Novice Upgrade questions

[dack0]

I havnt been following pc hardware since I built my last computer and I was wondering what the boards reccomendations are for some upgrading. I'll need to replace my mobo, cpu, memory and graphics card. I'll have about 1000-1200 dollars to spend. What do you guys think would be the smartest choices?

Thanks

 

[DaveSimmons]

gaming or non-gaming?

for gaming you'll need to spend more on the graphics card, so probably:
AMD XP 2500+ - 3000+
Asus nforce2 mobo
512 MB PC2700 or PC3200 DDR (1 GB if budget permits, after getting a good graphics card)
onboard sound or Audigy2 ZS

ATI radeon 9800 non-pro (pro if in the budget)
-or-
If you're an ATI hater, nvidia fx 5900 non-ultra, one with memory clocked 800-850 not 700.

Check prices at newegg.

 

[thunderhorse]

If it were me I'd stay away from the nForce motherboards. If you knew of the problems everyone is having with the drivers. It seems to me that all they are doing is tweeking just to make it run. This is ONLY my opiniop, the rest of the parts that DaveSimmons suggested are great.
Jesus, now I going to here from the 9 people that aren't having a problem with the motherboard and from the 56 that are but saying they aren't. Well isn't this great, my fire suit is at the cleaners and I'm sitting here in my undies.
Honey bring the CO2 fire extinguisher and call the fire department, I'm toast.

But good luck. Please keep us informed. I'm out a here.

"EDIT" I was really commenting on the A7N8X. Now I've started a fire. Remember life should be fun. Please leave the flaming to the professionals. We don't need to get anyone injured. hehehehehehe

 

[nCred]

Originally posted by: thunderhorse
If it were me I'd stay away from the nForce motherboards. If you knew of the problems everyone is having with the drivers. It seems to me that all they are doing is tweeking just to make it run. This is ONLY my opiniop, the rest of the parts that DaveSimmons suggested are great.
Jesus, now I going to here from the 9 people that aren't having a problem with the motherboard and from the 56 that are but saying they aren't. Well isn't this great, my fire suit is at the cleaners and I'm sitting here in my undies.
Honey bring the CO2 fire extinguisher and call the fire department, I'm toast.

But good luck. Please keep us informed. I'm out a here.

nah.. nforce 2 mobo´s works good for most people - like me.

Advice:
Barton 2500+
Abit NF7-S 2.0
2x256 mb or 2x512mb PC3200 RAM
Radeon 9800

 

[adams828]

there seem to be 2 popular setups as far as i've seen people discussing:

abit ic7 (and variants)
p4 2.6C

or

barton 2500+
abit nf7-s (and variants) *or* asus a7n8x (and variants)

you'll want (depending on your uses) at least 512mb ram. for regular uses, get name-brand memory (crucial, mushkin, etc). if you want to overclock, get performance name-brand (ie mushkin black lvl II, kingston hyper x, etc)

with the p4, get 2x256 kit to take advantage of dual-channel
for amd, dual channel offers marginal (<5%) increase, so you can get 1 stick here

for video cards, the high end choice seems to be radeon 9800 pro/xt (or at least those are getting the most discussions.. haven't heard much from nvidia 5900 but i don't think it'd be a bad choice either)
otherwise, a good mid-range (~$150) card would probably be either radeon 9600 pro, or some people like the ti4600/4200


hm well i think that's about it.. check around the boards for other threads, some of them have more component-specific discussions.
with ~$1k to spend, you shouldn't have trouble building yourself a very nice system!

 

[dack0]

Hmm...

Generally what I use my comuter for is high-end print/web design and gaming.
I have sort of a negative connotation with amd probably because of exelent marketing by intel. So i seem to be leaning twords a p4 based system. However, I'll haft to look around at prices and whatnot. I also read on a firinsgsquad.com hardware review that in the ati vrs. nvidia field, the nvidia card was something like 25% faster in 2d performance which Is a big deal for me since I work with graphics so much.

Are there any technologies I should be looking to definately have on a mobo? I've heard mentions of PciX or something as well as raid ata or somesuch. My hds currently are ata-100/60's.

Also, will I have any issues with older pci cards with a higher FSB speed? I don't know enough about this to know or not if thats a stupid question =]

cool thx.

p.s. There seems to be a varied assortment of FSB speeds to consider. What should be the determining factor in choosing which speed to run at. For instance, should I buy a 533FSB p4 or an 800?