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Upgrading Computer: Worse than building?

JimpyJimpy Registered User regular
edited August 2007 in Games and Technology
Hello Pennyarcade, I am needing to upgrade my computer. As I am not much of a techie I need some major help before I go out and spend money. The problem is I am trying to make sure all parts fit while also being completely compatible with each other. I want to play some of the new games on high and I'm not sure if this will cut it.

I have come up with a short list already and will also provide my current computer specs.

Money - $600
  1. ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
  2. EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
  3. AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Windsor 2.6GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA5200CSBOX - Retail
Total Price - $544.97

As you can see I don't have much money for anything more, but I was recommended to also buy a new HD and PSU. I can't afford that so I am wondering if my current computer will be fine with all of the above.

My current computer specs,
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+,  MMX,  3DNow, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition

This is the list that was recommened to me but I can't afford.
-AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA5600CZBOX
-ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Edition Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
-CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
-SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
-EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

Thanks for any help.

Jimpy on

Posts

  • RaslinRaslin Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Who the hell recommended you 184-pin ddr ram for that mobo?

    Raslin on
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  • ViendinViendin Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Man, it's hard to believe how things have happened in the computer hardware industry. I feel proud enough of my machine - it does everything I need it to and it does it fast. It plays my games, and I enjoy it thoroughly. Can it play the newest? Not always - usually weakly, but that's because I'm sporting the ancient nVidia FX5200 128 MB - and I don't need to play the newest anyway.

    But I look at your machine now as what I'd upgrade to. I've got a Socket-754 AMD64 3000+, 512 MB of 333MHz RAM, a crappy motherboard - just grabbing another 512 or 1GB stick of RAM and a new video card would push my machine past any expectations I could have for it.

    In other words I'm saying I think you're crazy, but to each his own. I'd say that >1GB RAM is likely a good idea, as what you've got could conceivably become a bottleneck on your 8800, ridiculous processor, and 3.0GB/s HDD.

    Also, I can't recommend Seagate enough for HDD's. I'm still using PATA, but my drives are all Seagate, and I haven't had an issue in 5 years of use. To note, over those 5 years, I've run a 2GB, a 20GB, a 120GB, a 320GB, and a 500GB. I've got a 120, 320, and 500 all going in this machine and they're nothing but clean, quiet, fast, and affordable. Man I feel like a shill.

    Good luck. :^:

    Viendin on
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  • HelfMyselpHelfMyselp Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Well, if you want to play the newest games on High graphics settings, you'd be better off saving up a bit more money and buying a brand new rig. You'll be able to carry some parts over, so your sound card will be fine -- same goes for your HDDs (though SATA is nicer than IDE for many reasons, namely speed and ease of installation). Oh, and your keyboard, mouse, optical drives, and other peripherals will carry over, of course. ;)

    As far as new parts, the list you have (save the RAM o_O) isn't too shabby. You'll need a nice power supply for the new machine. Corsair has a new (and really nice) line of PSUs out (review). Without getting too technical, you want to make sure the PSU has good but not inflated numbers. Check here for some excellent PSU info. Also poke around there for some other good info on picking parts. Some of it is slightly out of date, though.

    Viendin wrote: »
    Also, I can't recommend Seagate enough for HDD's. I'm still using PATA, but my drives are all Seagate, and I haven't had an issue in 5 years of use. To note, over those 5 years, I've run a 2GB, a 20GB, a 120GB, a 320GB, and a 500GB. I've got a 120, 320, and 500 all going in this machine and they're nothing but clean, quiet, fast, and affordable. Man I feel like a shill.
    I've had good luck with Seagate drives, too. I've used them since I built my first PC in 2002, and 8 drives (2 10GBs, 40GB, 60GB, 160GB, 300GB, 2 500GBs) later, I've had nary a failure. (knocks on wood) I also love the fact that their retail internal HDDs have a 5-year warranty which covers pretty much everything other than excessive shock or Armageddon. Hell, Armageddon might be actually covered.

    HelfMyselp on
  • JandaruJandaru New ZealandRegistered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Oh for the love of god...

    I see this mistake in posts far too often to go around correcting people all the time, but thread titles are a different matter.

    "Upgrading Computer: Worse than building?"

    Jandaru on
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  • DeusfauxDeusfaux Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    your shortlist lacks DDR2 ram, you couldnt use your DDR from before

    Deusfaux on
  • ShadowfireShadowfire Vermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered User regular
    edited August 2007
    I highly recommend hitting up the "Twice and Future Computer" thread in Help/Advice. There is a lot of good information there already, and the people frequenting it are awesome.

