Comp Upgrade suggestions

[redGhia]

Hey Guys,

Time for an upgrade i think, atm i have a socket 478 Gigabyte motherboard with the std 1.8 p4 cpu in it and 2 x 512mb of 333mhz ddr ram

Internal sound, network, and graphics

PCI cards consist of a firewire and extra usb card


Unfortunatly the motherboard is only capable of 533FSb and the limited P4 cards avail are all 800FSB

Im looking for at least 3 - 3.6 gig cpu , Gaming dosent really bother me but i do a bit of work in psp x

So im after any suggestions on what to fill my midi case with , Socket 775 seems popular at the moment but there are just soo many motherboards around, i dont mind if everything is built into the board as i dont thing i need to have a agp card

PS, if possible i would like to keep my existing ram as its fairly new



Thanks,


Ash

[Deanodriver]

You've got two choices here, I can see.

One is to replace the CPU in that motherboard with a high end Celeron D (which is 533FSB, and is likely to get it to work in that board with a BIOS update). That should set you back about $150.

The other option is to replace the CPU and motherboard with either a P4 (with Socket 775) or an Athlon64 (with Socket 939). Whatever CPU you use is up to you. Many Socket 775 P4 motherboards require the newer DDR2 RAM, though.

For AMD, you could go a Socket 939 Athlon64 3000-3500+, and a motherboard like the MSI RS482M4-ILD or Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9, which are both microATX motherboards with Socket 939 and onboard video. All up, that should set you back ~$350-450.

For Intel, you could go a Pentium 4 630 or 640, with a choice of various motherboards, as long as you get one with Socket 775, a name brand (like Gigabyte, MSI, Abit or Asus) and supports standard DDR RAM (not DDR2), you should be OK. This should end up about similar money to the AMD, depending on what motherboard you choose.

[redGhia]

Intel did a Northwood 3.06 (HT) in a 478 533fsb - I think they would be like finding a needle in a haystack though

When you talk about the Celeron D cpu's are they the 2.8 max @ 400,533fsb

[max^power]

It really depends on your budget. For <$500 bucks you can get a pretty good system (with no monitor etc).

Changing the board and CPU only will make it hard to get rid of the replaced units. Not to mention using the slower memory/hard drive etc in the new board. The hard drive alone may make the upgrade appear a waste of time.

Suggest a budget, and i'm sure you'll get plenty of ideas _2:

[max^power]

Originally Posted by redGhia

When you talk about the Celeron D cpu's are they the 2.8 max @ 400,533fsb

Celeron D 336 LGA775 2.8Ghz's are 533Mhz.

[redGhia]

Box only wouldnt be a bad idea , Ive got my Logitech LX 700 keyboard and mouse and my Sony Trinitron 19" Monitor to swap around with . Current primary is W/Digital 80g and 20 g slave

My current system was a dimension 8200 , but now the only original part left is the cpu - even the case has been chucked


Budget - maybe around 1 - 1.5k

[max^power]

Originally Posted by redGhia

Budget - maybe around 1 - 1.5k

2 x 512MB 533MHz DDR2 NON-ECC - $114
WD2500KS - 250GB WD CAVIAR SE16/SATAII/7200RPM/16MB - $215
ASUS P5LD2 Motherboard - $205
ASUS GF6600/256MB/TV-OUT/DV-I/PCI EXPRESS - $194
P4 3.4GHZ/2MB CACHE/800FSB/SOCKET 775 - $460
Basic ATX Case - $85

That should be a nice system, well under budget, the prices there are a guide, if they're any more than that, shop around or haggle. Aim for 5-10% off that.

BTW: Get 2 memory modules, because then you can use dual channel memory which helps performance again.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: Formatting

[Steffo]

$1500 max limit... if I were in your position I'd do the following...

