Upgrade/rebuild

[theeaterofshades]

i am currently running a PIII 550 oc'd to 733. This obviously is not cutting it anymore. I'd like to upgrade to a viable system, and have no problems building one myself. Here is what I currently have:

PIII 550e
512 Sdram
Asus p3b-F mb
Hercules GeForce2 64MB mx
Sony CD drive (won't read any audio CD'S without reading them as if they are scratched)
Sony CD-RW (cdx140e) 8x/4x/32
9GB Maxtor HD
20 gb IBM HD
Gateway 17 in Monitor (from my prior system)
300W power supply in a midtower
Running Win XP pro

I use my computer mostly for Internet surfing, games (baldur's gate type games, but I'd like to get into some 1st person shooters, mechwarrior, etc. once I upgrade), and general office work (my wife and I are teachers).

Please recommend systems/components (I'd like to stay with an Asus motherboard, and a p4 [unless you can change my mind])

Thanks.
-Matt

 

[theeaterofshades]

bump

 

[CurtCold]

Originally posted by: theeaterofshades
i am currently running a PIII 550 oc'd to 733. This obviously is not cutting it anymore. I'd like to upgrade to a viable system, and have no problems building one myself. Here is what I currently have:

PIII 550e
512 Sdram
Asus p3b-F mb
Hercules GeForce2 64MB mx
Sony CD drive (won't read any audio CD'S without reading them as if they are scratched)
Sony CD-RW (cdx140e) 8x/4x/32
9GB Maxtor HD
20 gb IBM HD
Gateway 17 in Monitor (from my prior system)
300W power supply in a midtower
Running Win XP pro

I use my computer mostly for Internet surfing, games (baldur's gate type games, but I'd like to get into some 1st person shooters, mechwarrior, etc. once I upgrade), and general office work (my wife and I are teachers).

Please recommend systems/components (I'd like to stay with an Asus motherboard, and a p4 [unless you can change my mind])

Thanks.
-Matt

ElCheapo...
Keep HD's
Keep Video Card
PSU
XP
Sell Mobo, Ram, CPu, or keep for another unit in the future...
Buy A7v266-e ~$85-90
Buy CD/DVD rom ~$50
Buy 1800+XP for ~$60-70
Buy 512MB DDR pc2100~$100

$310, not bad for what perfomance you would get. Video card would be fine for light gaming, you could throw in an extra ~$80 and get an Radeon 8500.

P4 in Da House:
ASUS P4PE/L Motherboard for Intel P4 478 Retail w/ Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, Onboard LAN, SoundMAX Digital Audio System
~$130
512MB PC2100 DDR or 2700 if you want to overclock ~$100
P4 2.4GHz 533Mhz fsb ~$180
GF4 Ti 4200 64MB ~$125 or 128MB for ~$135-140 or 9500 pro for ~$160
WESTERN DIGITAL "SPECIAL EDITION" 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD800JB ~$107.99
Probably have to get another PSU, unless that 300Watt has the juice to push that

About $700 on that setup which would be really nice.

That's prices from Newegg.com on almost everything, or Pricewatch. If you upgrade the mobo, Processor, Ram, your video card will probably be fine for light gaming at 800x600, dunno how you are about graphics you might want something better.

 

[thorin]

ElCheapoER...
Keep HD's
Keep Video Card
PSU
XP
Sell Mobo, Ram, CPu, or keep for another unit in the future...
Buy K7S5A ~$50
Buy CD/DVD rom ~$50
Buy 1800+XP for ~$60-70
Buy 512MB DDR pc2100~$100

Thorin

 

[AluminumStudios]

I just upgraded a few months ago from a PIII-500 @ 585 MHz.

I built:

Epox 8k3a+ motherboard
Athlon XP2000+ (which I just put in my mom's comp and bought myself an XP2200+)
512 megs Mushkin DDR333 RAM
Same hard drives (WD40bb's) and I kept some other components too.
Antec server case (SX1035b or something like that)

I've been EXTREMELY happy with it. I do video editing with Adobe Premiere and AfterEffects and the difference from my PIII is really nice. It feels great using this sytem after being stuck running AfterEffects on a PIII@585 with 512 megs of SDRAM.

I had no compatilbity issues or bugs at all. I built it, loaded windows, downloaded the latest drivers from Epox's site and viola!

 

[optimistic]

How about making two systems out of your parts? Here's the cheapest way.

System 1 (Old)
PIII 550e
Asus p3b-F mb
256 Sdram
Hercules GeForce2 64MB mx
Sony CD-RW (cdx140e) 8x/4x/32
9GB Maxtor HD
Gateway 17 in Monitor
300W power supply in a midtower


System 2 (New) Upgrade Totals: $290 w/XP 2000+ or $390 w/P4 2.4GHz
Fry's XP 2000+ Retail/ECS K75SA add $99 or
Fry's P4-2.4Ghz Retail/ECS P4VXASD2+ add $199
Fry's 350w Case add $49
256 Sdram from prior
Fry's 48x16x48 CD-RW $39.99 No rebates
20 gb IBM HD from prior
ATI RADEON 8500LE 64MB DDR CRT/DVI/TV, Dual Monitor $72 shipped
Microsoft Optical Mouse Blue & Multimedia Keyboard add $30


Might I suggest a short-depth 19-inch monitor? buy here *will call for $5

 

[loafbred]

From New Egg:

Refurb Epox 8K5A2: $59

Athlon XP 2100+ OEM: $95

Samsung PC2700 - 256MB: $67

Leadtek GeForce 4 Ti 4200 64MB OEM: $136

Antec True330 power supply: $53

Thermalright SK-7 heatsink: $25

YS Tech 48.7 cfm, 80mm fan (for cpu): $6

Total: $441