Advice on upgrade/build needed.

[Tired of the Bull]

I?m planning to upgrade after the New Year. I use the system mainly for photo and video editing with the occasional game. (The gaming may go up if the system could support it.) I frequently have several programs going simultaneously and I?m tired of the slow downs.

Current system:
ASUS A8V Deluxe VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ w/512kb Cache 90nm (Winchester)
OCZ Enhanced Latency 2gb (4 X 512mb) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM 400 (Pc 3200) Unbuffered
Radeon® X800 XT Platinum Edition AGP 256mb
Seagate Barracuda 320gb 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s (ST3320620AS) (Currently in a RAID configuration: C: for OS and Programs, D: for My Docs, Photos, Drivers, Etc?)
BenQ 16X Model DW1655
ATI TVWonder 650 (PCI)
Enhance ENS-0560G-G 600W Modular Power Supply

Also hanging around:
2x - Maxtor 160gb EIDE (Used for recording TV?etc?)
Western Digital 200gb EIDE (In External Box ? Used for Video waiting to be processed)
Western Digital 250gb EIDE (In External Box ? Used for Back-up)

I have lots of USB and a couple Firewire peripherals so any motherboard would need both and I think ESATA would be used in the future.

I?m not firm on the budget, but I definitely have one, just for the sake of a starting point let?s say $500 - $700.

Thanks to all..........

 

[Nessism]

If your board supports dual processors I'd go that route for a while longer. An X2 at 2500 will be a very noticeable speed increase without breaking the bank.

 

[jkresh]

if you can't find an x2 for your board then you would need to upgrade cpu/memory/motherboard and gpu (could definitely get a major improvement in all areas for $700, for $500 you would need to limit the new gpu (still would be a lot faster but in a different league))

for a rebuild

motherboard: a P35 board with whatever ports you need (around $150, maybe a little less)
ram: 2 gigs ddr2 (<$100)
cpu: core 2 (whatever fits your budget)
gpu: either an 8800gts 256/3850 (around $200) or (maybe a 34xx if they are out and closer to $100)

 

[BlueAcolyte]

You mean an 8800GT 256 for around 200... A 34XX will not be very powerful, do you mean the 3650PRO or XT? Also, IF you can find one, you can get the 512MB version of the 8800GT or the HD 3870. If you play at 1680x1050 or 1600x1200 you will be needing 512MB of VRAM.

So to be specific,

Motherboard:
Abit IP-35
Asus P5k
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P

RAM
A-DATA Extreme Edition
Crucial Ballistix
Patriot Extreme
GSkill CAS 4
Geil 2X1GB
OCZ Reaper (maybe)
Kingston HyperX
Corsair XMS
ETC.
(pretty much anything with a CAS latency of 4 and under $100)

CPU: E21XX, E4500, E6750, Q6600, or Penryn
GPU: HD 3650XT/PRO, HD3850/70, 8800GT 256/512, 8800GTS 512MB

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Thanks all for the responses.

BlueAcolyte, I really appreciate the specifics. I was considering either the Q6600 or E6750 as my new CPU. The RAM is a little less obvious. I was thinking of shifting to XP 64 and installing 2x2gb of DDR2, but which sticks is the problem. I was looking at the CAS 5 GSkill DDR2 1000 at NewEgg so that if I decide to try a little air overclocking I have the option.

Are there any differences in the 3850 models? I see some with 256mb and some with 512mb but does that really matter? And I also see different clock speeds?

 

[Tired of the Bull]

BlueAcolyte,

The Asus and Gigabyte boards both look great, it will be a tough choice between the two. I will probably lean toward the Gigabyte for the sheer amount of stuff they packed on the Rev 2 board.