new build...how does it sound?

[MrDudeMan]

so my desktop crapped out on me and ive decided to upgrade! there is something wrong with the motherboard, and since its a 2.53b, i cant really do much future proofing. i want to go with a new amd chip, and from what ive gathererd the venice is the way to go. i could be wrong...please correct me.

i have a radeon 9700 pro and i cant really afford to upgrade it. the problem is i want a motherboard with no AGP slot...and ive heard socket 939 is the way to go if you are buying right now because it is very future proof. i probably wont upgrade again for 2-2.5 years. need some serious advice here...

things i need:

CPU
motherboard
new RAM
new PSU

what i need it for:

hardcore gaming, mild video editing, lots of crap running all the time


CPU - as i said before, im looking at a venice. to be honest, there is simply too much of a choice now and its hard to keep up. i cant reallly afford more than 130-150 for a CPU, so i guess im looking at the 3000. would it be worth it to spend some more and go higher? or get a different core?

Motherboard - ive been looking at the DFI Lan Party with SLI. i dont know if ill ever use SLI, but i figured it would be a bad choice not to get it. one quick question though...how much of an improvement is there with SLI? can you get a mediocre graphics card and run 2 of them in SLI to perform better than a single good one? no idea how this really works...

new ram - Text. i have been looking at some of the stuff on this page, but i dont know which one would be the best choice. ive been eyeballing the corsair and kingston, and i realize this isnt the absolute best RAM, but more that is slower is better than less that is faster, and i cant afford the super fast stuff. i want dual channel even though i know the difference isnt huge, and i would also like to have 1gb. my question is would the 1gb id be ordering work with my 512mb pc2700 that i currently own? what would happen if i put them all in there?

new PSU - i have no idea which one i need...please help!

and what do i do about that video card issue?

 

[MrDudeMan]

btw, i read the thread about the 24pin and 20 pin PSUs already, so im not a total noob when it comes to the subject.

 

[MrDudeMan]

bump for some help please

 

[imported_Starman]

CPU: 3000+ Venice $153
RAM: 1GB (512mbx2) PC3200 Corsair Value RAM $77
Video Card: Nvidia 6600GT $150-ish
Motherboard: lots of options, to be discussed, get one with Nforce4 SLI
PSU: Choose any Antec or Enermax, 430w or higher (depending on budget)

You need a new video card. Period. The 9700 Pro is not going to cut it and even if it did it won't work on a PCI-Express motherboard. The 6600GT is your best bet for performance at low cost. For the CPU stick with the Venice 3000+ as the best budget processor and use some Corsair Value Ram which is great stuff (and super cheap). On the motherboard side of things you should get SLI because that will enable you, in the future when you add a 2nd 6600GT, to combine their power for double the fun. I'll look into some mobo options and get back to you, but these suggestions give you something to build upon.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Starman
CPU: 3000+ Venice $153
RAM: 1GB (512mbx2) PC3200 Corsair Value RAM $77
Video Card: Nvidia 6600GT $150-ish
Motherboard: lots of options, to be discussed, get one with Nforce4 SLI
PSU: Choose any Antec or Enermax, 430w or higher (depending on budget)

You need a new video card. Period. The 9700 Pro is not going to cut it and even if it did it won't work on a PCI-Express motherboard. The 6600GT is your best bet for performance at low cost. For the CPU stick with the Venice 3000+ as the best budget processor and use some Corsair Value Ram which is great stuff (and super cheap). On the motherboard side of things you should get SLI because that will enable you, in the future when you add a 2nd 6600GT, to combine their power for double the fun. I'll look into some mobo options and get back to you, but these suggestions give you something to build upon.

thanks a ton for your reply. im just gonna ask the questions i cant seem to answer myself about each thing i need to upgrade based on your response...

CPU: is the venice 3000+ gonna be considerably better than my 2.53b? i want to be able to play whatever games come out for the next 2 years...will this CPU cut it? would it be worth it to go to the 3200+? or would the only jump worth my trouble be to the 3800+? i cant afford it anyway, so maybe i can overclock the 3000+...

RAM: so this RAM is a good compliment to the venice? not much else to say about it really, besides i guess would it be useful to get 2gbs instead of 1gb? it is pretty dang cheap right now...hard to pass this up. unless it is totally not necessary.

Video Card: my 9700pro plays most games decently well, but as you said it wont work on the newer boards because it is AGP 🙁 ive heard good and bad about the 6600GT, and ive checked out some of the benches, but is it really a good card? my experience with $150 cards is that they suck if you want something higher than 1024x768. ive also heard good and bad about SLI, mostly that it isnt currently working like it should.

Motherboard: ive heard NF4 is premature, even though DFI LP w/ SLI gets good reviews. is the DFI lan party i linked to above not a good board? it seems pretty sweet IMO, but i guess im not totally sure.

