I recently posted two hypathetical crazy ass gaming/multitasking rig configurations. Facing reality, this is what I am looking at doing for an upgrade for my existing machine, sometime in the next 30-90 days. I am looking for a signifigant overall performance boost without overclocking, for no more than $800, plus or minus a few bucks. The machine is and will continue to be used for gaming (ie; oblivion, just cause, far cry, etc), internet surfing, newsgroups leeching (Newsbin and Newzbin), office productivity, photoshop cs2 and some video encoding (ie; dvd to xvid, xvid to dvd, dvd resizing, etc). I am not interested at this time in following the NVidia 8800 route due to cost. That is something I'll consider later in the year towards christmas or maybe in 2008. I am open to going Intel, as it has been years since I had an intel box (ie; early-mid 90's).
I hammer my system when it comes to file management; moving around thousands of files (small and big) at a time, archiving and ISO's, so I easily max out my existing hard drive rates. The existing configuration, to be upgraded, is summed up below...
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (2500+ mode for stability)
Crucial 2GB (1GBx2) PC3200 Memory in Dual-Channel Mode
WD 120GB (2) ATA-100 Hard Drives (o/s, apps, games, large family photo collection, mp3 collection)
WD 200GB (2) ATA-100 Hard Drives (ftp server, cd/dvd images, large downloads)
WD 250GB (3) ATA-100 Hard Drives (usb2 external enclosures for downloads, backup and archiving)
ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 PRO 128mb AGP 8x Video Card
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Edition <--- Still an excellent audio solution, no need to upgrade
This is what I am looking at buying for a base upgrade with "Phase I" being the hard drive first and then "Phase II" being the remaining components:
Phase I:
Hard Drive
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB Serial ATA 10,000RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer - $223
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101257>
Phase II:
Motherboard
Asus M2N-E nForce 570 Ultra Sempron/Athlon 64(FX)(X2) SktAM2 DDR2 ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247081> - $100
Processor
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3500+ Socket AM2 (62W) Retail - $90
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80717-8>
Memory
Corsair VS2GBKIT667D2 2GB Kit DDR2-667 PC2-5300 Value Select Memory Retail - $200
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85016-47>
Video Card
Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M Radeon X1950 PRO 256MB PCI-Express Video Card
w/Dual-DVI & HDTV-Out Retail - $190
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=324623>
*******************
Phase I: Hard Drive
Cost: $223
Phase II: Motherboard, Processor, Memory and Video Card
Cost: $580
Total: $803
Again, I want the best bang for the buck here WITHOUT OVERCLOCKING. Thanks!
-- MaSoP
I hammer my system when it comes to file management; moving around thousands of files (small and big) at a time, archiving and ISO's, so I easily max out my existing hard drive rates. The existing configuration, to be upgraded, is summed up below...
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (2500+ mode for stability)
Crucial 2GB (1GBx2) PC3200 Memory in Dual-Channel Mode
WD 120GB (2) ATA-100 Hard Drives (o/s, apps, games, large family photo collection, mp3 collection)
WD 200GB (2) ATA-100 Hard Drives (ftp server, cd/dvd images, large downloads)
WD 250GB (3) ATA-100 Hard Drives (usb2 external enclosures for downloads, backup and archiving)
ATI All-in-Wonder 9800 PRO 128mb AGP 8x Video Card
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Edition <--- Still an excellent audio solution, no need to upgrade
This is what I am looking at buying for a base upgrade with "Phase I" being the hard drive first and then "Phase II" being the remaining components:
Phase I:
Hard Drive
Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB Serial ATA 10,000RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer - $223
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101257>
Phase II:
Motherboard
Asus M2N-E nForce 570 Ultra Sempron/Athlon 64(FX)(X2) SktAM2 DDR2 ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247081> - $100
Processor
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3500+ Socket AM2 (62W) Retail - $90
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80717-8>
Memory
Corsair VS2GBKIT667D2 2GB Kit DDR2-667 PC2-5300 Value Select Memory Retail - $200
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=85016-47>
Video Card
Asus EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M Radeon X1950 PRO 256MB PCI-Express Video Card
w/Dual-DVI & HDTV-Out Retail - $190
<http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=324623>
*******************
Phase I: Hard Drive
Cost: $223
Phase II: Motherboard, Processor, Memory and Video Card
Cost: $580
Total: $803
Again, I want the best bang for the buck here WITHOUT OVERCLOCKING. Thanks!
-- MaSoP