Intel Pentium 4 '650' 3.4GHz LGA775 64-bit CPU: $445.50 http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_p...egory_id]=1208

Abit AL8-V LGA775 P4 i945P board, 1066FSB max, DDR2, PCI-x16, 2x PCI, 4x SATAII, On-board 1000mbit LAN, onboard 8ch audio: $214.50 http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_p...egory_id]=1202

GeIL 1024MB DDR2-533 TwinPack (2x512MB sticks, dual channel) w/heatspreader: $159.50 http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_p...egory_id]=1195

Powercolor 256MB ATi Radeon X800GT PCI-E Videocard: $275.00 http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_p...egory_id]=1232

Western Digital Caviar 200GB SATA-II drive, 7200rpm: $176.00 http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_p...tegory_id]=366

Antec TX640B Black Midi-Tower case w/400W SmartPower2 PSU: $173.80 http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/show_p...tegory_id]=268

Total of $1,444.30, $55.70 under budget... get some petrol with that or something lol.

The stock CPU fan will be quite fine, they're pretty good these days. Good GFX card, excellent case/PSU combo, excellent HDD etc. And its a 64-bit CPU which is always nice (more longevity, wiser then buying a 32-bit now IMO). All that's linked to http://www.auspcmarket.com.au

I buy my computer parts from there. Excellent place, great service, and the prices include free freight Australia wide.

Those are my two cents, can't go wrong with a system like the one above. Wouldn't mind that myself actually... this Sempron 2200+ and Radeon 9600LE 256MB need replacing....

[Des]

Check these guy's out.
D&D Computers

[Paris Hilton]

I'd be more inclined just to replace the board, cpu, and getting a PCI-E or AGP 8x Video Card...I mean you already have a gig of ram, most new board have onboard 5.1 Sound and Gigabit ethernet. As for the AMD vs. Intel debate...both have thier upsides and downsides, so go with personal preference.

A bad website, but very very cheap hardware go to http://www.msy.com.au/ Its worth the drive there to pick up parts but they are very popular, they can run out of stock.

to find a certain mobo, do a find (ctrl+f) and type the model number.

Another great website for finding cheap hardware is http://au.pricespy.biz/


At the moment Id go the AMD as they have there feet planted deeply in the 64 bit market for a while and cheaper than the p extreme edition.

[Deanodriver]

Here's a recommendation (all prices from scorptec.com.au):

CPU: AMD Athlon64 3500+ Socket 939 - $315
Motherboard: Abit AN8 Ultra - $169
Memory: Retain what you already have, it should be fine - $0
Hard Drive: Seagate 160GB Serial ATA hard drive - $125
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce6600 PCI-Express - $169
Case: Antec SLK1650 - $125
Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-110D 16x DVD burner - $67

That comes to $970 for the machine, not including a copy of Windows XP (of which Home is $135, 32bit Pro $215 and 64bit Pro $259, for OEM copies). If you want to upgrade that spec a bit, you could replace parts with:

CPU: AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ (dual core) - $499
Memory: A second pair of 512MB PC3200 sticks, and put all four in it, for 2GB RAM - $149 the pair
Hard Drive: Seagate 250GB Serial ATA hard drive - $189
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce 6600GT PCI-Express - $249

So you could get a nice machine at between $970 and $1447, not including OS.

[redGhia]

Thanks guys , Still havent decided which way im going to go ... Will keep looking into it

[vztrt]

Your better off going dual core, you dont need the grunt and arn't using the computer for gaming. Also you will be able to keep the system longer as computers are struggling to get any faster.
Dual core also allows better multitasking and uses less power which reduces the heat and electricity your comp uses is less.

[Deanodriver]

I agree, the dual core would be a better choice, provided you go for the AMD option (it's a superior design to the Intel dualcore). It's totally up to you whether it's worth going for 2GB of RAM.

On that budget, I would avoid going for onboard video. Since that motherboard has PCI-Express (which is the new video card standard), you could afford a decent GeForce 6600 or 6600GT (don't get a 6200, they use up some of your system RAM for video memory, like onboard graphics does), or the ATi equivalent.

That motherboard I recommended would be ideal, since it has many features (plenty of USB ports, Firewire, Gigabit LAN, 4 SATA connectors, 4 RAM slots, etc) and is a good quality board (at least, my last Abit was a top motherboard, they're a good brand).

With a dual core CPU and 2GB of RAM, you'll have quite an enviable system going there.