Reluctant upgrade

Lamoni

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Oct 21, 2002
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Here is my situation. I have a KT133A chipset motherboard with 512 MB SDRAM with a 1.4 GHz Athlon and a Geforce 4 Ti4200 w/ 64MB RAM. Everything is working great except for the fact that my fan is dying. It used to make clicking noises for the first 2-3 minutes after booting it up. Then it would settle down and be fine. Now it is making the annoying noise much more often. It is to the point where I don't want to use my computer because the noise is so annoying.

So, the reason why I am debating is because I have no money to spend. Actually, we make enough money to spend quite a bit, but the money is supposed to go into savings for my wife's lasic eye surgery... but that is another story. The options I have are:

1. I could just get a new fan. If so, what would be one that you would recommend? It just needs to keep the 1.4 GHz from overheating. Noise is the biggest concern.

2. I could get an AXP 1700+ with a 'B' core. They are cheap, overclockable, and I could keep the cpu when I upgrade the motherboard. The question is, how can I tell that it has a 'B' core and that it isn't a Palomino or a Tbred A core. If I bought from googlegear or newegg, would I just have to cross my fingers?

3. I could stop waiting and use this as an excuse to do a major upgrade now. I would like an nForce 2 motherboard, faster RAM, and a better CPU, but that would also require buying Windows XP (I have been meaning to buy a legitimate copy). I don't think this option is really an option right now. I can do everything I need to with my current setup, and I just can't justify the money.

I guess that the choice I have is only between option 1 and option 2. What do you recommend? I am leaning towards the new CPU, but I don't know if I could really overclock it with my current board. Without overclocking it, it won't run much faster than my current 1.4 GHz. It is an Abit KT7A I believe. I know it is Abit, I am just unsure about the exact number... it is the KT133A chipset though.

I think that I wouldn't feel the need to upgrade so much if I didn't work on building faster computers for friends and family who just happen to have more money than me.

'It's easy to sit there and say you'd like to have more money. And I guess that's what I like about it. It's easy. Just sitting there, rocking back and forth, wanting that money.'
 

deekemon

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Mar 16, 2003
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I am not in a position to give the most valued advice for there are far more respectable guru's on this forum. Really in my opinion, you have 2 options. New fan (Vantec Aeroflow is nice and silent runs about $25 on ebay) and theres a full system upgrade. With your system specs I really dont think just a 1700 replacement would do you justice. If I were YOU, being my biggest fear is a pissed off wife, replace the fan, get your wife happy (if there is such thing) and then knock yourself out with a upgrade.
 

Lamoni

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That was option number 1. But I asked for recommendations for fans. I haven't been here for a while and I have never known much about fans. I have always bought retail CPU's that came with fans and didn't overclock. Do you have a fan that you would recommend? I went to the local computer store and they only had a fan that wouldn't cool the cpu properly and a really noisy one.

'It's easy to sit there and say you'd like to have more money. And I guess that's what I like about it. It's easy. Just sitting there, rocking back and forth, wanting that money.'
 

deekemon

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LoL sorry as I said the Vantec Aeroflow for socket A platforms is nice. Tom's hardware did a comparison on like 20 heat sink fans awhile back, they said for the money the sound and the cooling it was quite nice. Browse ebay and newegg Vantec Aeroflow.
 

Lamoni

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Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll price the Vantec Aeroflow. I haven't ever bought computer parts on ebay, but I guess not much could be wrong with a fan. Any other suggestions?
 

Lamoni

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The cheapest I could find that fan was $35.50 after shipping. I sort of want the fan soon so I decided against ebay. The only thing that bothers me is that I could get a new retail CPU for $61.00 after shipping. That is only $25.50 more. But I guess that is $25 more than I really need to spend.
 

deekemon

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Hmmm, well last I checked The Vantec Aeroflow socket A (there are 2 one for p4's 478 and amd's socket A, 462) on Newegg.com was about like $33 $6 shipping. I was on eBay about 3 days ago, there were a few auctions for the vantecs at about $25 less shipping. If you wait a bit you could get a better auction but whatever. Just if you purchase one on ebay make sure its still brand new.
 

deekemon

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You could grabe a new retail CPU, but if you ever ventured into overclocking you will find the retail heat sink fan not a recommendation. Best bet is to grab this now, not have it be so annoying, when full system upgrade comes along buy a retail cpu (3 yr warranty) and oc the hell out of it with your Vantec
 

Lamoni

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I heard that the 1700+ Tbred B's overclocked ok with just the retail fan... but not with my motherboard. I'll just order the fan now and get a CPU later when I really need to upgrade (maybe a year from now).

Thanks for your help. I really had no idea of what fans were quiet and what fans could properly cool the 1.4 GHz cpu I have. I just know that my CPU runs pretty hot.
 

tombance

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the 1700+ runs MUCH cooler so would only require the Retail HSF to load at about 35C. Im currently running mine overclocked and passively cooled.

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=5467618 " target="_new">Almost Breaking 12k!!</A>
 

slvr_phoenix

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There's also the new Thermaltake Volcano 11. It looks pretty sweet and it's really not much more expensive than a Vantec Aeroflow.

<font color=blue><pre>If you don't give me accurate and complete system specs
then I can't give you an accurate and complete answer.</pre><p></font color=blue>