upgrade to amd 64

[halokid]

price cap including tax+shipping 700-745 buckaroos

ok guys i have a few questions cause you guys are tried and true.
;D

754 or 939?
agp or pci express (sli?)
1gig ram, (2x512?in duel channel)
amd 64 3000 or 3200?
dvd rw/cdrw drive(they make an all in one burner now right?)
antec 350 watts(will 350 do?)
heres the kicker this system must run photoshop and all games new smoothly so i assume my starting point grapgics card would be a 6600gt....
should i up it to a 6800
also there are things i dont need to buy indlucing monitor, hard drive, pc speakers.


any thoughts about hardware would be appreciated
:)

[query]

You're going to have to compromise somewhere to stay within that budget.

Where NOT to compromise:

Go with Socket 939 over 754;  939 will have a longer market life,as 754 is on its way out.

The power supply.  400W should be a minimum;  more would be better.
The video card alone will eat up $300+ of your budget if you go for a higher-end 6800.  Add the CPU $150-200, RAM $100-150), writer ($75) and mainboard ($100-150) and you'd be over budget. You may have to stick to a mid-range card.

Don't forget to budget for a copy of XP.



 

[Carskick]

I think you can do it. An Antec case with 350watt Antec PSU should be enough for only like $70. A 6600GT costs $200, $150 for A64 3000+, $100 for motherboard (AGP), Corasair value select memory $80, 160GB WD HDD $120, NEC ND-3520 $50, and WinXP Home $100

I think all that is $870. If that is too much, look for bargains on the video card, I've seen 6600GTs for $160. Maybe go down to an 80GB WD HDD which are only $55.

Those two changes bring the price down to $765. Just shop around, and you can do it.

As far as video, the 6600GT will be more than enough for all current games and photoshop. It outperforms the 9800XT in almost all aspects. You could easily call the 6600 a starting point if money is short, but the 6600 is a significant drop in performance, but still great.

[halokid]

ya minus the hard drive i already have one of those...
how about this setup

Update    ASUS A8V DELUXE Socket 939 VIA K8T800 Pro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: A8V DELUXE
**This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?
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   $118.00         $118.00
ATX Computer Cases
Qty.    Product Description    Unit Price    Savings    Total Price

Update    Antec Solution SLK3700AMB Metallic bronze Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: SLK3700AMB
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   $70.00         $70.00
CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)
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Update    NEC ND-3520A Black IDE DVD Burner - OEM
Model #: ND-3520A BK
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   $47.99         $47.99
Keyboards
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Update    LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Slim Keyboard - Retail
Model #: SK-1788/BS
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   $5.25         $5.25
Memory - System
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Update    pqi POWER Series 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model MD441GUOE - Retail
Model #: MD441GUOE
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   $87.00         $87.00
Processors
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Update    AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3000BIBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3000BIBOX
**This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?
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   $146.00         $146.00
Video Cards & Related Devices
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Update    MSI NX6600GT-TD128E Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 PCI-Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: NX6600GT-TD128E(agp version though)
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   $176.00    

[query]

The ASUS board you've chosen is AGP.  It won't work with the PCI Express video card you selected.

You either need to buy a PCI Express mainboard (VIA K8T890 or nForce4) or change to an AGP video card.

You'd be better off with 400W or more power supply.

[halokid]

this rosewill 400w ps with case is only 49.99.........
over 100 reviews and 5/5 stars what do you think?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811147001

[query]

The case may be fine, but I've yet to see anyone produce a decent 400W power supply for less than about $70-75.

[halokid]

what would you suggest at the 70-80  price range

[query]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103908

[scuzzy]

Antec True430 is my recommendation. The current price is $75 + 6.99 S/H.

[query]

I like the way he thinks!

[halokid]

lol you guys, somehow i think thats over the top....(could be wrong i guess)
my atlon xp 2500+ has a cg power supply in it
350 watts...........and its a small timer brand from a a pc shop......by the way , do you guys know that
power supply  consumption estimator thingy that lets you  predict power usage for you devices?
well i might get the black antec case/ps for 110 dollars but ill have to skimp somewhere else im sure.....oh yeah the idea is to beat out the price of going to ibuypower.com website and configurating roughtly the same pc.
how am i gonna fit in a fancy ps unit and sturdy case

ps. could someone tell me the median between barely get by ps unit and ultra hardcore, super steroid ps unit......

[scuzzy]

Ditto to query. :)

As an alternative, you might consider the Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-400 power supply. It's $15 cheaper than the TruePower 430, and will likely perform like a champ.

[query]

A cheap power supply is like putting a Lawn-boy engine into a Suburban - it's just an invitation to trouble.

No matter what you do, you will have trouble meeting your price point with the component level you want.  Back down the CPU speed, lower the video card somewhat -- but don't compromise on the fundamentals.

[Bill]

Maybe a basic question.  Is the issue with the power supply the draw of the 660GT?  The rest of the system is fairly modest.  If Halo backs off the 6600GT to a lesser card couldn't he also back off on the PSU. Antec sells and has sold a lot of the SLK 3700 with the 350w PSU?

