Bringing my old PC back to life

[bcorbin]

I'm looking for some advice on some component selections for an upgrade, and some yeas/nays on whether my reasonign is solid. I used to tinker with PC's all the time, assembled many of them, but really fell out of the hobby when I got a real job and pretty much just did e-mails.

I am looking to turn my old PC back into a modest gaming machine. I will be hooking it up to my 52" LCD in the living room, so it will also eventually house a Blu-Ray player as well for the occasional movie. I have a wireless keyboard and mouse, so I will still be doing e-mails and websurfing on this machine from the couch too.

I plan on spending no more than $800. I wonder if at that cost, it might be better to just start over from scratch (I've been here before).

I live in the US, so will probably be newegging, and zipzoomflying the parts.

I must admit to being an old-school fanboy of AMD.

ASUS M2N32 SLI WIRELESS EDITION
ATHLON 64 3500+
WIN XP PRO
4GB PC6400 DDR2 5-5-5-12
EVGA 7900GT 256MB
INTEGRATED AUDIO (blechh!)
PIONEER 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW
WD 250GB 7200rpm HDD
ROSEWILL 500W PS (18A/18A)

I would like to keep the motherboard if it won't bottleneck me too much with the following upgrade ideas:

I would like to upgrade to :

OS: Windows Vista Ultimate
CPU: Phenom x4 940
RAM: 8GB of 1066 MHZ DDR2 (I hear the mobo will handle it if the cpu is AM2+)
VID CARD: Radeon 4850 512MB
SOUND CARD: Creative Audigy SE

My hope is that these parts are not wasted headroom for a motherboard with only PCI-E 1.0, Hypertransport 1.0. For instance, is the Phenom overkill? I heard it is compatible, but is it worth the price difference between it and a X4 6000+? Or will the 1066 DDR2 give much of a boost over the 800 DDR2 with this mobo/cpu combo, etc.?

I will probably run at default speeds, given the poor OC utility support I encountered for this mobo when it was new.

I will be building this in the next 60 days, I hope. Any suggestions are most appreciated.

 

[Denithor]

PhII 940 + Biostar TA790GX combo $295 - $10MIR
G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-1066 $45 x 2 = $90
WD6401AALS Caviar Black $80
Sapphire 4850 $145 - $15MIR
LG 6x Blu-ray/HD DVD/DVDRW combo drive $120 - $10IR (coupon code on page)
Corsair 650TX $100 - $20MIR

Total: $775AR

If your 52" is 1080p you may want a stronger card than the 4850. You can get a 1GB 4870 for $205AR right now, that's a lot more muscle which will help in newer games on the big screen.

EDIT: Might want to jump on these deals, they don't last forever (especially the combo cpu/mobo). And try out the onboard audio before you spend money on a separate card, you might be surprised with today's solutions.

 

[bcorbin]

I am assuming the 790GX chipset will take my 590SLI chipset's lunch money and send it home crying?

I looked at the RAM you listed. Do you think it would be faster at timings of 6-6-6-18 @ 1066, instead of re-using my 4GB of 5-5-5-12 @ 800?

That is a great list of parts though, Denithor. Especially, the combo Blu-ray drive. I'll probably pick that up tonight for the discount. Thanks a lot!

 

[Denithor]

Well, if you only want to run 4GB just reuse your current RAM...

Otherwise step up to 8GB @ 1066mhz. 😀

The biggest drawback to the 590SLI is - it's not going to support PhII cpus.

Better hurry on the BR player, that coupon expires tonight.