Phased upgrade?!

[Rugger]

Thanks to everybody for your help so far! I love this forum. I read a lot more than I post - lots of great gouge! Thanks in advance for any response to this post.

I'm thinking about upgrading to an AMD64 system. Due to money limits (shallow pockets right now), i'm thinking about upgrading by buying a component/month. This would allow me to do a complete upgrade over a reasonable amount of time. If I did this, then I would go with the A64 3000/3200+ (Winchester), DDR400 RAM, mobo 939 pin with SLI/SATA2 capability, good 450/500W PSU and 6600 GT (PCI-e). If you were going to purchase a system using the component/month strategy, then what would be your purchase order? To me the biggest factors seem to be avoiding missing tech advances and paying too much due to rapidly dropping component prices. Along those lines, I would need to buy the components with the most stable prices/tech first. How does this sound?
1. PSU
2. Memory
3. CPU
4. mobo
5. video card

Any thoughts or recommendations?

 

[tweebel]

What are you using now?

 

[Rugger]

Right now I have:
Soyo K7V Dragon Plus (VIA KT266A chipset)
512MB PC2100 DDR RAM
AMD 1500+ (Palomino core)
GF2 GTS
onboard sound
Win XP

I thought about upgrading the CPU to a Mobile XP and video card to the GF 6600GT to be able to play more modern games - specifically Everquest II. The complete upgrade will give me better performance and future upgrade capability. Thanks for your help.

 

[petrolhead2003]

Have you considered an Asrock K7 upgrade-880?
You can upgrade this socket A board to a 754 or eventually a 939Mboard via upgrade modules that slot into the K7 board.
The k7-upgrade -880 motherboard costs £32
The upgrade 754bridge cost's £25

Now i know a lot of people will be looking down their noses and knocking this idea,but,you can upgrade gradually and at a good price.

Resulting in either a ripsnorting 939 CPU or a cheaper 754 CPU(about 3-5% slower than a 939).

A 3400+ 754 cpu runs at the same speed as a A64 4000+ 939 cpu,the 4000 has got a bigger cache,that's all.

If you want best value,754 is the best way to go IMO.

 

[Rugger]

Thanks Petrol! Do you have a link for more info? How does the Asrock 7's performance compare to just buying a new mobo?

My biggest issue with doing the Asrock is that it would set me back a month in the upgrade (the Asrock becomes one of the monthly components). Additionally, I am going the PCI-e route with my next system. If I want to play games sooner, then that means I would have to buy the Asrock and a semi-modern AGP video card. These two items would cost around $150 US and neither would be used after the upgrade. Do you have a counter-argument for going the Asrock route?

 

[pat]

dont buy that crappy board...it is a real poor performer and you'll hate it. I had the SOYO dragon+ before buying my nforce2 board and it is still running great in my friend's computer. If you want to go PCIe, then I suggest to look at newegg for the chaintec board with nforce4 ultra. I've never used chaintec board so I cant comment on them. Oh..it doesnt have SLI.... well I dont know...I wont go SLI now, as it is still an overpriced option and you'll probably want to get a better 6800 or x800 card right now with the money you save from staying away from SLI and get the 3200+. So, later, when SLI (or competitive technology) will be affordable, you'll sell your current board, buy one with SLI and get another 6800 ox x800. Sure, if you go SLI, you'll have to stick with nvidia, but waiting for competitive technology would allow you to use other brand of board so you'll will over time. because for now, paying for something you wont use for a while (SLI) will be wasted money better spent on a faster card right now. This way, you wont need another video card as soon, since the 6600 is kind of a weak card for today's game compared to the 6800 or x800, that you'll be able to enjoy right now with better game quality and speed instead of being tied to lower gaming quality by the 6600...

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[endyen]

The list looks good to me. Just stay on top of changes in what is happening in stuff you have yet to buy. I think that you will end up getting an X800XL graphics card, because it is supposed to be as good as or better than a 6800gt, but is supposed to sell at 6600gt prices. That may change. The mobo you want may change. Saving these to last, allows you more time to see what's happening. Good plan.

 

[Flinx]

You have a bit of a problem if you want the latest stuff.

IMO you are better off saving till u can afford what u want.

The easiest upgrade is a graphics card (6600GT) but that leaves you with an AGP card which u may not want if your looking at PCI-e for longevity. And its no use buying a CPU without an appropriate motherboard.

