Upgrading my computer...

[quizzelsnatch]

I have a little more than 600 dollars to spend on upgrading my computer and I want to buy a new motherboard, processor, ram, and a few other things. I was wondering if it would be better to go with socket 939, I know that socket 939 has dual-channel support, but I also know that doesn't offer much of a performance increase. I was thinking either the DFI Lanparty UT for socket 754 with an Athlon 64 3000+ and OC it, or a MSI Neo2 Platinum with an Athlon 64 3000+ and overclock that.

Things I'm passing over to new computer:
ATi 9600 Pro (I know, it's a POS, but, I can't afford a better one)
Lian-Li PC-65B
2x80GB Western Digital PATA hdd

For socket 754:
Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive --- 38.99
Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse --- 37
Logitech X-530 5.1 Black Speaker System --- 65.99
Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu --- 34.99
GeIL Value Series 2x512 PC-3200 RAM --- 162
DFI LANPARTY UT --- 99
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ OEM --- 139

Total --- 576.97

For socket 939:
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum --- 136
Lite-On 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive --- 38.99
GeIL Value Series 2x512 PC-3200 RAM --- 162
Logitech MX500 Optical Mouse --- 37
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ OEM --- 149
Logitech X-530 5.1 Black Speaker System --- 65.99
Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu --- 34.99

Total --- 622.97


Any suggestions would be helpful...

 

[biostud]

what is your current specs? for gaming your videocard will really a be bottleneck, what about the 754 combo + a 9800pro or a 6600GT?

 

[quizzelsnatch]

I have a 2600+, 2x512 of pc2700, 9600 pro, gigabyte 7n400-L.

 

[biostud]

Your videocard is your bottleneck in respect to gaming, if you want better gaming a videocard upgrade would be a better investment. Going from a 2600+ A XP to a A64 3000 isn't really worth it IMHO, specially since you can't carry over your memory.

 

[MrCodeDude]

Why did you re-arrange everything in the second configuration.

Socket 939 is the way to go, it doesn't have a strong motherboard backing at the moment, but it will get better. Whereas, I think Socket 754 has hit it's peak and is pretty much sitting at a plateau before it starts losing backing.

 

[quizzelsnatch]

Because I copy and pasted everything, and I'm just a lazy person in general...

Thanks for the advice.

 

[imported_blight]

There is no way I would get a 9600 Pro, minimum I would get a 9600XT, which you can get for a very reasonable price for what it can do. It looks like you should have crashed Best Buy on Black Friday, they had 160 GB WD HDs for $30 (the GOOD ones) and ATi 9600XT's for $100. I really don't think you need to have Socket 939 to be honest, especially because it would add at least another $100 to your total. You can get a very good MB and a AMD 64 3400+ for $300 or less depending on your preference. If you aren't planning on over clocking then you can go with the cheapo ram and MB. You may want to make sure you have a big enough power supply as well, I'd say 350 W would do fine, you can get a real nice one for $40. If you want to cut down on the price a bit just get one 120.00 GB WD HD instead of 2x 80.0 GB unless you need that much HD space on 2 seperate drives. The fan you choose is awesome, I have that exact one. Speakers and mouse are up to you. Hope this helped.

 

[ts3433]

See what you can do about that video card. I think you'll be fine holding on to your RAM for now--PC2700 won't starve an A64 too badly for the moment. Decide whether to go S939 or S754 based on how soon you think you will adopt PCIe or SLI.

 

[quizzelsnatch]

I already have the 2x80 gig hdds and the 9600 Pro, so, there is nothing I can do about that. And I have a 420 watt ThermalTake PSU.

And it only adds on ~50 dollars.