friend wants to upgrade pc for < $200- give me help!

[stingygrrl]

we need to buy

case
Power supply
video card
mobo/AMD cpu -- CPU can be in the 1.33 -2 ghtz range
possibly some SDRAM

have:
HD, CDRW, floppy, mouse.


I'm not forgetting something?
this is someone who's at 350 mhtz, so you can see they aren't cutting edge. last year's models or even 2 years ago are ok!

can you give me ideas of what's good, esp for the mobo, CPU. Stability is the key.

thanks

 

[bgeh]

an nforce board
128 mb ddr
athlon xp 1600+
it's all about $160(an estimate)
then get a cheapo case with power supply
unless you want to overclock

 

[Vette73]

Sorry but $200 is going to be next to impossiable for all that.

Athlon 1600+ = $55
Epox board = around $100-130
case with power = say...$40-60
Ram DDR = $50-65 256mg
Video Card = at least $60

And that is just a good starting point. I am sure you can get something for $200 but you would not be happy for long to be honest

I say you need close to $380 to get a good system off the ground with what parts you have.

 

[Regalk]

I would say an ABIT ST6 (or Asus Tusl2-C) and a Celeron 1.0A (or 1.1A).
Generic case and power supply should be fine.
Set your FSB in the BIOS to 133 and you are set.
Add 256 PC133 SDRAM and a Radeon 7500 64 mb DDR and you are set.
Set 2 of these up recently and they are real nice for the average user.
I would not recommend AMD route since a little more involved.
BUT if you do decide AMD then a XP1600+/MSI KT3 Ultra2 (here you can go to 160-166FSB with a Volcano 9 Heatsink) and 256 DDRam would be a good choice.
Cases are a dime a dozen - its the power supply that you have to pay attention to (min 300W). Antec is a good start.

 

[Vette73]

I would not recommend AMD route since a little more involved.???

What are you talking about??? And the system you listed is of a old socket that intel is getting out of. Either go Socket A(Athlon XP) or P4, they can be upgraded and will last a good time.

And don't get a celeron, waste of money.

 

[mechBgon]

Assuming your friend has at least a Win98SE full-version license he/she can use on it, how about

• Evercase with 300W Enhance PSU
• Asus A7N266-VM motherboard
• AMD Duron 800MHz
• 128Mb PC2100 (Kingston)
• Dynatron heatsink/fan unit

That comes to $208 shipped at Newegg. 128Mb of RAM is not as much as I'd like, since the onboard video will need at least 8Mb of it, but you can add more later. The motherboard includes 3D video (plus an AGP slot for upgrading), excellent Dolby-certified audio, and a 10/100 network jack, plus a bracket for an extra two USB ports, COM port, and S/PDIF audio-out. I have quite a few of this motherboard at work and they are pretty good.

The PSU is good for up to at least an AthlonXP 2100+, so you could upgrade the CPU later. The board will take 266MHz-bus AthlonXP's up to a 2600+.

Maybe I will add that the cheaper way, in the end, would be to get the faster CPU and be done with it, instead of going halfway with a Duron and then buying an AthlonXP later.

If you don't have some high-quality thermal grease then factor in a little more money for some Arctic Silver 3.

 

[lsman]

i will say for nforce is a good choice for a all-in-one motherboard unless you want to go lower.

Search "256" on hot deal forum to see if your local office depot has it, you can get the 256MB DDR ram for $10-$13 after rebate. (remember nforce will give you better result if both ram slot are used. but its later)

so go to a good shop for a nforce for around $73 (newegg Asus A7N266-VM AA ver), a 1600+ XP for $52 (price go up and down $1), a GC68 HSF for $5 + shipping (check FS/FT, some ppl may sell HSF), a cheap case can be found for cheap,
$28 shipped.

Don't forget case fans! 2X80mm

 

[stingygrrl]

i forgot to mention I have a bunch of 64 mb PC133 SDRAM that I can donate to the cause. ALso I've built an AMD rig and am ok with that.

 

[mechBgon]

In that case, maybe a Biostar M7VIG? Link Granted, you will max at 128Mb since there are only two slots for PC133, and you give up the top-notch sound and better video. These are in the $60-$70 area.

