Upgrade Time!!

[Cogman]

Im going to upgrade my computer and put the parts in a second computer as the parts going out still run fairly decently. The parts that are going out are,

Athlon Tbird 1.4GHZ
EPOX 8KHA (I think)
256 Muskin! 2100 Ram
Geforce 2 MX 400

As you can see they are not all THAT bad (except for the Geforce 2, which is the major resion for upgrading.)

Im upgrading with.

CORSAIR MEMORY XMS 512MB 32MX8 PC-3200C2 $104
Shuttle Model AN35N-Ultra Motherboard $61
VGA EVGA|GF4 TI4200 64M 8X AGP $109
AMD ATHLON XP 2500 "Barton" $87

and, (so the other computer will work properly)

Allied 300W Power Supply $19
Thermalright SK-6+ $12
Panasonic Panaflo Axial Fan 60x60x25.5mm $6
~$400

My big problem Is I want to cut cost, I belive that this is the best setup so far without go to far on the cash limit. So I need to know (without sacraficing preformance) if there are diffrent parts I should get that would be cheeper. I want 512 Ram, I need a NVIDIA card as I have heard bad stories about ATI with linux, and the motherboard has to work with linux while having the 4 mounting holes for a water block. so what im asking, what should I change, if anything, if I want a cheaper upgrade without suffering much from preformance.

 

[Bonesdad]

You could save a little by ditching the SK-6 and Panaflo and just buying the retail Barton. The fan will be quieter than that 60mm fan you are looking at. The retail Barton is only $92 at Newegg.

Even better, just keep what you have and upgrade the video card and add 256 MB more memory. Then save $$ for a new mobo etc later on. You may consider waiting for the Athlon 64.

 

[thraxes]

Originally posted by: Bonesdad
... Even better, just keep what you have and upgrade the video card and add 256 MB more memory. Then save $$ for a new mobo etc later on. You may consider waiting for the Athlon 64.

Thats what I would do, a nice Radeon 9700 or 9800 would fit the bill nicely and still be good enough when opteron comes to town.

 

[Cogman]

thanks for the sugestions. But I will be putting the old parts into a different computer case. I dont think that buying a retail barton will work. Im going to be using the SK-6 on the 1.4 (I have a water cooling setup). I guess that I could get a cheeper cooler, that would save a few bucks. also, I would ask that people dont recommend Radeons, I ask this because Im running a linux OS and ATI drivers might not fit the bill for me (I have heard horror stories). this is why I would like to stick with NVidia. The motherboard is a must because I need one that supports a 333FSB.

 

[Bonesdad]

If you gotta have it that way...then your setup is OK. Is it that important to build the other computer right now???

 

[Corporate Thug]

how an 8rda+ or something in there instead of the shuttle?

 

[Cogman]

The real reasion I did not go with the Epox 8RDA+, is because it is $20 more expencive, and seamed to offer about the same things as the shuttle. I dont think that I will see any major preformance diffrences between the two, the Shuttle also had some farly good rating. Also, on another note, I went with a SPEEZE fan instead of the Thermal right because it was several dollars cheeper, and reported to run well with an Tbird 1.4. (if not, Ill probibly under volt and underclock the Tbird.) I also got a cheeper NVidia TI4200. Thnx for the advice.