Computer Upgrade Help.

[jimmyw404]

Hello. I'm seriously considering upgrading my pc within the next few weeks, and I've been doing a little research within the pc market. Currently I have a p3 1ghz, 512mb of SDRam and a GeForce2. Obviously I desperately need an upgrade. I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask such a thing or if it's been asked recently, I've searched the forum and haven't found anything similiar. I've never done this before so I'm slightly apprehensive about doing so, but I understand that it's a good opportunity for me, so without further adeu, here's what I'm looking at:

I have a mouse/keyboard/monitor/speakers/networking card/sound card/floppy drive/cd drives. I'm going to buy two hard drives(RAID)/Motherboard/CPU/Video Card/Ram/Case/Power Supply.

Currently I've been doing some shopping on newegg.com and have found these:

($114)Case : ANTEC case with 430W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-115&depa=0

($111)Mobo : ABIT "AV8" K8T800 Motherboard for 939 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-115&depa=0

($185)Video Card: MSI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-127&depa=0

($291)CPU : Athlon 64 3400
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-503&depa=0

($168)RAM : Kingston ValueRAM, DDR PC-3200, 1gb
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-423&depa=0

($132)Hard Drive: Two(2) Western Digital 7200rpm 80GB SATA Hard drives
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=22-135-106&depa=0


Sub-Total: $1,001.50
If I buy the current mobo/cpu/ram together I get $50 off.
Total: $951.50

I'm open to any and all suggestions of what I should get, brand names, types, etc, everything. Generally I don't want to spend anything more than this, in fact I wanted to spend less but that's how things go I suppose. I'm going to use this computer for gaming/browsing internet mostly.

I appreciate any answers anyone can give me, thankyou.

 

[ts3433]

If you plan on gaming a lot, I would get a 3000+ and some sort of 6800 (if you can cut enough money here, spring for a GT) instead. NF3 250 boards are better for A64s, so pick one of those up. (The supreme DFI board can be had for not much more than the AV8, IIRC, or you can get a cheaper Soltek, Chaintech, or Epox.) Ditch the RAID 0 (I'm assuming that's the RAID type you planned on)--generally not worth it in a consumer level system (Anand did a writeup on this I think), and probably just get a regular PATA drive (can OC proc further in some circumstances, I think). If you think you may want to OC, get a single 1 GB DIMM for a S754.

 

[davidjaii]

gf 6800gt would last you quite longer than the 9800pro ... i know its double the price.. but it would last 3-4 times longer without needing to upgrade

 

[thegimp03]

You can save over a hundred dollars and go with a 939 3000+ winchester that will easily clock to 3400+ speeds. Use that cash to buy a videocard that will last you longer.

 

[jimmyw404]

UPDATE: I've taken into account what I've heard and what you've said, so here are my new system specs. Thanks for your help!


($114)Case : ANTEC case with 430W Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=11-129-115&depa=0

($216)Ram : Corsair XMS PC-3200 1gb
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

($136)Mobo : MSI "K8N Neo2 Platinum" NForce3 Ultra for 939
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

($339)Video Card: ASUS NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT 128 MB
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=14-121-177&depa=0

($169)CPU : A64 3000+ 939
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...amp;manufactory=BROWSE

($66)Hard Drive: Western Digital 7200rpm 80GB SATA Hard drives
http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=22-135-106&depa=0

Total: about $1039

I have a few other outstanding questions:

1. Although the only 128mb 6800 GT that I could find was made by ASUS, if I decide to get a 128mb 6800 instead, what brand name (MSI/ASUS/GIGABYTE etc) is good?

2. Do you suggest I get a socket 754 instead of 939?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Gurck]

iirc all the GTs are 256mb, the non-ultra (which is ~33% faster than the 9800pro) is the 128mb flavor of 6800 and runs about $250. Video card brand names are about the same in terms of quality. Choose based on what games & apps are included, on price, on warranty, and keep in mind the BFG cards come overclocked and are covered by the warranty as such, whereas you'll void the warranty by overclocking other cards.

System looks good, though a lot of ATers have had problems with MSI mainboards. If you plan on overclocking you might want to get faster (pc3500+) ram, and according to benchmarks SATA drives aren't much faster than IDEs, so you could probably save a few bucks or get a bigger drive for the same price there.

 

[cyberfuzz]

socket 939 is the way to go. i mean comon ur spending 220 bux on ram and ur not going to get the most out of it unless you use duel channel. on top of that, the 939 OC's really well, and all you'll have to do is replace the mobo when you want PCI-E.
Buy the Kingston Hyper-X Low Latency Ram from zipzoomfly.com, 2-2-2-5 timing, its 267 with a 45 dollar mail in rebate so it brings it to 222.
Nice case, i had to replace the cheap psu in my case with the antec 430 true, the case+psu comes to the same price as that case .
FYI:Newegg isnt the cheapest place to buy your CPU. i bought my a64 oem from monarchcomputers.com for 163 shipped. i believe its 160 now with free shipping. and dont forget to buy a HSF for your proc and some arctic silver 5 (bought from silicone valley computers for 5.99 shipped).

 

[jimmyw404]

So are zipzoomfly and monarchcomputers.com Also good places to buy computer parts in addition to newegg.com?

 

[drifter106]

one story may have great prices on certain items whereas the other store has great prices on other items. Go to website and become familiar with each vendor and you can end up saving a lot.... My own personal opinion is that they lure you in with a hot item then stick it to you on other items that you will need with the item you bought.... example... i priced a 3200 windchester at monarch the other day for $207 and the MsiNeo board at $149 free shipping for both.... newegg has the same processor the other day for about $220 and the same board for #131...
its a game... just try and figure it out and you can same some money... speciallly on the shipping...

good luck

fyi... I just priced 2 psu's... monarch has the OCZ powerstream 520 for 118.00, newegg has it for 160.00
didn't check into shipping though... go figure :disgust:

 

[jimmyw404]

Is that www.monarchcomputers.com or www.monarchcomputer.com?

Btw, I saved about $20 and got the 3 yr warranty and heatsink/fan for my CPU =) Thanks!