Time to upgrade (rebuild)

[Methias]

Okay folks, I'm thinking with the impending release of Half-Life 2 it's about time to revamp my system. I couldn't think of any better place to ask for help than this forum so here goes:

Here's what I'm keeping from my old rig:

400w Generic PSU
Good Lian Li ATX Tower Case
Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 71 (17" CRT)
ATI 9700 Pro 128MB

Here's what I'm thinking so far for new components:

Processor: AMD Atholon 64 3200+ (512k L2 Cache) (willing to bump this up a bit for extra cash)
RAM: 2x Corsair Value Select 512MB DDR PC-3200 OEM
Motherboard: ?? (hopefully includes Gigabit LAN and sound and of course AGP)
Hard Drive(s): ?? (is SATA any good?)

That's all I can think of for now. I might be forgetting something totally obvious for putting together a fully functional system . But yeah, if you guys have any reccomendations for Motherboards and Hard Drives and even for alternatives to what I have decided on already please let me know. Obviously tech has changed quite a bit since I purchased my last CPU (AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1.3 Ghz).

Thanks in advance!

 

[tfinch2]

i wouldn't keep the generic psu. there are so many good psu brands out there that are cheap you'd be shooting yourself in the foot not to get one.

 

[Methias]

Mkay. Any reccomendations Motherboard and HD wise? I've read a few guides but I want to get a range of opinions.

 

[bcoupland]

OCZ Powerstream 420 watt or 520 watt depending on your needs, A MSI K8N-NEO Platinum or DFI Lanparty Nf3 250Gb (out soon). How
many hdd's do you want to run? Raid? Is noise a factor?

 

[Wahsapa]

if budget is of concern you might as well shoot for a chinatech. other wise dfi and asus look good.

i :heart: seagates

 

[CaptainWafflos]

Your current PSU should be fine if your current PC runs on it with decent rails. I run a $25 400w PSU with my A64 system similar to yours and have no problems.

Currently, the only incentive to getting a SATA HD (excluding WD Raptors) is that they require less wiring, thus enabling superior airflow. This can be remedied for the most part by having rounded IDE cables. Airflow isn't crucial unless you plan on overclocking.

For mobo, it really depends whether you plan on OCing or not.

Also, if you plan on gaming, your 9700 pro will probably be obsolete as soon as you get your new PC. If you can afford to get a new one, I'd recommend either a 6800 (cheaper) or 6800GT (more expensive).

Edit: I forgot to mention the 6600GT that is coming out relatively soon. If you don't plan on buying for awhile, I'd also recommend getting that. The price tag is projected to be about $200, while the 6800 is $275 and the 6800GT is $390.

 

[AdamUK]

Is the Newcastle core the best for AMD 64? And how do you know if it is a Newcastle?

 

[Methias]

I'm so glad I finally got some answers . I think I may want to replace my PSU later but if you say it's working then I'll go ahead and stick with it.

Yeah, I'm a gamer so I'm well aware of how well the 9700 pro is going to perform in relation to the x800 xt or 6800. For now, I think the 9700 pro is going to be good enough for me (I've already beaten doom 3 and that was the only real thing I was worried about with the 9700 pro).

As far as HD goes, is a RAID setup going to increase performance at all? I really don't care about stability very much. The kinds of things that I keep on my computer aren't very important so I can deal with a cold nuke every now and then. If a RAID setup is going to decrease access times though I'd like your guys' advice on how to set one up easily.

As far as Motherboards go, I'm not on a budget. I've heard some good things about MSI and some bad things. A few guides I've read have had an MSI board as the price/performance king but I've read a few real world testimonies that mention really bad things about them. Are there any ASUS solutions that come close to MSI?

 

[Arcanedeath]

The Asus K8N-E Deluxe doesn't overclock as well as the MSI Nforce 3 250GB board but it performs just as well at stock and still has good OCing options and a boat load of features, I'd actually check on the DFI Nforce 3 250GB board thats just been released recently it seems to be the king of the overclocking heap as far as skt 754 boards go at this point but the Asus board is still a good choice as long as you use the latest bios.

 

[Methias]

Cool, thanks for the info.