Bill

[halokid]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811129120
this shuold be better huh.

[halokid]

ok how about this update pci express version with 400w antec..........

CHAINTECH VNF4/Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: VNF4/Ultra     $88.00

Update    Antec Performance Series II SX1040BII Black 1mm SECC Steel Server Computer Case 400W Power Supply -  $110.00
CD/DVD Burners (RW Drives)

all for $731.74 total (including tax and shipping)


Update    NEC ND-3520A Black IDE DVD Burner - OEM   $47.99

Keyboard LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Slim
        $5.25

Memory - System
Update    GeIL Value  2x512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory
             $81.86
Processors

Update    AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Integrated into Chip FSB Socket 939 Processor
*          $146.00

Video Cards & Related Devices
XFX Geforce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 l
       $169.00

[Carskick]

You may want to switch your Winchester out for the Venice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103537

It costs $9 more, but has some revisions, such as SSE3, allowing better performance with some applications.

The 430 watt truepower would be nice, but I think your initial case choice would be sufficient for an AGP setup as long as you do not get anything over a 6600GT.


Edit: The Venice also claims to run at a lower voltage, so it should require less power.

[halokid]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813152049
how about this pci-e board, does pci-e take more power to use?

[slaxorz]

The only problem you are going to have with the new pci express motherboards is the power supply connection.  Notice on the chaintec board you have chosen that the psu connection has 24 actual connections.  Most likely the powersupply included in these cases is the old atx 2.0 spec although you might be lucky and get the new atx3.0 it is doubtful.  Look for a powersupply that says that its atx 3.0 compliant such as this cheap little number (cheap psu's are not a good idea btw)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817159023

[Carskick]

slaxorz hit it right on the head. In some cases, you can use the older power supply series wuth PCIe, leaving 4 pins unused. The problem is the PCIe graphics card may draw too much current through the motherboard connection. The PCIe cards can draw up to 75 watts through the motherboard, while AGP cards only draw up to 45 watts through the mobo, so they need more molex connectors to deliver the same wattage. I am stating these wattages from memory, so they may be slightly off, but you get the idea. using the old standard on a new mobo may put stress on certain components, possible causing damage.

[halokid]

very informative ok i dont want to compromise the antec quality so .......i need to know how far down the line will agp be phased out?

[query]

No one yet knows.  AGP will be around for quite some time because of the massive installed base of boards and systems that use it.

No one has yet released a card that needs more than AGP 2.0 (4X) bandwidth, so there's still plenty of headroom in the AGP specification for upgrade cards.

[Carskick]

Well, they still occasionally make PCI cards, and AGP has been around for at least 7 years, so it won't be leaving any time soon if this is an indication. PCIe is still relatively new, and is not a necessity yet.

[scuzzy]

When I was building my daughter's system last month, I gave a lot of thought over which route I would take concerning PCIe versus AGP. I considered the following in making my choice:

-Performance
-Price
-Future Upgrades/Availability

I wanted to build a high-quality system for my daughter that would perform exceptionally well over the next 3 to 5 years. Of course, I also had to stay within budget. I finally chose to stay with AGP, and mated the motherboard with a PowerColor ATI Radeon 9800 Pro.

The reason I stayed with AGP is because I could not find a significant performance advantage in the price range that I was working with. Even if money didn't matter, it seemed that any significant speed advantage (one that could justify the cost) could only be found in the lab, not in real lilfe. So, performance was not an issue.

Next was the price. At the time I was building the system, PCIe was only slightly more expensive, but not enough to sway me one way or the other.

The last thing I had to consider was future upgrades. As already noted by query, there is a significantly large base of AGP systems. That base will continue growing over the next year, since thousands of AGP systems are sold every day.

If you go with PCIe, I don't think you'll have any concerns other than ensuring you select the right PSU for the job. But I also don't think you'll go wrong by selecting AGP at this time. I'm sure I'd give you different advice a year or two from now, but as far as your budget is concerned today, choose what you can best afford.

I'm thrilled with the AGP system that I built for my daughter, and I have no regrets. There was no significant advantage by going PCIe, even when I considered the future of video cards versus the pace of software advancements.

[freelance]

few comments on the psu situation. tell me if ive made a huge cockup when i bought my psu... im runnig a celeron 2.44gig oc'd to 3.121gig, 40x cdrw, 16x dvd 80gig maxtor hdd,32mb hercules 3d prophet kyro 2 vga card, gigabyte mobo, fdd (only coz i might need to use it to boot with a dead hdd someday). all this for less than ?100. (im in the uk btw). never had stabitity problems, cpu runs at 50*c when not under load, and has never broken through 70*c flat out. ( biv got an alarm setup at that temp). ive never has power supply probs, which suprises me.

[Carskick]

That's a nice computer for the price. What kind of PSU is in it? It would probably run okay with 200 watts, but I'd prefer at least 250watts in a machine like that.

[freelance]

that makes me feel better.... iv got 300watts in it.

[Carskick]

You should be fine, then. As you can see, my HP has a 250 watt, and likely consumes more power.