Looking for an inexpensive upgrade solution for around $200 dollars. I have a few things in mind, but wanted suggestions from the forum. Would like to go A64 2800, maybe 3100 semptron atleast just for upgradability. will be keeping the setup for a year or two.
Best Mobo/Proc setup around $200
- Thread starter Nyquest007
- Start date
Chaintech VNF3-250 Bundle
I would grab the A64 2800+ and Chaintech VNF3-250 bundle from mwave. I've been extremely happy with this board...and for the price it's an absolute bargain. Very solid.
I'm picking up a 2800+ this week, and from what I've seen many people are hitting 2.4-2.6 ghz on air...some even on stock cooling.
I would grab the A64 2800+ and Chaintech VNF3-250 bundle from mwave. I've been extremely happy with this board...and for the price it's an absolute bargain. Very solid.
I'm picking up a 2800+ this week, and from what I've seen many people are hitting 2.4-2.6 ghz on air...some even on stock cooling.
There's really no other option that makes sense at that price, is there?
AXP = slower and more dead end than S754
P4 the only option at that price range is 2.4A (OC to ~3.2+range), no HT on the 2.4A, which is the primary advantage I see in the Intel platform.
AXP = slower and more dead end than S754
P4 the only option at that price range is 2.4A (OC to ~3.2+range), no HT on the 2.4A, which is the primary advantage I see in the Intel platform.
Originally posted by: BW86
you beat me to it
Yep...it's a great little combo.
I see there's a 9/21 bios for this board eh? You notice any worthwhile changes?
<FelixDeKat> OMGWTFBBQ TEH CELERON D IS TEH FAST0R3ST EVAR U STOOPID AMD TROLLS NEED 2 STFU! </FelixDeKat>
- M4H
- M4H
that's pretty much what I thought. Plus leaves some head room for overclocking. Thanks for all your input. Now I'm just waiting for the 6600GT to hit the shelves.
you can get that chaintech board at newegg for $65 plus another $100 for the sempron, free 2-3day shipping. or $124 for the retail sempron with heatsink. slightly better price, much better service.
You sure it was $65 at newegg? It still comes up as $74 for me (refurbished is the same price basically). Personally I don't think the sempron 3100 is worth it considering the a64 2800 is only ~$20-25 more. Still another idea to think about though.
Originally posted by: charloscarlies
You sure it was $65 at newegg? It still comes up as $74 for me (refurbished is the same price basically). Personally I don't think the sempron 3100 is worth it considering the a64 2800 is only ~$20-25 more. Still another idea to think about though.
i'm sorry your right,i was looking at the SK8T800 model.
Zap
Elite Member
- Oct 13, 1999
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Hey, didn't you post the same thing in another thread?
There is another option. I will play FelixDeKat, albeit a bit more logical and restrained. Yes, the low end A64 setups sound really great. If you really would rather go Intel and you have a Fry's nearby, they often do deals. For instance, P4 3.0E with ECS mobo for $170, P4 3.2E with ECS mobo for $199, P4 3.2E with MSI board for $220. Now, sure the ECS board may not be the best enthusiast board, but it works. Also, Nyquest007 didn't say if he wanted an enthusiast board, just an "inexpensive upgrade solution for around $200 dollars... will be keeping the setup for a year or two."
Just playing Devil's (or FelixDeKat's) advocate. :laugh:
I would like an enthusiast board, and I don't have a problem going intel, but I do want the board to support HT. A64's 64 bit extenstions won't really come into play for quite sometime and in the programs I use on the side the HT will come in handy. (PhotoShop CS, Lightwave 8.0, Maya 5.0, etc) Are those board good for a decent overclock?
Oh yeah, I don't see any fo Fry's combo deals on their website. Where can I find them?
Is the Abit KV8 Pro worth the extra 25$ ?
Oh yeah, I don't see any fo Fry's combo deals on their website. Where can I find them?
Is the Abit KV8 Pro worth the extra 25$ ?
Zap
Elite Member
- Oct 13, 1999
- 22,377
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Most of the Fry's deals are in store only. Outpost.com only had a $220 P4 3.2E retail box with MSI PT880 motherboard combo at one time. That wouldn't be a bad setup, can probably OC to about 3.5GHz with better cooling on that board. PT880 chipset boards seem to only hit around 220FSB, unlike 865PE/875P boards hitting 250+. Better cooling is needed because a Prescott at 3.5GHz is bound to put out some heat.
I did the 3.2P4 and ECS 848P-A motherboard from Fry's about a month ago. I could not get the board to post with my GF-TI4200 (AGP 4X) or a new ATI 9600 (AGP8X). There is a thread out there from a bunch of people in the same boat. ECS would not respond to my emails, and I had to take it back to Fry's. Of course, when the lady tested the board and processor with a MX-440 card, it posted just fine.
Even though Fry's has upgrade boards (over the ECS board), they always seem to be outdated boards not suitable for overclocking. You still save a few bucks buying the Pentium with ECS board over what you would pay for the CPU alone from a web vendor.
If it is AMD, Frys does worse than the web vendors in price. I wonder if Fry's has an Intel connection...
Even though Fry's has upgrade boards (over the ECS board), they always seem to be outdated boards not suitable for overclocking. You still save a few bucks buying the Pentium with ECS board over what you would pay for the CPU alone from a web vendor.
If it is AMD, Frys does worse than the web vendors in price. I wonder if Fry's has an Intel connection...
Okay, I'm bouncing between Intel and AMD here. Any suggestions?
