~$100 upgrade

[x800professor]

Ok, I want to spend around $100 to upgrade my secondary rig. It's the computer I use when I'm not away at college and the computer I am using at the moment. I don't want to spend a ton on it simply because I already have a rather powerful main rig (see system specs).

Ok, I have 2 gigs of DDR2 1066 already purchased that will go into it, so don't worry about ram. Here are the current specs:

Athlon XP-m @ 2.42 GHz
ASROCK K7VT4A PRO
1GB PC2100
500w PSU
X800GTO 16pp AGP
Western Digital 250GB IDE
Seagate 320GB SATA 2
DVD burner and DVD drive
Old soundblaster live
My beautiful p1220 22" professional CRT

Ok, the CPU has got to go, so obviously the motherboard has to follow. I'm not going to get rid of the X800, because that would up the costs. I'm thinking something like a Pentium D 805 and an ASRock Dual-VSTA. I'm selling the ram, motherboard, CPU and an FX5500 I have sitting around to my girlfriend's brother. He just wants a computer to surf the web and that should suit him just fine. I want to stay near $100, and I don't want to wait to sell the X800 on ebay, so no telling me to get a PCI-Express card for it. I'll do that later when I really upgrade it.

 

[anticlutch]

Why not one of those really cheap AMD Athlon x2 3600's? The AM2 Brisbane core with this mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130064
might seem pretty decent.

Or, try the 915 Presler core (65nm v. 90nm for the 805).
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116253

 

[x800professor]

Why not one of those really cheap AMD Athlon x2 3600's? The AM2 Brisbane core with this mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130064
might seem pretty decent.

Or, try the 915 Presler core (65nm v. 90nm for the 805).
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116253

I saw that first board, the reviews are pretty bad. As far as the 915...well...that's a little more than I wanted to spend, but maybe.

 

[anticlutch]

If you were to get the 805 though, I'd suggest that you pay a bit more and get the boxed version (but then again, the 915 boxed is only a few dollars off). Some of the reviews say that the OEM 805's are pulls... which mean that you're at a somewhat big risk of getting a crap processor :\

Too bad Intel won't lower the prices of the 4300's into the sub $100 range... they'd get so much more sales

 

[x800professor]

If you were to get the 805 though, I'd suggest that you pay a bit more and get the boxed version (but then again, the 915 boxed is only a few dollars off). Some of the reviews say that the OEM 805's are pulls... which mean that you're at a somewhat big risk of getting a crap processor :\

Too bad Intel won't lower the prices of the 4300's into the sub $100 range... they'd get so much more sales

Yeah...I'm not sure what I'm going to go with. Those Core 2's are so freaking fast at any speed that they are hard to pass up. I mean, I had my E6600 running at 1.2GHz and it still could get through superpi 1m faster than my 2.4GHz XP-m. If I could get more money for my X800GTO (flashed to 16pp, running at 418.5, 526.5 in the bios and stable as a rock) I might sell it. However, it is runs games at about the same FPS as a 7600GT (see tomshardware and compare an x800XL to a 7600GT) and I could only get about $50 out of it on ebay, so it is not worth selling. That really makes the decision interesting considering the AGP card.

 

[x800professor]

Now, I wonder what I could do if I upped it to around $200 and got rid of the x800. Any ideas? I don't want to downgrade the gaming performance.

 

[x800professor]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813130542

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814142090

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103046

What do you think of this?

 

[anticlutch]

Not bad... what about memory though?

 

[Batou1986]

yea thats the reason i decided not to do a socket change, DDR and agp with core2 or am2 support is hard to come by

 

[x800professor]

Not bad... what about memory though?

First post, already have two gigs of 1066C5 dominator sitting here.

 

[ex_reven]

First post, already have two gigs of 1066C5 dominator sitting here.

tasty

 

[Pinchy]

Arent the X800 AGP's higher in price than the PCIe's?

