Budget of $450~ for mobo, cpu, ram

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Isocene

Senior member
Jan 4, 2001
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So, my birthday is coming up and my parents want to get something for their poor college student. I can't think of anything I wanted too much. I was thinking about getting an Xbox, but I was very dissapointed by Halo 2.

So I decided I might as well upgrade. My system now is:

2500+ barton
A7N8X-Deluxe Rev 2
1gb 2700 cosair value select
ATI 9800 Pro 128mb

With the money my parents will give me and some of my own money, I've decided to spend around $450 to upgrade my system.

What do you guys recommend I get?

2 things important to me:

1. Don't want to overclock so much that I have to buy a ton of extra stuff to keep it cool. I like a quiet room.
2. I have a PCM digital audio cable running from my mobo to my reciever. I would like to have a motherboard that has a good sound card dealie as well.

Any advice would be much appreciated.


How long will my video card live btw?
 
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Tarrant64

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2004
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IMO, your vid card is set to go. No need to upgrade that until all that PCI-express stuff is out and you can move up to the X800 or whatever.

For 450 I suppose you could upgrade to an A64 processor and a new mobo.

The memory you have should be good as it is. I would recommend pc3200 tho, but if your budget is 450, not sure exactly whether you would want 1gb pc3200 because for a good set of pc3200 that's 1gb total will run you almost half your budget. Hmm....

I say for a decent upgrade:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512k L2 Cache ~$190'ish (939 socket or 754...your choice. 939 will be easier to upgrade graphics, etc. later tho)
Asus(if you still like the brand, i personally use Asus) Mobo; If you want change I hear the MSI board is awesome. ~$130'ish

That's around we'll say $320 i think(give or take tax/shipping/whatever)
With $130 left, not enough for memory really. Not 1gb anyways.
If you had some of your own money and could add to that, you can make somethin' happen. But like I said, the memory you have right now is ok, but personally I don't know if you game a lot or just use it for all around purpose. If all around purpose you'll be set to go with an extra $130 or so to splurge with. Get yourself a DVD-burner or something or a new case perhaps? New sound card???(Creative Labs has some awesome stuff, Turtle Beach also has awesome BANG for BUCK deals)

Think it over!!

Have fun and Happy Early Birthday.

P.S.
I think a lot of boards out now and improving quite a bit as far as onboard audio now. Maybe I will post something later in the forums asking people's general ideas about how things sound for them.
 
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Isocene

Senior member
Jan 4, 2001
694
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Yes I am a gamer! That's why im upgrading. Halflife 2 and all.

I think I will take your advice and get that CPU. I'm looking through the motherboards for that processor and trying to decide what is the best one.

Should I get an OEM and get a different heatsink?

I think I will also splurge and get some RAM too. I guess a gig would be good. I'm willing to spend up to $200 if it will make a big difference over the 2700 i have now.

What do yall think?

Is newegg still the best place to order this stuff from?


Mike
 
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Isocene

Senior member
Jan 4, 2001
694
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Zebo

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
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isocene you can do way better.

Go to mwave.com
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/Pro...ard+Bundles+By+AMD+CPU

Configure a A64 bundle to include

AMD ATHLON 64 2800+ RETAILED
FARCRY PC GAME
CHAINTECH VNF3-250
CRUCIAL 1GB 8T DDR400(512MB X 2)
=$374


Set bus to 250
This ram will OC to 250mhz 3-3-3 1T
Making chip a 3400+ which will blowout any AXP even stock it beats an AXP
 
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Isocene

Senior member
Jan 4, 2001
694
0
71
Will I need to get an extra heatsink to OC this? Or is this just overclocking the ram? Im a noob in case you havent noticed.

Is it ok to substitute an asus board for the chaintech? I've been using ASUS for a while and I really like them.

And, why choose the 2800+ and not a 3000+ or 3200+?
 
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Dough1397

Senior member
Nov 3, 2004
343
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0
ok coudlnt he just overclock his ram from pc2700 to pc3200..... i dont think thats tooo much ?
 
