Upgrade time work your magic....

[moonshinemadness]

OK guys its that time of year again...upgrade time and i could do with a little hand. My current system setup is:
Athlon 1600+ Not O/C
Elite Group K7S5a
2x Crucial 256MB PC133
SB Live! 5.1 Sound Card
NVIDIA TNT2 Riva Model 64 Grphx Card
Maxtor 20Gb HDD
Kingston Etherex Network Card
External Serial Modem
17" Monitor

So i deffinately need a new graphics card because mine is shot...i was thinking ATI Radeon 9700 pro, due to the fact im a heavy gamer and i want it to be compatible with all the new standards for at least 5 months. I was thinking maybe a new mobo, looking to a new processor when the barton chips come out and maybe a new RAM set also was looking at getting a Santa Cruz to replace the SB Live! Money isnt really an object because i can save up pretty quick but nothing to expensive. I also need a new case the one i have now does not have the cooling capacity i need im always having over heating problems. Any ideas? For the case i want something snazzy preferably black with a window that i can mod to my hearts content i was looking at something like Black Knight and input would be very helpful thanks guys.

 

[moonshinemadness]

Bump

 

[Turkey22]

ok new graphics first, then new mobo and ram, you could even keep that proc for a while as it is ok, and upgrade proc later. is you hd 7200rpm? if not get at least a 40-60gig@7200. get a mobo with raid so you can at least use the separate channels for each drive, with more than 1 hd or optical drive you will see a vast improvement.

 

[KidChaos]

I would start with the Abit NF7-S Revision 1.2.

processor: AMD XP 2400+ OEM
Heatsink: Thermalright SK-7
Fan for Heatsink: Thermaltake 80mm x 25mm
mobo: Abit NF7-S Revision 1.2 Motherboard (not sure ya could find it at yer location)
memory: *Two* Corsair XMS 256MB PC3200 Memory modules
graphics card: Radeon 9700 Pro
Sound: Integrated nVidia Audio (no sound card needed)

Very fast at stock plus plenty of overclocking potential. Could also pick Epox 8RDA+ to save money. Can go with TwinMos PC3200 to save money also.

 

[moonshinemadness]

no its 5400rpm, any ideas on a model of motherboard?

 

[moonshinemadness]

Thanks KidChaos, would that mobo be compatible with the Barton core when it ships?did u have any ideas on cases? Thanks

 

[KidChaos]

Originally posted by: moonshinemadness
would that mobo be compatible with the Barton core when it ships?

Rev 1.2 supports Barton out-of-box. Not completely sure about pre Rev 1.2 Abit NF7-S boards support for Barton out-of-box. But, they definetly do with a BIOS flash.

did u have any ideas on cases?

For top of the line, I would go with a Lian-Li case combined with an Antec or Enermax power supply. To save money I would go with an Antec Case/Power Supply Combo.

 

[moonshinemadness]

Ok so i found this Mobo @ Dabs is this the one you speak of...if it isnt revision 1.2 could i flash the bios or is it a hardware revision?

Edit 1: Revised Link

 

[KidChaos]

Originally posted by: moonshinemadness
Ok so i found this Mobo @ Dabs is this the one you speak of...if it isnt revision 1.2 could i flash the bios or is it a hardware revision?

That is indeed Abit NF7-S. It's a hardware revision so flashing a pre rev 1.2 board would not result in a Rev 1.2. You could contact them and ask if it is revision 1.2.

 

[Bonesdad]

I'm in similar straits...

ECS K7S5A
DURON 900Mhz (ouchies)
2x 256 Crucial PC2100 DDR (just got it for $60 at Best Buy)
Gainward GF4 4200 (not upgrading this one!)
SB Live 5.1
19" monitor

If you really love gaming, go with the 19" CRT...you will love it!!

I'm looking at the EPoX 8RDA+ mobo ($117 shipped at Newegg). NForce2 chipset, onboard 6 channel sound. Onboard LAN, headers for firewire and USB 2.0

Also looking at the Athlon 2100+ (retail $102 at newegg - Tbred B!)

Thing about this board, there has been some grumbling about problems working with ATI latest generation GPUs. Prolly most have no problems tho...

The sound on this board is supposed to be better than the SBLive 5.1 chip, so if you wanna save some $ for a while...

Also, a great investment is the Western Digital 8MB cache drives. I got an 80GB model for about $85 after rebates and sale price...

Good luck