What do you think of this for my upgrade.

[jam3]

Well there doesn't seem to be a forum for the entire system and since the MB part was the hardest to research I figured I'd post it here.

I put this together on googlegear for a total of 858.96 with $22 in shipping. Theres a neat case I'm looking at in a local shop that has a top fan and is aluminium/3 acrylic panels for $160.

Questions
1) What is the real difference between the 9500 and the 9700 is it the extra features or is there a noticeable speed increase?

2) Does anyone know about these "stealth" power supplies, this is kinda an impulse buy it just looks kinda cool, I only needed the 420 but they were out of stock and its on $15 more for the 470.

3) I currently have a 1200 athlon on an asus A7v with 512 and a geforce ti 500, any ideas on the speed increase I am going to see? I usually buy once a year or year and a half it doesn't seem like the perfect price point performance time to buy but I am just getting the itch

Anyways let me know what you think, personally after all the research I think the MSI board is a darn good deal, I really don't need all the extra's since I mostly play games and write code.

Corsair TWINX512-3200LLPT 512MB DDR400 XMS3200 Dual-Channel Memory w/Platinum Heat Spreader Retail
$177.00

MSI 655 Max-LS SiS 655 P4 (533FSB) Skt478 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, Serial ATA Retail
$119.99

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Processor (Northwood) 2.66GHz, 533MHz FSB, Socket 478 Retail
$232.50

Thermaltake A1254 Volcano 7+ Universal Cooler for AMD Athlon XP & Intel P4 Skt478 Retail
$30.49

Vantec Stealth Aluminum 470W Power Supply Retail
$120.99

ATI Radeon 9500 AGP 8X 128MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out, DVI & CRT Retail by PowerColor
$177.99

 

[palle]

since I go for Amd here is my suggestion.
Amd xp2400
ASUS A7NX deluxe version(2lan,sorround)
256mb Corsair memory at 333mhz cl2
Hd 120 Gigg 7200rpm Maxtor special edition
ATI Radeon 9700pro any brand
IIyama hm903dt

fair price and will rock the block.


have fun,be lucky

 

[TKH]

1. There are 9500, 9500 Pro, 9700, and 9700 Pro. There is big difference between 9500 and 9500 Pro while the gap between 9500 Pro and 9700 is smaller. And now nothing can beat a 9700 Pro except for 9800 Pro or GeForceFX 5800 Ultra.

2. A 470W Antec PSU is a cool option!

3. You'll get a big jump in performance by upgrading your Athlon 1.2GHz to a Pentium IV 2.66GHz. The increment would be at least 150% to 200%.

Addition: You are getting a SiS655 so basically you should get 2 sticks of 256MB instead of 1 stick of 512MB RAM to fully utilise the Dual-channel DDR features; and PowerColor is well-known by making slower clocked card, so you should try to get another brand, and buy 9500 Pro instead. Sapphire, Gigabyte and Hercules makes great card.

My PC has gone to hell... because it's a killing machine...

 

[Crashman]

Yes, this looks like an excellent upgrade.

1.) A noticeable speed increase.
2.) Stealth?
3.) Yes, like I said, it's a nice upgrade.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Mephistopheles]

Looks fine to me. The P4 2.66G should give you a very strong boost over the Athlon 1200 and the R9500 is probably very good indeed. These Corsair modules are a pair of 256MB-sticks, aren´t they? They should be in pairs, for dual channel operation.

One more thing, though... If it were me, I wouldn´t buy Corsair memory. Instead, I might consider buying cheaper (but still reliable, hopefully) dual-channel DDR333 or even DDR400 (non-corsair will come much cheaper), because the performance difference isn´t that big a deal, and switch to a R9700 Pro. That should make for the perfect gamer´s upgrade... Just my suggestion...

 

[stealth_blade]

stay away from the SIS 655 chipset, every single mobo with it has RAM Compatability issues, and the speed increase over intel's granite bay is actually a decrease,

pay the extra money and buy a gigabyte GA 8INXP all the same features, faster, and a better more compatible chipset

otherwise looks like a nice machine, if youre looking to save money go with some cas 2.5 micron pc 2700, much cheaper only about 3% slower, if that
and buy a 2.53 ghz P4, currently one of the best price vs performance chips on the market (at least where i live)

 

[Mephistopheles]

I agree. There is little if any decrease from going from dual DDR400 to dual DDR266. Plus, If you do get a Granite Bay, which is an Intel-based mobo (still counts as a plus! better compatibility and stability.), the memory might cost you less and you can then get the R9700. If you don´t OC, you don´t really need Corsair anyway, I´d say.