upgrade help/opinions needed !!

[karekano8918]

I'm basically looking to do a pretty thorough overhaul of my current sytem I'll list my specs here and I need opinions and comments on the upgrade parts though.
btw this will mainly be used for Windows xp, msoffice publisher a few business apps and gaming of course =D.

ok heres the specs on my following system:
Amd athlon xp 2700+ cpu
thermaltake xaser III case
radeon 9800 pro agp
thermaltake 420w powersupply
sound blaster audigy 2 platinum
seagate 120gb sata hdd 7200rpm
thermaltake cooler for processor
memory now here is the thing i thought they were the same but they are different apparently so need some advice on ram upgrade. keep both sticks sel lboth or sell 1 and get another of the same to match?
here is what lis listed on each piece of ram i got:
corsair xms platinum cmx512-3200pt xms 3200v2.1
corsair xms platinum 3200c2pt 400mhz xms3202v1.1
they are each 512 can snyone tell me what they are in better terms thanks


ideas for sytem upgrade
cpu <must>
i was thinking the athlon 3700+~400 seemed best for gaming/office xp usage as well. btw whats thes difference between 90nm or not?

hard drives i was thinking for booting/games a 74gb western digital raptor. and for storage a seagate 7200 300gb hdd or so.

memory see above id like to use what i have or figure what id need to do to make system runn optimaly use both 512 mb chips or does one need to be sold so i can have a matched pair or sell both and get something else? please suggest.

case and powesr supply can hopefully be reused im thinking.
video card i need suggestion as well as the motherboard.
i really dont know what video card to get but i was thinking if i end up going dual sli id like to get the first card now and maybe the 2nd later on or pci express i really dont know which or what to get. mobo only requiremtn would be 2 built in nic cards sound not needed or will be disabled for my audigy 2 platinum.

all in all heres the price range im hoping for on compenents:
cpu 200-300usd
video card 100-200 usd
hdd's 300 total
mobo 100-200
id prefer to keep it to 600-70 but if its a big differene on some items may go up to 1k in getting what I need.(the beauty of homebuilt you can go wild on some parts and skimp on others as budget allows )

so please leave me suggestions so I can weigh my options andd starting undertaking his upgrade. spare parts i reckon ill just get rid of on ebay or to friends to help recoup the cost of the upgrade as much as possible.
Thanks for looking and for any more specs or questions comments please let me know thank you.

 

[fishmahn]

With the 9800 you've still got a reasonable gamer, but I can definitely see performance upgrades.

The RAMs are similar - they may even be the same actual chips 'inside' but it looks like they were bought a year apart or something like that. They should do dual channel ok so keep them and transfer them to the new system.

You want the 90nm ones - they run a little faster, overclock a little better, don't produce as much heat so the fans dont' work so hard and are quieter.

No point in going SLI unless you're getting obth cards now and both cards are 7800GTs or GTXs. People said what you're saying a year ago with 6800's. Now the 7800's are out and they go faster than 2 6800's and costs less than buying the 2nd one now anyways. I expect the same again next year.

For gaming I'd take some CPU and give it to the GPU unless you're not talking about playing the latest games (HL2, FEAR, Doom3, etc.). Get a 3500+ Venice core for about 200 and 7800GT for 300ish (GTX is just wildly overpriced...). If you want more CPU then get a 6800GS and the 3800+ venice or 3700+ San Diego.

Good idea on Raptor for boot & some 300gb for storage. I like Seagate, but WD, et al are good too. Get what's on sale - seems about 250gig is the sweet spot price/gb.

Case/PSU seem reusable.

Mobo get anything with an nForce 4 chipset (with PCI Express of course) - Epox, ABit, Asus (not so much for overclockers), DFI (for extreem OC), Chaintech makes the VNF4 which is a great board for a better price if it matches your feature needs. Gigabyte and others are good as well for non-overclockers. Its a feature hunt among the main brands for the 'right board for you'.

Hope that covers everything...

Mike.

 

[xc3ll]

I pretty much agree with fishmahn... just a few differences....

