Need a mobo/CPU/ram recommendation

[Triumph]

*edit* What can I do for 200 including RAM? Need 1 gig for sure.

I've been completely out of the PC loop for a long while, the last time I actively read about PC's was when the PIII was coming out. For a long time I didn't care because I wasn't doing anything too intensive, but lately I have been doing alot of Photoshop and video editing, and my system is starting to feel slow. System is:

Celeron 866 ->1200
640 mb PC133
GF4 Ti4600 AGP
Bunch of hard drives upgraded over the years
400W ATX powersupply

I figure that alot has gone on since my last upgrade, and I can see a big increase in performance WITHOUT buying the latest Core Duo or whatever. So I'm setting my price point at $200 for new mobo/CPU and seeing what I can get. Is it even possible to include ram in that price point and get something worthwhile?

I don't want to upgrade case, hard drives, graphics cards, dvd drives, etc. Keeping this strictly to mobo/CPU/ram for simplicity. I don't do alot of gaming (basically none.

 

[deathwalker]

The motherboard and CPU combo below comes in well under $200...the problem comes in the additions of memory..which still is only around $260. This provides the intel Pentium D 805 that was so widely well recieved when it came out due to its OC ability, an affordable motherboard that allows you to move your AGP graphics card over and choose either between DDR or DDR2 memory..with DDR2 memory now acctually being the better buy. Also a link for some affordable memory is included. The key here is ...you will have to buy memory for any upgrade...your PC133 is useless for any upgrade.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813157092
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819116001
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820236102

 

[Triumph]

I'm not too key on onboard sound, is that pretty much common place nowadays? I can always disable it, I suppose, but it still essentially takes up one PCI slot. I guess that's another trade off I'll have to make when keeping my AGP card, because I'd like to have PCI Express upgradeability.

I've never heard of ASRock...good brand? Stable?

 

[o1die]

Fry's electronics has some cpu and board combo deals for around $100-120 if you live near one. Some with Intel, some amd. Their website is outpost.com, but it rarely offers them anymore.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: Triumph
I'm not too key on onboard sound, is that pretty much common place nowadays? I can always disable it, I suppose, but it still essentially takes up one PCI slot. I guess that's another trade off I'll have to make when keeping my AGP card, because I'd like to have PCI Express upgradeability.

I've never heard of ASRock...good brand? Stable?

I just started using this ASRock mobo and it's very solid. It was very easy to set up as well.

 

[modestninja]

Another option would be a combo like this one for $100 that is still on going at Newegg.

socket 754 w/a64 3400+

That would leave $100 dollars for RAM. The only downside is that you have a dead platform (ddr, AGP). However, that means you can recycle all the other parts except ram.

I've got one of these running in my HTPC box (I sold my socket A athlon and mobo for the a bit over $100 making this an essentially free upgrade) and it runs nice a quickly and even has some overhead for OCing.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Originally posted by: modestninja
Another option would be a combo like this one for $100 that is still on going at Newegg.

socket 754 w/a64 3400+

That would leave $100 dollars for RAM. The only downside is that you have a dead platform (ddr, AGP). However, that means you can recycle all the other parts except ram.

I've got one of these running in my HTPC box (I sold my socket A athlon and mobo for the a bit over $100 making this an essentially free upgrade) and it runs nice a quickly and even has some overhead for OCing.

I was going to suggest this as well. It's a really good deal, and will definatly get you moved up to something with ALOT more performance. Although you're moving from one dead platform to one that's on it's last legs. I'd say it'd be worth it for someone like yourself who probably isn't going to upgrade again for another 3 years or so.

You will have to make sure to pick up a s754 cooler though, as it's the bare CPU.

And onboard sound is on EVERYTHING these days. The ones out there now aren't half bad, but a seperate sound card will offer improved quality in most cases.

 

[xgsound]

I recently upgraded from a system a little slower than yours. If your 400W power supply has a 4 pin 12V "CPU" connector it can work if it's 18A or more on the 12V rail. I skipped over many sockets and memory types to the MSI K9NMG2-FID. It's AMD AM2 socket, DDR2 mem, on board Nvidia 6150 video, on board HD 7.1 audio, two IDE controllers, 4 SATA ports,1 PCIe 16 slot, 4 backplane USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, and Gb LAN.

For $180 or so you can get this with a Semperon64 3000+ ($60) and 512 MB DDR2. For $327 or so you can get an AMDX2 3800+ ($149 and great for Photoshop) and 1GB ram. The ram must be 1.8V or 1.9V. The 6150 Video isn't as fast as the ledgendary 4200/4600 series for games, but for actual work is more than servicable. This should put you in the current "sweet spot" pricewise for all the newer upgrades.