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drpootums

Golden Member
Oct 22, 2004
1,315
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Anyways, with that money i'd get:

-PDP Patriot pc3200LL ram, usually about $170 or so on newegg, competes with $230 Cosair XMS to within 1-2%. Very good performer. Runs at 2-3-2-5 timings and oc's well.
-AMD 3200+ NC retail, about $190 on newegg. Good oc'er, and even without oc still has good performance.
-DFI NF250Gb UT for about $117 on newegg. Very good for oc'ing and has a lot of features.

that comes up to about $477. Very good stuff for the money.

Accually, if you want to spend another $32, you can get the 3400+ NC. Better performance, but both are good at oc'ing. Whatever tickles your fancy!

Hope this helped
 
Zebo

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: Isocene
Will I need to get an extra heatsink to OC this? Or is this just overclocking the ram? Im a noob in case you havent noticed.

Is it ok to substitute an asus board for the chaintech? I've been using ASUS for a while and I really like them.

And, why choose the 2800+ and not a 3000+ or 3200+?
Click to expand...

I clock mine to 2500Mhz with stock HSF on that board. Concillain also. Pelikan has that ram OCed like I described. One thing to remeber is all these chips are the same dispite what AMD labels them as and charges for them. Buy the cheapest and get the best bang for the buck when overclocking.
 
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Isocene

Senior member
Jan 4, 2001
694
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71
Originally posted by: drpootums
Anyways, with that money i'd get:

-PDP Patriot pc3200LL ram, usually about $170 or so on newegg, competes with $230 Cosair XMS to within 1-2%. Very good performer. Runs at 2-3-2-5 timings and oc's well.
-AMD 3200+ NC retail, about $190 on newegg. Good oc'er, and even without oc still has good performance.
-DFI NF250Gb UT for about $117 on newegg. Very good for oc'ing and has a lot of features.

that comes up to about $477. Very good stuff for the money.
Click to expand...

Compared to what drpootums suggests here, what do yall think about this compared to the setup I mentioned earlier? I haven't heard anyone reccomend an Asus board yet, but im willing to spend an extra hundred or so if its better stuff. I don't mind overclocking as long as my machine doesnt need to get louder.

I appreciate everyones input!
 
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drpootums

Golden Member
Oct 22, 2004
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Asus makes good stuff, but for the A64 mobo's, i'd go with either DFI or MSI. Asus boards are rock solid, but i find the socket 754 boards lacking. Dont be afraid to purchase a DFI. I've always been an Asus guy myself too, but after reading about the DFI UT i cant help but want it.

Also, if you want a nice skt754 fan (you dont need a new one, but it can help), Thermaltake Venus 12 is really good. For $30 (yes, newegg is good, that's where i get my prices from) it's a very good value. At 3000 rpm it moves quite a bit of air and is pretty quiet. But at 5500 rpm, it may sound like a vacuum, but it will cool ur cpu A LOT!!! It has a veriable speed controller, so dont worry about it moving up to 5500 rpm when u dont want it to...
 
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Isocene

Senior member
Jan 4, 2001
694
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Alright then. I think I get the stuff you mentioned then and get the 3400 CPU.

I'll order in a few hours so I can see if anyone else has any comments for or against that setup.

 
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drpootums

Golden Member
Oct 22, 2004
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Glad i helped you. I did a lot of research on those (all those are in my sig for my system) and they all seem to be pretty nice.
 
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drpootums

Golden Member
Oct 22, 2004
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Oops, just noticed that the PDP memory is back up to $187. It's still great stuff, but a bit more than i thought it was. Still definitally a better buy over the Corsair and still a great value, but i was just letting you know...
 
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TipsyMcStagger

Senior member
Sep 19, 2003
661
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From your current setup i'd say you'd benefit much more by using that money and buying a 6800GT for around 350. Especially if you want to play hl2. Im playing CS source now on my current rig, xp mobile oc'd to 2.4ghz and a 9800 pro. Its being pretty limited by the 9800pro.

I wouldnt even worry about it being an AGP card. As far as PCI express goes, theres no performance difference between 8x agp and pci express, and there probably wont be anything that takes advantage of the bandwidth for 1-2 years. All the latest video cards run the same on 4x agp as they do on 8x if that gives you any point of reference.
 
