Upgrade advice

[zCypher]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some upgrade advice. Here's what I'm using right now:

MSI K7N2 with Athlon XP 2600+ (1.92GHz)
1.5GB DDR
GeForce Ti4200
SBLive
CDRW
80GB+8GB

The system is rock solid and has been for many years. At first I was thinking about taking out that ram because it's not all equal and the board supports 400MHz DDR. When I saw how much it is for DDR, I figured I may as well get DDR2 (cheaper) - but this board doesn't support that.

So... What path do you recommend? I'm biased towards Asus and MSI boards, but I think I might go with an Asus this time around instead of MSI. I'm open to your ideas though, I'm not up to speed on all the ups and downs of each board.

I'm thinking Core2Duo with an Asus board and at least 2GB DDR2, a 500GB SATA, DVDRW - and I will most likely have to get a new video card, since that 4200 is an AGP8X, most new boards are PCI-E I assume. I'll surely use my SBLive as I don't have any problems with it.

Do you think this is doable for a couple hundred bucks? What do you recommend?

Also... anyone know of a good place to get an LCD at a reasonable price?

I was half considering getting a mini laptop instead, but upgrading a PC is fun. I probably will get a mini laptop later on anyway, but since I already have a laptop for work, I don't really *need* a personal laptop.

Oh I almost forgot the current power supply is 450W, so I should be OK with that right? Haven't had any problems there.

 

[Rifter]

what games do you play? do you encode video or use any 3d apps? Or is this basically a office/web surfing machine?

 

[fffblackmage]

For a new low end computer, you probably only need to spend a few hundred dollars. Just really depends what you want (what you need the comp for). If you're just using it for office/web surfing, you could even just stick with that comp you have now.

If you do get a new comp altogether, you should get a new power supply. PSUs degrade over time and use. Plus you could get a more efficient one, if that matters.

 

[zCypher]

I'm not a big gamer but if the system was more powerful I'd probably play a few games. It's basically for multimedia, audio and video and playback, some multi tasking. Just opening up msn and firefox on first boot takes way too long, I think that's mostly the old hard disks fault though - maybe just a hdd/ram upgrade would be the best thing.

I was hoping to upgrade so that I would have options for faster components everywhere.. i'd like to have the option to get into solid-state hard disks, maybe not right now but a bit later on. in the meantime, i think having a recent s-ata disk would be better than this old stuff.

I also want to keep my options open for vista and the next version of windows (windows 7?), right now using XP professional with 1.5 ram is ok, but I've seen Vista with less than 2g and it wasn't too hot. 2g and up seems to be ok for basic stuff though with vista, and i suspect that 7 will be more resource intensive too. So a system that I will be able to keep relatively fast for most usage (excluding 3d video editing and hardcore gaming - just occasional gaming) , and be able to at least be upgraded to run comfortably the newer OS without having to change up everything..

im planning on getting a tv tuner - i dont know if saving video from that is a resource intensive process or is it just a question of the disk space? i might be interested in being able to edit short video clips and stuff so i definitely want something maybe not excessively powerful but capable enough to not lag doing a few things at once on recent OS with some upgrade room for the future.

I hope that was a bit more clear, I was a bit vague at first.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Vista should work decently with 1.5gb of ram, it's not that much more intensive than XP when you get down to it, and 7 is just Vista updated. Definitely doable on a few hundred, although at this price point you may want to consider a Dell refurb, can't beat that for price/performance ratio.

 

[Rifter]

I would go with a AMD chipset to use the onboard video, any way you go with only a couple hundred bucks to work with you arnt going to get much but if you dont game i would try this for under $250:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813131324

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103300

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231241

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822148395

That should give you a speed increase and only cost you $249.96 before shipping and tax, that HDD is also one of the fastest single platter drives out so you should see a pretty big differance over your current rig, the 4GB of ram will help also, and the 450w PSU you already have will be fine. You can add a Vid card later if you want the mobo has 1 16x PCI-e slot.

 

[zCypher]

I ended up ordering MSI G31M3-L / E5200 / 2GB Corsair DDR2-800 for $175 shipped, it arrived today so I will post some updates when I get it all set up! Excited

 

[philosofool]

Sounds like you're in the market for a basic budget rig. This is doable for about $300.

Processor I recommend an AMD Phenom X2 545 dual core @ 3.0 GHz. It's quite a good little processor for $90. IF you're an overclocker, $12 more will get you the black edition with an unlocked multiplier for better overclocking. You could get a lesser processor from AMD for $60, but I think those processors (Athlon II x2 series) will lack the longevity of the other two. For a big step up from these, the Phenom II X3 triple core is a great choice and just $120.

Motherboard This is pretty sweet for an inexpensive rig if you like Asus. That one has no integrated graphics. This one has integrated graphics that are the best you can get. That's not great, but it's not horrible either. Either way, about $75.

RAM is dirt cheap. Get 2GB now for $20 or 4GB for $40.

PSU I think you need a new one. Unless you plan to run a high end graphics cards, 300W is ample. Seasonic makes very good PSUs with that sort of output. Corsair makes similarly good PSUs that are a little heftier, which commensurately heftier price. $50

Hard disk $55 gets you 500GB SATA 3.0 HDD; that's the sweet spot right now. You can get smaller drives, but saving ten dollars gets costs you 180GB along the way. Regardless, you should get a SATA 3.0 HDD. $55

Graphics If you want an inexpensive but will sorta game card, the radeon hd 4670 is $65. Less expensive cards can be had for as little as $35 and all of them will out perform integrated graphics. If you want more thoughts on a graphics card, tell us about your monitor and what games you might play.

If I'm doing my math right, that comes out to a little under $300 if you go the integrated graphics route, continuing use you current OS. Now, you could go cheaper on the processor and trim around the HDD if you want. My personal sense is that a lesser processor just means a rig with a shorter life span and more money spent down the road.

 

[Schmide]

I don't think there are any (non-hacked) drivers for the SBLive, you're probably better off with the onboard sound.

 

[zCypher]

Thanks for all the advice and help everyone. Like I said in my last post I ordered the MSI G31M3-L, E5200 and 2GB corsair. I just finished setting it all up. For now, I'm still using the same 80GB IDE hard disk and the integrated video that comes with the MSI board. My previous setup had a GeForce4 Ti4200 which was AGP so I can't use that. Not to worry, I just tested out UT and it runs perfectly in 1280x1024 so that's fine for me (for now hehe).

Next step is to order my case, power supply, video and 2 more GB RAM in the upcoming weeks.

I didn't even have to reinstall Windows, I just installed the new drivers and that was it.