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How does this upgrade look?

Scouzer

Scouzer

Lifer
Current system:

ECS K7S5A
Athlon XP 1600+
Geforce 3 Ti200
SB Live! Value
2x 256mb PC2100

Looking to upgrade to:

Asus A7N8X-DX
Barton 2500+
ATi Radeon 9700 Non Pro
2x 256mb PC2700 (Is this worth it over just keeping the old RAM?)
(Will cost $985 CDN including a new case)

Will be keeping the hard drive and CD ROM from the old system...

The biggest gains as I see it will be from the Dual Channel DDR, the Video Card, and the Soundstorm audio. The damn SB Live sucks up CPU cycles like no other.

Any suggestions? Critques?
 
if you're planning on overclocking the new ram will be nice

if not then its not gonna be that much better. you'll gain a bit from having the buses sync'd (thats a 166 FSB cpu right?)
 
Yes it is 166FSB.

I'm not really planning on much overclocking as its a retail CPU. The fans that come with those aren't great.

I'll probably just buy the PC2700 anyway.
 
always good to have two computers anyway.

if you can swing it i'd get a gig of memory though. googlegear ships to canada and has kingston hyper-x for $75/512 stick
 
I'm Canadian.

ATI RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB VGA DVI-I W/ TV OUT OEM Yes $500

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9700 AGP8X 128MB DDR 275/270 DVI-I W/ TV OUT OEM Yes $365
 
I'm going to bed.

The only other concern I have is whether I should wait for the 9800 to bump down 9700 prices or not.

Oh, and I have to haxx0r the 9700 to overclock it, don't I?

Last time I'll spam this thread. I promise.
 
My suggestion, as a budget conscious user... It seems your upgrade is not the best price/performance

Instead of a BArton 2500+, opt for a Tbred Athlon XP 2400+ (110US$ @ newegg), which uses 133 MHZ FSB, so you can keep your 2*256 MB PC2100 and run the bus sinchronously at dual channel, then try a *mild* overclocking, you should probably get some 145-150 MHZ FSB without much trouble, at default cooling and voltages, since Nforce2 boards let you lock AGP/PCI clocks.

Also I would opt for a 9500 pro (175 US$ @ newegg), instead of a 9700 (230-270 US$ average), they run at the same clock, only difference is the 128 bit bus, you'll save over 50 US$ more for just a few fps...

This should save you quite a lot (my guess is 30-40% minimum saves over your intended configuration) with just minor performance drawbacks.

EDIT: Motherboard choice is a completely different matter, since it is most likely a definitive decision... One may have personal reasons to choose a particular model/manufacturer, such as added features or previous experiences. I'd just like to remind you that there are cheaper options on the market which also feature soundstorm, just in case you would change your mind.

Please give me feedback on this suggestion 😎
 
by the way, I have a Soud Blaster Live! value, and I don't see it stealing my precious CPU cycles... And I only have a Duron 1000 MHz...
 
IMHO, either keep the PC2100 RAM or go straight to PC3000/PC3200. Also, I'd really look into getting a gig of RAM as 1 GB will set you back about $250 and 512 MB PC3200 sticks are more futureproof than 256MB PC2700 sticks.

Otherwise, nice choices, though you may want to take a look at the epox 8rda+ as a mobo since it's very nice and usually a bit cheaper than the asus. The Barton 2500+ is a nice choice as is the ATI 9700 NP video card.

Here's what I would do though (all prices in CDN)

2x 512 MB Samsung on generic PC3200 - $260 - NCIX.com
1x Barton 2500+ - $208 - Dangeo.com
1x Epox 8RDA+ - $181 - Dangeo.com
1x Sapphire 9700 NP - $357 - Dangeo.com
=============================
Total: $1006 + shipping and taxes

It'll cost you about $100 more than what you had spec'd out but you get 1 GB of PC3200 RAM instead of 512MB of PC2700. This is more of a budget issue than anything else, if you have an extra $100 or so to spare, I'd go for it. Otherwise, what you had prepared is very nice.

 
I'd agree with MarkHark. Save your $$. You won't notice the difference in the performance going his way, but you will notice the extra $$ in your wallet. As for the mobo, the EPoX 8RDA+ is a good alternative, running the last time I looked at $94 shipped from newegg.
 
Yes, Epox 8RDA+ is still 94 US$ @ newegg, although they state "for a limited time only" 🙂

Anyway, 8RDA+ only has 1 LAN connection, no SATA, no SPDIF, but short of this it's just as much feature-filled as ASUS A7N8X Deluxe. Other cheap options would be Soltek (they have plenty of different models, some of which incorporate Soundstorm, others don't), FIC AU-13, and MSI. Just make sure you look at a model with MCP-T southbridge, instead of MCP.
 
I've looked at the Epox 8RDA+ but it doesn't have Soundstorm. That makes my decision on that board.

There really isn't a whole lot of Soundstorm Nforce boards...

Plus, I've got a budget of about $1000. I'm not really looking to slice it down lower, but to get the absolute max that $1000 CDN can give me.

I'm considering that 1GB of PC3200...looks very nice...but I think I'm going to do with 2x 512mb PC2700, saves $60 over PC3200.

 
In fact, Epox 8RDA+ has all Soundstorm features embedded, with the exception of SPDIF, which is available as an optional bracket... As this bracket is optional, Epox cannot, and will not advertise this board as Soundstorm compliant. But unless you use SPDIF, in which case you'd need to buy the addon, you'll have the same quality sound in both Epox 8RDA+ and ASUS A7N8X Deluxe. As far as I'm informed, all boards featuring MCP-T southbridge fall into this same category.

I had the same doubt a few weeks ago, that's what I've been explained by some very prestative guys here. Just paying it back now 😉
 
If you really wanna get the max out of your 1000 bucks, I'd still go for the Tbred 2400+, but choose a Radeon 9800 instead, it will serve you for longer than the 9700 pro, and you still get to keep your old memory running sync. I don't see much reason to go for 1 gig, unless you REALLY multitask a LOT. And I mean A LOT!!!

But if you do decide to get new memory, go straight for PC3200 or PC3700, Raynor is right, they will last you much longer, and in this case you should really buy those 512MB sticks.

Many Nforce2 users are recommending Twinmos memory with Winbond chips, there's a thread at amdforums.com where you can get this exact memory type, check for WScottCross if the link below does not work.
Twinmos Memory
 
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