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Planning to upgrade/rebuild my current PC

Last response: in Systems
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Hello to all. I am new here as of about 10 min ago so please bear with me. I am wondering if you experts out there can give me some advice and direction. I am currently trying to decide what components to purchase for a new computer. Here is what my current set up is:

AMD Athlon XP2800+ Barton Core 2.1ghz
Asus A7N8X Deluxe (333mhz fsb)
1gb Kingston PC3200 DDR (2-512mb sticks running in dual channel mode)
WD Raptor 36gb SATA 10,000rpm HD (main)
WD Raptor 74gb SATA 10,000rpm HD (storage)
Raedon ATI 9550 Video Card (256mb) running dual 22" LCD monitors
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy


I do not have anything overclocked as I never had any good luck with it. I am dead set on 2 things when it comes to a new system. 1) AMD processor & 2) Asus Mobo.

My girlfriend and I use this computer for just average everyday web surfing, word processing, etc. I do however use Autocad so I would like this to have a little more HP than the average pre-built computers but I don't need the HP to run highly intensive games.

I have spent a little time looking for somethings that I think would be good. Obviously, I plan to only purchase a mobo, processor, RAM, & video card. I will use what I have for the rest. Here is what I have found so far that I might go with (depending on the feedback here):

Processor: AMD Athlon 7750 X2 2.7ghz (Socket AM2+)
Motherboard: Asus M3A78-EM (not SLI)
OR
Motherboard: Asus M3N78-PRO (not SLI)
Power supply: Antec Earth Power EA650 (650W)
RAM: Crucial 4GB DDR2 PC2-8500 CL-7 (2x2GB) 1066mhz
Video Card: Raedon HD4870 (1gb GDDR5) (256-bit)
OR
Video Card: GeForce 9600 GT (1gb GDDR3) (256-bit)


I would really appreciate any feedback or advice on this. I personally built my current system myself back 5 years ago and it has been an awesome on for me up until the past month. It began shutting down on its own. I believe I have fixed that after re-seating the heatsink/fan/processor and replacing the thermal compound. It does however have other issues that make me want to re-build.

Thanks,
James

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I should add that I am using Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 3) 32-bit edition but would like this system to be capable of handling 64-bit in the future (if Microsoft can make something better than Vista)

The EA650W can easily handle the HD 4870. It is massive overkill for the 9600GT.
The HD 4870 is WAY faster than the 9600GT, so by all means get the HD 4870 if possible. (But only if you do play games, otherwise just get a HD 4670 or even less.)

If you live in the USA get that CPU using this combo, and you get a free Call of Juarez game:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.185487

Or this combo, and save $15 on the HD 4870:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.177906

You could use DDR2-800 and save about $20.

I don't like either of those two Asus motherboards. Look at the Newegg reviews:
M3A78-EM: 62% love it (5 eggs), 9% hate it (1 egg)
M3N78 PRO: 47% love it, 10% hate it

Compare with the GA-MA790X-UD4P ($110)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387
where 81% gave it 5 eggs and 3% gave it one egg.

If you absolutely want an Asus board, maybe this one?
ASUS M4A78 Plus AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131381

Helloworld_98 said:
M3A78-EM + 720 BE + 2x2gb 800mhz ram.

you don't really need the video card for what your doing since AMD or nvidia iGPU's are powerful enough.



Thanks for you reply. I am wondering if it is possible to put the 720 BE (AM3+ socket) onto the M3A78-EM (AM2+ socket). Is the processor backwards compatible?

aevm said:
The EA650W can easily handle the HD 4870. It is massive overkill for the 9600GT.
The HD 4870 is WAY faster than the 9600GT, so by all means get the HD 4870 if possible. (But only if you do play games, otherwise just get a HD 4670 or even less.)

If you live in the USA get that CPU using this combo, and you get a free Call of Juarez game:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.185487

Or this combo, and save $15 on the HD 4870:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.177906

You could use DDR2-800 and save about $20.

I don't like either of those two Asus motherboards. Look at the Newegg reviews:
M3A78-EM: 62% love it (5 eggs), 9% hate it (1 egg)
M3N78 PRO: 47% love it, 10% hate it

Compare with the GA-MA790X-UD4P ($110)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387
where 81% gave it 5 eggs and 3% gave it one egg.

If you absolutely want an Asus board, maybe this one?
ASUS M4A78 Plus AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131381





Thanks for the speedy reply. I know the video cards seem overkill, but, as I said, I want to have a little more ability than what I may use from day to day. I do not plan to purchase a new vid card until after the system is up and running. I am dead set on asus and I have now added the board you reccomended into my "plan". In fact, I am leaning that way now since it is SLI capable (or I think it is). Price is good too.

Thanks again.
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