Here's what this old timer's specs are:
Intel Celeron 2.4ghz w/ Thermaltake Tornado/Volcano (forgot what it was called but it screams at me) HSF
ASUS P4XP-X
2x512MB PC3200 Corsair ValuSelect CAS2.5 (bottlenecked by mobo)
GeForce4 Ti4200 (might be 8x version but thanks to mobo it's at 4x)
40GB & 160GB PATA HDD
CD-RW
Thermaltake PurePower 480W
Floppy Drive
Generic steel case with minimal cooling (2x80mm TT fan)
It had a GeForce4 MX440 SE in it before I "borrowed" the Ti from a friend. I was running RTCW: Enemy Territory for most of the time on it and the ram was the last thing I upgraded.
First of all, I'm changing this comp from a gigantic paperweight to a sleeker, quieter, HTPC and a backup LAN machine. I'm not expecting it to run BF2 or anything this year & beyond but it's good for those unexpected guests.
I started looking at 9700PRO AIW's & 9800PRO AIW's vs maybe a 6600GT+extra tuner card. Most of the time it won't be gaming anyway and the cheaper solution would be ATI's AIWs. Just to look the X800XT AIW's are just in the range of 6800GT but i'd need an extra tuner card. The system would prob last another year if I did though.
Now I wasn't "in the know" back a couple years so right now I have to find a good board that has 8xAGP, DDR400. I'm not sure if the celeron runs at 400fsb or 533 but worst comes to worst would a 800/533 support a 400? Probably not right? Suggestions that came up were a more recent ASUS s478 board such as P4P8000-E that does 800/533/400fsb to the ABIT IC7-MAX2.
My sister's chenming all aluminum case is on my list again for purchase as it's light and cheap. Basically don't want to get a $100 case for these old(er) parts. It comes with 3x80mm holes for the cooling which I'd think would be adequate. I'm also thinking about the Centurion 5. I'm just really on the lookout for smaller mid-atx with 120mm fans preferably as they don't have to be so loud. A little noise is fine when 7.1 surround sound + 42" plasma are being used.
I'm thinking about $400 would be my max to upgrade it, unless I opt for a different cpu which would complicate some things further. I probably got a DVD burner for christmas so I wouldn't have to worry about that.
Edit: I'll be looking in the FS/FT forum, don't worry 😉 .
Intel Celeron 2.4ghz w/ Thermaltake Tornado/Volcano (forgot what it was called but it screams at me) HSF
ASUS P4XP-X
2x512MB PC3200 Corsair ValuSelect CAS2.5 (bottlenecked by mobo)
GeForce4 Ti4200 (might be 8x version but thanks to mobo it's at 4x)
40GB & 160GB PATA HDD
CD-RW
Thermaltake PurePower 480W
Floppy Drive
Generic steel case with minimal cooling (2x80mm TT fan)
It had a GeForce4 MX440 SE in it before I "borrowed" the Ti from a friend. I was running RTCW: Enemy Territory for most of the time on it and the ram was the last thing I upgraded.
First of all, I'm changing this comp from a gigantic paperweight to a sleeker, quieter, HTPC and a backup LAN machine. I'm not expecting it to run BF2 or anything this year & beyond but it's good for those unexpected guests.
I started looking at 9700PRO AIW's & 9800PRO AIW's vs maybe a 6600GT+extra tuner card. Most of the time it won't be gaming anyway and the cheaper solution would be ATI's AIWs. Just to look the X800XT AIW's are just in the range of 6800GT but i'd need an extra tuner card. The system would prob last another year if I did though.
Now I wasn't "in the know" back a couple years so right now I have to find a good board that has 8xAGP, DDR400. I'm not sure if the celeron runs at 400fsb or 533 but worst comes to worst would a 800/533 support a 400? Probably not right? Suggestions that came up were a more recent ASUS s478 board such as P4P8000-E that does 800/533/400fsb to the ABIT IC7-MAX2.
My sister's chenming all aluminum case is on my list again for purchase as it's light and cheap. Basically don't want to get a $100 case for these old(er) parts. It comes with 3x80mm holes for the cooling which I'd think would be adequate. I'm also thinking about the Centurion 5. I'm just really on the lookout for smaller mid-atx with 120mm fans preferably as they don't have to be so loud. A little noise is fine when 7.1 surround sound + 42" plasma are being used.
I'm thinking about $400 would be my max to upgrade it, unless I opt for a different cpu which would complicate some things further. I probably got a DVD burner for christmas so I wouldn't have to worry about that.
Edit: I'll be looking in the FS/FT forum, don't worry 😉 .
