upgrading: total pc overhaul

[whatdamn]

hi all,

i'd like to know what can i do to upgrade my current pc, the specs are:

p3 800MHz
384 mb sdram
200+ GB HDD space(mostly used up ~90%)
32x12x40 liteon cd-rw
nvidia fx5200
some mobo(can't remember what)

ok well basically those are the main components that make up my com and i was wondering, what should i upgrade too?
i don't want to spend a whole wad of cash going berserk buying every single new pc part that's out in the market currently, i'm looking to the more reasonable upgrades. my friend's recommend me to go AMD but i'm not going to be overclocking and the games i mostly play are racing sims and sports games. mostly use the com for studies, doing assignments, p2p stuff (emule) and audio&video editing (adobe audition and vegas).

well, i hope all the l33t forummers can help me out on this one with advice and stuff. really appreciate it.

ps. was planning to get a ps2 to do gaming but i'm looking into the whole idea of just having a pc doing all the work right. thanks

 

[TheRod]

Based on your needs, you should buy this :
Athlon 64 2800+ (Socket754)
VIA based motherboard (Socket754)
1 Gig of DDR400 ram
A good 350Watts power supply
Radeon 9600 PRO/XT GPU (128Megs)

But, if you can wait a couple of months before buying, there will be lot of new stuff that will probably drive down the price of many components. The GPU market will probably see big changes since X800/6800 will become widely available their mainstream version will probably be out and these cards will probably become the price/performance reference.

And for the CPU market, it's the same thing, both AMD and Intel roll-out new socket. This will probably drive Athlon 64 (Socket754) and P4C price down a bit.

But, the only "big" you will have if you buy a Socket754 based system now, is that you will not have a PCI-EXPRESS slot for future GPU. But, It's not necessarly a problem, since AGP card will be available for a year at least. And Socket754 will be upgradable up to Athlon 64 3700+.

The reason I recommended this setup is because you DON'T want to overclock and you want GOOD gaming performance. Video Editing will be fast enough with this setup. Video encoding will be slower with AMD compared to P4, but I really think that AMD 64bit support is something better to have for the long-termn investment.

--
Lookin' to fill that <font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> shape hole!

 

[whatdamn]

thanks TheRod,

umm, not too good with all the tech terms such as Socket754, would u explain a little about that like what significance is it too me.

it'll probably be a few more months before i do anything to my com. so just doing my homework here

 

[HardWareBoss]

Well first off give us a price range to work with.

 

[phial]

take a few months to read a little every day, like reviews from Tomshardware and Anandtech or HardOCP because the only best way to make a decision is to know about what you, yourself really need

most people would just recommend what they want, even if they think it would suit you too

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[Crashman]

You could just get a faster processor and more RAM.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[TheRod]

not too good with all the tech terms such as Socket754, would u explain a little about that like what significance is it too me.

The current Athlon 64 you can buy in store have 754 pins. The Socket754 is the socket where sit the current Athlon 64 CPU. AMD will release Socket939 CPU soon. These CPU will have 939 pins, they will have more pin because they have integrated dual-channel memory controller. Socket754 are single channel version of the Athlon 64.

There will be a total of 3 AMD64 socket :
Socket754 = Low/mid range CPU
Socket939 = mid/high range CPU
Socket940 = Workstation/server (Opteron)

In the future, AMD will focus on Socket939/940. Socket754 will remain for low-end market only (to replace current Athlon XP platform).


--
Lookin' to fill that <font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> shape hole!

 

[hogfather]

But the xp platform is being ported to socket 939, right? To allow a 'free' upgrade to 64bits later?

XP2000, 512 ddr 2700ram, GF4 MX440, XP Pro

 

[TheRod]

Athlon XP will not be ported on Socket939. AMD will release 32bit CPU for Socket939 that will be named Athlon XP, but they will not be "compatible" with current Athlon XP or this will not enable "free" upgrade to 64bit, since these platform will not understand any 64bit instruction. These CPU will exist to replace current Duron.

--
Lookin' to fill that <font color=blue>GOD</font color=blue> shape hole!

 

[hogfather]

Oh right, cheers.

So what happens to the 'old' xps? Does socket A stay, and then there's 754 xps which are 32 bit, not like old xps?

Sorry if I seem a little dumb, I just didnt know any of this!

XP2000, 512 ddr 2700ram, GF4 MX440, XP Pro

 

[P4Man]

> AMD will release 32bit CPU for Socket939 that will be
>named Athlon XP

You mean for socket 754 I presume.

>but they will not be "compatible" with current Athlon XP or
>this will not enable "free" upgrade to 64bit, since these
>platform will not understand any 64bit instruction

Nothing would stop you from upgrading a 32 bit K8-based 'athlon xp' to a athlon 64 on a socket 754 board, provided you can still find those chips by that time. And obviously, they won't be "free" either

But these will be the same motherboards and the same chipsets, and they could care less if the cpu is 32, 64 or 128 bit.

So yes, you could buy a 32 bit "athlon xp" or Duron or whatever AMD will call them (if indeed they launch them, I have my doubts) and upgrade to a 64 bit cpu later on (not more than 3700+ though).

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[P4Man]

>So what happens to the 'old' xps? Does socket A stay, and
>then there's 754 xps which are 32 bit, not like old xps?

Socket A will slowly die. Might take quite a while though, i expect AMD to sell socket A Athlons until somehwere next summer, though obviously nothing faster than their current 3200+ models.

Socket 754 is rumoured to replace it, and AMD supposedly would use it as a "value" platform and sell K8 (athlon64/opteron) based low end chips for it, that may or may not be crippled to only support 32 bit (initially, or forever). However, even if this is true, you could still upgrade to a 754 pin Athlon64 later on if you wish (and can still find those chips) if you want to move from a 32 bit to a 64 bit chip. You will be "limited" to a 3700+ though..

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[Obtuse]

Socket A is discontinued. AMD will begin selling procs with the "Paris" core for 754. Paris core will be 32 bit and aimed for value market. But, 754 will always support Athlon 64 so if someone buys a Paris proc they will always have the option to upgrade to Athlon 64 in the future.

"The only way to overcome temptation is to yield to it" - Oscar Wilde