WOW, I need to upgrade BAD. Any suggestions??

[Theodore Baldwin Boothe III]

Seriously, my junk is out dated in a bad way. Bought the parts back in
2003, and even then they were sorta out dated.

Here is what I have [don't laugh ]
-
PNY Geforce 6200 [Vanilla]
[2] DDRAM 256M DDR400 CL25 PC3200
Hard Drive 80GB WD 7200RPM 8MB
FD 1.44MB SAMSUNG SFD321B/LEB
CPU AMD 2500+/333 ATHLON XP BARTON
CDRW/DVD COMBO48X24X48X16|LITE ON
MB NFORCE2 A7N8X-UAY 400Mhz ASUS
Plan of keeping--->CASE ENLIGHT |360 EN-7250-OX3C36,or should i?
-
Can someone please suggest a better system?
I am wanting a dual-core amd system but would settle for a socket 939
or 940 system...

Thanks people,

 

[johns]

I just built up a GA-K8NF-9 mobo .. nForce 4 chipset
with AMD A64 X2 4400+ dual core, and 2 gigs Kingston
ram ( 2 x 1 gig sticks ). Video is eVGA GF 6800 GS
256. Case Antec 1650B ( and I mean it !!!!!!!! ).
160 gig SATA Hitachi. Sony DVDCDRW .. abcxyz ??
And last but not least .. a sony floppy drive.
Viewsonic VG 920 ( good price and DVI ).

This system is a little pricey, but when I benched it
against a Dell Xeon workstation, and a Dell 9100
multimedia system, both came in a very sad 2nd
and 3rd. I have never seen a system so totally
squelch the crap out of every box in the house. I mean,
it kicked ass bigtime. Example: PC Bench total
marks: X2 1052.1 Dell 9100 401.7
Floating point X2 698 Dell 299
3dMark2001 X2 23,975 Dell 9100 16,773
I did not list the Xeon benchmarks, because it might
embarrass somebody All parts came from Mwave.com

johns

 

[Theodore Baldwin Boothe III]

I just built up a GA-K8NF-9 mobo .. nForce 4 chipset
with AMD A64 X2 4400+ dual core, and 2 gigs Kingston
ram ( 2 x 1 gig sticks ). Video is eVGA GF 6800 GS
256. Case Antec 1650B ( and I mean it !!!!!!!! ).
160 gig SATA Hitachi. Sony DVDCDRW .. abcxyz ??
And last but not least .. a sony floppy drive.
Viewsonic VG 920 ( good price and DVI ).

Excluding the Case and Monitor, what did your system cost?

thanks,

 

[Chinooks_FURY]

Here are some things to consider:

Put off buying a dual core for the time being. AMD is preparing to
introduce their new AM2 line of processors. They will be a 940 pin chip
which is DDR2 compliant. They just released the FX-60 dual core processor
as a token of their appreciation for how well the 939 platform has
performed. "Changes . . . fundamental changes, are on the wind" - so to
speak. The key player in all of this is Microsoft and their 64bit Vista
operating system. The entire world knows the strengths of what a good 64bit
OS will mean for the entire "PC Kingdom", however - the whole world is going
to be pissed that they need to buy new processors (with the exception of us
AMD Athlon 64 owners, of course).

The sale of dual cores to date represents a resounding success for marketing
teams within the global hardware community. The bottom line is that there
are damn few applications written as of today that make use of
multi-threaded applications. There's no question that one day,
multi-threaded apps will be the norm - - - but that day isn't today, or next
month or next year or even the year after for that matter. I'll wager it
will be a good 36 months before Vista and dual cores are the norm. What do
I base this on??? Look at how long it has taken Windows XP to settle in
as the prime OS in the average PC. Good lord, I know of entire businesses
that are still tapping away contentedly on their Windows 98SE machines. The
Internet is certainly changing the way people communicate, and that goes for
businesses as well. However it's a myth to think that "All business" needs
broadband connectivity in order to be more productive. What each business
needs is efficient and time-saving computing solutions for it's immediate,
everyday business challenges.

Let the technology mature and utilize the technology that is already proven.

My selections for a new system build:

Power Supply: Best PSU for the price ANYWHERE: Tagan TG-480-U22
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101516 $91 Split
rail capable, modular wiring for max. case cooling. My buddy is powering
his SLI-rig with twin 7800GTX's and three HDD's with two optical drives
without so much as a hiccup. Tremendous value in a HDD.

