Hey hey, I've been out of the make-your-own-computer scene now for about a year or two. What I want to do is make a Gaming/Art Rendering computer. I want to get a nearly-full set of computer parts, but I want to keep some of what I've already got. I guess I should start from the begining before I go further on.

I'm wanting to do a couple of things, keep some old parts, get new parts. Here are the current things I'm thinking of keeping:
1) I'll keep my gfx processor (NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra (256 MB), AGP 8x, 1800MPixels/s (pixel fillrate)) (my termonaligy may be bad, along with spelling... feel free to correct if necessary).
2) Keeping hard drives (111GB primary, 186GB first slave, 233GB second slave, 300GB third slave)
3) Keeping Raid controller (PCI SCSI)
4) Keeping CRT monitor

The rest I think I'm going to upgrade:

1) Currently I have 2x512 PC2700 DDR SDRAM -166MHZ sticks, to the best of my knowledge these pretty much suck now, I want to replace/upgrade away from these.

2) Processor is 2.4GHZ Pentium (dont know why, seemed smart at the time).

3) Mobo can go.

Alright, now the real questions begin.

Has anyone purchased entire sets from Newegg before? Personally, I was looking at the cheap-end dual core processors http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562 But I'd be up for anything as long as it performs well. I want to be able to game well... but I dont know where the power in that lies (gfx card, mem, or processor).

I want to get some more ram, and faster ram than my POS ram. Also, I dont know how to match up MOBOs with processors (I know get an AMD MOBO for an AMD processor, but thats about it). Any reccomendations for my delimma?

EDIT:

Additionally, I have a PCI Soundblaster I'll keep too.

Answered some of my questions?

Please help out if someone can. I believe you can match up the processor with a MOBO by matching it up with the proper number of sockets (939 socket processor goes with a 939 socket mobo). I assembeled a list together please take a look and tell me what you think.

Link doesnt work, sorry. But what I would recommend is getting 2x512 PC3200 and set them up dual channel, and later on if you feel the need, grab two more 512 PC3200's and pop those in for 2GB dual channel. Your proccesor isnt too bad, but your gonna upgrade it eventually so hell, why not now. I agree you could get a low end dual core proccesor, or something like an AMD 64 3500+ (or higher), and then overclock it. Motherboard are pretty easy to match up, just gotta know what type proccesor, I.E. Athlon 64, X2, P4, P3, XP, so on...Then find out the socket number, I.E. 458, 754, 939, 940. One thing you want to look at is the rating, I like to sort them by rating, and try and only get ones in the top five. ANd try and find one with four memory banks, all four dual channel.

Hope this helps, I would go more in depth and look up some products but im tired as hell right now.

I can't view your wish list, they apparantly can't be linked or something.
Ok, here's an idea.

Motherboard.
Asrock 939 dual sataII.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

Processor.
AMD athlon x2 3800+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103562

Video card.
Your current 5900 ultra.

Memory
2x1gb geil pc3200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144322

Hard drives
Your current drives.

Sound card.
Your current sound card.

Dvd-burner.
16x DL Nec 3540
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152052

OS
Windows xp home.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102151

Case
Cheap antec case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129152

Power supply.
460w vantec ion2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103465

+whatever keyboard, mouse, and other peripherals you like.

I like the motherboard, since it supports both agp(your current card), and the newer pci-express cards. So you can use your current card for a while, then in the future get a new pci-e card, and not have to replace the whole motherboard. It also supports the next amd cpu socket by an add in card with the new socket on it, it's not available yet though(the new socket card).

__________________


Excellent idea! Your 5900 is fast getting old and PCI-E is really AGPX16, so is the :wave: of the future.

Ack, sorry about the links not working, here is my current wishlist:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16836121123
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820144322 (I like the way you think VNF4Ultra :slurp: )

I'll check out your Mobo too (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081)
This was my motherboard: (http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16813131510)

And here is my delimma...
to Dualcore or not to Dualcore:
Non Dualcore... also 140$ cheaper than dualcore... and pretty much anything beats my 2.4 P4 right now.
vs.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16819103562

I'm going to keep my DVD/DvDr... but I'm thinking of getting that one you showed me... I dont have dual-layer support (nor do I have any dual-layer dvds though... how much do they cost per spindel vs. single layer? Do you have to have a dual layer read-capable DVD drive too?)

And, the set of questions I forgot to ask earlier:

1) The OS/original hard drive. Do I have to reformat after installing a new mobo/processor? Do I have to get WindowsXP 64bit installed on my computer to max out the capabilities of my new system?

Although windows has a test type version for 64 proccesors, since the proccesors are fully backward compatible, they will work fine with XP.

And you probaly wont need a DL burner right now, seeing as the cheapest ive seen dual layer discs is about three for ten dollars, and that deal was kinda shady anyways.

Dual core is the way of the future, and once more apps are programed for it, it will be much faster than a single core. If you can afford it, then I'd suggest you go dual core.

You can run 64 or 32bit windows xp on a 64bit amd cpu. I don't think 64bit windows is worth it yet, but once windows "vista" 64bit comes out, that may be the time to switch to 64bit, but I can't say for sure.

All dual layer dvd's I've seen are pretty expensive, like $5-10 each, vs. like $0.30 a piece for cheaper single layer media. Single layer holds 4.7gb, and dual layer holds 8.5gb. I haven't used any dual layer media, even though my burner supports it, since it's so expensive.

You should reformat after doing the upgrade. It will be upgrading enough that even if you can get xp working again after the swap w/o reinstalling, it will likely run slowly. Remember to backup you data before reformatting.

Best wishes.

T'will be easy to backup. I have around 3 or 4 harddrives currently attached (only using 3). Power supplies... next and probably final question. My old 350 watt power supply kept tanking when it had to power my computer until I removed my zip disk drives, one Harddrive, and one of my DVD roms before it stopped shutting off randomly. I finally got a 400 but was still having the same problems as before (I got all HDS running though). I'm thinking of just going all out and getting a 550 power supply (Is it 550 volts, amps, or watts?). I probably need one... any ideas?

A 550w psu wouldn't be a bad idea, it'll just cost more.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103941
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103437

If you like you can enter your specs here to get a minimum psu wattage.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

Wow, I didn't realize scsi hd's used so much power, I can see why a 350w was struggling.

Wishlist

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/WishList/WishDetail.asp?position=HISTORY&ID=1733426&WishListTitle=Upgrading+old+computer this link to my wishlist should work.

No it doesnt.

you have to log in to see the list
I don't buy new model cars the first year or 2 they come out
64bit computing is the way of future,but go read the microsoft page about it will void all your hardware warranties.
dual core is like dual processing most software today is not fully written for it.
I would do search on (benchmarks) the type of software you are going to run.
maybe intel gets hotter ,but it does seem faster
AMD Geeks versus Intel Geeks
I have not looked at any specs lately,but my friend 3.2ghz
running 2gb of ddr 400mhz on a bus of 800mhz seems pretty fast to me

That's because you're stoned sam, everything seems fast. :haha:


AMD64 socket 939, then you can upgrade from the 3000 to the 4000 series and up to the FX series! I can't see your wish list either because I don't have account with newegg because I'm from CanaDah. But hopefully you went with the board vnf4ultra mentioned.

What would be better, considering no major apps have been written for either yet? Dual core 32bit P4, or a AMD64 bit. My point is if Windows Os and apps go 64 bit, isn't that as fast as 2 cores running 32bit??