Upgrade Advice

Enchanter

Junior Member
Nov 7, 2004
9
0
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Hi all,

My current system configuration is as follows:

Intel P4 Northwood 2.4GHz (400MHz FSB)
MSI 645 Ultra (SiS 645 chipset)
512MB PC2700 DDR-RAM
ATI Radeon 8500
2x80GB Seagate HD (ST380021A)
Plextor PX-708A DVD+/-RW
Samsung CD-RW/DVD
M-Audio Revolution (connected to M-Audio SuperDAC)
Netgear 108MBps WG311T

External components, which I will be keeping, are:
Sony 19" G420
Logitech MX Duo
Scanner & Printer
Stereo & headphone rig

I normally use my system for internet (e-mail, browsing, downloads, bittorrent, etc) , music listening (2-channel high-bitrate or lossless files), media viewing (XviD and a few DVDs), video encoding (XviD and DVD Shrink), DVD back-ups and occasional games (currently playing FarCry, Neverwinter Nights and, soon, Doom3). I am not after the fastest system on the planet, rather a sensibly-priced one that delivers enjoyable speed in my applications AND is quiet (I value quiet as much as performance and stability).

I am planning to assemble this system in a month (or two) time, when prices have come down and availability is not an issue:

AMD Athlon64 3500+ (90nm socket939) + Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu
Supporting motherboard (one that does not include fan on its chipset heatsink - suggestions?)
2x512MB PC3200 CAS2 Kingston HyperX
ATI Radeon 9800Pro + Zalman ZM80D-HP heatsink
200GB Seagate HD (SATA or PATA, help me decide?)
Antec Sonata or SLK3700BQE

I will be keeping my current soundcard and wi-fi cards for the system, and probably the optical drives too (depending on budget). As well, I have purchased the ATI Radeon 9800Pro card, Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu and Kingston memory modules on e-bay (cheap deals), so no changing that part of configuration.
Give me your comments and help me improvise the plan, guys. Thanks heaps!


Edit:

Forgot to mention, I don't normally overclock (though I may start adventuring in the future).
 

davidjaii

Member
Oct 25, 2004
185
0
0
i suggest you return the 9800pro and get 6800gt.. its doule the price but more than doubles the performance...
 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
1
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Since you're not sure about the motherboard and many a64 rig builders seem to be buying the msi one (k8n or something? I don't remember offhand), search for msi in this forum, note the staggering number of ATers who have problems with their mainboards... If you may be overclocking, you might want pc3500 or faster ram. 6800 vs. 9800 is more a question of what you're willing to spend. Both have good price/performance ratios.
 

Enchanter

Junior Member
Nov 7, 2004
9
0
0
Originally posted by: davidjaii
i suggest you return the 9800pro and get 6800gt.. its doule the price but more than doubles the performance...

I might do that, but certainly only when pricing has significantly gone down (I do not spend more than $200 for a video card). Besides, I have installed the 9800 on my current system and it delivers good performance in my games (certainly not much reason for upgrade).



Originally posted by: Gurck
Since you're not sure about the motherboard and many a64 rig builders seem to be buying the msi one (k8n or something? I don't remember offhand), search for msi in this forum, note the staggering number of ATers who have problems with their mainboards... If you may be overclocking, you might want pc3500 or faster ram. 6800 vs. 9800 is more a question of what you're willing to spend. Both have good price/performance ratios.

I am looking for a motherboard with passive cooling for its chipset. The MSI K8N Neo2 uses active cooling however and it does not look like I can replace the HSF with a big chunk of passive cooling without interfering with the AGP card. The ASUS A8V looks good and I have heard only good things about ASUS products. What do you think?


How about comments on the rest of my choice? Thanks!
 

Appledrop

Platinum Member
Aug 25, 2004
2,340
0
0
yes, the a8v is nice, it is VERY overclock- friendly - if your oc fails, it will boot anyway the next time u power up, and can go back and adjust :).. i suggest getting a 3200+ or 3000+ for this reason, as they overclock to 4000+ so easily