Good Upgrade Choices?

ComproxComprox *chortle*Canada Join Date: 2002-01-23 Member: 7Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Developer, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
<div class="IPBDescription">for me PC</div> No, this is not another "what should I get" thread. I've read enough of those in the past month to hopefully pick out some good stuff. What I am wondering is if this choices will provide a worthwhile upgrade for my PC compared to what I am running right now.

Running right now:
-P4 1.6
-1 gig Ram
-200 GB IDE
-Radeon 9600 Pro
-Some insanely basic motherboard

What I am looking at upgrading, the rest staying the same:
-Chaintech S1689 Socket 939 ATX Motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor
-Western Digital / Caviar SE / 320GB / 7200 / 8MB / ATA-100 / EIDE Hard Drive
-BFG GeForce 6600 GT OC 128MB DDR AGP w/DVI/Tv-Out

Total price tag of about $700 Canadian on the nose. I may need to tack on a new PSU also, not sure how much the new video card will suck up. So, these upgrades going to show a notable improvement, or should I save a bit longer?

Comments

  • CMEastCMEast Join Date: 2002-05-19 Member: 632Members
    I'd get a new motherboard too as it's kind of a waste getting an AGP card right now when PCI-X is set to become the standard (imo anyway)
  • Cold_NiTeCold_NiTe Join Date: 2003-09-15 Member: 20875Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-CMEast+Jun 23 2005, 04:41 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (CMEast @ Jun 23 2005, 04:41 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I'd get a new motherboard too as it's kind of a waste getting an AGP card right now when PCI-X is set to become the standard (imo anyway) <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I agree, but you're going to have to work to find a nice price when it comes to PCI-X cards. At least that was the case for my bro.
  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    Go for an ASUS mobo instead, Chaintech seems a little dodgy to me. There's got to be a reason why their boards are so cheap.

    Also, go ATI. You can't beat an X800 XT-PE or an X850.
  • ComproxComprox *chortle* Canada Join Date: 2002-01-23 Member: 7Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Developer, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    Sadly I am not made of money here.

    X800 series is totally out of my budget. Best I can in ATI for the same price is about an x600 pro, MAYBE an x600 XT.

    As for the motherboard, again, price. The MB and CPU I listed are being sold as a combo on sale, flipping out to another motherboard and buying the CPU seperately adds alot again. ($260 for CPU + $160 for MB = $420) while I can get the combo for $330.
  • MulletMullet Join Date: 2003-04-28 Member: 15910Members, Constellation
    edited June 2005
    Meh, go for the 6800GT. Stick with BFG, they have lifetime warranties!

    $260 for the CPU? It's $190 at newegg and ASUS A8V DELUXE mobo is only $115. That's about the same price as your combo...

    *edit* - to save me spamming the topic - remember, I am CANADIAN <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • CForresterCForrester P0rk(h0p Join Date: 2002-10-05 Member: 1439Members, Constellation
    Does NewEgg ship to Canada now? I didn't think they did... Cool. Now if only they accepted PayPal. :/
  • ComproxComprox *chortle* Canada Join Date: 2002-01-23 Member: 7Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS1 Playtester, NS2 Developer, Constellation, NS2 Playtester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Developer, Subnautica Playtester, Pistachionauts
    No, newegg does not ship to Canada. Newegg is not a good place to look for people like me. I repeat, DONT LOOK AT NEWEGG <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    *ahem*
  • BreakthroughBreakthrough Texture Artist (ns_prometheus) Join Date: 2005-03-27 Member: 46620Members, Constellation
    GeForce GT6800 - great card, although I don't know about the prices (I got it cheaper <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> ).

    Comprox, try Factory Direct / Tiger Direct (although I don't trust them...).
  • CyndaneCyndane Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22913Members
    6600GT is an excellent AGP card, good choice proxy. ATI has nothing that can compete at that price level.

    Thre rest I dont know enough about.
  • minskminsk Join Date: 2003-01-09 Member: 12077Members
    edited June 2005
    <!--QuoteBegin-Comprox+Jun 23 2005, 05:38 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Comprox @ Jun 23 2005, 05:38 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> -Chaintech S1689 Socket 939 ATX Motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor
    <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I'd be very paranoid about going down to the ultra-cheap motherboards. We've got a few ASUS A8N and Abit AN8 systems going out these days (~150$CA), though I'm pretty out of touch with the hardware end of things.

    Unless you upgraded the power supply from the original system, you will definitely want to do it now. If you want to cut the corner, watch the voltages very carefully in the BIOS for a while when the system is first installed. I watched a housemate's crappy power supply fluctuate his processor voltage between 80% and 140%... fortunately the machine would crash before anything burnt up.

    <edit>
    Okay, apparantly you're not getting the Chaintech cheap: the prices I have seen for them around seem to reflect low availability and cost. Have never had a problem with ASUS and ABit, though we don't build many high-end machines; most of them are cheapie integrated-everything systems.
    </edit>
  • Crono5Crono5 Join Date: 2003-07-22 Member: 18357Members
    edited June 2005
    I assume that secondary hard disk is going to be used in unison with your current one? If your mobo supports 3, I'd recommend getting a small 10 gigger to install your OS on, in case it explodes/needs to be reinstalled/upgraded/gets infected with a virus/you feel like changing it so that your other data is safe/rescuable.

    Personally I'd wait until the next generation of video cards come out.

    However, 1.6 is pretty old. If the mobo/CPU combo's a good deal, go for it. EDIT: Unless you can see yourself getting a good deal of performance improvement from a dual-core CPU, in which case wait for a good deal on one o' those.
  • DaJMastaDaJMasta Join Date: 2005-01-10 Member: 34750Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-Comprox+Jun 23 2005, 06:11 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Comprox @ Jun 23 2005, 06:11 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Sadly I am not made of money here.

    X800 series is totally out of my budget. Best I can in ATI for the same price is about an x600 pro, MAYBE an x600 XT.

    As for the motherboard, again, price. The MB and CPU I listed are being sold as a combo on sale, flipping out to another motherboard and buying the CPU seperately adds alot again. ($260 for CPU + $160 for MB = $420) while I can get the combo for $330. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Awww, if you were i'd want a lock of your hair.

    look into the x700 pro and the 6600 GT, both excellent and cheap cards.

    Then look for a PCI-E motherboard, they are often less than 20 dollars more expensive for simmilar quality/features.

    the x700 pro is marginally better than the 6600 GT, but is really only available in PCI-E versions, so if you end up with an AGP board go 6600 GT.

    BTW, that seems like a hella lot for a CPU and motherboard, if the conversion rate was 2 canadian dollars to the USD, you could get a cheaper mobo with PCI-E....
  • SillyGooseSillyGoose Join Date: 2003-03-16 Member: 14572Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-CForrester+Jun 23 2005, 05:30 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (CForrester @ Jun 23 2005, 05:30 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Does NewEgg ship to Canada now? I didn't think they did... Cool. Now if only they accepted PayPal. :/ <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    they do take paypal...they have for I think at least 6 months now.
  • iFireiFire Join Date: 2002-07-31 Member: 1038Members
    edited June 2005
    I highly suggest not buying a new video card, due to pressing releases between Nvidia and Ati. This competition will predictably bring down the price. If the companies use the same chip, Nvidia at least, inside their respective consoles, this should lower prices due to optimization of their fabs, or raise them via profiting on the early adopters...

    Aim for Nvidia, their cards support Shader model 3, both NV60(6800. etc) and NV70(7800 etc).
Sign In or Register to comment.