Well.. I bit the bullet and ordered my mid range upgrade

Zarick

Senior member
Apr 20, 2002
396
0
0
This is what I got:

A7v133
512 of pc133 ram
thunderbird 1.2ghz
Geforce3 ti500

This is what I am getting:

Shuttle an34n ultra 400 nforce2 board for $63
OEM Radeon 9800 pro 128 for $208
I extended to a 2 year warranty on those to items for $17
2x256 buffalo ddr 3200 cas 2.5 for $88
Barton 2800+ for $121

Total: $497

Man I hope I made good choices cause I will be living with this system for a couple of years.
 

Alptraum

Golden Member
Sep 18, 2002
1,078
0
0
Man I hope I made good choices cause I will be living with this system for a couple of years.

Heh, you will find out soon enough!

All kidding aside thats a pretty decent system that should last quite awhile for a pretty great total price. The only thing you may need to really change in the time you plan to keep it is add more RAM. And thats no big hassle.
 
Dec 27, 2001
11,272
1
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Nice rig. Some hypersensitive critiquing: Could have saved $50 by just OCing a 2500+ to 3200+ (easy with that board). I'd also have got 1x512MB memory so, if you find a good deal or save a little or prices drop, you could add another stick months from now and have dual channel 1GB for what little performance gain there is (1-2%). Holding off on the vid card is advisable with new cards set to come out soon, but, if you're going to upgrade now and be done with it, that's the card to get.

Good time to upgrade. Plenty of enticing new technology coming out this year and it will be easier to hold off on becoming an ealy adopter with a rig like that. You should see a huge leap from your old system.
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Nice job! Under $500 and that's a nice system.

I don't see a HD or soundcard on there, so I assume you're just moving them over from the old rig, right?

JIC you don't know; you WILL NEED to do a full NTFS format on that HD and reload the operating system as you've got a totally new chipset to work with. Just plugging in the HD and running w/it will not work.

While you're waiting for the stuff to get there, now would be a good time to start backing up. :)

Being that you got PC3200, I assume you're gonna try OCing a little; you should be able to get 3200+ speeds pretty easily, even w/the stock HSF.

I also would've gone w/the 2500+ Barton and saved some dough; but I know you were probably thinking "no OC is guaranteed...so I'll go w/a little higher right off the bat." And that's cool. Better safe than sorry.

Apparently, AMDs heyday of "Barton Guaranteed Madness" is long gone. That's why I haven't upgraded yet.

What kind of SC do you have? If it's not an Audigy, the NF2 sound is probably better. Really.

Good luck. :cool:
 

Zarick

Senior member
Apr 20, 2002
396
0
0
good critique. Here are my responses :).

I don't overclock so the 2500 while good was a tad less than I wanted. This is a family system so messing around with it is a no no for them :). As for the ram.. I debated and debated that. I figure I can pop in 1 512 chip later for a gig, but right now I wanted the performance benefits of the dual chips even though its minimal.. plus anands mid range system upgrade recommended going with two chips so I am following that advice. As for the vid card.. 500 was my limit (for total system).. so I know for sure the new vid cards were out of my league.


I went with 3200 because the cost difference between that and 2700 was $1.
I have an audigy 2.
HDs are all coming over.
I know I am probably gonna need to do a full reinstall of windows xp, but I have heard of some people having success with uninstalling and letting xp install the new system. So I may give that a whirl first just for kicks.. then after that do a full reinstall.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,493
6,043
126
Originally posted by: Zarick
good critique. Here are my responses :).

I don't overclock so the 2500 while good was a tad less than I wanted. This is a family system so messing around with it is a no no for them :). As for the ram.. I debated and debated that. I figure I can pop in 1 512 chip later for a gig, but right now I wanted the performance benefits of the dual chips even though its minimal.. plus anands mid range system upgrade recommended going with two chips so I am following that advice. As for the vid card.. 500 was my limit (for total system).. so I know for sure the new vid cards were out of my league.


I went with 3200 because the cost difference between that and 2700 was $1.
I have an audigy 2.
HDs are all coming over.
I know I am probably gonna need to do a full reinstall of windows xp, but I have heard of some people having success with uninstalling and letting xp install the new system. So I may give that a whirl first just for kicks.. then after that do a full reinstall.

No need for a clean install. Boot off WinXP cd and do a Repair.
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Originally posted by: sandorski
Originally posted by: Zarick
good critique. Here are my responses :).

