So I want to upgrade
 

I've budgeted 750 bucks for a new mobo, ram, and cpu

This is 750 CAD so keep that in mind, and there is a good wholesale site located in Vancouver that I think I'd like to buy from:

http://www.atic.ca/

If there is another site that I could get for cheaper, keep in mind I don't have a credit card or paypal.

I don't care ATI or Intel, whichever will get me faster results... I've been out of touch with hardware for a while, so I turn to the TFP.

Fly at er guys (and gals) :D

I recently built wy wife a machine with a bargain MB, Celeron 1.8, 512-B,WD SE 80-GB drive, and a lower end NVIDIA based video card. I used a basic alum case and the MB had the LAN and sound integrated.

It worked out quite well. You can save $$ if you carry over the optical drives, floppy (if you even still use one), and whatever you used for KVM.

I'm keeping my old case, NIC, floppy and DVD-Rom, HD, and Vid card... All I was looking for was an optimal Mobo/CPU/Ram combo for 750 bucks

I gotta wait for my roommate to get home from work before I can chat with him about it.

You don't need to keep your NIC card, most motherboards now have them onboard.
Asus Motherboard $99
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...131-511&depa=0
Pentium 4 3.4GHz LGA775 socket 800MHz bus $285
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...116-182&depa=0
2GB DDR-400 Memory
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...146-841&depa=0

What videocard do you have? You may want to save some of that money and buy a new videocard as well. Paying that much for a new processor/mobo/ram combo is useless if your videocard isn't up to par!

-Lasereth

amd processors tend to be a bit cheaper for the value products so you may wish to look at those.

I've got an Radeon 9600 128 mb

It doesn't need upgrading yet as far as i'm concerned

If cost is an issue I'd always go AMD.

Well fuck me. I had just written out an entire reply and it got baleeted by the browser. Anyway, basically what I said is this. You could get an Athlon 64 3500 Socket 939, a good motherboard, and 2x512 pc3200 ram for $880. I threw that in the garbage.


What I opted for instead was an Athlon XP 3200 (Barton), a motherboard to fit the deal (preferably Asus, but that's just me), and some much higher quality PC3200 RAM. It ended up a little less than the $750, but I don't feel like looking stuff up again right now. You should probably add a third party Heatsink/Fan unit for the processor, but that will only be about $30 for a good one.

I have to agree with MooseMan3000. For $750 you can get a kick-ass AMD setup, but only a upper mid-range Intel one.

I recommend:
Motherboard: Asus A7N8x Deluxe (has sATA, six channel sound, etc etc) ($86)
Processor: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (barton core) ($200)
Memory: Corsair TwinX 1G (2x512M) ($224)
Total: $500

That's nearly the fastest setup you can get on a 32-bit platform (without spending gobs on an overpriced Intel processor), and it still leaves you $250 to spend on other goodies, like a new video card, faster hard drive, etc.

If your almost upgrading everything I would try and get PCI-E.

Thanks for the input guys, It really helps.

So you think that AMD would be better bang for my buck at that range than Intel?

I think at any price range AMD gives you more bang for the buck.

If you're keeping the Radeon 9600, why are you upgrading the processor? Upgrading a processor is just about useless if it's above 500 MHz if you're not gonna game. I assume you're not a gamer because the Radeon 9600 is a sub-average videocard. I'd be questioning upgrading at all if you're not a gamer! What's your main reason for upgrading?

-Lasereth

Mainly because the card is only a year old, i'll upgrade it in another 6-7 months when it is necessary.

My current processor is only ~ 850 MHz, it's painful!

Video cards are far too overpriced for only wanting a slight upgrade in that department.

Keep in mind, I'm not the type to upgrade continuously... I painfully wait for everything I own to be so far outdated that I must upgrade out of necessity.

Like I said, what's your reason for upgrading? A 500 MHz PC will run Windows XP as good as a 3.2 GHz P4. If you're not gonna play games or do media creation, I personally wouldn't upgrade. If you're noticing a slowdown on a 850 MHz machine then you need to format the hard drive or buy more RAM. 850 MHz is actually overkill for Windows XP (recommended requirements is a 350 MHz processor).

-Lasereth

Well I made a thread in Gaming forum about how I wanted to upgrade to be able to play Half-Life 2

I just realized I made no mention of it in this thread.... so yeah, I'm upgrading so I can play it

While I suspect that card will play it, its not likely to do it real well with all the eye candy on. Throw in a GeForce 6800 for $280 thatll last you for several years, which leaves you at around $500 for the rest of the system--budget $130 for a motherboard, an Athlon 64 3000/3200 for $200, and $150 for RAM, and that puts you at $760 for a system that will run anything you can throw at it. Its the system I have, and it maxed the FPS on Doom 3 at high detail 1024x768, and damn near max (~50-55 FPS) on 1280x1024. It will have no problem kicking some ass on Half-Life 2. Like Lasereth said, the idea is to eliminate as many bottlenecks as possible--having a kickass system with a slower video card isnt gonna run too much faster than what you have now.

Yeah, if you want this PC to play videogames, you're gonna have to seriously upgrade the Radeon 9600. You'll need at least a Radeon 9800 Pro, Radeon X700 Pro/XT, or a GeForce 6600 GT in order to keep up with the CPU you're gonna buy. PC games in the past 3 years have relied <B>heavily</B> on the videocard (with a new exceptions) so you can't go cheap on it.

-Lasereth

Bah... I'll get a new one in a few months... i feel guilty dropping so much cash that i should be spending on school

Why? The Intel over priced processor does more work, and holds more(cache) memory, in the long run it will last longer as well. A satisfied customer.

what?

wanna back that up hoss? :thumbsup:

since your in vancouver.. check out www.ncix.com they have a load of stuff.. great prices too