I got bitten by the upgrade bug....suggestions?

[jdogg707]

Well, I finally decided to take the plunge and upgrade my current system. I got a little extra cash and decided to make a few modifications that will allow me to enjoy this system at least until September, when I am guessing that the new Intel/AMD platforms will be pretty solid and the new technologies like PCI Express will be showing up more and more. After selling my old parts and some other stuff, this upgrade will cost me about $300 bucks out of pocket.

Current System:

AMD Athlon XP 2500+ @ 2.18GHZ
1GB Geil Ultra Platinum PC3500 DDR RAM
Abit NF7-S Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB Video Card
Western Digital 120GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive
Sound Blaster Audigy ZS Platinum
Lite-On 52/32/52 CD-RW
Lite-On 16/48 DVD-ROM
Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP Deluxe
Logitech MX Duo
Logitech Z-5300 5.1 Speakers
Samsung 181T
Koolance PC2-601BLW Water Cooled Mid-Tower Case (CPU, Video Card, and Northbridge Water Blocks)
Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU
Windows XP Professional


New System:

AMD Athlon64 3200+ Retail Processor
MSI K8T-Neo FISR2 Motherboard
1GB Geil Ultra Platinum PC3500 DDR RAM (Keep from old system)
ATI Radeon 9800NP (Samsung Chips)
Western Digital 74GB Raptor 10K SATA Hard Drive
Western Digital 160GB SATA 7200RPM Hard Drive
Sound Blaster Audigy ZS Platinum (Keeping from current system)
NEC 2500A 8x DVD+/-RW Drive
Leadtek Winfast TV2000XP Expert
Logitech MX Duo (Keeping from current system)
Logitech Z-5300 5.1 Speakers (Keeping from current system)
Samsung 181T (Keeping from current system)
Antec SLK3700-BQE Mid-Tower Case w/350W Antec TruePower PSU
Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Heatsink
Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer
Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU (Keep from old system)
Windows XP Professional

I am looking to overclock this system, hopefully to 3400+ levels. I have heard the Shuttle AN50R is a great overclocking motherboard, but all of the reviews I see of it don't share that sentiment. Will the 350W PSU be enough for overclocking? Or should I get the Sonata which has a 380W PSU? I will be using the system for heavy gaming (the reason I decided for Athlon64 over Pentium 4/Prescott), Media Encoding - Divx /MPEG-2 (I know the P4 has some hold in these, but not enough to sway the loss in gaming performance), Distributed Computing, and as a small file server (3 Computer LAN). I am going to order this stuff tonight, so any suggestions would be great!

Thanks!

 

[JBT]

Newegg has Saphire 9800 pros for 229 might want to get that rather than the np even though it has samsung chips. Text

 

[Thor86]

I would also highly recommend the Antec Super LANboy. 120mm fans front intake and rear exhaust. The internal drive bays also come with rubber grommets to absorb vibration from hddisks. Very nice for the price, but no power supply. I would also recommend a Trupower 430 min.

-Edit-

Oops didn't see you already had a 480. Yes, as the below poster stated, keep it.

 

[Futher]

A lot of people here are looking to upgrade to your current system =) If you're in need of an upgrade, than my computer has been obsolete for months. Anyway, I don't see the need in going from 1 gig Geil to 1 gig Mushkin if they are the same speed. I would keep your current 480 watt PSU if you want to overclock. The only big difference I see is the faster hard drive for your OS and maybe the processor. Other than that I don't really see the need to upgrade the video card of anything else. Although I once felt the need to have the best stuff, even if that meant upgrading every two months. Now I'm a poor college student =) Love how that works out... good luck on your new system, looks awesome.

 

[jdogg707]

Ok, I updated the build. I really don't care for the look of the new Super Lanboy, especially since the SLK3700-BQE has all of the features of the Lanboy, plus it looks a lot nicer! I will keep the RAM and PSU after all, and am able to get the 9800NP for $150 from a friend, hence the reason I am going with it. Any other suggestions? Is there a better motherboard choice?

 

[nitromullet]

I don't have any experience with any of the A64 motherboards or chipsets, but there has been quite a bit of talk about the SiS 755 chipset being faster then the VIA or NVidia chipsets. You might want to check out the ECS 755-A2.

Review here.

Another less mentioned option is the Soyo K8USA, which has an ALi chipset. The ECS 755-A2 however, is probably the cheapest well performing A64 motherboards out there.

Again, I don't have any personal experience with any A64 boards, so take my info with a grain of salt and do your research before committing to anything.