Edit: here are ideas around 225-235 I've found
AMD:
ABIT KV8 PRO w/ AMD ATHLON 64 2800+ $226.00
Intel:
INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.4C ABIT IS7-MB $231.00
INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.4C ASUS P4P800 SE-MB $234.00
Uses are for Photoshop, Maya, Lightwave, also some gaming.
Edit: here are ideas around 225-235 I've found
AMD:
ABIT KV8 PRO w/ AMD ATHLON 64 2800+ $226.00
Intel:
INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.4C ABIT IS7-MB $231.00
INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.4C ASUS P4P800 SE-MB $234.00
Uses are for Photoshop, Maya, Lightwave, also some gaming.
Zap
Elite Member
- Oct 13, 1999
- 22,377
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Nyquest007, I see your budget is increasing. Alright guys, let's confuse Nyquest007 some more to delay his purchase. At this rate of increase he should be in AthlonFX/P4EE territory by early next year.
If you're not overclocking, don't worry about which board you get. Also, forget about future CPU upgrades since you can always get a free motherboard at Fry's with purchase of a CPU.
They must have some kind of special deal going on because they had P4 3.2E retail box with the ECS board for $199.99 and at the same time Newegg had the CPU w/o motherboard for $232 thereabouts. Can buy the combo deal just to save $32 and throw away the motherboard. I was this close to buying that combo, but they didn't have any un-returned boards left and I did expect the board to work, LOL.
If you're not overclocking, don't worry about which board you get. Also, forget about future CPU upgrades since you can always get a free motherboard at Fry's with purchase of a CPU.
They must have some kind of special deal going on because they had P4 3.2E retail box with the ECS board for $199.99 and at the same time Newegg had the CPU w/o motherboard for $232 thereabouts. Can buy the combo deal just to save $32 and throw away the motherboard. I was this close to buying that combo, but they didn't have any un-returned boards left and I did expect the board to work, LOL.
Originally posted by: charloscarlies
Originally posted by: BW86
you beat me to it
Yep...it's a great little combo.
I see there's a 9/21 bios for this board eh? You notice any worthwhile changes?
yes, the 9/21 bios was the first one i didn't notice any obvious bugs in, and didn't give me any issues whatsoever.. and it even ran both sata and ata raid without issues.
Well actually ZAP I will be around the $600 budget by November's end. I will also be without a motherboard or proc till then. I'll be taking the gear out of my pc and building around it for friend on friday. I guess I could try but didn't want to wait that long to get set back up. With the increase in budget by the end of november I will be getting a new v-card. Thinking about 6800GT............???
I personally just upgraded to the Asus K8V SE Deluxe. It's not the top-of-the-line board anymore, but it's really robust and simple to install. I've got an Athlon64 2800+ and let me tell you, I was BLOWN AWAY with how quick this system booted, responded, and handled itself compared to my AthlonXP 2600+. I only had a stick of 128MB house memory at the time, and the system still flew. The CPU only cost me $142 with shipping, and the board was $55 with shipping, so that's in your price range.
I'm actually considering upgrading to a Gigabyte board that I found recently with the nForce3 250 chipset, so if you'd like the Asus K8V, I'll be selling mine soon.
I'm actually considering upgrading to a Gigabyte board that I found recently with the nForce3 250 chipset, so if you'd like the Asus K8V, I'll be selling mine soon.
I've always had bad luck with Elitegroup/ECS boards, both Intel and AMD. I am a die-hard AMD fan myself, but I still build quite a bit of P4/Celerons for my customers (I build rigs and do repairs as a side-business). I had an ECS board for my AthlonXP when I got it (bought it from Fry's) and I thought it was just snazzy because it was free. Not too long after that I realized why it was free. Honestly, I'd use PC Chips over ECS any day, and that's sad
My favorite 3 brands of mobo's are Asus, MSI, and Shuttle for either CPU manufacturer. I also like Gigabyte, but they always seem to cram too much crap onto their boards and not testing them fully enough to see if it's all compatible. I'd still try them, if the other three are out of your range.
As for bargain boards, I've had good luck with ASRock (which I believe is owned by Asus, but I could be wrong) boards. ECS and PC Chips are usually pretty nasty and not worth money, even if they were free
As for your CPU, go with AMD. Intel's not moving into 64-bit for a long while on the Pentium side of things. AMD's already moved into it successfully, and I've seen many an A64 kick the crap out of a P4EE. Good luck on finding what you want.
My favorite 3 brands of mobo's are Asus, MSI, and Shuttle for either CPU manufacturer. I also like Gigabyte, but they always seem to cram too much crap onto their boards and not testing them fully enough to see if it's all compatible. I'd still try them, if the other three are out of your range.
As for bargain boards, I've had good luck with ASRock (which I believe is owned by Asus, but I could be wrong) boards. ECS and PC Chips are usually pretty nasty and not worth money, even if they were free
As for your CPU, go with AMD. Intel's not moving into 64-bit for a long while on the Pentium side of things. AMD's already moved into it successfully, and I've seen many an A64 kick the crap out of a P4EE. Good luck on finding what you want.
If you do not overclock, the Athlon 64 2800+ has quite a bit of an advantage over a 2.4c setup, with the exception of Hyperthreading, which can make a difference for some applications and scenarios.
But if you are planning on overclocking, a 2.4c at 3.2 for example, is going to be close in performance to the 2800+ overclocked, and still has the advantage of Hyperthreading.
If possible you should really try to find out if Hyperthreading makes a big difference for your intended uses, otherwise the Athlon 64 is probably the better solution.
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