Grab cheap deal at NewEgg?!

[marcplante]

Current rig in my Sig file:

My 939 Mobo is flaking (running an X2 4400+). I need to pop the CMOS battery from time to time to get it to recognize the keyboard. I was thinking of scrounging up a 939 Mobo, but that seems pointless since everything else is aging on my PC. I'm still cheap cause I got two kids and a 12 yr old car I wanna upgrade and other toys to buy...so.

I'm thinking of buying this basic, $150 upgrade (below) from Newegg. I'm basically happy with my current rig, this upgrade gives me several upgrades on top of stability

SATA HD access times on HD (not a lot of need for capacity, so 320G will do)
More RAM (though I'm running XP Pro 32 and won't use all of it).
20% faster Processor (depending on benchmark) will also help.

Not a revolutionary improvement, but I figure a nice enhancement to my current performance


I do basic WinRAR, video encoding/decoding and play some games, though I constantly regress to BZFlag, which is not the most processor intensive game. Other games include occasional COD4 or COD5 and a GTR2 driving SIM. Running my games at full 1900x1200 with the 8800GT vid card I'll bring across (though it seems flakey...locks up from time to time).

I run the system at stock speeds to keep things simple. No real time for fiddling.

I realize the purchase is a dead end rig (AM2), but figure this will be enough for an HTPC later in its life, esp with HDMI out.

Any reason not to pull the trigger? Deal seems decent enough though the bits are fairly dated. NewEgg as a bit more CPU (Phenom 1.8ghz) and a 500GB HD for another $75, but it's another dead end system. I figure go cheap if this is my plan for now.

Bits I'm thinking of buying:


(1) AMD Athlon X2 7550 Kuma Dual-Core 2.5GHz Processor (OEM)
(2) ECS BLACK A780GM-A AMD 780G HDMI AM2/AM2+ ATX Motherboard
(3) Corsair XMS2 2GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz PC2 6400 Desktop Memory
(4) Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB Internal SATA Hard Drive

for a low $149.96 after two rebates.

I dunno that I can touch anything functional with all these bits for this kind of price. Beyond this, If I shop for the bits above. I'm going to be at $500 in no time.

Thanks, as usual. This board is great.

 

[Winterpool]

I suppose the kit you're considering would be sufficient for your needs. You might want to look out for a deal on a 500 or even 750 GB WD drive (I've seen 320, 500, and 750 GB drives all for about $50). Do you require a 780G motherboard if you're going to be bringing along the 8800 GT? Though I suppose this does give you backup video capability if your somewhat dodgy card fails altogether, especially if you want to retain it as an HTPC into the future. Also, I don't know how much cheaper AMD boards get than a cheap 780G anyhow.

I don't know the specifics of this ECS board (mmm, I don't think I've touched ECS since socket A, heh), but an AM2+ board with current BIOS updates can support Phenom II, which would make an excellent upgrade should your discretionary spending increase in the near future. (And I hope you're getting the 'clunker' tax credit on your 12-year old car!)