Upgrade? Or New build?

[Marke522]

I just upgraded my video card last month, my 9800 Pro All in Wonder finally started showing signs of age, and decided to go with the fastest AGP card I could find. BFG 7800 GS OC.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143046

Wasn't ready at the time to upgrade the motherboard to PCI-X, cause then I would need a new cpu as well seeing I'm still using good old socket A.

Now I've got a little more money than I thought I would have, and am able to upgrade the rest of the computer. If only I'd known this earlier.

My question is: What do you think about getting an ASUS A8V K8T800Pro 939, or an Abit AV8 K8T800Pro, for about $60, with an Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 2.4GHz for $80, and Kingston HyperX 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR 400 for $200?

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16819103531
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134136

That would bring me to $340 for a pretty good upgrade from what I have now.
ASUS A7V8X-LA Mainboard; AMD Athlon XP 3000+ @ 2.167 GHz; 512 x 2 Kingston PC 3200 DDR

Should I keep the money and use it for an entirely new build with PCI-X? Should I just use Value Ram? Should try to send the new AGP card back to Newegg and get a PCI-X card?

There are so many options right now it's difficult for me to decide excatly what path to choose. Thanks, Mark.

[glc]

Can you justify $425 for something that will kill almost anything AMD has these days?

Core 2 Duo E6300
Asus P5PE-VM
Corsair Value Select 2x1gb DDR400

[Marke522]

GOODNIGHT!!! Never even THOUGHT about going Intel. No idea why, it just never occured to me.

That IS something to consider.

THANKS TONS!!!! You always come through. Have to see if I can get the extra cash for this setup.

[glc]

If you dont have the dough for the ram right now, get the processor and motherboard and reuse the 1 gig you already have. It's compatible. That will drop it down to 250 bucks. In fact, I'd probably just run it with 1 gig - because I know you will want to go PCI-E later and you can move the E6300 right over. Buying $175 worth of ram for something that's dead end doesn't make a whole lot of sense - you already dropped big bucks into that new AGP card. All you will be out is the 55 bucks for the motherboard and what you spent for that AGP card already. The P5PE-MX would be a nice upgrade for someone else for a general use box with onboard video and a cheap Celeron-D or maybe an 805 in it along with the 1 gig of ram you then can't reuse.

[Marke522]

After your first post, I was thinking about speding a little bit more on something else, because Newegg has that 6 months no interest for anything over $500.00.

I'll be giving my current board to my daughter, I've allready got a tower coming to me, my brother wants to buy me this one. Sunbeam Transformer, was thinking of the blue, but it's Auto Notify.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811166004

So I think I'll be adding another SATA drive to get to the zero interest. Then I can get rid of the SCSI. Besides, I'll need at least one of the drives for my daughter. Thinking about this one, any ideas about that?

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822144701

I figured with 1,019 Reviews can't go wrong.

This current build is about 2 years old, thinking after the upgrade it should last a lot longer than that. If I'm thinking about keeping it that long, should I go ahead and get Hyper X or XMS? Would I even see a difference?

[flanzig1]

The Seagate 7200.10 in the 250gig is almost the same price as the WD:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148144

[Marke522]

Never used Seagate before, was always a WD guy until the last couple years, then switched over to Maxtor.

Thinking about getting the E6400 since I'll be moving it over to another board later.l

[flanzig1]

The Seagate is faster than your standard 7200 rpm HD and with a long warranty.

[Marke522]

So if I get a SATA 3.0 Gb drive, do I have to worry about connecting it to a board that only has 1.5? Will I be able to see the benefit of a faster drive on a slower board?

Really like the idea of the E6400. That puts me right at $526.97 before shipping. $531.97 if I go with the Seagate.

ASUS P5PE-VM LGA 775 Intel 865G Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6400 - Retail

[Alaron]

The SATA 3.0 will connect to the 150 motherboard, no problem. The drive will just run at 150. You won't notice any difference.

[Turbo_Supra]

If it's not to late to return your graphics card i really suggest you do. For the same price you could get this PCI-E board which clocks faster, has 4 more pipelines, has a higher max resolution, and has HDTV out not to mention its newer technology : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130056

[Marke522]

There is one week before I cannot return it. There will be a restocking fee of 15%, roughly $35. Then I will have to find another board, but I'm sure glc allready has one in mind.

What I'm concerned with most is the price factor rather than performance. I mainly bought the 7800 GS to make sure my Socket A would last a bit longer, keeping me from having to do exactly what I am planning on doing anyway.

I just bought a house 2 months ago, and most my funds will be tied up in paint, cabinets, and tile for the next few months, if not years.

My current computer isn't broken, I would just simply like to get something faster if the opportunity were availiable before my wife spent all my money.

[glc]

Then why don't you take my $250 suggestion and put your money where it really should go......the house.

[Marke522]

Thanks. That's what I needed to hear.



Some times you know the right thing to do, but you need someone else to say it.

Just gotta check, you think my Noisetaker will be fine for the new cpu? It says LLG Support and DUAL core CPU on the box, so I'm guessing it will be fine. I'm sure you would have told me by now if it wasn't. It's ATX 12V v2.0

[glc]

That's a high end PSU - it will work fine.

[Marke522]

Gonna go with your $400 idea. BUT -- thinking about this ram instead.

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231047

Same price, seems to be faster, the reviews on Newegg say the Corsair doesn't last a year, and I can't find anwhere on the Corsair that says it's Dual Channel. Is it? Thanks.

I'm not planning on moving this cpu over anytime soon. Maybe in a few years, and when I do, I'll use the board and ram for my daughter, by that time may be tired of the Socket A.

[glc]

Why don't you just spend the $250 and see how it runs? You can replace the ram *any* time.

[Marke522]

Nice idea, thanks once again.