They are over here in Australia

If that is the case, id say to sell your AGP X800 and get a PCIe one. You should break even, and not loose performance. Id do that because i hear the mobos that have things like DDR/DDR2 RAM sockets and AGP/PCIe slots on the one board are worse than normal ones

 

[x800professor]

tasty

That stuff is nuts. I've had it running at 1130 5-4-4-7 at one point, and it was perfectly stable...too bad my motherboard wasn't.

I'm thinking about that x1650XT...but then there's the X1950GT....I hate buying parts sometimes. I start out thinking, "All I need is this." Then I think, "Well, for $30 more, I could get this." My main system was going to have a 7600GT and it ended up with an 8800GTS.

 

[x800professor]

Arent the X800 AGP's higher in price than the PCIe's?

They are over here in Australia

If that is the case, id say to sell your AGP X800 and get a PCIe one. You should break even, and not loose performance. Id do that because i hear the mobos that have things like DDR/DDR2 RAM sockets and AGP/PCIe slots on the one board are worse than normal ones

I know about the motherboard problem. However, I checked ebay and the best I can do is about $75. That's before fees. I don't want to buy a used card, so I'm stuck.

 

[Pinchy]

Yeah if you want SM 3.0 support, and a better performer, go for the X1650XT/X1950GT.

But, if you rarely use the computer, just get another X800.

EDIT - you posted while i did

Yeah, its different here...X800's are still avaliable new both on ebay and at shops

 

[x800professor]

Yeah if you want SM 3.0 support, and a better performer, go for the X1650XT/X1950GT.

But, if you rarely use the computer, just get another X800.

I wouldn't say I rarely use the computer. When I'm home (Thurs-Mon morning), it is my main computer. I'm going to be going home in about a month, so it's going to be a secondary computer, but I'll still probably use it quite a bit. Plus, it's hooked up to the object of my religion, a 2048x1536 22" CRT of greatness.

I can't keep up!

 

[Pinchy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131026

$130 after MIR, although you can flash an X1950GT into one of em..

BTW - we all do the "just a little more" thing. My PCIe X800 PRO/1GB DDR667/Pentium D/Non XF mobo turned into what i got to the left (X1950 PRO/2GB DDR800/e6400/p5b dlx)

 

[x800professor]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131026

$130 after MIR, although you can flash an X1950GT into one of em..

BTW - we all do the "just a little more" thing. My PCIe X800 PRO/1GB DDR667/Pentium D/Non XF mobo turned into what i got to the left (X1950 PRO/2GB DDR800/e6400/p5b dlx)

The fan sucks on that one. The x1950GT was something like $139.99. Ohhh, confusing. I will buy....everything on newegg! mwahahahaha! I will swim in computer parts! That would cause many, many cuts...

 

[x800professor]

Another problem, my RAM runs at 2.2v stock. Anyone know of any decent AM2 motherboards for under $100 that can provide 2.2v to the ram?

 

[x800professor]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128321

Anyone ever use that board?

 

[strick94u]

Why not one of those really cheap AMD Athlon x2 3600's? The AM2 Brisbane core with this mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130064
might seem pretty decent.

Or, try the 915 Presler core (65nm v. 90nm for the 805).
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116253

I have the K9vgm-v version of that board and a 3600+ and its flawless fast upgradeable stable have right at 120 in board and processor only overclocks to 2200 mhz but thats 4200+ speed cheap. beats the pants off my old 840 smithfield yet nowhere near the pc in my specs so its for sale

 

[x800professor]

Well, I've ordered the x2 3600+. I think I've settled on the nforce4 board I listed last and an x1950GT. So, what fan setup would you guys recommend for an AM2 board? This isn't in an armor. It's a centurion, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119077 which is a mid tower, so no gigantic heatsinks.

 

[L|NK|N]

Sounds like a good upgrade indeed. BTW, Did you get my PM to you X800Prof?

 

[x800professor]

Sounds like a good upgrade indeed. BTW, Did you get my PM to you X800Prof?

I responded....and oh, you already have the devil. Don't be shocked if you have it die on you...as 3 of mine have.

 

[Wile E]

Did you already buy your board Prof? Check into mine as well. Same price as the Gigabyte, NF4, and does 342HT. Sitting at 3Ghz with me X2 4000+ brisbane.