AMD setup better than Intel

Hey all,

I was trying to upgrade my computer which is an old 1.2 ghz celeron 512mb of SDRAM, and 40 gig HDD, Win XP Pro, from 2001.

And here is the new setup.

AMD Athlon 64x2 2.9 ghz Brisbane dual core........................$70
OCZ RAM DDR2 800mhz..........................................$22
ECS BLACK SERIES A780GM-A AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard................$57
Max 32 gigs of DDR2 RAM
DDR2 800/1066 RAM
ATI Radeon HD 3200 onboard graphics

I had an Intel setup before but the price to performance wasn't worth the money. I had Proximon help with it and i decided to take his advice about getting an AMD setup.

I am looking for some feedback on this, and if i could get some even better parts, but they have to be $150

Thanks for any feedback.

swap the athlon 64 for a 7750 BE, it performs better for a dollar more.

try and get a motherboard which isn't ECS, gigabyte or ASUS is your best bet..

Thanks Kithzaru and Helloworld.

I have a few questions though

1. The Kuma is a 3600 mhz Hypertransport but the ECS is only 2600mhz, will the Kuma slow down then? Isn't that bad?

2. What's wrong w/ ECS?

3.What is hypertransport? FSB?

4. what is the difference between Kuma 7750 BE and the normal one? the normal one is faster.

Sorry i am new to AMD, i only knew about intel stuff so far.

thanks for the mobo idea i will look into the other two mobos.

the 7750 BE has an unlocked multiplier so can OC further.

ECS are the bottom end motherboard maker.

don't mix up MT/s with MHz

HT is the data transfer rate, same with FSB but FSB's are slower.

from my limited (mind lmited) knowledge on the subject is that ASrock did not used to be very good, but as of late they've been putting out good quality things and tend to rank nice with OCers. Generally i've stuck with Gigabyte and ASUS, which tend to be well priced but not as well as what you have listed.

I wouldn't know 8( if they are, then i would trust the quality. *shrug*

You may want to start a new thread in the MoBo section, wherever that is, asking about the quality.

No worries mate, good luck with it all 8)

Thanks Outlander_04 I created a thread n the mobo section and no one answered.

Anyway thanks again

As much as i would like to say yes and have you save money, i can't. That PSU won't cut it anymore sadly. The hard drive i would imagine is IDE or whatever and, depending on the MoBo. From what *i* can tell the MoBo you listed would not, i'm not saying it won't, just saying that's what i see (hopefully someone with more experience with those boards could tell us).

Another thing with the harddrive, assuming you could use it, you would need to figure that the hard drive is a moving physical part. The little trays inside are spinning at whatever speed your HDD is rated at (probably 5400) and they do wear out. So, even if you could use it there is no telling how much longer. Some people have drives for years, others for uh, not as many years =P

I know you are on a budget, and unfortunately these would eat out of it.

Here is a *decent* HDD on a budget

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136075

Western Digital tends to do very well, i currently have 4 of them and have never had a problem.

As for power supplies...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817153023

Thermaltake is a good brand, though i'm not sure about this particular unit. Good price though.

I'm sure lots of other people will have lots of suggestions, so take it all in while you can 8)

Your old hard drive will connect and run on that mb . Its a lot slower though so games and large files will be slow to load compared to a newer hard drive , and as pointed out already it wont last for ever .
Having said that I would use it if thats what your budget is since its easy enough to add a better SATA drive later on when you can afford it .

Power supply you might as well get the best quality you can . Unstable power to electronics = a really bad time for the guy operating the computer .
A seasonic like
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151059
is a better choice than the thermaltake because it has better electronic voltage controls . The power will be sufficient , and seasonic are a quality brand

The only other problem I can see for you is the choice of an atx mb . Computer mb's are either m-atx which atre shorter from top to bottom and usually have two less expansion slots . If your current computer is an oem brand [ dell , acer etc ] it might have an m-atx mb and that means the full atx board wont fit in the case . Open the side of your computer to see wht size mb your case can take .

The options are buy a bigger case , or buy an m-atx board like

ASRock A780LM AM2+/AM2 AMD RS780L (760G) Micro ATX AMD Motherboard for $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157153

This mb will fit in either atx or m-atx cases . and will connect to your old hard drive too.

As a bonus it has the main motherboard power connector in a better location that the other asrock board you are considering so if you wanted you could add a cooler and quieter processor heatsink/fan later on if you wanted

Typically a system like you are building will draw less than 200 watts

if you add a graphics card that would be more

The ocz looks like good quality and should work fine and give you some overhead in case you decide to add more hardware . The price is good too

You might get away with your current psu , but you might not .

its not just total wattage its which voltage the watts are produced at . Old psu make a lot of +5 volts that 2009 computers dont need , and less + 12 volt that they do.
Modern psu'd are also a lot more accurate with voltages which can stop the pc crashing

You could try what you have , but if there are problems be prepared to swap it out . What ever you do its a bad idea to buy a budget psu . Most are rated for peak output and cant sustain that level .
antec, silverstone , ocz , corsair fsp , pc power and cooling are quality brands that will run all day at their rated wattage and can peak a fair bit higher .

If u guys have any other site I can visit for pc parts, please let me know.

other than tigerdirect and newegg and compusa