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hakoreh

Junior Member
Hey All,

To anyone who can offer some solid advice, thank you in advance.

Here's my dilemma. I own a 2.8GHz P4 CPU running Windows XP Pro SP2 with a gig of RDRAM. (The motherboard is a little old). It's been running sluggish lately and for a while I've wanted to upgrade. Usually I rather not upgrade for just one thing. But now I want an Athlon 64 Processor - probably the 3500+ (cheapest I found $290) and PCI Express. If I want to change the CPU, I need to change the mobo so I found the KN1 which was $115. I also need new RAM then but I found on ZZF for $92 1GB of Corsair DDR400. Of course I want to use SATA now that I h ave a motherboard that supports it. So the new HD will cost $85 for 160GB. And because AGP isn't on the new motherboard, I need a new video card - probably cost $200-$300. So if you add it all up, unless I'm nuts and can't do first grade math, is roughly $800 give or take.

My question is will I find a PC prebuilt that offers the Athlon 64 (whatever speed), PCI Express, and SATA for under $1000? I know I can find PCs but I haven't found one with thte specs I want at that price. So I'm looking for second opionons and thoughts about the components I chose. Maybe you can give me some suggestions on cheaper ones but that I won't lose performance over.

By the way it'll be used for school, work, gaming, and everything else..

Thanks again
Moe
 
Originally posted by: hakoreh

My question is will I find a PC prebuilt that offers the Athlon 64 (whatever speed), PCI Express, and SATA for under $1000? I know I can find PCs but I haven't found one with thte specs I want at that price. So I'm looking for second opionons and thoughts about the components I chose. Maybe you can give me some suggestions on cheaper ones but that I won't lose performance over.
Click to expand...

You might want to check Monarch. They offer custom systems.

And welcome to the forums. 🙂
 
:thumbsup: for Monarch.

If you didn't want to build the entire thing yourself, Monarch has some nice prices on barebones systems, so all you add is a video card, hd, and cd drive.
Plus Monarch is running a 10% off on orders over 800$ if you use Amex if thats an option.
Anyway, great company.
 
question again

the athlon 64 3200+ and the 3500+ $100 difference in price. if i get the 3200+ am i losing a lot not going with the 3500+?

thanks
 
Originally posted by: hakoreh
question again

the athlon 64 3200+ and the 3500+ $100 difference in price. if i get the 3200+ am i losing a lot not going with the 3500+?

thanks
Click to expand...

I would say that 3200+ is the sweet spot in terms of price/performance.

If you do not need to build immediately, it could also make sense to wait a couple of weeks for the new Venice core.
 
You don't need a new system. Wanting one is different, but couldnt you just do a clean install of XP to get things back up to speed.

Your current system wont fall short in any game i could think of, and provided you have a good AGP card, your current machine is very good.

Am I the only one who thinks upgrading from a P4 2.8 GHZ 800mhz FSB system, with a gig of RDRAM to a Athlon 64 3200-3500+ is sort of a waste of money...?
 
Originally posted by: MonkeyWrench4000
You don't need a new system. Wanting one is different, but couldnt you just do a clean install of XP to get things back up to speed.

Your current system wont fall short in any game i could think of, and provided you have a good AGP card, your current machine is very good.

Am I the only one who thinks upgrading from a P4 2.8 GHZ 800mhz FSB system, with a gig of RDRAM to a Athlon 64 3200-3500+ is sort of a waste of money...?
Click to expand...

I agree. Assuming you have a decent video card, your system should be fine in any game out there.
 
ive been told t hat before but my problem is that my pc is sluggish lately and multi tasking sometimes gets slow and ive formatted and reinstalled at least 3 times in the last 6 months. i usually format anyways once every six months or so to get all the garbage off.

any ideas other than a reinstall to get the machine to move a little faster?

also 64 bit vs 32 bit isn't gonna provide me with anything different

and one correction im running 533MHz bus. the pc is about 2 1/2 yrs old
 
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