It's upgrade time, and I need recommendations! *Final List: Please Verify*

[Chaotic42]

You guys have been good to me, so I ask your advice once again. It's upgrade time. I got big promotion, $800 in the bank, and I'm sitting on $1200 in checks. I don't want to go insane here. Just one medium sized, or maybe 2 small upgrades.

Here's my current setup:

1 Ghz AMD Thunderbird (1 Year 1 Month old)
MSI K7T Turbo 200/266 Motherboard (1 Year 1 Month old)
256 MB Crucial CAS 2-2-2 Memory (7 Months old)
Leadtek Geforce 2 Pro Video Card AGP (1+ Years old)
Sound Blaster 128 PCI (4 Years old)
3Com 3c905b Ethernet (4 Years old)
12 GB Maxtor 5400 RPM Drive ATA33(3 Years old)
11 GB Maxtor 5400 RPM Drive ATA33(3 Years old)
50x (200 Db) Shuttle CD-ROM IDE/ATAPI (Almost 2 Years old)
40x12x48 TDK Burner IDE/ATAPI (25 hours old )
19" Viewsonic P95f Monitor (1 Month old)
Cambridge Sound Works FPS 1000 speakers

Windows 98SE
Debian Testing

I'm thinking of going SCSI for my hard drives, or maybe a processor upgrade. I play games and develop software, and I like to render things with Bryce. Some games are a little skippy, but a most are ok.

What do you think?


Edit: I forgot I had a 18.3GB Ultra 160 80pin LVD Hard drive, still no controller though

-------------------------------------
Update:

Here's my shopping cart:

PIONEER INTERNAL ATAPI 16X DVD-ROM MODEL 106S/2 - $47
WD WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL - $130
AMD 1800+/266 FSB Athlon XP PROCESSOR CPU- OEM - $104
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition - OEM Full Version - $88

Subtotal $369

 

[microAmp]

Upgrade your video-Would be my first choice.

2nd would be either CPU or WinXP/W2K depending on software compability.

OEM full version WinXP can be about $99, WinXP Prom $150.... W2K $140. <--- Ball park prices

But that's all IMO.

 

[John]

<< Windows 98SE >>



Get a 7200 ata100/133 HDD, 256MB additional memory, GF4 TI200, and Windows XP

 

[MasterHoss]

Man, get yourself a respectable HD.

 

[Shooters]

<< Man, get yourself a respectable HD. >>


I agree

 

[5489]

1: Video card. get a GF4 TI4200
2: Hard Drive (s)
3: sound card

 

[Shide1]

hard drive
video
sound

 

[tenoc]

Definitely need a HDD, but screw SCSI!

 

[looper]

Western Digital HD with 8 mb cache...

GeForce 4-4400 ( Gainward or Leadtek)...or GeForce 4-4200 with SB Audigy...

Another stick of 256mb memory...

Win XP Pro...

 

[acejj26]

1. zippy hard drive
2. video card
3. processor

 

[Miramonti]

1) large zippy harddrive
2) Winxp
3) 256 more ram

 

[Zukatah]

1) Harddrive
2) Video
3) RAM
4) CPU/Motherboard
5) WinXP/Win2K
6) A Pioneer slot loading DVD

 

[Chaotic42]

So what brand of hard drives do you guys recommend?

I thought I'd get more processor upgrade suggestions. Hmmm. Interesting.

 

[Maggotry]

<< Get a 7200 ata100/133 HDD, 256MB additional memory, GF4 TI200, and Windows XP >>


I think this makes for a great upgrade.

 

[RamzaBeoulve]

I can tell you don't want to spend too much cash

Try going for a lighter video card, like a GeForce3 Ti200, 256 MB More RAM, or a new 40-60 GB 7200 RPM ATA 100/133 Hard Drive. Or you can get a combo of those two

 

[Chaotic42]

<< 1) large zippy harddrive
2) Winxp
3) 256 more ram >>



Stupid question: Is WinXP really that much better than 98SE? Worth $100?

 

[Chaotic42]

Bump on last time.

 

[Dormant]

Western Digital Harddrive 100gb with 8mb cache

 

[Dormant]

Chaotic you must know someone with an illegal copy of Win XP Pro.... COme on! I thought the world + Dog had atleast 3 friends with a copy.

 

[Pheran]

Should be a nice upgrade, but personally I would get a nice quiet Seagate Barracuda IV or Maxtor D740X (the FDB L-series model) 80G drive instead of the WD. Also, the Athlon XP 1800+ seems to be the sweet spot at the moment as far as price goes, but I'm not sure if your motherboard supports it or not. If you wait a couple of weeks the GeForce 4 Ti4200 would be a substantial upgrade to your video card.

 

[Chaotic42]

<< Chaotic you must know someone with an illegal copy of Win XP Pro.... COme on! I thought the world + Dog had atleast 3 friends with a copy. >>



Yeah, I'm thinking about not getting XP. I don't really see what makes it so good.

 

[Dormant]

I think Windows XP Pro is the most stable MS OS I have ever used. That is not to say it is perfect, far from it actually but the new features, design, coloring and layout make it much more pleasant to work with. I have more faith in the NTFS file system than I do in FAT 32...

 

[Zukatah]

By the way Dormant, if you look closely in the rules of Anandtech forums, you are not allowed to promote illegal software like you do in this post:

<< Chaotic you must know someone with an illegal copy of Win XP Pro.... COme on! I thought the world + Dog had atleast 3 friends with a copy. >>

. I strongly suggest that you remove it before people start flaming you.

 

[Chaotic42]

Thanks everyone, I ordered as above, including my *ahem* legal copy of XP

I'd rather wait for a bit to get a new video card. I know it's stupid, but I refuse to pay more than $150 for a hard drive or more than $125 for a video card.

 

[Chaotic42]

<< I think Windows XP Pro is the most stable MS OS I have ever used. That is not to say it is perfect, far from it actually but the new features, design, coloring and layout make it much more pleasant to work with. I have more faith in the NTFS file system than I do in FAT 32... >>



Well, I can't use NTFS as the support for writing to it in linux is sketchy. Thanks for your input.