Cheap Upgrade Recommendations

[l33t]

Current rig

-Pentium III 500mhz cpu w/100mhz fsb
-128mb pc100 sdram
-Voodoo3 3000 pci
-80GB Western Digital 'se' 8mb buffer hdd + ata 133 pci adapter
-Abit BH6 mobo
-SB Audigy
-W2K pro
-D-Link 10/100 eth nic
-TDK 48x cdrw
-Englight mid tower +350W psu

I don't do much gaming but would like something to play Warcraft3, and upcoming World of Warcraft.

Don't plan on getting new vid card till next xmas so for now, all I need are mobo/ram/cpu.

I am willing to sell current mobo/cpu/ram/audigy(assuming you'll recommend nf2 boards).

What would be the most bang-for-buck mainstream rig? for around ~$300?

Don't plan on OC'ing and need stability. AMD prefered (b/c of budget).

I was looking at AAT's CPU Pricing and Tom's VGA Comparision Article and came to the conclusion that I'm not good at charts.

 

[oldfart]

If you dont want to build a whole new rig, you can do this. You would also need more and better ram, and a new vid card.

 

[mechBgon]

How about

EPoX 8RDA non-plus
AthlonXP 1700+ OEM
256Mb Corsair XMS3000
Antec TruePower 330 psu
Taisol CGK760172 heatsink/fan unit
Tube of Arctic Silver III

That comes up at $328 shipped from newegg. It's got potential; the memory is proven to OC like crazy (THUGSROOK finds it out-OC's his XMS 3200), you can upgrade CPUs later (without getting another heatsink), add a second stick of memory to activate the dualDDR feature, and the PSU should be enough to let you run extra drives and a high-drain video card down the road. There's a deal in Hot Deals for getting a TruePower 430 for $66 (no rebates) if you want to have even more surplus power on hand.

 

[magomago]

Hrmm....

I would say the A7N266 since its a bang for the buck mobo (though if you could afford more the a7n8x deluxe would be great) ---71.99
-though it is not a nforce2 it comes with video that is immensly superior to your voodoo3

Crucial Micron 512MB 64x64 PC2100 DDR RAM, 184-Pin, CL=2.5-Unbuffered 2.5V, 6-Layers - 99

and you can get the 2100+ for 86 dollars at googlegear.com


That would cost you....

256.99w/shipping + Tax if you are in CA



And if you are looking for a nforce2 and more in upgradability

Epox 8rada+ is 111 dollars at gameVE

http://www.gameve.com/store/gameve_viewitem.asp?idproduct=673


http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=20-144-508&depa=0&Order=priceD
Geil pc2700 Ram 127 bucks

and again the 2100+ for 86


That would cost you 324 dollars but you'll have a lot more "upgradability" with the 8rda+ and pc2700 Ram.


but the 8rda+ doesn't have any onboard video which is why if ou are under a tight budget you might want the first configuration

but check out newegg to see if they have any nforce2 IGPs for sale.....it shouldn't cost than an extra 25 bones....and the g4mx should be a huge jump from a voodoo3

so assuming that the nforce2 IGP doesn't cost more than 150 you could all that for 350 shipped + tax if you are in CA.


Not a bad deal at all.

I would opt for the 350 dollar one mainly because you can upgrade the cpu w/o replacing the mobo once 333mhz chips are the standard. With the first mobo you'd have to rebuy everything, but it does cost about 100 cheaper but that isn't worth it imo since you'll spend more $$$ in the long run


EDIT:

btw, whenever i say 512 megs of ram I mean 2x256. You dno't need to do this if you don't get onboard videocard (ie the 8rda+) but if you do get onboard video that extra bandwith will make a difference for the video.

And the above's configuration is actually really good...BUT if you get that you should really get that extra stick of 256....then you'd be set

 

[nick1985]

get the crucial 256 meg pc-2100 at new egg. its only 50 bucks right now!