old fogey needs help....

[Temporary_User]

ok im actually young.
I was thinking that I want to upgrade my computer. I know I could build a new good one for around 6 hundred, but I think I might have some parts that I would be able to still use and would like to see what you guys reccemend, say for $400 or cheaper.

OS: winxp sp2
Processor: Intel 733 (isnt OC'd, should I? ive never done)
Motherboard: asus (dont have the current type of hand, I understand if I upgrade cpu, i would have to upgrade it.
RAM: 256mb (1 i think is pc133, 1 is pc100 so i understand both would be 100 then?)
HD: Seagate SCSI 18 gigs.
Graphics: nvidia geforce fx 5200
Media: floppy, Kenwood SCSI 52x CDrom, hp SCSI 8xCDRW, hitatchi dvdrom-non scsi
Sound: sound blaster (not sure off hand what one)
Case: atx? midtower
Network: 2 netgear cards, 1 linksys wireless card.(right now only one in use is one of my netgears) the others just remain in there because i dont have a reason to take out.

So if I just bought a new HD, I think I could OC my computer would this be wise?
should I go w/ SCSI?
If i bought a new HD, CPU, RAM and MOBO, would I need a new case? graphics?
What are your guys reccemendations?

[WillyPete]

I think your cheapest option eould be to look online for some of the deals they do for either a barebone system or motherboard/cpu/memory combos.

In the UK we have a site called www.scan.co.uk/mixit.
Look for something like that.

With what you have, and your choice of 600$, I'd go for a basic motherboard, athlon sempron and new memory (512mb)
This should see you through for several years.
If you want to upgrade your graphics card, go for a PCI-express card and motherboard, otherwise stick with an AGP motherboard and use your current nvidia 5200.

Hard rives are unbelievably cheap right now. A new mother board would probably have both SATA and IDE. Using your current scsi drive would require you having a scsi interface on the motherboard or a separate pci card to plug into it.
I assume you current pc has such a card - just move it over.

If you did by a new mb/cpu and ram, then you most likely would need to at least upgrade the power supply, if not the whole case.

[sashime76]

For $600 you can find a lot of good deals on Newegg or TigerDirect. SCSI went out of style quite a while ago, USB2 and/or Firewire. If you know your way around a PC, build one from scratch, buy components on sale locally or online, you will save some money. If not, get one assembled, burn-in/tested so you don't have to worry about it.

[bendsley]

Originally Posted by sashime76

SCSI went out of style quite a while ago,

You most certainly cannot be serious, can you? SCSI has not gone out of style what so ever. I just bought a server from Dell with 300gig SCSI drives at a little over $1000 a piece. It's a much faster interface than anything PATA or SATA, and the spindle speed is faster, 10,000rpm and 15,000rpm as compared to a fast SATA II drive spinning 10,000rpm max.

Also, one of the reason SCSI drives are so expensive is because they are hand touched at the factory, tested before shipping and carry a longer warranty (usually). Also, there aren't many devices out there for hotswapping SATA or PATA drives, while most devices SCSI2 and higher (SCSI 3 Ultrawide, U160, etc.) natively support hotswapping of drives.

[hulk]

Originally Posted by bendsley

You most certainly cannot be serious, can you? SCSI has not gone out of style what so ever. I just bought a server from Dell with 300gig SCSI drives at a little over $1000 a piece. It's a much faster interface than anything PATA or SATA, and the spindle speed is faster, 10,000rpm and 15,000rpm as compared to a fast SATA II drive spinning 10,000rpm max.

Also, one of the reason SCSI drives are so expensive is because they are hand touched at the factory, tested before shipping and carry a longer warranty (usually). Also, there aren't many devices out there for hotswapping SATA or PATA drives, while most devices SCSI2 and higher (SCSI 3 Ultrawide, U160, etc.) natively support hotswapping of drives.

It's fine and all if you run a server, but for common PC use it went out of the window with the iMac :P

[Jinn]

Moore's law is the empirical observation that at our rate of technological development, the complexity of an integrated circuit, with respect to minimum component cost will double in about 24 months.

That is to say that our CPU speed/processing power has doubled consistently every two years for the last 30 years. The most important thing I've learned about technology is you buy the BEST you can afford at a given time. If you merely upgrade your HD, you'll end up with a "shitty" computer in 6 months. It all depends on what you plan to do with your computer, but your rig now can't do very much.

For ALL applications, not just gaming.. CPU/MB/RAM is a very very important part..

