• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Upgrade advice

Y

Yoshi64

Senior member
I've decided I need to upgrade my computer. Right now I have:

AMD Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 3000+
Abit AN7 Nforce2 Ultra400
2x512 Mb Kingston PC3200 DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 SE 128 Mb
1 SATA HDD
1 IDE HDD
1 IDE DVD-burner
3st 80mm + 1st 92mm fan
400W Powersupply (I got it with my Aspire case, only 15A on +12V)


The new components I am considering:

AMD Athlon 3500+ or 3700+ S939 RETAIL
Nvidia GeForce 7600GT 256 Mb
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra

I will take all other parts (including RAM) from my current computer.

I have some questions/concerns:

* Will my power supply be able to handle the new components? I know it is difficult to answer, but maybe someone can make an educated guess?

* Is it worth spending extra money for the 3700+ (same frequency, more cachememory) compared to the 3500+? I play quite alot of World of Warcraft.

* Is it needed to have SATA-drivers on a floppy for the nforce4 mainboards? I have to use that for my current nforce2, when I'm installing windows. (I have WinXP Pro SP2 on cd)

Hope you can give me some tips!
 
Originally posted by: Yoshi64

* Will my power supply be able to handle the new components? I know it is difficult to answer, but maybe someone can make an educated guess?
Click to expand...

Maybe. Aspire makes crappy PS's. The 15A are barely cutting it. I'd keep another $50 in reserve just in case. Fortron makes PS's in the 400-450 watt range that would be more than enough.

Originally posted by: Yoshi64* Is it worth spending extra money for the 3700+ (same frequency, more cachememory) compared to the 3500+? I play quite alot of World of Warcraft.
Click to expand...

You'll never notice the difference between the two in games, or in anything for that matter.

Originally posted by: Yoshi64* Is it needed to have SATA-drivers on a floppy for the nforce4 mainboards? I have to use that for my current nforce2, when I'm installing windows. (I have WinXP Pro SP2 on cd)
Click to expand...

SP2 comes with the necessary drivers.
 
3500+ and that mobo look like nice picks, but DO get a new powersupply, i would not rely on that aspire POS to power your system.
 
Will it be necessary for me to reinstall windows after the change in mainboard,cpu and gfx-card? In Win98, it was very needed, but maybe not in WinXP?
 
Originally posted by: Yoshi64
Will it be necessary for me to reinstall windows after the change in mainboard,cpu and gfx-card? In Win98, it was very needed, but maybe not in WinXP?
Click to expand...

yes it is very much needed in XP
 
Originally posted by: Twsmit
Originally posted by: Yoshi64
Will it be necessary for me to reinstall windows after the change in mainboard,cpu and gfx-card? In Win98, it was very needed, but maybe not in WinXP?
Click to expand...

yes it is very much needed in XP
Click to expand...

yup

everything else looks good but i would definitely get the new power supply and consider getting an extra gig of ram whenever the money comes
 
Why don't you just sit tight for a few months until the new
AMD 2-core Windsor and 1-core Orleans Socket AM-2 (940 pin) cpu's, or the new Intel Conroe cpus,
motherboards with NVIDIA nForce 5 or VIA K8T900 chipsets,
DirectX 10 video cards, and
DDR2 ram are out & debugged?
It'll be a whole new generation pretty soon.

You'll need a higher wattage psu, 400 with 15amps on +12 v is too small.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top