My $500 upgrade challenge

[Howland]

Tax season - Yay.

I have $500 to upgrade my computer.

I need:

Motherboard
Processor
Video card

I have 1 GB of PC 2700 RAM (I might get a gig of 3200 at a later point) and I will probably add a couple of SATA drives in RAID a little later. Have all other periphreals. I may do a little bit of overclocking as well, though I'm kind of new to it.

My thoughts are to buy:

Epox 9N9a+ SLI for $115
AMD 3700+ for $215
and a Geforce 6800GS for $195

Total $530. Ok I cheated a little.

My questions are 1) what kind of power supply to get. I just got a case for $19 after rebate that includes a 400 watt power supply, but I also have a 6 mo old 450 watt power supply in my current system. 2) what kind of processor fan. Stock fan or should I go with a xp-90? I'm not sure how much I want to overclock, I probably won't try to go overboard with it.

Does that seem like the best use of my $500?

 

[suszterpatt]

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice, $160
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80701-5

Chaintech VNF4 Ultra mobo, $89
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=241589

XFX GeForce 6600GT, $128
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321035

2x 512MB Samsung PC3200 RAM, $118
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-8


$495 total complete with PC3200 RAM. You can keep your old sticks and spend the extra dough on a better vid card if you want, but I'd rather upgrade the RAM. Also, no real need to get a 3700+. The 3200+ will easily OC to its speeds, and the CPU is the last thing to bottleneck your system (after PC2700 RAM perhaps ). I have a slightly weaker system than that and I can run HL2 on medium-high settings.

As for the PSU, it really depends on brand and 12V rail amperage rather than total wattage. Post specs and we'll decide.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Why an SLI board? Why not knock off ~$25 and get a cheaper, non-SLI nF4 board? You could also knock down to a 3200+ Venice and save an additional ~$50. Then you could use that extra $70-80 for a slightly better video card, like a 6800GT, or invest in a solid PSU.

One good area to check on your PSU is the amperage of the +12V line, as most modern PCs use this rail to power CPU, Video, HD, etc. I'd say a minimum of 22A is required, with 28+ being a good indicator of a quality Power Supply. I'm not too sure about dual 12V-line models, however. I'd say at least 15A on each.



edit: I like suszterpatt's suggestions, but I would recommend a 1GB stick (like this) for now, just to give you a bit more options. Also, a PSU is important, so if you old PSUs don't measure up, then skip the RAM for now and get a new one and beef up that video card a bit more.

 

[mwmorph]

a pc2700 stick wont impact performance all that much the difference between a 6800gs and a 6600gt is much greater in games than pc2700 v.s. pc3200(and by uch greater, i mean by maybe 5-10x).top of the line
see here for how little ram affects gaming/general performance compared to video cards.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1475190&enterthread=y

With a 7800gt, you can expect about 2x as many fps as a 6600gt at the very least and up to 3x or more at higher resolutionsor with aa or af turned on. and about 80-90% the number ofr fps from a SLIed 6800gs system. With a pc3200 ram swap, you can expaec at most MAYBE 10% more speed and only in some games/programs.

if you are going to co, i suggest you go for a 3200+ if yuo wont oc, a 3500+ is fine. also, sli is pretty meh, every generation, a top of the line current gen sli board will only be as fast as the next gens top of the line flagship so sli as a upgrade path is pretty dubm sine single card performance in that situation can be had fro the same or less price with less power consumption and less noise and greater reliability and less heat, etc.

EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra-$99.99($100)
******/app/IntenalTrackinfo.asp?item=13-123-236&ATT=Motherboards+AMD&CMP=OTC-4r00gle

Venice 3200+-$160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

7800gt or x1800xl
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814170090R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102612R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150124R

PRICE? $530 -$532 much faster for gaming.

anandtech 7800gt review
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2496&p=3

 

[firewolfsm]

mwmorph is right except that the 9NPA ultra is $5 cheaper on MWAVE and he should go with an opteron 144 (extra cache and guarenteed 2.4GHz on stock voltage

 

[Howland]

Thanks for the advice.

I was probably deluding myself in leaving the SLI option open, so I think I will cut that corner and save some cash.

I also realize now that I will probably be ok with the 1GB of 2700 ram that I have. If I were to come across good deals on RAM (like $10 after rebate), can I mix 2700 and 3200 chips without conflict? Say 1GB 3200 and 1GB 2700? Or should I just buy more 2700

I guess for the processor I can go anywhere between 3200+ and 3700+ since there is only about $50 between them. Are all of them fairly overclockable?

It sounds like if at all possible I should go for the 7800GT instead of the 6800GS. Would it be worth it to go with a 3200+ and save $50, an ultra board to save another $25 and spend the extra $100 on a 7800GT?



I have an Antec 450 Watt power supply that has the dual rails at 15 and 17. Antec specs Does that sound ok? Also, should I invest in an XP-90 if I want to do a bit of moderate overclocking?

Thanks a ton!

 

[LarryK]

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322728

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80701-5

or if you can find a CPU mother board combo i am sure you can get 7800GT motherboard and a decent CPU for $500


if you don't game too much i gess a lesser CPU not good. but for $540 you can get all that but have a 3500+ CPU

 

[Howland]

I think I'm allowing myself to be talked into the 7800GT. I will have to ditch the SLI and maybe move down a notch on processing power, but it does seem as though its quite a jump from the 6800GS to the 7800GT and I am a gamer, so as I understand it:

3200+ ($160)
MOBO ($95)
7800GT ($295)

$550

is better than

3700+ ($215)
MOBO ($95)
6800GS ($195)

$510

 

[kamranziadar]

There are so many threads related to this type of question. You should do some search.

 

[shortylickens]

I would get a low-end DFI board instead of an epox. But then I am a fanboi.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136160
Unless you plan on dumping tons of cash into your board over the years, avoid SLI. Just get a good single video card.
As others have said, the 7800 has a much better bang-for-buck ratio than a 6800.
Try and get the cheapest 7800 card you can find.

 

[alimoalem]

opteron 144
epox ultra (not SLI)
6800GS

if you want, you can sell your 2700 ram and spend the remainder of the $500 on pc3200 but no need to