    Also, Ars Technica just did another awesome Gaming Box Guide that will have some good information for you as far as recommendations.

    I'll back everyone else up and say that the RAM has to go. ;-)

    Shadowfire on
  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Yeah, you'll need new RAM, but DDR2 is pretty cheap. Personally, I would go for a cheaper motherboard (since you don't need SLI) and processor (one of the AMD 4000 series). Unfortunately I don't know much about motherboards at this point - can somebody suggest something under $100?

    tsmvengy on
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  • The_ScarabThe_Scarab Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    You only need to build a new one if the new components you buy majorly dont work with your old skeleton (mobo, psu etc)

    Salvage as much as you can, hard drives are a given.

    The_Scarab on
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    The_Scarab wrote: »
    You only need to build a new one if the new components you buy majorly dont work with your old skeleton (mobo, psu etc)

    Salvage as much as you can, hard drives are a given.


    Be aware though that any windows system newer than 2000 will freak out when it tries to boot with a motherboard that has changed. The Ars Technica hardware board has this thread about switching your motherboard without reinstalling. It's kind of hefty though. The simplest way is to back up anything on your boot drive to a secondary drive, reinstall after the hardware upgrade and move all your data back.
    Kind of a pain though.

    Tofystedeth on
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  • CZroeCZroe Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    My recent build has been cheap. You can get 4GB DDR2 for dirt cheap using an HP rebate (search the Anantech Hot Deals forums). Cheao like $15.XX for each 1GB DIMM.

    Anyway, Core 2 Quads are under $300 now, so a $280 C2Q and a nice motherboard should hit the sweet-spot. Microcenter has an eVGA 680i board for $140 this week, and that super top-o-the-line SLI. I just paid $170 for an Asus P5N32-E SLI for the DTS Connect feature... It's really a hybrid, but Asus considers it in their 680i SLI series. As far as graphics, I saw no major performance improvement where it matters when I tried an 8800GTS 320MB over my 7800GT SLI, so I'm waiting on a deal on the 640MB version. Particularly, I'm looking at the complex scene at the end of the 3Dmark06 airship demo (probably needs a ton of video RAM).

    So yeah, a similar build using those suggestions would be $280 C2Q + $140 680i + $30 2GBDDR2. There's also a crazy deal on an Asus P35 board that I saw on SlickDeals.net (P35 outperforms te nVidia chipsets w/C2Q). Sure, that would only leave you with $150 left for a video card, but 7900GS cards can be had for $100 now and those would be perfect hold-outs for cheap DX10 cards.

    CZroe on
  • The_ScarabThe_Scarab Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    The_Scarab wrote: »
    You only need to build a new one if the new components you buy majorly dont work with your old skeleton (mobo, psu etc)

    Salvage as much as you can, hard drives are a given.


    Be aware though that any windows system newer than 2000 will freak out when it tries to boot with a motherboard that has changed. The Ars Technica hardware board has this thread about switching your motherboard without reinstalling. It's kind of hefty though. The simplest way is to back up anything on your boot drive to a secondary drive, reinstall after the hardware upgrade and move all your data back.
    Kind of a pain though.

    That said, with any major hardware upgrade/change it is usually a good idea just to format a main drive after dumping all your files to a backup drive. Just for ease of installation and performance. Its always nice to upgrade andhave a super fast fresh windows install to go with it to really make the shift noticable.

    The_Scarab on
  • Interceptor8-6Interceptor8-6 Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Upgrading and building are the same to me. A build is just an upgrade where you use few if any parts from the previous machine. I agree with the others about the memory. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a mobo that supports that CPU with pc3200 memory.

    I think your $600 plan is fine, except that a stick of compatible memory needs to be factored in. You can start with a gig stick, then perhaps upgrade later when the budget allows for it.

    Interceptor8-6 on
  • SnowconeSnowcone Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    tsmvengy wrote: »
    Yeah, you'll need new RAM, but DDR2 is pretty cheap. Personally, I would go for a cheaper motherboard (since you don't need SLI) and processor (one of the AMD 4000 series). Unfortunately I don't know much about motherboards at this point - can somebody suggest something under $100?

    That 5200+ Windsor is actually in a nice spot at about $125. His mobo is overkill and he'll definitely need different ram, but on Newegg you can pick up a 2x1GB dual channel DDR2 kit for $85 or less.

    Snowcone on
  • slacktronslacktron Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Jandaru wrote: »
    Oh for the love of god...

    I see this mistake in posts far too often to go around correcting people all the time, but thread titles are a different matter.

    "Upgrading Computer: Worse than building?"

    Funny, I saw the error a completely different way:

    "Upgrading Computer: Wurst, then building?"