Mobo: Rock-solid stability, great BIOS, above average overclocking ability,
supports dual cores for future upgrade potential: ASUS A8N5X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569 $90

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego $334
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103529 There's a
reason this CPU is used in so many of the test bed's you see on the online
hardware review sights. It's powerful and affordable. Team it with a good
GPU and there's no game it won't burn through in a enjoyable manner. For
the money - it's King on the Mountain!

RAM: OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) Platinum 2-3-2-5 @ 2.6V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210 $199 I run
this RAM and it is amazing. Stock, it just smokes - brought Adobe Photoshop
to life!

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 250GB Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822148065 $103 Fast,
silent, 5-year warranty. What more can you ask for???

GPU: This depends on what your exact video needs are. For the money, the
eVGA 256-P2-N386-AX Geforce 6800GS is damn tuff to beat. $179. If you want
the best, you can't go wrong with an eVGA 256-P2-N527-AX Geforce 7800GTX.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130254 $454 I have
this beast and it is amazing. Doom 3 with everything maxed and online
gameplay is mercury smooth = 77 FPS. UT2004 maxed in an Assault bot-match =
82FPS And the special heat plate keeps this beast at a cool 48C after 4
hours of UT2004.

Optical drive: NEC 3550A OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152060 $39.00

Windows XP Pro SP2: OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16837102062 $140

Grand Total: $1175 w/ 6800GS - $1450 w/ 7800GTX This system will
certainly withstand everything coming down the pike over the next 36 months.
Just remember, AM2 and dual-cores will be ultra expensive for the next 18
months min. At this point in time, the performance boost of DDR2 memory is
negligible over 2 GB's of good DDR memory. "Software is the downfall of
hardware" - - - upgrade to a dual core when there's some software you
can't live without and must have a dual core to run. Good Luck!

My system (built 1/08/06):

Silverstone TJ-03 Silver
SILVERSTONE SST-ST60F 600W Modular
ABIT AN8 Ultra
Athlon 64 4000+ SanDiego @ 2.75 Ghtz (11x250) 1.47V
XP-90Cu w/ 92mm Panaflow fan
2 Gb (2x1GB) OCZ Platinum at 2-2-2-5 1T @ 2.9V
eVGA 7800GTX w/ACS @ 490/1300
Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 300GB HDD
Plextor PX-716SA / ASUS 16x DVD ROM
Creative X-FI Platinum
Klipsch Promedia 2.1
XP Pro SP2

AquaMark3: 82,656
SuperPi (1 million): 26 secs

 

[Dude]

Seriously, my junk is out dated in a bad way. Bought the parts back in
2003, and even then they were sorta out dated.

Here is what I have [don't laugh ]

well hang on to it for backup
trust me, one day you will be real glad you have more than one pc
stock pile them, network them all together
you'd be suprised how quick you can make use of them

you can play music on one
watch video on the other
make speech engine read quantum theory on the 3rd
swing trade on the 4th

you need to have 2 monitors hooked to the one pc you plan to assemble
once you have 2 monitors (but it's stil one desktop...) you'll make use
of it

you'll wonder how you ever lived without the second
if I didn't need my soundcard, I'd put a 3rd video card in it, and have
3 monitors for the one desktop.

it also impresses the women

 

[johns]

You will need that Antec case, and it is wired for the future
..... mobos are going 24 pin, and video cards are going
weird 6-pin. Wide screen LCD monitors are a must.
This system, hand built by me, cost around $1750 ...
and tack another $250 on that for the 7800GT if you
want to chase Chinooks monster of an AquaMark3 score.
My 6800GS ain't gonna get there any time soon. Still
I'm sure I beat him in floating point and string sort by
a mile. I could only do 69,763 in AquaMark3 on my GS.
Other thing is ... you'll still be going strong on my system
in 3 years .. specially if you toss in a 7800GT.

johns

 

[Hackworth]

Seriously, my junk is out dated in a bad way. Bought the parts back in
2003, and even then they were sorta out dated.

Here is what I have [don't laugh ]

well hang on to it for backup
trust me, one day you will be real glad you have more than one pc
stock pile them, network them all together
you'd be suprised how quick you can make use of them

you can play music on one
watch video on the other
make speech engine read quantum theory on the 3rd
swing trade on the 4th

you need to have 2 monitors hooked to the one pc you plan to assemble
once you have 2 monitors (but it's stil one desktop...) you'll make use
of it

you'll wonder how you ever lived without the second
if I didn't need my soundcard, I'd put a 3rd video card in it, and have
3 monitors for the one desktop.

it also impresses the women

I like the way you think.