Processor: Intel 733 (isnt OC'd, should I? ive never done)
Motherboard: asus (dont have the current type of hand, I understand if I upgrade cpu, i would have to upgrade it.
RAM: 256mb (1 i think is pc133, 1 is pc100 so i understand both would be 100 then?)

People say "Oh, 1 GB ram is good enough.." -- it all depends on the speed. 1 GB of pc133 is going to severely drag down any rig you have, especially one with an intel 733. Your first priorites should be these. Simply upgrading the CPU/Mobo/RAM would dramatically increase your performance, even though your video card is not-that-great.

As for going with SCSI? No way, jose. For a non-server machine (see above), you'd be much better suited to go with the relative affordability of a SATA or PATA drive. Your new motherboard -will- support these. You should not need more than 10,000 rpm or 8s seek time that most SATA drives can give you.

The FX5200 is a decent card for lower end games, but I know for certain that new games like Battlefield 2 and Farcry would not enjoy that card -- trust me, I had one.

Media: floppy, Kenwood SCSI 52x CDrom, hp SCSI 8xCDRW, hitatchi dvdrom-non scsi

These would probably be alright, depending again on what you wanted to do. I'd personally recommend getting a CDRW/DVD combo drive -- you can step away from SCSI and combine drives at the same time.

Case: atx? midtower
Because of this, you may or may not have to get a new case. When checking out your new motherboard, the form factor will be listed. As long as they size up right, you should be fine. Also, depending on your new CPU/MB/RAM, you might need to upgrade your power supply at the very least.

Network: 2 netgear cards, 1 linksys wireless card.(right now only one in use is one of my netgears) the others just remain in there because i dont have a reason to take out.

You might as well remove the non-used one; if nothing else, it saves that fractional penny on your electrical bill.

So if I just bought a new HD, I think I could OC my computer would this be wise?

Buying a new HD is not going to make OCing your CPU any easier. In fact, their speed relationship is almost nonexistant. Additionally, OCing an Intel 733 isn't going to get you much..

So -- in summary; if you want to do more than text-based and low-level 2d manipulation games--

You're going to want a new CPU, MB, and RAM.. if the MB you want isnt ATX midtower, you're going to need a new case. The video card can stay, unless you plan to do REALLY high end gaming. You should combine the optical drives and stay away from SCCI for your new HD.

(I'm going to do a little price searching for you, will post in a minute..)

[Jinn]

Motherboard:

ASUS A8V DELUXE Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard
Socket 939 - Athlon 64
DDR 400
4x USB 2.0 (2x headers)
1x AGP
5 PCI
(no PCI-X)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131510

$114.00

CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail

$123.60

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939
2.0GHz
FSB 1GHz
L1 Cache 64KB+64KB
L2 Cache 512KB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...35#DetailSpecs

$190.00

-- Total: $430.00 before shipping

This was just from a quick search, and I haven't checked everything for compatability.. but I think a buy like this would be more like something you should be doing.

[WillyPete]

off topic, but I'll go with what bendsley has to say.

It's common for designers and audio visual people to also use a smaller scsi drive solely for swap file / virtual memory purposes as it removes one of the major bottlenecks for many audiovisual applications.

SCSI most certainly has its place.

[sashime76]

For any average or less than average PC users, SCSI isn't the animal you want to tame. I doubt many home users or corporate users have any SCSI device attached to their PCs anymore, the newer ones that is. My last PC with SCSI II interface was for the scanner, I've since upgrade and replaced it with USB 2.

I wouldn't recommend SCSI components to anyone to save myself from the tech support duties.

[Temporary_User]

thanks everyone for the replies!

let me state a bit better on what I want out of a computer.
right now I use this machine for web surfing and playing music on winamp (with visualizations) also word processing.
playing games would just be a plus.
my HD is too small so I need a new one ASAP - top priority
speed is somewhat of an issue on loading new programs. i know winamp hogs resources, but i would like it to be able to handle better.
so i think ill be keeping my video, sound, cdrom's etc.
all i would possibly upgrade would be my:
cpu
ram
mobo
HD
and case/power supply if needed

I did build this computer when it was new, and i was all into computers so i built it top of the line. i have upgraded the graphics since then and added the network cards.
when i started I had 2 sticks on pc133 ram, but sold one and ended up buying the other cheaply.

[bendsley]

I would also stay away from Kenwood drives. The TrueZEN drives or whatever they were called sucked. They would only read OEM cds, not burned ons. On OEM cds though, the 72x was hella fast, but who uses a lot of OEM stuff anymore?