Another "what should I get" thread

[Krynn72]

Ok, I just watched the interview and read my CGW issue, and read through all the 1UP.com stuff on Valve... and I decided its time to upgrade so I can get all the goodies. Well, there are a few more reasons than that, but thats the big reason :naughty:

My budget will be about $500. I want a new processor to replace my AMD athlon 2500+, a new motherboard so that I can replace my proccesor, and a new video card to replace my 9600pro. I have a gig of ram already, but its not the of the fastest type. I dont think i will upgrade that unless there is some extra money floating around in that budget of mine.

I know enough about all this that I could just go on newegg and find some stuff real easy, but I dont know if thats the smartest move. Its probably not. I dont know a lot about all these new features that have come out since I made this computer, like DDR2 and PCI express and what have you. SO what I am asking is what kind of features on my proc, mobo, and vid card should I look for?

 

[bryanf445]

amd 64 3200+, a nice asus board, and 6600gt would be about 500 bucks. Just look for it all on newegg

 

[Asus]

Athlon 64 3200+/3500+/3700+ SOCKET 939
Asus, MSI, and Abit are some of the brand of boards which are always putting out good products. DFI, Epox are some others with some more extreme options for OCing etc. Although being more extreme they may overlook some other things or not have some other features.

MSI has been a good solid well rounded choice to be honest. They have the performance, good compatibility and support is there on their website/forums.
Just make sure it has a 16x PCI-Express slot and is Socket 939. I would get a board with nForce4 chipset too.

I still use my PC2700 memory with my system and it works well. Although I have mine OCed to PC3200 speeds.

 

[NJspeed]

I think once you cross the 4 or 500 dollar barrier, it's easier to just get a whole new system. More cost effective too when your considering replaced your motherboard, cpu AND graphics card. I mean the only thing your keeping is your RAM and drives..

Do this: See how much you can get for your current system. Then go ahead and spend that much, along with the addittional 500.

I did exactly that - shopped around and I spent a total of $1050. Sold my 3 year old system with a few upgrades for $600, making my total cost $450! I think you can do the same with some smart shopping.

 

[holydeadpenguins]

if you already have your own ddr, you'd get a much bigger performance boost if you spend more money on a video card.

 

[Krynn72]

Sorry for bringing this back up, but I lost my internet connection for awhile and just got it back.

Is gigabyte a good motherboard company? I know my friend has one and he says its perfectly fine. The one I am looking at has these specs

AGP Slots: None
CPU Type: Athlon 64 FX/Athlon 64
DDR Standard: DDR 400 (PC 3200)
FSB: 800MHz Hyper Transport (1600MT/s)
Maximum Memory Supported: 4GB
Number of DDR Slots: 4x 184pin DDR
PCI Express x1: 2
PCI Express x16: 1
PCI Slots: 3
South Bridge: VIA VT8237R

It has no AGP slot, which is fine since I wont be using a AGP card with it. It all looks good to me, and I can get it for really cheap, but I want to know if the brand is reliable enough. Note that I dont need the superest awesometastic board out there, but need a steady and sturdy one.

Now for the Video Card. Its a 6800. But again, Im not sure about the manufacturer.

Brand MSI
Model NX6800-TD256E (Riddick)
GPU Geforce 6800
Core clock 350MHz
PixelPipelines 12
Memory Clock 650MHz
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Type DDR
Interface PCI Express x16
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048x1536@85Hz
SLI Supported Yes

Seems nice to me... how about you?

 

[Lahire149]

Krynn72, those brands are perfectly fine.

 

[Krynn72]

Shwing! Thanks

Ok I just found a nice little section on newegg called "Refurbished Items"
And it just so happens that BOTH of these exact products are available refurbished. I could save 80 bucks by getting them this way. Is it worth it? Probably not, but I dont know how well refurbished hardware works since I have not used any.

 

[Lahire149]

refurb is just used...
I like to buy my stuff new, but if you'd like to save the monry, go ahead and get it used.

 

[Asus]

I would get the motherboard new. A gfx card can be just as good refurbished though.
MSI and Gigabyte are both good brands.
(although I personally don't like gigabyte =p)