What to upgrade

[morloki]

Hi have been trying to figure out what to do.
I am looking for the best bang for the buck upgrade. for my pc
I currently have

1900 cpu
Abit kr7a raid motherboard
768 2700 crucial (3x256) DDR 266 I think
gefroce 3 ti 200
2 wd ata 100 7200rpm 30 gb hard drives
1 wd 5400 14 gb back up drive
1 dvd drive
1 hp9100
SB audigy

what I am looking to upgrade is the "motherboard and cpu and the gfx card"
I would like to still be able to use the ram i have now but maybe upgrade to ddr 400 if a board supports my ram and the newer ram.

I would also like to haave the raid feature still
and maybe stay with abit but i am open to options

what are my choice's to pick from intel or amd also trying to stay as cheap as i can
thanks alot for any help Jeff

 

[ScrapSilicon]

Welcome to AnandTech forums ! can you give up a $ figure to work with as your post is fairly wide open..

 

[MercenaryForHire]

How about a CPU, since you don't seem to have one?

- M4H

 

[morloki]

thanks for the welcome i have been on these boards sence 97/98 just never signed up

dollor amount trying to keep it under 500 but can maybe go up some from there
(i am looking to do this in steps porlly start with a mobo cpu this month and do gfx card next month or so)

also looking for something that will overclock good but its not importaint

thanks for any info

(i had seen 2500 bartons and 2.4c pent 4's overclock well but not sure what boards to get and what boards will use my ram i have atm)

 

[morloki]

Ok so far my reading tonight have me thinking of doing this.

2.4c 800 abit- IC7
using my ram 2700 crucial for now if i can. can i ? what problems might i have and is it even overclock able at all?
and next month upgrading the gfx card

any comments welcome

Jeff

thanks again

 

[bjc112]

Considering you already have a 1900+ which is good enough for now...

Grab a 9500 Pro or 9700 non pro for around $200...

IF you wanted you could grab a Barton 2400+ for $90

So for around 300 you could have and all around good upgrade...

No need to TOTALLY switch your system..

I would save the extra $200 also. Unless of course you want to pick up an 8rda+ for $85



System looks good now though.

 

[KoolHonda]

Originally posted by: bjc112
Considering you already have a 1900+ which is good enough for now...

Grab a 9500 Pro or 9700 non pro for around $200...

IF you wanted you could grab a Barton 2400+ for $90

So for around 300 you could have and all around good upgrade...

No need to TOTALLY switch your system..

I would save the extra $200 also. Unless of course you want to pick up an 8rda+ for $85



System looks good now though.

Good plan. No sense in getting a 2.4c and IC-7 without laying out the money for AT LEAST PC3200 RAM, and by then you'll have hit close to $500 and be stuck with a GF3 ti200 in a killer rig.

 

[capricorn]

Looking at what you've got, I'd lean toward a new graphics card first. Maybe one of the ATI 9700 non-pros or an FX 5600 or somewhere in that area.

Which IC7 are you looking at? IC7-G? Are you planning to use RAID (with SATA to IDE adapters and your existing drives)? Any particular reason you aren't checking out the IS7 motherboards with the 865PE chipset? Do you need the ECC memory of the IC7 for example?

-cap

 

[morloki]

not sure i would like to use RAID still
the 875 chipset has PAT not sure of the other one you mentioned

i am just a little out of touch on what boards do what