best 100 dollar upgrade

[michal1980]

g/f pc is years old now.
socket a, sempron running at like 1.6ghz, 512mb of ddr ram, (333mhz I think, maybe pc3200 don't remeber)
with a 9600pro (128bit ram bus)

Newegg right now, has a socket 754 3400 2.2 ghz with mobo for 100 bucks.

her pc will be getting replaced completely in the next 6 months.

But read all old benchmarks this seems like a good upgrade for cheap. I can keep the ram, hard drives video card. and benchies look like a 4x or so improvement in speed.

This is a poor mans upgrade. the next pc will be much better, and cost alot more.

but will this 100 bucks make a very noticable difference?

 

[1N0V471V]

Why upgrade if it's going to be replaced soon anyway? She's obviously had it for a while, so what's a few more months?

 

[michal1980]

I said G/f, I meant finance.

But anyway. I keep getting bugged about how slow it is.

After I sell the old mobo/cpu, for about 50 bucks. This upgrade will cost me like 50 bucks.

If that 50 bucks buys me a few month of peace. I'll be happy.

but she would have to notice the speed difference.

Plus then the upgrade can be pushed back a little, and I can hold out for better deals. wait for new video cards to come out to push the price down on these.

And maybe hold her upgrade off until vista comes out. I'd rather not upgrade in like decembder /jan, when vistia will come out in like feb.

 

[1N0V471V]

In that case the s754 upgrade sounds good.

 

[michal1980]

oh I know its a dead end upgrade, thats why i'm set on not spending more then 100 bucks.

I was pricing a cheap core 2, or at least an astuk super cheap, but super upgradable mobo for 60 bucks. + some cheap intel cpu.

which would be like a pentium d 805. but performance on the chips is soo dreadfull.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Asrock 939 dual mobo $ 42.99

A64 3000+ $70.35


Overclock it to 2.5-2.6, better upgrade for about the same $

 

[michal1980]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Asrock 939 dual mobo $ 42.99

A64 3000+ $70.35


Overclock it to 2.5-2.6, better upgrade for about the same $

cool, its almost excatly the same price. ! (esspically since I would need a sink for the cpu)

 

[SonnyDaze]

Originally posted by: michal1980
I said G/f, I meant finance.

It's fiance, not finance.....:brokenheart:

After I sell the old mobo/cpu, for about 50 bucks. This upgrade will cost me like 50 bucks.

For that asking price, you might want to throw the HSF and that 512MB of RAM in there too for good measure. You won't need it anyways.

Okay if you want this upgrade to mean something and last a while, skip the 754 and go with 939 socket. Good deals can be had on a 939 system. You want her to feel the upgrade. 754 doesn't run in dual channel mode, but the 939 does. So it'll be a little snappier. You'd want to buy a matched pair of RAM for this (2x256 or 2x512 maybe). The 939 also has a faster FSB resulting in a little more speed. And later you would still have some upgrade options with 939, where as the 754 is at a dead end now (that's why you're seeing these great deals on them!!).

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What does she do with the computer? Maybe just reformatting it and getting a fresh install on there would help out?

( Just a thought to save you some cash )

 

[michal1980]

I would say most of the time its just working with office. I.E. power point presentaions,
Ms publisher etc.

but she also plays the Sims 2, and Civ 4. and in those games you just notice the pc being slower a bit. or alot. err.

trying to read up on the celeron D overclocking. esspically on the asutek mobo, that takes pci-e, agp, and ddr and ddr2 ram.

get a cheap 805 d right now, and upgrade to core 2 in a few months.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

My gf is using an 1800+ XP, 512mb @ 266, 9500pro and it's a bit slow for Sims2 / Civ4, but not too bad.

Good luck whatever you end up doing. Just seems like a shame to put money into it before it gets replaced.

EDIT: I guess I should be saying fiance too... well I'll just say Ladybuggy and keep that part out of it.

 

[michal1980]

yup this will definataly be an adventure.

Its made worse by the fact we moved in togther now.

before she had no referance to pc speed. And was like why would you spend ok 1K on a pc.

now our pc's are close to each other, and when we play civ 4 togther she gets it.

when my pc loads the game in like 30 seconds, and hers takes 2 mintues.

if not for that. she would not really notice.

esspically when the 9600pro is a good enough card for the games. Not all the eye candy turned on but things look good still.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I think my gf is secretly proud when her computer loads Red Alert 2 faster than mine does. I think I should take my own advice and to a reformat on my own, but I'm just too lazy. Based on specs there's no way she should be able to beat me, but she does every time ( well the loading part )

It's a shame that you couldn't just buy a ram upgrade for her and then use it in the new computer. Lousy changing ram types

 

[michal1980]

yes and I have to be carefull. I dont' want her pc better then mine. Or I know that i'll end up blowing another grand just to be faster lol.

 

[Bobthelost]

My immediate thought was that you'd be best off spending that $100 upgrading your g/f rather than your computer.

After reading the thread i recomend spending it on curtains, she'll apreciate them more.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The only thing I regret is we built a SFF PC for her, and the fans are really noisy. I wouldn't mind if it's wasn't right between the seating area and my front right speaker
pic because I'm bored ( she's still at work so I have nothing to do )

 

[ViviTheMage]

toss in a barton or something...

 

[Lemon law]

The ignored variable here is the OS---if its windows---will the now philantropic Bill
Gates just allow you to reinstall your old version of windows---or will the same rip off Bill Gates
say---if you wanna upgrade---buy a new OS?

Has anyone noticed there is something wrong here---the really big guy builders like Dell can get a given OS from microsoft real cheap---but the small system builder ---or gasp just a insignificant indivual must pay microsoft rip off rates to get the same OS.

If that is not antitrust---what is?