Computer upgrades! happiness for me!

[KillaKilla]

What I'm upgrading from:
-Intel (Unknown chiipset) motherboard w/ AGP 2x, PC133 FSB
-PIII 800, 133 FSB
-256 MB PC133 SDRAM
-HD... don't know.
-8mb video

Obviously these are not my computers. Every monday my school host a tiny LAN party playing usually DOD. We finally got a $3000 grant to upgrade the computers, which BTW are used as a math lab. We want to upgrade 20 of them as efficiently as posible. That comes out to a grand total of $136.36 per machine. Anyways, I was wondering:
- whats the best we can do to upgrade performance?
- Is it a wet dream to play BF1942 on these after upgrades?

 

[InlineFive]

Why don't you tell us what you are upgrading to first?

 

[Zk1]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo
Why don't you tell us what you are upgrading to first?

i think thats what he wants us to help him with.

most of it sould go into new video cards. dont know how much RAM a PIII needs to work optimal but i dont think it will need much more then 256 mb, if anymore at all, u relly souldnet (spelling?) take my word for it though

 

[KillaKilla]

erm I guess I was a bit vague...

Here's whatI was asking:
What would you guys suggest to get at that budget for those machines to get the most out of the money?

 

[randomlinh]

good luck... $30-40 to double the current ram.. leaving you about $100 for a video card.... almost could pop a 9600 in there altho, it's agp 2x.. make sure the card can support the voltage and slot

 

[Matthias99]

I'd upgrade them to a GF2 or GF4MX-based video card for about $50 each -- you're going to get CPU-bound on newer games anyways, and those have plenty of muscle for any Half-Life based game, or even the Quake3 engine. I'm not certain how much more than 256MB of RAM will help you overall with a CPU that slow (although BF1942 in particular runs much better with 512MB).

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...tion=Geforce4,MX440&searchdepa=1&Order=rating

There's an MSI one for just under $50 -- a pretty reputable brand. Get 15 of those.

That uses about $750 for 15 computers' graphic cards. Then you have enough cash left over to get a much better MB, CPU, and RAM for the rest of them.

This leaves $2250. Split 5 ways, that's $450 per system. Pick up an NForce2 400 Ultra motherboard, no integrated anything, for about $100. Then add 2x 256MB of DDR333 RAM -- easily doable for another $150. So we'll say $250 for the MB and RAM. Then you need a processor -- get a Barton 2500+ 333Mhz for about $100. Then add a video card like a GeForce4TI4200 or RADEON 9200 for around $100 (or maybe even a RADEON 9600 Non-pro or Ti4600 if you can save enough cash elsewhere, or you only build 4 of these systems). That's 5 pretty kickin' gaming rigs and 15 machines that don't suck as bad.

If that's too extreme, or they all have to be the same, you should be able to add better video and another 256MB of RAM to all the machines for well under $135. Unfortunately, the P3 1.2/1.4Ghz chips are a bit too pricey for you -- they're almost $100 by themselves, since they're hard to find nowadays. You could probably upgrade *some* of the systems with them, though.

I've played BF1942 on a P31.2Ghz with a GF2MX and 256MB of RAM, so it can be done! The 800Mhz chips should run it, but maybe a bit slower. Just don't expect more than 800x600 resolution and low details.

 

[billyjak]

Well the AGP 2x video will not support the new video cards , so that's out to lunch.
I say upgrade 1/3 of them at a time with a new mobo and ram with a 9600 pro.

 

[Amorphus]

3k spread out over 20 systems is $150 for each system...

Some of the GF4 MX cards support 3.3v AGP (1x and 2x), do your research first (just read the manuals online). You'll go about $60 for each one, and another $35 for 128mb or $50 for 256mb more system memory.

that gives you about $40 to use on each computer. that's $800 total left.
If possible, try this:
around $140 for a new P4 processor around the 2ghz range, then another $50-60 for a mobo, so lets say $220 to overhaul a system with new mobo/proc, retaining old parts. So make three, and you have $140 left to give to the school.

Or, you could use that leftover $800 and build a moderately good server - 512mb of ram (2 256mb sticks, as dual channel helps a bit on p4, for roughly $80-100), proc ($150), about $100 for a good mobo, CD/DVD-Rom for $50, Floppy for $15, $50 for 40gig HDD (Seagate, at least), and $30 for mouse/keyboard. $150 for monitor, $150 for XP Pro.
I overestimated a bit on those, so that should take care of shipping, too. $800.

*edit*
ask if the school has a corporate copy of Windows XP and if you can build another computer.

