$300-$500 to spend

[flamethrower205]

My friend has 300 to 500 (preferably 300) to spend on a comp upgrade. He has 256MB RD, 1.4Ghz P4, and a SLOOOOWWW HDD. I'm going to upgrade his HDD to an 80GB Maxtor 8MB cache and up ram to 512. Now what can we do about the proc, what's the max speed his mobo would support?

All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Most possibly it's a socket 423 mobo, so the fastest CPU for this mobo is P4 2.0 GHz (Willamette)

If it's a socket 478 mobo, then you can use a P4 2.4 GHz (Northwood "A", 400 MHz FSB)

IMO, it's better to sell the current CPU/mobo/ram combo and go for a new cpu/mobo/ram combo

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[flamethrower205]

P4T is the mobo.

All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

According to Anandtech, it's socket 423

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[flamethrower205]

Neee, too many limitations and not worth the money. We decided to swap the mobo. Getting 512MB PC2700 (Simpletech any good?), Nforce 2, afformentioned 80GB maxtor, and now comes the vid card. Leaning to an FX 5600, cause the 9500 pro seems a tad too expensive. 5600 costs $145- how much slower than the 5600 ultra w/ the new drivers is it?

All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

 

[flamethrower205]

Haha, and I forgot- an xp2600 thoroughbred, 333mhz fsb.

All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

 

[stealth_blade]

this rig sounds like its for gaming, buy the 2500+ its faster in games and cheaper

"Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion."
- Gen. (Ret) Norman Schwartzkopf

 

[LancerEvolution7]

I'd suggest you stay away from the maxtor hd and get the wd one. The maxtor is a little faster than the WD supposedly, but i bought a maxtor and it failed me within the first month. My computer couldn't boot. Then I get an RMA. Less than a week later, I notice something wrong with the computer. Check the harddrive using the powermax software maxtor provides, gives me another error messege. It was probably something minor since the software was able to fix it without me RMAing it. Now I use this drive as a temporary drive.

 

[flamethrower205]

I trust maxtor. For a year have been running a raid 0 w/ 2xD740X and recently added a 120GB maxtor Dmndmax 9 plus 8mb cache "storage" drive to my comp, so they're cool in my book.

All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

 

[Spitfire_x86]

R9500 non-pro is a wiser buy than FX5600/FX5600 Ultra, if your friend can't afford R9500 Pro.

MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR is recommended for features, Epox 8RDA+ for value

Kingston HyperX series ram is good and inexpensive

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[Quetzacoatl]

Why not just pick up a cheap Geforce4 ti4200 or ti4800se? I mean, they run about $120-150, and they'll almost for certain stomp the Fx5600 without going ful 8x AA and aniso enabled.

Instead of Rdram, why not just merge 4 Sdram channels...

 

[Spitfire_x86]

I've found 128 MB Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro for $155 at newegg. This card is a better buy than all cards listed above. It will give Ti4400 like performace in DX8 games, and perform better than GeForce4 Ti series in DX9, AA and AF. And it will be always better than FX5600

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[Quetzacoatl]

Sounds like a good call, I wouldn't get Sapphire, i'd prefer a BBA Ati, but that's just me

Instead of Rdram, why not just merge 4 Sdram channels...

 

[phsstpok]

Sapphire is the actual manufacturer of ATI branded video cards, the BBA's.

Of course, Sapphire also sells under its own brand name and the specs may or may not be different.

<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>