    Which suggested he was asking if it was all right to eat hot dogs before opening the case.

    Answer: sure, dude. Just make sure you ground yourself first.

    slacktron on
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  • HydroSqueegeeHydroSqueegee ULTRACAT!!!™®© Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Funny that something like this would come up at the same time ive been pieceing things together for a new system. Hes what i've come up with.

    BIOSTAR TF560 A2+ Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $79.99  
    Foxconn FV-N79SM2D2-OC GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported  $139.99 
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO4000DDBOX - Retail  $69.99  
    Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop  $109.99
    

    Keep in mind i'll still be using my old SATA and ATA Hard drives, CD/DVD RW, Case and 420w Power supply. Not bad for $400

    ... what the hell. the ram was $88 yesterday. :( May have missed the boat on ram prices.

    HydroSqueegee on
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  • JimpyJimpy Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Okay I suppose I'll add 2 gigs of ram to the list, seeing as basically everyone agrees on that. I am also thinking of getting a cheaper mobo since everyone considers it 'overkill'. I'm not really liking the look of the evga one, though. So with that said, what's the best mobo I can get for my setup while reducing price?

    Jimpy on
  • CuntyCunty Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    if you are ever getting an nvidia card get bfg

    life time warranty, even if you yourself fuck it up (i fried my 7900 because i was running it under the req specs, they sent me a 7950)

    usually a little more expensive but extremely extremely worth it because one day that card will crap out

    and 2 gigs for today's practices (outside of exclusive web surfing and word processing) is pretty much necessary

    Cunty on
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  • CuntyCunty Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    other than noise is there any reason not to get this:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709009

    i like white noise

    Cunty on
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  • HelfMyselpHelfMyselp Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Cunty wrote: »
    other than noise is there any reason not to get this:

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709009

    i like white noise
    For starters, knowing the specs of your machine would help make the decision easier. A 450W power supply for a web browsing/email machine is overkill, but could be very underpowered for a gaming rig depending on the quality of the supply. This particular one is single rail and only outputs 20A on the +12. I'd avoid it and get one with dual 12V rails.

    Also, experience tells me that cheap power supplies are not worth it. They will shit the bed early and often, occasionally taking things with them. Spend some money on a quality supply from a company like Seasonic, Enermax, OCZ, Corsair, or Fortron. Recent Antecs have been somewhat iffy, but they're still decent. For $50 or so, you can get a much better power supply that won't give you a headache.

    HelfMyselp on
  • CuntyCunty Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    understood

    too bad i already bought this one eh?

    maybe i'll upgrade when i'm not super broke

    Cunty on
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  • tsmvengytsmvengy Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Funny that something like this would come up at the same time ive been pieceing things together for a new system. Hes what i've come up with.

    BIOSTAR TF560 A2+ Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $79.99  
    Foxconn FV-N79SM2D2-OC GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported  $139.99 
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO4000DDBOX - Retail  $69.99  
    Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop  $109.99
    

    Keep in mind i'll still be using my old SATA and ATA Hard drives, CD/DVD RW, Case and 420w Power supply. Not bad for $400

    ... what the hell. the ram was $88 yesterday. :( May have missed the boat on ram prices.

    Corsair ValueSelect - any value RAM made by a respectable company should do you.

    Also, I'm not sure about the motherboard. Can anyone confirm that that is not a total POS?

    tsmvengy on
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  • HydroSqueegeeHydroSqueegee ULTRACAT!!!™®© Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    tsmvengy wrote: »
    Funny that something like this would come up at the same time ive been pieceing things together for a new system. Hes what i've come up with.

    BIOSTAR TF560 A2+ Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $79.99  
    Foxconn FV-N79SM2D2-OC GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported  $139.99 
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO4000DDBOX - Retail  $69.99  
    Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop  $109.99
    

    Keep in mind i'll still be using my old SATA and ATA Hard drives, CD/DVD RW, Case and 420w Power supply. Not bad for $400

    ... what the hell. the ram was $88 yesterday. :( May have missed the boat on ram prices.

    Corsair ValueSelect - any value RAM made by a respectable company should do you.

    Also, I'm not sure about the motherboard. Can anyone confirm that that is not a total POS?

    from what ive been able to gather, its a good board for the price with good overclocking features.

    HydroSqueegee on
    kx3klFE.png
  • jb7jb7 Registered User regular
    edited August 2007
    Cunty wrote: »
    understood

    too bad i already bought this one eh?

    maybe i'll upgrade when i'm not super broke

    You can always return it.

    And you did only spend $15 on it...

    Also the card he has chosen has a lifetime warranty already. I personally own it, just the 640MB memory model.

    jb7 on
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