$500 budget for upgrade!

[Zfx]

I am trying to build a system that will be easily upgradable within a year and have nice performance now. I have about a $500 budget and I came up with this:

Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB, OEM Drive Only $57.00

Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - Retail $65.50

CHAINTECH NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU, Model "VNF4/Ultra" -RETAIL $119.00

AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor - Retail $160.00


GIGABYTE nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, PCI-Express, Model "GV-NX66T128D" $149.99



These are Newegg prices. I couldn't find a cheaper vendor but if anyone has a suggestion I would consider it also. The total is a little under $550 shipped. I will probably add another stick of pc3200 in a few months, and possible another PCIe card in a year.
I just wanted some opinions on this setup from you guys. Thanks!

Zfx

 

[Rugger]

What kind of PSU do you have?

__________________________________________________
:tongue: <font color=red>Have you read the FAQ? Searched for other posts on this topic?</font color=red>

 

[Scout]

Pretty good choices I'd say given the budget. I don't know anything about that board, but you'll probably be OK...

Scout
700 Mflops in SETI!

 

[Starfishy]

Give us some more of your current system specs and we will be able to tell you if you could keep any of it. The WD 80 gigs seems a little small to me. But maybe that's just cause I am a memory junkie. Don't you keep any music or movies on the HDD??

 

[Zfx]

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 1700+ (11.0 x 133.1 MHz DDR)
Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X-E
Memory: 256MB DDR-SDRAM PC2700
256MB DDR-SDRAM PC2100
Video Card: RADEON 9500
Monitor: Gateway EV700
Harddrive: IBM Deskstar 60GXP ATA/100 7200rpm
1st CD: Pioneer DVD-Rom 40x
2nd CD: PLEXTOR CD-r 32x8x4
OS: Windows XP sp2
Powersupply: Antec TruePower 380w

My Harddrive just died on me. So I am using a backup at the moment. I mainly use the system for gaming. I am trying to make the most out of the given budget. I will be adding another pc3200 512mb stick in a month to take advantage of the dual channel feature.

 

[pauldh]

By possibly adding another PCI-e card in the future, do you hope to add a second GF6600GT in SLI, or just pulll the 6600GT and upgrade? Just asking because you'll need a SLI mobo as the NF4 ultra SLI hack won't work anymore. Anyway, I am not suggesting you plan on going SLI, I am just making sure you didn't plan on it with that mobo.



<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3400555" target="_new"> My</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8268935" target="_new">Gamer</A>

 

[Rugger]

That PSU should be able to handle that system - it may be cutting it close, but should be OK. You should be sure to do soem voltage logging to check for sudden voltage drops if you start experiencing power issues. If you end up having to replace the PSU, then get one with dual 12V rails for a cooler, more stable PSU. For your reading pleasure...<A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20041223/index.html" target="_new">ATX12V v2.0</A>.

__________________________________________________
:tongue: <font color=red>Have you read the FAQ? Searched for other posts on this topic?</font color=red>

 

[Zfx]

Thank you for your time for posting. I do not plan to go SLI. I read that 6800gt would out perform 2 SLI 6600gt. I know I will need to replace the PSU next upgrade, hoping it will work with this setup. After reading the article. I am trying to find out of the 20 to 24pin connection from the powersupply to the motherboard are compatible.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Zfx on 02/12/05 10:57 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Rugger]

They are designed to be compatible...

__________________________________________________
:tongue: <font color=red>Have you read the FAQ? Searched for other posts on this topic?</font color=red>

 

[sh1ft3d]

I am trying to find out of the 20 to 24pin connection from the powersupply to the motherboard are compatible.

I bought a 420W Tt PSU with that same motherboard. The PSU came with only a 20pin connector, but a 20 to 24 pin converter was included that works fine so I'm assuming that PSU you're considering also comes with such a converter. If not, you could probably pick one up for less than $10.

--------------------------------------------
In just two days, tomorrow will be yesterday.

 

[Rugger]

The 20-pin plug into 24-pin socket should work as long as he makes sure he plugs it in correctly. He's reusing his current PSU. If he doesn't have a 4-pin adapter stashed away from his last PSU, then he will have to buy one.

__________________________________________________
:tongue: <font color=red>Have you read the FAQ? Searched for other posts on this topic?</font color=red>