If you're interested, here is a huge thread http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=29&threadid=1803985&enterthread=y on the Skt 939 version of the board (k8nmg2-fid) that takes DDR ram and discusses many users experiences. Note that the skt AM2 version currently DOES NOT support any memory or CPU adjustments at all.


Jim

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey

Originally posted by: modestninja
Another option would be a combo like this one for $100 that is still on going at Newegg.

socket 754 w/a64 3400+

That would leave $100 dollars for RAM. The only downside is that you have a dead platform (ddr, AGP). However, that means you can recycle all the other parts except ram.

I've got one of these running in my HTPC box (I sold my socket A athlon and mobo for the a bit over $100 making this an essentially free upgrade) and it runs nice a quickly and even has some overhead for OCing.

I was going to suggest this as well. It's a really good deal, and will definatly get you moved up to something with ALOT more performance. Although you're moving from one dead platform to one that's on it's last legs. I'd say it'd be worth it for someone like yourself who probably isn't going to upgrade again for another 3 years or so.

You will have to make sure to pick up a s754 cooler though, as it's the bare CPU.

And onboard sound is on EVERYTHING these days. The ones out there now aren't half bad, but a seperate sound card will offer improved quality in most cases.

Maybe I'm dense, but I'm not seeing the motherboard in there? Specs on it?

I don't care about moving from one dead platform to another. I'm fine with running 2-3 years behind everyone else.

*edit* I see them now, looks like there are 3 choices. The Biostar has more PCI ports, which I like. I think I could be happy with this.

 

[modestninja]

The Biostar is the only ATX board. The other 2 are mATX so have less of everything. I've got the Biostar and while it isn't the greatest board in the world the chipset is fine and it even has a few OCing options. Overall, I've had a decent experience with it.

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: modestninja
The Biostar is the only ATX board. The other 2 are mATX so have less of everything. I've got the Biostar and while it isn't the greatest board in the world the chipset is fine and it even has a few OCing options. Overall, I've had a decent experience with it.

That's another thing, overclocking. How OC'able is the A64? Will this mobo keep me from unlocking all that I can get from that chip (reliably)?

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: Triumph

Originally posted by: modestninja
The Biostar is the only ATX board. The other 2 are mATX so have less of everything. I've got the Biostar and while it isn't the greatest board in the world the chipset is fine and it even has a few OCing options. Overall, I've had a decent experience with it.

That's another thing, overclocking. How OC'able is the A64? Will this mobo keep me from unlocking all that I can get from that chip (reliably)?

Since I use it as a htpc, I haven't OC'd mine too much. You can at least do all the basic things like multiplier, HTT, ram timings and a little voltage control (although this is most like where it falls short). Anyway, I have been able to run @ 220 1:1 with my ram, leaving the processor at 2640Mhz. It's cool and very stable (although my memory has BH5 chips which tend to OC well). I'm running it with an Ultra90 which I got for $25 shipped on jab-tech.

 

[Triumph]

Ok, I think last question - what RAM to buy? Obviously DDR 400, but there are a ton of different brands. Some of the CAS 2.5 stuff is cheaper than the CAS 3. I'm tempted to just pick what I know, Crucial, Kingston, Mushkin, Viking, etc. Looking at 1 gig sticks here, the 2x512 isn't any cheaper.

 

[Zap]

F'n eh, why the hell does Newegg always change their site around every couple of months. I just get comfortable with where everything is and how to quickly glance at a page to get the info I want, now I have to waste time looking over stuff.

Okay, here's another possible setup I'm tossing out there just to confuse the OP some more...

socket AM2 Sempron 2800+ $41 I can get just about a 1GHz overclock out of mine, YMMV.

1GB dual channel DDR2-533 $95 sheesh, was only $90 earlier, is only 533MHz but that will still allow a bit of an overclock.

Epox Geforce 6100 chipset board $75 I just discovered this board recently and am impressed at what I read. Not only does this overclock as well as the Biostar Tforce board (which I got my 1GHz overclock on) but it allows for more vDIMM. Biostar limited to 2.0v while Epox gives 2.5v, which can really help the RAM overclocking.

Ultra 400W power supply $FREE after $25 rebate just so you have a proper 24 pin power supply.

Total $211

The onboard video may not be much but really it can play most games fine if you don't expect it to perform like a $300 video card. Also, such a setup will allow you to USE a $300 video card in the future if that's what you wish, because of the PCI-E slot and the PCI-E power connector on that power supply. This setup should be reasonably overclockable, plus is upgradable to dual core. Shipping on the whole deal will be about $12. The only other thing is whether you get taxed.

