Ace_O_Spades

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)

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Feh.

txgixxer

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.

Ace_O_Spades

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.

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Feh.

soccerchamp76

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

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Lasereth

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

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

jonjon42

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

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A damn dirty hippie without the dirty part....

Ace_O_Spades

I've got an Radeon 9600 128 mb

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

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Feh.

bitrunner

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

MooseMan3000

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.

skaven

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.

NavySEAL

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

Ace_O_Spades

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?

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Feh.

bitrunner

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

Lasereth

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

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Ace_O_Spades

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.

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Feh.

Lasereth

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

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Ace_O_Spades

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

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Feh.

sailor

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.

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Lasereth

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

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Ace_O_Spades

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

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Feh.

Gloves

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.

Redjake

what?

wanna back that up hoss?

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Off the record, on the q.t., and very hush-hush.

R3d

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