4 year old PC needs upgrades

[Eddie_42]

Whats up people??

Im looking for a little advice for upgrades. Ive spent months looking at stuff (mainly newegg) and am just trying to get a feel for what upgrades i need.

Currently i have:
XP home
AMD XP2000+ Stock cooling
MSI KT3 Ultra Mobo
Geforce Fx5700LE 256mb (agp)
1gb kingston SDram ddr333 lat:2.5
60gb HD
80GB HD (linux) Dual boot SUse 10
2 x lite-on CD-RW
Thermaltake 430w Power Supply

I know...it old. I want to upgrade to an AMD 64 bit 3800 single core. Are they stable? Ive heard great things about the 3200 but i want that little bit of extra in the PC.

A new shiny processor needs a new MoBo: Any particular brand stand out above all the rest. I used to have a Soyo but i dont see them around anymore. My MSI runs great, only issue was the dumb chip set fan but i replaced that with a fanless heat sink so its fine.

Im not currently looking at SLI beacuse i dont have the money for two cards and single mobos are cheaper...however i noticed that to get newer/fancy features on the mobo you have to get SLI.

And Finally, Im looking for a Video Card. Amazingly enough i can play BF2, only at the low defaults...but i can!!! Ive kinda fallen out of touch with what video cards are the best and which to buy. Ive always had Geforce Chips (original first comp and a GF4 mx420 64mb) I dont mind spending about $200 on the new card, just so long as its stable, cool, and will stay with the gameing curve for a few years.

Ive looked at the Radeon X1800 and the X1900. They are a bit pricy but i can see why. The geforce 7900 seem a bit unstable and hot.

Looking at getting Kinston Hyper X ram 1.5 gb (1gb + 512mb) im not decided yet on wether i want to get 3x 512 or just a single 1gb stick. timings are 2-3-2-6. Is the corsair that much better? timings are 2-3-3-6.

Finally. are the Sythe brand coolers good?? They look realy nice and im all about silent cooling. Plus im am getting fan controller so i can mount a fan and use it when needed.

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[vnf4ultra]

Here're some parts I like.

Abit AN8 SLI motherboard (yeah you said you didn't want sli, but this one is still pretty cheap). I see that you like "silent computing" so this should be a nice fit, since it has a fanless/heatpipe cooling unit on the chipset.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127207

Amd a64 3500+, nice bang for the buck.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103533

Gigabyte Silent 7600gt Pci-e. Fast, and it's quiet too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125025

I'd recommend either getting a 1GB or 2GB kit of memory, so you get a matched pair of memory to use in dual channel mode, which is somewhat faster. Lower cas is better, look for cas 2 or 2.5.

I guess scythe is ok, haven't heard anything bad about them.

Might want to consider power supplies as well, I like antec, fsp group, ocz, enermax, seasonic, etc. Some newer antecs have two fans, but only use one fan if the temp is cool, which makes it quieter.

 

[KingCody]

Hi eddie

I want to upgrade to an AMD 64 bit 3800 single core. Are they stable? Ive heard great things about the 3200 but i want that little bit of extra in the PC.

all the models are stable. just FYI it is pretty easy to overclock a 3200+ up to 3800+ levels. and why are you only considering single core? if you plan on keeping your new rig for years then you should go dual core.

A new shiny processor needs a new MoBo

that's not just a preference, it's a requirement. your AXP200+ uses socket-A. a 64 bit CPU will use socket-754, socket-939, or socket-AM2. don't get anything socket-754. the choice is between 939 and AM2. 939 offers the best bang for the buck, but AM2 offers more future proofing. but I'm guessing that you won't be upgrading again for another 4 years, so I would just go with 939 if I were you.

i noticed that to get newer/fancy features on the mobo you have to get SLI.

like what? a mobo with an nforce4-ultra chipset should pretty much have all the same featues just without official SLI support.

And Finally, Im looking for a Video Card

i can't help you there. i too have been out of the video card loop for years now

Looking at getting Kinston Hyper X ram 1.5 gb (1gb + 512mb) im not decided yet on wether i want to get 3x 512 or just a single 1gb stick. timings are 2-3-2-6. Is the corsair that much better? timings are 2-3-3-6.

i personally have Kingston HyperX ram and I can tell you this about them. they will run at their super-tight timings at their default voltage and speed. but they do not like extra voltage and they do not like to be overclocked. they are great if you're going to leave your system at stock speeds, but they are not an overclocker's best friend.

Finally. are the Sythe brand coolers good?? They look realy nice and im all about silent cooling. Plus im am getting fan controller so i can mount a fan and use it when needed.

i'm all about silent cooling too , but to accomplish that I went the water cooling route years ago and haven't turned back since. but that's a different topic altogether

 

[blue_dragon]

new AMD software

I've seen it in other forums that AMD released software for it X2 and FX series that increases their performance..So you should look into Dual core

 

[Eddie_42]

i dont really have the money for dual core. I do agree that they are nice but the cheapest i can find the X2 is $300, whereas the 64 bit 3800 is $150.

Is Saphire a decent maker of video cards???

I have never had one personally so i dont really know. I found an x1800GTO for $185 at the egg. its got 256mb ram, gddr3, and 12 pixel pipes.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814102021

 

[KingCody]

1. all AMD processors since socket-A are 64 bit processors

2. yes, saphire makes decent video cards.

 

[korrupt]

Really all you need to upgrade is your processor and graphics card.

No point updating RAM since after 1gb there is no difference...

Regards,

Korrupt

 

[Samstoned]

let us know when your selling the old rig