Merry Christmas :) Gifting help? Upgrades

[Spriggan_one]

My parents keep asking me what I want, and there's honestly nothing I "need" besides a new job, lowered bills, or a new car (which aren't giftable options). So I've been having hiccups on my PC when playing high end games (sometimes Crysis, sometimes CoD4 and World at War)

I have 2MB of ram (4x 512mb sticks)
P5nD2-SLI mobo (non-deluxe)
Intel P4 Presscott 660 3.6Ghz CPU
550W Power Supply
Aspire Mid-Cruiser (X-tower?) Medium size case I believe.

XFX 9800 GTX Black Edition
2x 160gig HD's
and a CD/DVD R/RW burner

I was figuring I'd ask my father for a new Mobo (non-SLI (Not required) since I never buy 2x video cards)

and his GF for a new CPU.

What'd be an upgrade (looking under 250$ each part) that would be an improvement over my system for a year or 3 for Gaming purposes?

I have a nice video card, I just installed 15mbps cable last week, and I'd like my mobo/CPU to match those in performance.

Edit: Is there anything special Bios or tech-wise (using jumpers) needed to install a new mobo? And can I just "plug & play" with my current hard-drives into a new mobo without losing data?

[flanzig1]

One thing to look at is the PSU if it came with the case(the ones that come with Aspire cases are not very good). A poor quailty PSU can cause problems under load.
As for a mobo/CPU upgrade look to the Asus P5Q line of boards and an Intel C2D E8500 CPU. Depending on your ram, may need to upgrade that also to match the mobo/CPU upgrade.

[Spriggan_one]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 One thing to look at is the PSU if it came with the case(the ones that come with Aspire cases are not very good). A poor quailty PSU can cause problems under load. As for a mobo/CPU upgrade look to the Asus P5Q line of boards and an Intel C2D E8500 CPU. Depending on your ram, may need to upgrade that also to match the mobo/CPU upgrade.

I was just looking at the C2D E8500 with Wolfdale cores, looked nice I also read of a user using the P5Q board with the CPU, so it seems like a working pair.

I've read about Aspires flaws Case has held up, PSU burned out once (Was Antec!)
Still is Antec, but its a year young. The "believed cause" was that my prior one overheated. I live in FL, had my case Closed then, have had it "Open" (side removed) since the last PSU overheated, all has been well so far.

My ram is some generic corsair or kingston value brand that came with the PC, I've always wanted to upgrade it, but I've been told my options are limited due to my mobo.

I wouldn't mind spending some for nice Ram, whats with all the tests I read of people doing to see the quality of their ram, usually taking 24 hours or so? Is that necessary?

I thought this Mobo/soundcard combo looked nice, replaces my old SB Live! There are many different P5Q models, I can't see distinctive differences; am I missing anything? (looking to Accept C2D CPU, and 9800GTX GPU)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131349

If I get a new mobo/CPU would I be able to keep the data that is on my hard drives? Would a Network Interface Card be better than plugging my cable through default ethernet port on mobo?

[glc]

The onboard Ethernet is plenty good enough. You can simply do a Windows repair reinstall after the upgrade and keep everything. DDR2-800 ram is dirt cheap, I'd retire those 4x512's.

NOTE that the new motherboards only have 3rd party IDE controllers, and are only capable of supporting 2 drives. Everything has become SATA-centric now. A SATA DVD burner is dirt cheap. So are hard drives.

[Spriggan_one]

I'm not sure what IDE is =/ Even after looking it up. I have however disassembled my PC (every part removed to its singular pieces) and put it back together again numerous times.

I'm not sure how the process goes for Repair reinstall, I've read it before, but I tend to make at least 1 mistake when I try something new with my PC Will this CD work? Came with my PC, its old =/



Will I need new Hard drives or CD/DVD drive(s) if I get a new mobo? I don't think I've ever burned a disc on mine! It is however, the only drive I have on my PC, I don't have floppy, or a second disk drive.

Edit: Their customer support is almost non-existant. Sit on a phone for an Hour or MORE only to get hung up on. I had mucho issues with them getting my PSU replaced under their warranty... took 3 months!

[not important]

I doubt that Restore disc will work. Restore discs are for restoring the PC they came with.
I would suggest getting a new SATA hard drive and you can use your old IDE optical drive.

The top pic is an IDE drive & the bottom pic is an SATA drive.