RAM is ok.... Not sure if you could run them in dual channel or not....

AMD 64 3700+ is definately a good choice, just make sure you get one made with the 90nm process, I believe these are Venice, San Diego, and Winchester(theres prolly a few others out there.... just look for Rev. E)

PSU and case is good, unless you plan to go SLI... I have that case and I needed a new PSU... OCZ, PC P&C are really good... whatever you get, just make sure that you get a PSU with 2 12V rails.

The HDs you mentioned are good, you might wanna consider Hitachi too, cuz they're tops aswell.

As for the mobos, any mobo with the n4 sli chipset would fit your requirements. I personally would not sugest the a8n-sli, because I know quite a few people who have had numerous problems with it. I like DFI, and have a friend who's happy with his MSI. Any ol mobo with a good review should be ok...

As for your budget, you could prolly go less on the hdds and add a bit more on the gfx card... ati is looking pretty good right now, with their new catalyst drivers, although nvidia is also really good... its really a toss up...

whatever you feel is best... If ou want some more advice, I wrote up a pretty comprehensive guide @ my site effectu.com

 

[endyen]

There's a new chipset in town. It's by Ati, and seems to be a top performer, and is being used on resonable boards. If you are buying now, the Asus A8R-MVP is a top choice. If Abit's A8T is available when you buy, get that one instead. They dont support Sli, but then they are crossfire boards. Crossfire is better IMNSHO.

 

[karekano8918]

thanks for the great tips and advice so far im thinking for this as my final upgrade or whatnot:
will this setup work well and im only planning to get one video card.
athlon 64 3800 (228 on pricewatch)
raptor 74gbsata (169 monarch)
seagate barracuda 250gb sata 7200 (105 monarch)
motherboard debate agb and board by assus and keep radeon 9800 or
Asus A8V K8T800 Pro No-WiFi/Audio/GB-LAN/USB/SATA/DDR-400 64 939
(90 on pricewatch)
go with pci-e board
was thinking maybe the abit an8 ultra for a motherboard?
then that brings the new vide o card question x800 gt by sapphire for $162 or
XFX Geforce 6800XT 256MB PCI Express x16 for $175

i was thinking if i use a agp board i can still use the radeon 9800 pro agp <im still happy with it> later on i can just swap out moboards when i feel a need for more gpu power?

oh yes one more question what would be the performance gain vs a radeon 9800 pro vs a x800 or 6800 cards im considering?
i plan on sticking with the same ram as im running it dual channel fine atm.



also
will this be a good build and noticeable differnece in speed and games or should i just get a different mobo and a new gfx card(assuming no new video card and i get the agp board running the 9800- pro)? if so plz recommend a nice asus board or abit(i pretty much swear by asus and abit had many failures with other brands and types) and a good 6800 card as i can still sell my radeon 9800 pro agp for a decent amount of cash. let me know thanks!!

 

[fishmahn]

I'd go the PCI-Express option. The reason I say that is while you can use your 9800 for a bit longer, if you're buying a new mobo, either get the Asrock dual 939 so you have both full AGP and PCI-Ex16, or you'll have to replace the mobo again when the 9800 doesn't cut it - but your CPU will still be fine.

Get the best video card you can. If you want something that games at higher settings (higher resolutions, all th eye candy turned up, put more into the video card and less into the CPU (don't go below a 3200+ though)

The 9800 is just a fraction slower than a 6600GT. The 6800XT is a lot faster than the 6600GT. The X800GT is pretty similar speed. If you can swing up to about 215 newegg had some 6800GS cards and they're nice cards for the price. If you run the games at low resolution, then you'll notice some speed increase, but not a whole lot. If you run at 1024x768 or better and like some AA/AF or higher than 'low' details, the 9800 is still adequate today but is close to the end of its life - get the upgrade, there's 2 generations of cards newer than it is out already.

Mike.

 

[karekano8918]

thanks i think ill go the asrock route so i can spend big later on a video card and save in the interim.basically going for the faster hdd and cpu to get rid of a bottleneck or two and later on ill get the graphics up to where id like them. Thanks for all the input happy holidays.