Just bit the PCI-E bullet

[BGuardian75]

I'm on a super tight budget... but this has to be done I guess. Keep in mind I bought all this with the intention of selling my SKT 754 rig. It's going to feel so weird having far less performance till I get a 7800GT. I had to keep it under 500 dollars too.

MSI K8N Neo4-F 89.00
Athlon64 3000/Venice 139.00
eVGA GeForce 6200 Turbo Cache 49.00 (LOL just temporary)
Cooler Master 450-Watt (SLI/24 Pin) PS 64.00
Cooler Master Centurion 5 Mid Tower 64.00
Already have 2 gigs of RAM 0.00
Total with shipping = 440

What do you think my ancient 754 rig (same as sig) is worth?

 

[Keeir]

question... why upgrading to PCI-E if (like you say) it is a major downgrade?

 

[nitromullet]

Ouch, that sucks, but at least you have a beater card you can put in your rig when you're inbetween video cards. I need to get one of those myself sometime. I had plenty of crappy AGP cards I could do that with, but no PCI-E cards.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Keeir
question... why upgrading to PCI-E if (like you say) it is a major downgrade?

The "upgrade" part is for the future. He can't get an AGP 7800GT because it doesn't exist. So, he picked up a PCI-E motherbard, CPU, RAM, PSU, and case along with a temporary PCI-E card until he can afford the 7800GT.

 

[BGuardian75]

It isn't a downgrade in the long term sense. It'll simply feel that way with a 6200 in there till I get my 7800 heheh.

 

[SPARTAN VI]

Originally posted by: Keeir
question... why upgrading to PCI-E if (like you say) it is a major downgrade?

He's coming from a X800Pro (AGP) to a 6200 TurboCache (PCI-E). The X800Pro is far superior than a 6200 TC, regardless of the "inferior" bus interface.

 

[Keeir]

I guess I am curious because if you waited until you had enough money to grab the 7800GT at the same time you might be able to get better parts for the same price. I mean, going from a x800 pro to a 6200 is a significant loss in performance...

 

[BGuardian75]

Well I can still use my X800 Pro till I sell it. My bro is already interested in buying this rig, it won't take long. I can just OC the venice, I'm thinking if I'm lucky 2.00ghz and 2.2 isn't out of reach.

 

[Keeir]

Ah, I see, you think you will have enough money when you sell your old system. Duh + headslap

 

[Kalessian]

I had to do the same thing, actually. Only I did it much earlier than you did.

I had my choice of a nice high end vid card, or upgrade to PCIe. So I went PCIe, and it cost me about $600, which was more than my $500 vid card budget. My 6600GT was supposed to be temporary, but now I can't seem to find the money to upgrade again. Maybe if I had bought a 6200 like you did, I would have been forced to get something better by now.

 

[DeathReborn]

Perhaps you should have gone for the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard so you could still use the X800 Pro.

 

[shimsham]

Originally posted by: DeathReborn
Perhaps you should have gone for the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard so you could still use the X800 Pro.

agreed.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

Originally posted by: shimsham

Originally posted by: DeathReborn
Perhaps you should have gone for the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard so you could still use the X800 Pro.

agreed.

agreed². asrock sata2 is a killer deal.

 

[Hacp]

did you buy your parts yet?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch

Originally posted by: shimsham

Originally posted by: DeathReborn
Perhaps you should have gone for the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 motherboard so you could still use the X800 Pro.

agreed.

agreed². asrock sata2 is a killer deal.

Hmmm... I dunno. I tend to stay away from cross-over type solutions like this. My secondary rig has an ALi MAGiK-1 chipset in it, which supports SDR and DDR RAM from back when that was the big transtition concern. The board is functional, but not the most stable board I've ever used. From my perspective, I think that ALi (and now ULi) offer these types of solutions in order to make their otherwise unattractive products sell. ULi and SiS have both been around for quite a while and offer cheaper chipsets than the big guys, but still their parts aren't purchased by the OEM's and boutique system builders. I've had boards that contain both SiS and ALi chipsets. I just mentioned the lack of stability with the ALi, and the SiS based mobo (which also supported DDR and SDR) required a complete Windows re-install after a BIOS flash (it would only boot into safe mode).

My advice: bite the bullet and get decent gear. I used to buy cheaper stuff, and now I buy the more expensive gear. Based on my experiences, cheaper gear is only less expensive if your time is free.

 

[BGuardian75]

Yeah I did, it all shipped already. You know, I did consider the ASRock at first but I got nervous about the quality of that board and I want some OC options. It won't make any difference anyway as I want to sell the X800. I think I made a mistake with that Real Power 450W Cooler Master PS though. It got good reviews and it appears to be quality, but only 22 amps continous on +12 *hrrrm* Guess I'll just switch it with my Vantec.