 

[Chinooks_FURY]

I really like that build of yours - not flaming. However, dual cores are
still in their infancy. I watched many a friend run right out and grab a
4800+ (back when they were $1000!) and those who stuck with them are still
tweaking them as they help the platform through the "growing pains",
specifically - - - figuring out how best to assign core-affinity to max
performance. After all, they have only been out what, 8 months or so?

If a dual core chip is in your cards, then go for one of the 939-pin
Opteron's - like the 165 or 170. They have the overclocking of these
Opterons on stock & high-end air down to a fine science over at the AMD
homepage. It's really amazing to see the sort of performance they are
getting out of these chips.

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=64936&hl=

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=61008&hl=

AND this weekend I am going to see my buddies new rig with one of the FX-60
chips freshly installed. He says they have made some real progress in the
memory controller for this first (and only) FX series dual-core.

Lastly, here's a fella that took an AMD 3700+ SanDiego to a stable 3.0+Ghtz
overclock. That is simply nuts . . .

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?s=854335c05203b4fd5ac1bc3ff8c359de&showtopic=66861

 

[adsci]

Seriously, my junk is out dated in a bad way. Bought the parts back in
2003, and even then they were sorta out dated.

Here is what I have [don't laugh ]
-
PNY Geforce 6200 [Vanilla]
[2] DDRAM 256M DDR400 CL25 PC3200
Hard Drive 80GB WD 7200RPM 8MB
FD 1.44MB SAMSUNG SFD321B/LEB
CPU AMD 2500+/333 ATHLON XP BARTON
CDRW/DVD COMBO48X24X48X16|LITE ON
MB NFORCE2 A7N8X-UAY 400Mhz ASUS
Plan of keeping--->CASE ENLIGHT |360 EN-7250-OX3C36,or should i?
-
Can someone please suggest a better system?
I am wanting a dual-core amd system but would settle for a socket 939
or 940 system...

Thanks people,

my sys is worse :"(

 

[Guest]

Seriously, my junk is out dated in a bad way. Bought the parts back in
2003, and even then they were sorta out dated.

PNY Geforce 6200 [Vanilla]
[2] DDRAM 256M DDR400 CL25 PC3200
Hard Drive 80GB WD 7200RPM 8MB
FD 1.44MB SAMSUNG SFD321B/LEB
CPU AMD 2500+/333 ATHLON XP BARTON
CDRW/DVD COMBO48X24X48X16|LITE ON
MB NFORCE2 A7N8X-UAY 400Mhz ASUS

Can someone please suggest a better system?

It depends on whether you prefer style or substance. If it's
substance, then upgrading isn't worth the effort, unless you're running
current games or other processor-intensive programs. But if you're a
superficial person, then feed your ego with the biggest, fastest, and
shiniest computer featured in various lifestyle magazines.

 

[Bob M]

I really like that build of yours - not flaming. However, dual cores are
still in their infancy. I watched many a friend run right out and grab a
4800+ (back when they were $1000!) and those who stuck with them are still
tweaking them as they help the platform through the "growing pains",
specifically - - - figuring out how best to assign core-affinity to max
performance. After all, they have only been out what, 8 months or so?

If a dual core chip is in your cards, then go for one of the 939-pin
Opteron's - like the 165 or 170. They have the overclocking of these
Opterons on stock & high-end air down to a fine science over at the AMD
homepage. It's really amazing to see the sort of performance they are
getting out of these chips.

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=64936&hl=

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=61008&hl=

AND this weekend I am going to see my buddies new rig with one of the FX-60
chips freshly installed. He says they have made some real progress in the
memory controller for this first (and only) FX series dual-core.

Lastly, here's a fella that took an AMD 3700+ SanDiego to a stable 3.0+Ghtz
overclock. That is simply nuts . . .

http://forums.amd.com/index.php?s=854335c05203b4fd5ac1bc3ff8c359de&showtopic=66861

I completely agree with the advice to go Opteron. Last month I
upgraded my system. I was going to go with an AMD 64 3700 but decided to
buy an Opteron 148 and overclock it. I am sure glad I did. I ended up
getting a combo from Monarch Computer (a very short sale). I paid $158
for an Opteron 148 and an Asrock Sata II 939 motherboard. I have the
Opteron overclocked to 2691 using stock voltage. It's amazing how fast
this system is. Now I'm new at this overclocking stuff but I'm told in
other forums that my Opteron is running at the equivilant of an AMD
FX57. I went single core because there is just not enough software out
there right now to justify dual core. (Just my opinion). If you're
serious about an upgrade do yourself a favor and check out the Opterons.
Good luck!

Bob