Well, its time to upgrade the ole tbird 900 I need suggestions...

[whr2206]

Well, after Sim City 4, I decided that my tbird 900 system needed to be upgraded to keep up with the pace of pc gaming. These are the specs:

Asus a7v-e
Tbird 900@1ghz
ATI 7500 64md ddr
Hercules Gaming Theater Sound Card
256mb pc133 Crucial RAM
30gb 7200 rpm hd
32x12x40 Lite On Cd burner
12x Pioneer DVD
Floppy
300w Sparkle psu
generic case
Linksys Ethernet Card

those are the basics of my computer. I want to upgrade the motherboard, cpu, memory, and video card to boost my gaming capabilities. Because Sim CIty 4 which is just one of the new games with high requirements runs REALLY sluggishly under what I have right now. I'd like to go with an Intel CPU, Asus Motherboard and an Intel chipset with DDR or RDRAM which ever is the best bang for the buck now a days. On video cards.. i like ATI or Nvida.. so jsut suggestion the best overall value card there. Since I really haven't been keeping oup at the time with whats hot in the hardware department I'm asking you guys.

thanks a lot!

[Fraughton]

I dont know much about intel motherboards, but the p4 2.4ghz cpu seems to be a pretty good value. I would say that the ati radeon 9500 pro is the best bang for your buck vid card right now. It performs as well as the best geforce4 for less with better picture quality.

[morriswindgate]

Forget the RDRAM, too much cost and you don't need it so stick with DDR.

p4 2.4ghz cpu seems to be a pretty good value??????? @$181 for an OEM and $190 for a retail box.

[whr2206]

hey can 400mhz bus P4's run on 533mhz bus boards? Also, are all the p4's with 512kb cache northwood right? More info on the video card: I want it to be DDR or course and 128mb memory...

[morriswindgate]

Yes they can but the 533 is roughly the same price as the 400 so if you are going p4 then go 533.
As to the vid card the 9500 is DDR, however if you are on a cable modem you might want to look at the ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 8500DV 64MB DDR AGP-RETAIL which gives you all sorts of video capture and it has a built-in TV tuner. It may be only 64mb of DDR, but it has no problem playing MOHAA or the Nascar games.

[Fraughton]

p4 2.4ghz cpu seems to be a pretty good value???????

Well I live in canada and the cheapest p4 I can get is the 1.7ghz for $215 and the 2.4 is the first one with the 533Mhz bus for $320. That seems like a pretty good bang for the buck.

[Alienware_Dude]

Why Intel? A Athlon XP 2100+ or so will offer a load of performance, at a lower price.

[whr2206]

Well how much cheaper? ANd whats a good chipset with that? Let me guess VIA? I want Intel no doubt.. but saving money is one thing that I want to do..

[Fraughton]

I can get an amd xp 2100+ for $177CDN, thats less than a 1.7ghz p4 which is a lot slower. With that you would want the Nvidia nforce2 chipset.

[cliffboy]

I second Fraughton's opinion. You can save money that way. Get the ASUS A7N266-VM, it's got the great performing and reliable Nvidia nForce chipset. And probably it's the cheapest nForce mainboard out there I believe, that can also support up to XP 2600+ [Thoroughbred "B" core] with a BIOS update.

[Alfie]

A7n266 uses the Nvidia chipst,but it's the older Nvidia,the boards to get are the Nvidia2 boards.
Epox has them,as does Asus,Abit,Gigabyte,Chaintech has a really great one,but costs a fair penny,Soltek has released one called Golden Dragon(yellow in color)
The chipset is fast and stable,check the reviews.

[jburn34]

I just recently got an xp 2100+ retail for $99 from Googlegear.com. I am really pleased so far.

Jeremy

[glc]

Let's not turn this into an AMD/Intel war, but the poster did indicate that he would like to go with an Intel processor and an Asus board with an Intel chipset. With this in mind I would recommend an Asus P4PE with a 2.4b processor and some PC2700 DDR.

[TimPoet]

Glc, you beat me to it again!
Yes, get the Asus,cuz it's hot.
Morris has a great idea for your Vid Card unless you play fast paced first person shooters where you want high frames/sec., then go for a Radeon 9500 as mentioned or a GF4 4200 Ti.

[whr2206]

Originally posted by glc Let's not turn this into an AMD/Intel war, but the poster did indicate that he would like to go with an Intel processor and an Asus board with an Intel chipset. With this in mind I would recommend an Asus P4PE with a 2.4b processor and some PC2700 DDR.

that sounds good to me.. how much would the motherboard and cpu cost?. Also, can you tell me what the difference is betweent the 2.4(a) and the 2.4(b) like Ive seen some intels with the A at the end which specify a Northwood Core but whats the B stand for? thanks!

[TimPoet]

Check this out. The answer to your question is the second answer on this Floppy's list.
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...threadid=42291

[smokealotapotimus]

Going by prices I have seen, motherboard/CPU would cost around $500 dollars Canadian.