If you want to go all out, Radio Shack has a decent $10 after rebate case (deal good until Thursday).

 

[Triumph]

Thanks for the additional input, Zap. But I think that's getting more confusing than I want to get. I want to keep this as simple as possible, otherwise I would just buy a whole new machine. The Biostar linked above has a 20 pin power supply, and I'd like to be able to keep my case w/ power supply. The p/s is a pretty good 400W Seasonic, very quiet. And cases are a very personal preference. I just can't see what the difference between all the RAM is, for seemingly similar specs, there is a $30-40 price differential.

 

[modestninja]

Originally posted by: Triumph
Thanks for the additional input, Zap. But I think that's getting more confusing than I want to get. I want to keep this as simple as possible, otherwise I would just buy a whole new machine. The Biostar linked above has a 20 pin power supply, and I'd like to be able to keep my case w/ power supply. The p/s is a pretty good 400W Seasonic, very quiet. And cases are a very personal preference. I just can't see what the difference between all the RAM is, for seemingly similar specs, there is a $30-40 price differential.

I wish I could be more help with the RAM triumph, but I've only been shopping for DDR2 lately. Back in the day the price difference depended on which chips were in the ram (CH5 OC'd very well so it became popular, but I think they stopped making them a while ago).

Anyway, from glancing at newegg, I found this which seems to be an awesome deal for DDR since it is very fast and the only module they have cheaper is a weird unknown brand.

NEWEGG

EDIT: Wow, did some more looking and this stuff is $170 elsewhere. In price grabber the cheapest DDR 1gb modules I could find were $100 (for value ram). And since this is high performance stuff it seems like one of the best out there considering the huge increase in RAM prices recently.

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: modestninja

Originally posted by: Triumph
Thanks for the additional input, Zap. But I think that's getting more confusing than I want to get. I want to keep this as simple as possible, otherwise I would just buy a whole new machine. The Biostar linked above has a 20 pin power supply, and I'd like to be able to keep my case w/ power supply. The p/s is a pretty good 400W Seasonic, very quiet. And cases are a very personal preference. I just can't see what the difference between all the RAM is, for seemingly similar specs, there is a $30-40 price differential.

I wish I could be more help with the RAM triumph, but I've only been shopping for DDR2 lately. Back in the day the price difference depended on which chips were in the ram (CH5 OC'd very well so it became popular, but I think they stopped making them a while ago).

Anyway, from glancing at newegg, I found this which seems to be an awesome deal for DDR since it is very fast and the only module they have cheaper is a weird unknown brand.

NEWEGG

EDIT: Wow, did some more looking and this stuff is $170 elsewhere. In price grabber the cheapest DDR 1gb modules I could find were $100 (for value ram). And since this is high performance stuff it seems like one of the best out there considering the huge increase in RAM prices recently.

Doh! I didn't see that one because I narrowed my search to DDR 400 only. Maybe I'll pick that one up and have 2 gigs.

So yeah, I ordered the Biostar/AMD A64 combo. Looks like it fits my needs perfectly. I also randomly picked a piece of Kingston ram, not the cheapest, but not the most expensive. I've never heard of most of those budget names, so I went with the cheapest name brand. Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[Triumph]

Originally posted by: modestninja
Since I use it as a htpc, I haven't OC'd mine too much. You can at least do all the basic things like multiplier, HTT, ram timings and a little voltage control (although this is most like where it falls short). Anyway, I have been able to run @ 220 1:1 with my ram, leaving the processor at 2640Mhz. It's cool and very stable (although my memory has BH5 chips which tend to OC well). I'm running it with an Ultra90 which I got for $25 shipped on jab-tech.

Is this the one you're talking about? Looks huge. I'm also looking at this Arctic for similar price, has good reviews. It's a toss up, I just know that I want a quiet CPU fan.

 

[modestninja]

Yeah, I got the one Ultra-90 you linked. It's quite big, but not as big as the Ultra-120 I got for my other computer. The freezer pro is also a good cooler. I haven't seen reviews with both of them together, but my guess is that they are pretty similar in terms of performance. If I'd seen that price when I was looking for a cooler I probably would have jumped on it to save a few bucks.

Also, I know plenty of people are happy with them for pretty much everything but extreme overclocks and you would need to spend significantly more to significantly better it's performance.

Finally, the stock fan is supposed to be quiet, whereas the free 92mm MIA is a little louder although it blows more air (I replace mine with an LIB that I had laying around since this is an HTPC.)