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Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
Hold off, consider the following for best gaming performance:
1) sell 9800 Pro for $130-150 more for a total of ~$600
2) buy the mobo/CPU Zebo suggested, which is like what, $215 or so after shipping?
3) use your existing RAM and dividers
4) With the remainder of your money get a 6800GT or x800 pro

That will give you WAY better gaming performance than a super-pimp CPU upgrade using the 9800Pro.

Like Zebo always says... priorities.

I use the stock HSF on my 2800+ too. It gets me to 2400 MHz at stock voltage. I can go higher if I push the voltage, but CPU is not gating my framerates at all at this point. I see no need to push the CPU speed to the max, so I run at 2400 MHz. The stock HSF is nice and quiet... and CHEAP.

Ultimately you want to balance the capabilities of your RAM, CPU, and video card for gaming. At this point video cards are pretty far behind the curve of CPUs. To illustrate that point check this out:
http://www.madshrimps.be/?acti...ge=910&articID=231
with the conclusion:
You?re not buying a 3000+ euro setup to game in 640*480, and that is exactly where the substantial increases can be seen, varying from 15-20%. When you up the resolution and the eye candy, the advantages of extreme CPU-overclocking in a GPU-dominated environment quickly decrease to naught- zero-nil?

My overall thought? The high-end GPU-market is NOT ready for a 3Ghz Athlon FX. Maybe we should just start overclocking our GPU with another Vapochill LS and make the efforts worthwhile, but that's for next time :)
Click to expand...

Now a 2.4 GHz Newcastle is not that much slower than a 2.4GHZ FX53, and the FX53 shows it is graphics card limited at resolutions and eye candy settings people would actually use even with an x800XT PE. It doesn't take a genious to figure out that a configuration with a slower graphics card would also be video card limited. As such, a 2.4GHz S754 CPU should be able to provide all the CPU necessary to power a 6800 GT or x800 pro to the maximum of thier abilities.
 
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TipsyMcStagger

Senior member
Sep 19, 2003
661
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Check hot deals, theres a post for a GT at $350 once every week or so. As far as selling the card, you can try the For Sale/trade forum or try to sell locally. Maybe to some other college kid.

About brands: i think most of the brands perform the same. Tho if you can get one by BFG theyre supposedly higher quality. BFG does have a lifetime warranty which is nice
 
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Concillian

Diamond Member
May 26, 2004
3,751
8
81
FS/FT forum here.

Look for used stuff on FS/FT here too.

I bought an x800 Pro from the FS/FT forum for $315, there are deals out there.
In the retail sector there's a pretty big gap from $250-300 range (6800) to $400 range (6800GT). The only card worth considering in that range is the ASUS v9999GT (also called v999/TD). It is a 6800 GT with full 16 pipelines, but has only 128MB memory and the memory is clocked slower than the 256MB 6800GTs. It may be the best bet in your price range.

There isn't a whole lot of info available about the V9999/TD, but here is a thread of someone with one (in german, but the screenshots of 3Dmock03 and 05 are in english)
http://www.forumdeluxx.de/foru...4&page=3&pp=25
about 1/3rd down. On the previous pages it has some overclocked screenshots.

3DM03 in the 10500-11000 range seems pretty good for the price given that the 6800 ($250-300) scores in the 8500-9000 range and a real 256MB GT ($400) is in the 11000-11500 range. The ASUS version seems like it is quite a good performer considering the price. Sure it's not a full 6800 GT, but it looks as if ASUS cut the right corners to significantly reduce the price, but keep the performance very close to a 256MB 6800GT.

The other options in your price range are 6800 (slower/cheaper) and x800SE, which really isn't much better than your 9800Pro, and is priced WAY too high for the performance it provides. Of course, there's the used market too. I'm addicted to buying and selling used video cards. They sell for about the same price you can buy them for so it's more like renting them :D $20-30 for a few months of use.
 
AnonymouseUser

AnonymouseUser

Diamond Member
May 14, 2003
9,943
107
106
I agree with Concillian. Keep your RAM and get a 6800 GT. The Athlon 64 isn't starved for memory bandwidth like other processors are (esp. P4) and the games are more dependant on the graphics card.
 
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Isocene

Senior member
Jan 4, 2001
694
0
71
I told the guy I would buy the BFG 6800 from him. Thats a good card right? $380 is a good price right?
 
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