multitask, and HT makes it a little snappier.

The p4 also runs at 800fsb (200 quad pumped to 4) so all bandwidth hungry applications (Rendering, Quake, 3d Programs, Encoding) is faster on a p4.

You get a heatsink with a p4 that is basically worth $25

To argue the other side though

AMD chips are cheaper no doubt on the low end. A 2400+ amd chip surely beats out a celeron 2.2 ghz, thus doesn't warrent the price.

The new 333/400 fsb AMD chips run cooler, so the old AMD running hott problem is not as apparent though it still runs quite hot.

The Onboard sound on the Nforce 2 (if it's the nforce one, not the ac97 one) performs extremely well and can save you money.

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I buy intel now because Intel tech trickles down to AMD. It's always been that way. Intel makes a chip and technology, and AMD takes some features and makes it better. The Athlon is basically a p3 with a pumped up floating point. Look at all the proprietay instructions that Intel has built in (MMX,MMX2,SSE,SSE2,HT,etc...) compared to AMD (3dnow). Amd eventually puts support for those features in their chips (albeit a more handicapped one).

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Cujo

It all comes down to how much you want to spend. I recently put together an Barton 2500+ on an A7N8X with 1GB of Geil DDR and a 9800 for a friend and was amazed ( I've had nothing but Intel in my machines for ages ) Its fast, real fast and much much cheaper than an 800 MHZ FSB Intel. Loaded up his Dungeon Siege and NWN and was sold on AMD. If your not interested in saving money buy an Intel.

poof

I agree with Shackran.

How is a manufacturer offering a new processor a downside? I doubt many people are going to jump on the 64bit bandwagon immediatly. I prefer the AMD (2800 Barton on a Gigabyte GA-7N400 pro) just because I get great performance at a lesser cost than the Intel.

It does get hot, but, that is easily remedied.

Mustang91, I would opt for more ram though. Depending on what you are going to do, 512 is pretty much baseline if you are going to use XP. The Intel powered notebook I am using as I type this has 512, uses 300+/- daily and I don't rip or play games on it.

My AMD desktop has a gig of Corsair XMS and uses much of it depending on what is happening at the time of course. I have never used all of the ram, but have hit higher than 800 during dvd rip and burn sessions while watching tv (Radeon 9700 AIW), and just dinking around on the net. Office applications don't seem to tax the system very much as I am usually scratching my head and thinking, so they are often idle.

You might want to look at a larger power supply also.

Good luck(amd), and have fun (amd) with whatever(amd) you decide (amd) to do.


(amd)=subliminal

Dragonlich

Let's put it like this: suppose in a year or so, you want to replace your processor only. With no new AMD processor over 3200+ planned yet, you'll have to get a new motherboard, and new memory, and a new this, and a new that, etc.

Meanwhile, with Intel, you'll probably be able to get a much faster low-end 800 mhz "celeron" processor.

I could be wrong, of course - perhaps AMD will introduce new "budget" Athlon XPs at 333 or 400 mhz... But then the question remains: will your specific motherboard be able to run it?

Oh, and Konichiwaneko: Nforce2 boards do have serial ata, gigabit lan, and most stuff Intel boards have. There's not much difference there. The only problem I see for Nforce is the manufacturer's choice not to go for the full four memory slots, but only three - with four slots, you could add two pairs of dual-channel Dimms, just like with the p4c motherboards.

Konichiwaneko

Interesting...my friends A7n8X doesn't have sata ports...let me make sure though.

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Cujo

Well the non-deluxe version doesn't have sata or soundstorm for that matter. Must be a non-deluxe

mustang91

Thanks for the recommendations, I'm checking pricing as I type...sort of.

I'm still aiming for P4 though, due to the 800mhz FSB and HT. I do a lot of audio editting, and I figure that will help.

Based on recommendations against the cheap power supply I have a second question: With a max budget of $75 what case would you buy? Doesn't need many bays, I only need 2 5.25" bays, and a spot for floppy. It must come with a power supply (preferrably 350W+). Front side USB isn't needed, though front side firewire is nice. Space for fans is a plus, as well as a nice look.

Thank you for all the advice.

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sixate

I searched a few places that I look for a case fitting your description. These are the closest that I could find.

http://directron.com/en7255ab1.html

http://directron.com/atxa288usb.html

http://directron.com/atxa4k.html

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...=C455-6049%20G

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?sku=A901-1008

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?sku=B452-1020

Konichiwaneko

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...tby=14&order=1

The 2nd or 3rd antec case I would recomend, only because Antec PSU's kick ass.

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smooth

As far as I know Antec leads the pack. If you go with Intel you'll want a rock-solid PSU, such as, Antec.

My understanding of the AMDs upgrade path is that their 64 bit chips will be backward compatible.

oh yeah, and you'll be upgrading motherboard, proc, and all else in another year anyway, right?

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