What needs upgrading...

[Gamingphreek]

Here are my complete system specs.

Monitor: KDS VS19SN 19" CRT... not flat screen, max res 16x12 @ 60hz??

Speakers: Logitech Z-640's

Case: Chieftec Dragon

PSU: Foxconn/Allied PSU 400Watt Dual ball bearing fan

Fans: 3x Panaflo L1A's 2x Panaflo 12M's regulated with a multi function controller with LCD.

DVD-ROM: No name 16x DVD ROM

CD-RW: No name 48x12x50

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA HDD with 8mb Cache

CPU: Desktop (Unlocked) Barton 2500+ 333FSB @400

Memory: 512mb Kingston Value RAM 2700 DDR333 @DDR400

Video Card: MSI 5900XT-VTD128 w. VIVO

Sound: Soundstorm 5.1 Analog

Mouse and Keyboard: Corded Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 and Logitech Keyboard (Ancient Keyboard)

Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe

Now what is my system REALLY REALLY need. Not just something to help a little something that will help a lot. My guess is memory... but shouldi opt to sell this memory and get some good stuff like crucial ballistix and then sell my Desktop CPU and get a 35watt mobile 2400+ barton and OC it. My M/B is not exactly the OCer so im thinking more memory. But is there ANYTHING else i can help until around this time next year when i do a complete upgrade.

-Kevin

 

[Shortass]

Definately your speakers...

...

...the ram could use some boosting but isn't too terrible, overall it's a rather decend rig. To really upgrade you'd need to go all out, new mobo, processor, super ram, video card, etc... at the moment it seems fairly nice.

 

[Grminalac]

Not a whole lot you can do there, only thing I would suggest is an upgrade to 1 gig, I wouldn't buy anything special I would purchase basic DDR400. Most everything would be outdated or unusable if you upgrade later.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Whats wrong with my speakers. I want bang for my buck not just a little better. My speakers sound fine to me.

Well as for the 1 gig of RAM should i sell my current RAM and get like Corsair Value instead of Kingston, and then get 2 of the corsairs. Or should i keep my curretn Kingston 2700 and get another stick of the exact same and just keep it OCed to DDR400.

-Kevin

 

[caz67]

Go with 1GB RAM, and later on get a new vid card..

 

[Gamingphreek]

Yes i mean to go with the 1gb.... however how should i go about it.... should i get another stick of my current DDR333 and OC it. Or should i sell this stick and get 2 512mb sticks of like Corsair Value Or OCZ or Mushking value or something to that extent.

What is the next thing that needs upgrading.... like i said i am upgrading one big upgrade including everything next year. So i dont want to spend too too much money.

-Kevin

 

[Gurck]

Definitely get a gb of ram. Am I reading it right that you're able to run a stick of pc2700 at ddr400? Or am I missing something and you're running it async? If you have a stick of pc2700 running at that speed, consider yourself lucky and don't expect another stick to do it; get a 512mb pc3200 stick instead. If you're running it async sell it, buy a gb of pc3200, and run it synchronously for better performance. IMO "designer" ram with low latency and heatspreaders, etc, isn't worth it in terms of performance, but if you really like to tweak and such and are getting it for the enjoyment of doing so, no harm done. Various brands' value ram is usually a better idea, though I'd stay away from Kingston; out of 4 sticks of their pc2700 value I've purchased, 3 had to be RMA'd. Maybe I'm just unlucky... but I'll never buy Kingston ram again.

 

[OMG1Penguin]

1 memory
2 vid card
3 cpu
4 bbq

 

[yoda291]

upgrade your keyboard.

If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. A comfortable keyboard is teh awesome and you can move it to your new computer seamlessly in a few years.

 

[Gamingphreek]

I am running my Kingston Value RAM synced with FSB at 200x2. I had to increase my VDIMM to 2.8 from 2.6 to ahieve this.

So should... do i sell this memory and get some other value RAM from a better company or just zip out to best buy and get the same stuff i have and keep it OCed in sync.

Video Card is a thing for next year as i just got this card about 6 months ago. Same goes for CPU, however i might spring for a 35 watt mobile, however i dunno if my A7N8X-E Deluxe will take OCing past 200fsb. It is supported but there have been problems everywhere. NO matter how much i increase my Vcore i cant get my current chip to run at 2.2.

What is BBQ?

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

bump for answer...

-Kevin

 

[kd2777]

Personally I have bought the 350+ Mushkin CAS2 Ram and the high dollar, highly OC-able GEIL but I can't tell any difference than my current Corsair Value pc-3200 RAM. A GB of this is only 160, if you sell the 512 you have it shouldn't set you back that much and from experence it isn't that much different than the Mushkin Level II stuff (which I have owned-but with the Winbond chips). Save some money and go with the Value stuff, if you have a case window and some heatspreaders to multiply the pimp factor (they don't actually do much).

Hope that helps

KD

 

[Gamingphreek]

Well i would rather get the corsair value as that is just plain higher quality RAM than the Kingston. How much do you think i could get for 512mb of PC2700 Memory that easily OCs to PC3200?

Anything else that would be a good upgrade. It would be great if i could reduce heat or something.... would a newer monitor, say a Samsung 710T reduce some heat.

-Kevin

 

[kd2777]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Same goes for CPU, however i might spring for a 35 watt mobile, however i dunno if my A7N8X-E Deluxe will take OCing past 200fsb.


-Kevin

I have a Mobile AthlonXP 2400+ (Barton core) and love mine. They OC like bitches and have very little heat increase. I run mine on an ABIT NF7 ver 2.0 and it will handle anything I throw at it. I currently run it at 2.6GHz, but I have had it as far as 2.75, started seeing a little bit of problems so I backed it off. I think my weak link is my PSU, I currently have a tru430, which is suposse to be good, but my voltages are all over the place, and usually low. I have seen my 12v at almost 11 before and have never seen it above 11.8 I currently am looking to get a new one hopfully that will help my results. We'll see.

KD

 

[Gurck]

I'd just get pc3200 ram, it's the standard now and not much more expensive (if at all) than pc2700.

 

[Gamingphreek]

OK... how much do you guys think i can get for my current memory and where should i sell it. I am thinking of either the FS/FT forums, Ebay, or Yahoo?

Also what about my other question about the monitor.

-Kevin