Upgrade from an old system

Slammy1

Platinum Member
Apr 8, 2003
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It's been a LONG time (MoBo put in system 5/03). This is what I have:
Asus P4P800-DLX (865PE)
P4 3.0C (Zalman 7000CU cooler)
2x256MB+2x512MB Kingston HyperX PC3500 @ 2.5-3-3-6-8, 2.8V
Radeon x850Pro AGP
2x36GB WD Raptor RAID0 (Primary HDD)
1x200GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.7
DVD/RW Lite-On LH -16W1P
DVD Asus E616
Creative X-Fi Platinum
Antec Tru 480
Coolermaster Mid-Tower case ATC-201C
Windows XP MCE
Westinghouse LVM-37w1 @1920x1080p

I'm looking to ultimately make a machine for Blu-Ray and light gaming at 1080p (like WoW type light). I'd like to upgrade in stages, beginning with MoBo/CPU/GPU/Memory, and value fairly cheap (if I can, I'd like to keep it around $500-600, but willing to consider saving if I need to put more in).

Some specific questions. My PSU is from 5/03 era, will I need to upgrade that (it's from before Antec started to produce sub-par PSUs)? Would I need a different after-market cooling solution? Can I use my sound card or would I be better using on-board until I can upgrade?

If I can get the core components to do what I do now (mostly light tasks, as you can imagine) but faster I'd be happy. I was considering a pre-built and adding a video card later. I'd order tomorrow and upgrade this weekend if I could do it for around $500, but if I need to save for a month or two that's cool.

TIA for any advice.

EDIT: I'm in the US and usually buy from ZZF because I hate UPS, does NewEgg still use them pretty much exclusively? Vendor recommendations would be great too, I don't mind a little more if I can keep it at 1 vendor.
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
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www.mfenn.com
You're pretty much going to need a whole new system. You can perhaps salvage the case, but that's about it.

The Tru 480 is a good PSU (and Antec still makes good ones IMHO), but it's a bit outdated. Newer systems draw much more heavily from the 12V rail than P4-era systems did so the various rails of the Tru 480 aren't going to be balanced properly for a modern system.

Likewise, your Raptors were fast back in the day, but those tiny 18GB platters just can't compete with modern 500GB platter 7200RPM drives.

That being said, here's a complete system (sans OS and case) for ~$500 from Newegg:

My entry:
Athlon II X4 640 + GA-MA74GM-S2 + 4GB G.Skill DDR2 $209
GTX 460 768MB $140 AR
Samsung F4 320GB $43
Lite-ON Blu-ray combo drive $70
Silverstone 500W $60
Total: $522 AR

You'll have to price it out at ZZF to see if Newegg + Fedex or ZZF is cheaper.
 
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Slammy1

Platinum Member
Apr 8, 2003
2,112
0
76
So, would I possibly be better off getting a pre-built? Something I can add a video card to later, perhaps.