 

[Matthias99]

Why wouldn't an AGP2X slot support a newer video card? AFAIK, you can put an 8X board into a 1X/2X/4X slot, as long as the voltages are correct (which it should be). If somehow his MBs are so old that they don't have the right voltage, then yes, he's screwed there. At that point your best bet is swapping all the MBs out for cheap Athlon/Durons with GF4MX integrated video.

Prices from newegg:

Duron 1.4Ghz -- $36 w/o heatsink (we'll say $45 w/ heatsink).
256MB of CL3 DDR266 -- Buffalo CL2.5 is $43.
Shuttle MN31N NForce2 motherboard (integrated LAN/audio/GF4MX440) -- $86.
(They also have a Biostar for $74, but it has no reviews)

The Duron processors aren't too hot, but at 1.4Ghz they're probably still noticeably better than a P3/800. This also offers the ability to upgrade to, say, a Barton 2500+ with dual channel DDR333 in the future. That's only $165 for each computer, so you could get 18 computers upgraded with $3000, and maybe they could scrape together a little more cash for the last two. This may arguably be a better upgrade overall, but I'm not sure they want to completely rebuild all 20 systems. But if they did, they'd then have 20 old motherboards with processors, RAM, and video -- if you added a few more cheap parts to them (case, power supply, CDROM, HDD, network card/sound card if they're not integrated), you might be able to sell them at a profit (either to kids/families at the school, or to the school itself -- they might be willing to pay $200 apiece for 20 reasonably decent computers for classrooms). But now you're talking a lot more work.

 

[Sid59]

option for BRAND NEW COMPUTER

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: Booja555
What I'm upgrading from:
-Intel (Unknown chiipset) motherboard w/ AGP 2x, PC133 FSB
-PIII 800, 133 FSB
-256 MB PC133 SDRAM
-HD... don't know.
-8mb video

Obviously these are not my computers. Every monday my school host a tiny LAN party playing usually DOD. We finally got a $3000 grant to upgrade the computers, which BTW are used as a math lab. We want to upgrade 20 of them as efficiently as posible. That comes out to a grand total of $136.36 per machine. Anyways, I was wondering:
- whats the best we can do to upgrade performance?
- Is it a wet dream to play BF1942 on these after upgrades?

Uh what kind of vid card do they have now? To play BF1942 decently, u'd need more memory, vid card, and cpu power.

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: wetcat007

Originally posted by: Booja555
What I'm upgrading from:
-Intel (Unknown chiipset) motherboard w/ AGP 2x, PC133 FSB
-PIII 800, 133 FSB
-256 MB PC133 SDRAM
-HD... don't know.
-8mb video

Obviously these are not my computers. Every monday my school host a tiny LAN party playing usually DOD. We finally got a $3000 grant to upgrade the computers, which BTW are used as a math lab. We want to upgrade 20 of them as efficiently as posible. That comes out to a grand total of $136.36 per machine. Anyways, I was wondering:
- whats the best we can do to upgrade performance?
- Is it a wet dream to play BF1942 on these after upgrades?

Uh what kind of vid card do they have now? To play BF1942 decently, u'd need more memory, vid card, and cpu power.

Unfortunately not something you can do on that budget. It would be necessary, I sometimes have lag in BF1942 with a Athlon XP 1700 and Radeon 9000, but not If I lower graphics to rock bottom.

 

[Matthias99]

You can run BF1942 on low settings (800x600, low detail on everything) on those systems with a better video card. I think they claim the "minimum" requirement (too low IMO, but they'd be well above this) to be only a P3/500, 128MB of RAM, and a GeForce2 or equivalent.

 

[PCHPlayer]

Let's see... A decent upgrade would be
1. Motherboard ~$100
2. CPU ~$100
3. Video card ~$150
4. Memory ~$100
Total: $450 round up to $500 for easy math.
You can upgrade 6 of them to good machines, then use the spare memory to upgrade the others. You could probably save a little money on each upgrade to save enough to replace the video cards on some of the other machines. You could also sell the old surplus parts on eBay or FS/FT.
Your plan just seems to spend money on obsolete computers to allow them to limp along for another 6 months or a year.

 

[KillaKilla]

Guys, remember: I am not making the final decision on this. He is just listening to me for input. We must, according to the grant, upgrade at minimum 15 machines. We already have a great server (P4 2.8Ghz 800FSB, 1024 MB DC-DDR-3200, 60GB 7200RPM 8Mb, P4C800 Delux). Funny story behind that:

The sys admin of the math lab works there from 7:15AM-8:00PM, so he decided to bring his own machine since he spend so much time there. He also hosts the LAN party, so his is the server.