Upgrading Older Rig

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Factorxfiles

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 20, 2006
Messages
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I've got a budget of around $200, and my rig is as follows:

ASUS A8N5X (socket 939)
Opteron 146 (single-core, OC'd to 2.8ghz)
OCZ valueram 1 gig, corsair valueram 512Meg
550W Aspire PSU
Saphire X800GT
2x 200 gig IDE hard drives, both maxtor
All stock cooling

I'm not going to be fully upgrading (new mobo/proc/ram) for some time, I just want to extend this system for a while longer, while getting some parts that will transfer over to my next rig possibly (you may have noticed I'm not rich).

Here's my parts list:

OCZ Value Series 1GB DDR 400 (go dual-channel, get rid of the 512 stick)

MSI 8600GT 512 meg, silent (Lowest Priced 8600GT, would transfer to new system)

That puts me around $150 with shipping/tax.

Any suggestions there? Or ideas for other things to add in? My case has room for six 80mm fans, right now I'm running only four, and they're all the stock ones that came with it. Could I pick up six decent quiet fans for under $50?
 
well first of all we need more info,

what resolution are you going to be running?
what is the main use for the system, gaming and surfing etc?

Assuming its gaming I would get an 8800gt or the new 9600gt which is being released this week I think. There isnt much that you would move into the new system except the psu and monitor.
 
for fans, you should get 120mm Yate Loons. they are $3.50 each if you get 1 or 2. $3.00 each for 3-9. $2.80 each for 10+.

i wouldn't recommend the 8600gt because it's not even worth it for its "performance" unless you actually get that rebate. if your gaming on a budget, then you should get the ATI HD3850 256mb which is around $170 or NVIDIA's 8800gs for $160.

if you plan to buy things to transfer over your new system in future then you shouldnt get ram. it costs as much as a 2gb ram @ 800mhz.
 
Sorry for the long delay between posts.

I'll be at resolution 1280 x 1024 (17 inch CRT).

I'm not getting a whole new system, I just need to squeeze some more life out of this one for the time being. As far as those 120" yate loons: I would, but I don't have 120mm fan mounts, only 80mm.
 
Also, what case do you have? Some cases can be modified to accept 120mm fans.

Also, that Aspire PSU scares me a bit. You may need to pick up a new PSU while you're at it.

Oh and please answer hossdaddy's last question: what do you use the system for?

Also, do note that dual channel only provides about 5 to 10% more performance depending on the app. I remember seeing some time ago that the increase could be as low as 5%.
 
Based on your budget of $200, those parts you got is not bad. The 8600GT should give you a decent boost from that X800GT video card. But, from what Danny Bui said on the power supply, I would be a bit worried on the reliability of that PS also. It has ample power but, not certain on reliability as some people have had theirs die in 1 year or less. But, if yours is running fine then it should be ok. By the way, are you upgrading slightly to run a certain pc game to be a little faster. Because...if your current system runs your apps/games fine now, just save the $200 and invest in a totally new build down the road. 1.5 gigs of Ram is pretty good especially if you are still running XP. If you had 512 ram going to 1 gig than that would be more worth it. But 1.5 to 2 gigs is not much difference. I would just upgrade the video card for now. As far as transferring it to a new build down the road, I think I would just take the 2 hard drives and optical drive into the new system. The rest of the components I would not bother.


Factorxfiles said:
I've got a budget of around $200, and my rig is as follows:

ASUS A8N5X (socket 939)
Opteron 146 (single-core, OC'd to 2.8ghz)
OCZ valueram 1 gig, corsair valueram 512Meg
550W Aspire PSU
Saphire X800GT
2x 200 gig IDE hard drives, both maxtor
All stock cooling

I'm not going to be fully upgrading (new mobo/proc/ram) for some time, I just want to extend this system for a while longer, while getting some parts that will transfer over to my next rig possibly (you may have noticed I'm not rich).

Here's my parts list:

OCZ Value Series 1GB DDR 400 (go dual-channel, get rid of the 512 stick)

MSI 8600GT 512 meg, silent (Lowest Priced 8600GT, would transfer to new system)

That puts me around $150 with shipping/tax.

Any suggestions there? Or ideas for other things to add in? My case has room for six 80mm fans, right now I'm running only four, and they're all the stock ones that came with it. Could I pick up six decent quiet fans for under $50?
Click to expand...
 
Again, apologies for the late reply. I will be using this system for some light gaming, lots of office work, movie watching (vga input on our TV), etc.

I had some unexpected expenses, so I ended up only getting that ram. Not enough $$ for the vid card. I've actually noticed a pretty sizable difference, plus with matched sticks I got it OC'd to DDR450 without a problem.

Bumped my average FPS by 5 or 6, and most apps feel a lot snappier. Thanks for the input!
 
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