I don't overclock so the 2500 while good was a tad less than I wanted. This is a family system so messing around with it is a no no for them :). As for the ram.. I debated and debated that. I figure I can pop in 1 512 chip later for a gig, but right now I wanted the performance benefits of the dual chips even though its minimal.. plus anands mid range system upgrade recommended going with two chips so I am following that advice. As for the vid card.. 500 was my limit (for total system).. so I know for sure the new vid cards were out of my league.


I went with 3200 because the cost difference between that and 2700 was $1.
I have an audigy 2.
HDs are all coming over.
I know I am probably gonna need to do a full reinstall of windows xp, but I have heard of some people having success with uninstalling and letting xp install the new system. So I may give that a whirl first just for kicks.. then after that do a full reinstall.

No need for a clean install. Boot off WinXP cd and do a Repair.


Hmm. I don't know much about XP; still running W2K. Please explain why he doesn't need to do a clean wipe n'reload. When changing mobos, ESPECIALLY CHIPSETS, it's almost an imperative to start clean. :confused:
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,493
6,043
126
Originally posted by: MichaelD
Originally posted by: sandorski
Originally posted by: Zarick
good critique. Here are my responses :).

I don't overclock so the 2500 while good was a tad less than I wanted. This is a family system so messing around with it is a no no for them :). As for the ram.. I debated and debated that. I figure I can pop in 1 512 chip later for a gig, but right now I wanted the performance benefits of the dual chips even though its minimal.. plus anands mid range system upgrade recommended going with two chips so I am following that advice. As for the vid card.. 500 was my limit (for total system).. so I know for sure the new vid cards were out of my league.


I went with 3200 because the cost difference between that and 2700 was $1.
I have an audigy 2.
HDs are all coming over.
I know I am probably gonna need to do a full reinstall of windows xp, but I have heard of some people having success with uninstalling and letting xp install the new system. So I may give that a whirl first just for kicks.. then after that do a full reinstall.

No need for a clean install. Boot off WinXP cd and do a Repair.


Hmm. I don't know much about XP; still running W2K. Please explain why he doesn't need to do a clean wipe n'reload. When changing mobos, ESPECIALLY CHIPSETS, it's almost an imperative to start clean. :confused:

A Repair of WinXP is just as "clean", at least in my experience. I went from a AMD 761 --> NForce 2 chipset with a Repair with not a single issue. All my software, saved files, installed Apps/Games, Desktop and other Settings, etc remained intact and fully functional. After the 30-40 minutes doing the Repair my system was up and running as if nothing had happened. A Clean(Format-->Install) would have taken many hours spread over many days(for me at least, I hate not using my system ;) ) to get things back as I want them.
 
Dec 27, 2001
11,272
1
0
Oh, I was only suggesting waiting because once the new cards come out, current prices will begin dropping and you could pick up a 9700 Pro for cheap then. But, as I said, if you don't want to wait a few months then that's the right card. As for me, even though I make a decent living, with a family, I limit my "new computer upgrade" funds to "play cash" I get here or there, so saving $40 even if it means waiting 5 months, is worth it for me which is why I said hypersensitive critique.

As for OCing, there's nothing to it anymore. Anybody who can hit the "Del" key can do it. :)
 

Zarick

Senior member
Apr 20, 2002
396
0
0
ah.. I limit my computer upgrades to.. okay.. got tax return.. this is it go now or we are going to buy something for the rest of the family!
 

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Originally posted by: Zarick
ah.. I limit my computer upgrades to.. okay.. got tax return.. this is it go now or we are going to buy something for the rest of the family!

If YOU don't treat YOU good, who will? A "I made this in school" gift is wonderful, but no comparison to a new rig...we all know this, but don't voice it. ;)

I am the voice inside. :evil: Build the rig. Be the rig. Worship the rig. :evil:

Ah, the hell with the voices! You earn the money! Buy yourself some damn nice computer parts and tell her to STFU!

There, I said it. I feel much better now. You can blame me. :D
 

Texun

Platinum Member
Oct 21, 2001
2,058
1
81
I think you're really going to like that set up. I've had that board for a few months and it's been perfect from the first boot.

Amazing though that a system like that would be called, "mid range." That's a lot of computer for a family rig.
 

Nebor

Lifer
Jun 24, 2003
29,582
12
76
Originally posted by: Texun
I think you're really going to like that set up. I've had that board for a few months and it's been perfect from the first boot.

Amazing though that a system like that would be called, "mid range." That's a lot of computer for a family rig.

... That may be less than midrange. I consider my computer to be midrange.