PSU: turns out my current PSU is not an antec, so i guess ill be getting a new one of these...ill look around

 

[Sqube]

nForce 4 was premature 6 months ago. It's well-established now.

Crossfire (think ATI's version of SLI) is supposedly coming out in July and, if previews are to be believed, is superior to SLI. So that's another thing to think about if you want to go SLI. Check out HardOCP for more details on Crossfire.

I don't know where you've been reading, but IO have yet to really hear anything bad about the 6600 GT.

PSU: OCZ, Antec, PC Power & Cooling... those are always the three that come to mind for me. Someone else will probably come in and suggest some others.

The CPU will be much better, although I don't know about "next 2 years" better... that's tough to call.

1 gig is fine for RAM unless you're doing Photoshop, videdits, and things of that nature.

 

[Fern]

Just my .02

You're a gamer, I see the 6600GT as more of a "side-grade" than an upgrade from a 9700p.

I'd either get a 6800GT or X800XL etc or find a skt 939 mobo with AGP.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Sqube
nForce 4 was premature 6 months ago. It's well-established now.

Crossfire (think ATI's version of SLI) is supposedly coming out in July and, if previews are to be believed, is superior to SLI. So that's another thing to think about if you want to go SLI. Check out HardOCP for more details on Crossfire.

I don't know where you've been reading, but IO have yet to really hear anything bad about the 6600 GT.

PSU: OCZ, Antec, PC Power & Cooling... those are always the three that come to mind for me. Someone else will probably come in and suggest some others.

The CPU will be much better, although I don't know about "next 2 years" better... that's tough to call.

1 gig is fine for RAM unless you're doing Photoshop, videdits, and things of that nature.

is SLI & crossfire a hardware implementation or is it software based on the available slots on the motherboard? if i get a 6600GT and later get another 6600GT for SLI, will i be able to ditch those and go with an ATI card in crossfire on the same motherboard? sorry, i just dont understand how that works.

if the CPU will be much better than what i have now, it should last perfectly well for 2 more years. question though...would i be able to put a dual core chip on my motherboard in the future? will i have to upgrade the mobo even if they are the same socket?

ill probably stick with 1gb of ram unless i can manage to find some cash for another 2gb.

oh, last thing...how much better is the 6600GT than the 9700pro? are they even in the same ballpark since one is AGP and the other is PCI-E? ive also seen like 2 or 3 different kinds of PCI-E slots, whats the difference?

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Fern
Just my .02

You're a gamer, I see the 6600GT as more of a "side-grade" than an upgrade from a 9700p.

I'd either get a 6800GT or X800XL etc or find a skt 939 mobo with AGP.

thats kinda what i was thinking...most of my experiences with 130-180 dollar cards has been not good. ive usually had to spend 200+ to get a really awesome card. i have a bad feeling that the 6800gt is expensive, though, so ill go check that out.

 

[Sqube]

SLI only works with NVIDIA cards, Crossfire only works with ATI cards.

If you get a socket 939 motherboard, I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to drop a dual-core processor in it when they come out.

The 6600 GT is what... 20-30% better than the 9800 Pro?

There's PCI-e x16, which is for video cards.
There's PCI-e x1 and PCI-e x4; as far as I've been able to tell, they don't make anything for those slots yet.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Fern
Just my .02

You're a gamer, I see the 6600GT as more of a "side-grade" than an upgrade from a 9700p.

I'd either get a 6800GT or X800XL etc or find a skt 939 mobo with AGP.

I still wouldn't be too concerned about buying an AGP board at this point in time.. All of the next gen cards will still be released in AGP, hopefully one more round after that..

Either way, Get a 939 board, couple it with a Venice and keep your 9700 pro for as long as you can..

Sell it, and get an x800xl or 6800GT.

😛

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: bjc112

Originally posted by: Fern
Just my .02

You're a gamer, I see the 6600GT as more of a "side-grade" than an upgrade from a 9700p.

I'd either get a 6800GT or X800XL etc or find a skt 939 mobo with AGP.

I still wouldn't be too concerned about buying an AGP board at this point in time.. All of the next gen cards will still be released in AGP, hopefully one more round after that..

Either way, Get a 939 board, couple it with a Venice and keep your 9700 pro for as long as you can..

Sell it, and get an x800xl or 6800GT.

😛

are you saying sell the 9700pro now and get an x800xl or 6800GT? or wait like a year?

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Sqube
SLI only works with NVIDIA cards, Crossfire only works with ATI cards.

If you get a socket 939 motherboard, I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to drop a dual-core processor in it when they come out.

The 6600 GT is what... 20-30% better than the 9800 Pro?

There's PCI-e x16, which is for video cards.
There's PCI-e x1 and PCI-e x4; as far as I've been able to tell, they don't make anything for those slots yet.

oh ok, so if you want to run dual video cards you need 2 x16 slots.