[glc]

Add a new OEM copy of XP or Vista to your upgrade list. Also add one of these adapters to help you get your data off your old drives if you buy a new hard drive, which you should - I have a feeling they are IDE:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=2020&cat=HDD

By the way, you don't need a sound card these days unless you are an audiophile - the onboard Intel HD sound is quite good.

[Spriggan_one]

I've always been annoyed how I can't listen to my DVD's in 5.1 surround on my speakers because my Creative Labs SB Audigy SE card doesn't support dolby digital surround sound! But its not a necessity

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131299 Will this board support SLI if I ever decide to go 2x (Nvidia) cards? (Not a necessity =D)

The RAM Spec says DDR2 1200 standard, does that mean I have to get DDR2 1200 ram? (not a problem)

So my 2 old HD's - They look more like the Bottom pic! They got that 1 inch red/black/yellow cable connected, and 2x of the red ones (From one HD to the 2nd HD) -- my HD's "used" to be in RAID (mirrored) until they got disconnected =/

After looking in my case, my IDE Cable is connected to my CD Disk drive (single; burn/write do all drive) So I will need a new SATA disk drive?

and I have 2 of these HD's: 160GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 8M Cache 7200RPM Hard Drive

Found that info on my order form from 2 years ago.

Here's my current soundcard: Creative Labs SB Audigy SE, will the onboard sound of the new board be better than this card? If it decodes dolby digital so I can get surround from my DVD's that'd be wonderful, but not necessary!

Final question: Since my HD's are SATA, can I keep my installations/data? I got just over 237 gigs of info on my 2 HD's, I wouldn't mind a 3rd larger drive. Would that slow down my PC since I use it for gaming?

My 1st 160GB Drive is mainly program installations. My 2nd 160GB Drive is all data (music/movies/programs.exe's) My 2nd drive is nearly full, cleaned 20 gigs out yesterday, put 3 more back on since.

My PC is primarily for Gaming.

[glc]

No, you do not HAVE to get 1200 ram, DDR2-800 is plenty good enough unless you will be heavily overclocking.

No, that's a Crossfire board, not SLI. It's for teaming ATI cards, not Nvidia cards.

You already have SATA, so no problem. The IDE burner should work as long as you install the drivers for the IDE controller.

Try the onboard sound before you make a sound card decision, you can always put one in later.

You are still going to need to do a Windows repair reinstall, and you will need a real XP CD and key to do that. The restore CD won't cut it, and is not licensed to do it.

[Spriggan_one]

Wow, why does Windows XP Retail cost so much more than OEM? =/ bummer. Even vista Basic retail is cheaper than XP Home SP2 retail. I have SP2 on my PC and have "Blocked" it from updating to SP3.

Do i Need to buy a Sp2 version of XP retail?

My father and his GF won't split on the mobo/CPU... sucks since they want 300$+ worth of things... Maybe this year I'll finally help them remember its not about getting what you want, its about family, and loving your family (although I failed at this last year, they gave me dirty looks when I got them Thoughtful gifts and put my feelings into it)

[flanzig1]

you don't need to get a retail version of Windows. Get an OEM copy of the Windows of your choice. OEM XP Home is around $90 at Newegg.

[not important]

OEM version has everything the retail version has with the exception of the pretty green packaging and support.

[Spriggan_one]

Originally Posted by flanzig1 you don't need to get a retail version of Windows. Get an OEM copy of the Windows of your choice. OEM XP Home is around $90 at Newegg.

I have Windows XP Home SP2, could I use the Windows XP SP3 oem to "repair reinstall" the new mobo/old hardware?

[glc]

Upgrade the old one to SP3 first to avoid problems.

[Spriggan_one]

Originally Posted by glc Upgrade the old one to SP3 first to avoid problems.

when my windows was "auto-updating" and downloading SP3 my PC would completely and randomly lock up during the download. I read that people were encountering unavoidable BSoD after installing SP3, and I fear that would happen to me so I downloaded a file from microsofts official support site to block the update to SP3.

I don't feel SP3 is for me, or needed. I see Windows XP home SP2 OEM for sale on other sites - There is a windows XP Home edition "Product Key" on a sticker on the side of my PC, can that be used for a repair-reinstall? And a new copy of OEM or Retail "OS" CD, that matches my version is required for repair re-install?

I can "try" upgrading to SP3 if necessary..... how can I back up my PC properly before I do this just in case I get BSoD or random crashes after SP3 install?