 

[Lint21]

I'd get one of those ECS mobos that have onboard lan and sound (K7S5A ). They take SDRAM, so you're good to go there. They're $56 shipped at Neweg right now. You can get a Duron 1.3ghz at Newegg for $42 shipped. It should be easy enough to fins a case w/ 300w power supply for $50 (maybe $60 shipped). $66 gets you a Radeon 9000 shipped at Newegg. So that's a total of $214 or $224. If you really looked around for a crappy case, you could probably get it under $200, but you really shouldn't cut too many corners in that area.

With that setup, your friend gets a substantial speed increase, plus plenty of room to upgrade down the road (the K7S5A claims to support all XP procs). No, it's not the fastest, doesn't have dual-channel DDR, doesn't have 6.1 Dolby sound, and it's not a DX9 vid card, but it does what you asked, at the price you asked for.

 

[Lint21]

Just noticed the XP 1600+ is only $57 shipped. That would bump the price up $15, but I think the performance increase would probably be worth it. You'll probably want to look into that, though. I've never used SDRAM with an Athlon, so I don't know how the performance would be.

 

[MithShrike]

I'd go with a K7VMM over the K7S5A. It too provides PC133 support along with DDR however it uses the VIA KT266A memory controller. This board has and external AGP slot along with the integrated graphics. That's all I got to say about that

 

[Regalk]

Marlin Merlin 1955
"What are you talking about??? Merely saying that AMD needs a bit more care especially when installing CPU - you cannot argue there. (BTW I have 3 AMD systems 2 P4s and 1 P3 system!!!)
And the system you listed is of a old socket that intel is getting out of. --I agree but for the $ he wants to spend does it matter.
Either go Socket A (Athlon XP) or P4, they can be upgraded and will last a good time - but may exceed his budget that is why I did not list the P4.
And don't get a celeron, waste of money. - Not really. A Celery 1.1A o/c to 1463 is a pretty darn good buy for most people out there. And in case you didn't know this is practically the old P3s with 256K cache given extended life. Do not get carried away with what you read you have to actually build the systems and bench it which I already did.

But I agree with you if it was me I would get the PE chipset (BE7) and a P41.8A and O/C the heck out of it - but its not me!

 

[stingygrrl]

thanks to everyone. I will look into all the suggestions.

 

[render]

case - $45
mobo - K7S5A(your best bet) -$55
CPU - $45
memory 256MB PC133 - $25 or less
video - $40

 

[SGT]

Hi:
I have a Gigabyte Ga-7zxr Rev. 2.2, 1.33ghz Amd Athlon CPU, and 256mb Kingmax PC-150, in excellent condition, that I posted a few days ago for $120.00. I also have 3 Heatsink and Fan combo's gathering dust which we could talk about. You can pick up a TNT 2 or Geforce 2 for less than $40.00. You then could find a case with at least a 300Watt power supply for about $40.00 or less. The Gigabyte board is capable of upgrading to all of the Athlon chips up to at least XP2200. The only downside is it only uses memory up to PC-150. If interested contact me at MUD_MAN@msn.com.
Thanks,
Steve

 

[IFICUDIWUD]

ecs..k7sem.. will use your sdram and has onboard video and sound.. around 57$ shipped enlight case w/340 w ps 65$.. xp1600 53$ and also another casefan..(enlight comes with one) around 12$ and a heatsink 20-30$$ and your off to the races..

 

[jazzmaster221]

i just upgraded..
athlon 2400 xp 209.00
mushkin ddr 400 3200 memory 100.00
350 watt antek blue powersupply 69.00
albatron kx 400 pro mother board 80.00..thats about 500 bucks with tax
10400 on 3d mark 2001se...gforce4 4200

 

[touchmyichi]

NForce board- 70
Athlon XP 1600+- 59
256 pc 2100 ddr- 73
cheap case- 30

Thats a lil over 200, but hey he'll thank you later. Just use the nforce onboard graphics.

 

[stingygrrl]

thanks everyone.

it's a great help.