Upgrading parts in system, this is hard!

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Yzzim

Lifer
Feb 13, 2000
11,990
1
76
Got a friend that I gave an Athlon 1800XP system to quite some time back. He bought a newer video card for it and then a new power supply. Told him I'd help him out but I haven't been keeping up with the hardware and feel lost.

Anyway, my friend is now in need of something faster but would like to keep those two items if at all possible.

Here's what he's got:
7900GS AGP
500-550W 20/24pin PSU


What he needs:
Processor
Motherboard (w/AGP)
Memory

Budget is between $350-$400

The reason he's upgrading is he's got Vista installed and it's just not fast enough for him. He's not a power user, doesn't play games (except the chess game in Vista), just for web browsing, some other small programs and office stuff.

Any help would be much appreciated
 
Winterpool

Winterpool

Senior member
Mar 1, 2008
830
0
0
I'm not sure it's even possible to buy a modern motherboard with an AGP slot from a frontline retailer like Newegg. Okay, I just did a search, and it is possible: I see a couple of socket 775 boards on Newegg. Whether it's a good idea, erm...

If he doesn't game, integrated graphics or a $30 basic card would probably suffice. He can sell the 7900 GS to some poor blighter stuck with AGP.

His two basic choices are:

Intel
$50 - 100 ... 945G, G31, G33, P35 motherboards
$70 - 135 ... Intel dualcore cpu, from Pentium E up to Core 2 Duo E7200
$80 - 100 ... 4 GB of DDR2 memory
$30 - 50 ... a basic discrete video card (if he doesn't get integrated graphics)

AMD
$80 - 100 ... AMD 780G motherboard (excellent integrated graphics)
$75 - 125 ... Athlon X2 ('Brisbane') cpu
$80 - 100 ... 4 GB of DDR2 memory

If he finds Vista slow, the key thing will be to get a lot of memory. And DDR2 is very cheap these days. Everything else won't really be an issue unless he does something more intense (video transcoding, graphics editing, and, yes, gaming). Even then, for most tasks, a $100 cpu will probably be okay.

If he wants to go all out, he could probably get a Core 2 Duo E8400 (3 GHz 'Wolfdale') or Q6600 quadcore, 4 GB of memory, and a decent Intel board for $400.

Find out the exact model of his power supply. Depending on its specs (and to a lesser extent, its age), he may want to buy a new one.
 
Winterpool

Winterpool

Senior member
Mar 1, 2008
830
0
0
To my mind, your friend should forget about retaining the AGP card. Get an integrated-graphics board and if he decides he needs to game, he can buy a PCI-Express card later, with some additional savings. Or he can get a P35 board and a very cheap video card (sufficient for chess!) which can be replaced should he need more firepower.
 
T

ther00kie16

Golden Member
Mar 28, 2008
1,573
0
0
Originally posted by: bamacre
Why not ditch AGP and go PCI Express?

$118 E4600 Processor (free ship)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/...p?ProductCode=10006848

$75 (+ship) Gigabyte P35 Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128084

$80 4GB DDR2-800 Corsair XMS Memory (free ship)
http://shop1.frys.com/product/5611731

$120 384MB 8800 GS Video Card (free ship + there is a $30 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150275
Click to expand...

wow... at least read the posts. no 8800 needed here. and $10 more would fetch a much better cpu in e7200.
AMD: $210-$250
but yea... best bet right now is AMD 780g (Gigabyte's the best and only $75 at zipzoomfly right now)
for cpu, anything between x2 4000 ($50ish) and x2 5000 ($90ish) is fine (as long as it's 65nm).
for ram, get the GSkill 1000 4gb from newegg for $85. corsair and crucial haven't been too consistent lately so i recommend staying away from them.
Intel: harder to decide with no great integrated graphics, but Winterpool gave you some good choices or you can go with the Asrock board if he wants to keep his 7900gs.
 
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