Memory and PSU u could get but they wouldn't help your present performance.

Maybe if you sold your present system you could afford to upgrade earlier? Getting rid of your old system piecemeal maybe harder than in one shot.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I say save your money till you can afford what u want. The prices will drop or the technology improve giving u a better deal the longer u can wait. Otherwise my advice would be the graphics card / PSU upgrade first and the rest to follow when you're not happy or can afford it.

The loving are the daring!

 

[Rugger]

I don't NEED the most recent stuff. Of course I would LIKE the most recent stuff! I use the price/performance ratio when buying computer equipment. LOL - let hardcore enthusiast pay down the R&D costs so I can buy it on the cheap!

As far as my current system goes, I will be giving it to a family member when I get my new system up and running, so that takes away that possible cash flow. I have to get the purchases thru the wife so the incremental approach is an easier sell. Easier to say - hey it's only $XXX, let me take you shopping for some shoes or something...I amy even be able to get away with a few massages 😉

I agree that the PSU/memory are the easiest and most stable purchases. Won't help current performance, but can sit around for a while waiting on the rest of the system.

To speed the purchase process, I might be able to buy a mobo/CPU combo. What are everybody's thoughts on doing that? New order:
1. PSU
2. Memory
3. Mobo/CPU
4. Graphics card

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback!

 

[pat]

What about this order?

1-Give the wife money that you would have spend on a parts, telling her that you save for "our" new computer and ask her to put it on a safe place.
2-Give some more money to the wife telling her to put it where she put the other money for your computer, giving her a big kiss..
3-Tell the wife how beautiful she look this morning while giving her yet more money for your new computer...
4-Tell the wife that you are happy to see that you save almost all the money for the new computer... and dont forget to give her a bit more money for the new computer.
5-Tell the wife that (the family member you will give your old computer) will soon be happy as he will have a computer soon and thank her to be helpful with your project.
6-Ask the wife if you should wrap the computer that you'll give in a box to have it look as a gift?? And yes, you could give her some more money.
7-Tell the wife that you're almost done with the saving and thank her big for the help. That if it was only for him with the help of other people in the forum, you probably would have wasted money having PC parts sitting there loosing value while doing nothing. Instead, by saving money, all the parts will probably be bought cheaper and will be used right on for the new computer.
8-Ask the wife if there is something that she would like on the new computer? Give her a big hug too...
9-Tell the wife that tonight, you'll start looking for the new parts. Dont forget to ask her advice from time to time, even if you already know the answer.
10- buy all the parts you need, and ask her if she can give you more money to have a better part... Tell her that ..why not built it better now, so it will last longer... Maybe that you'll get some more money that you didnt expect.

Even a 50$ PSU may drop to 30$ by the time you'll have all of your parts, so that 30$ that could have been spent on a better HDD or video card...see?

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[petrolhead2003]

You want 939 cpu's,sli,pcie etc.
Only the newest and most expensive A64 motherboards will do this(NF4).

You WILL be paying through the nose for ALL this and you'll be buying a pcie graphics card that does'nt perform any better than an AGP model.

It looks like you've already decided what you want anyway(the latest and most expensive kit).get saving and look forward to that fast rig.

 

[Rugger]

Pat - nice strategy! I would just have to hope that she doesn't forget about the comp and spend it on "emergency" shoe purchase! LOL - JK

Petrol - Good point on the price and paying thru the nose. I hadn't researched the price of the NF4/SLI boards. I can get a good NF3 board for about half the price.

I usually upgrade about every 3-4 years. That being said, I usually find that by the time I want to upgrade, I need to get the whole nine yards. It would be nice to just slip in another video card, upgrade the CPU, get new memory or all of the above.

All of you have given me a new perspective on this upgrade and have brought new questions to the forefront. Is it better to go Bleeding edge (or close to it) for future upgradeability of system or hit the middle of the road for the best price/performance ratio. I think the answer may be yes AND no. Let me explain my point of view and then I'll hope for some of the forum's outstanding feedback.

Even though a computer is a system and no better than the sum of its parts, the motherboard is the heart and soul of that system. Therefore, buying the best MB allows for better upgradeability of the other parts. NF4 is the best current example. PCIe will be the future standard for video cards and SLI for upgrading via adding a card - a card that will be drastically less expensive than current rates. Socket 939 is the most recent socket iteration and AMD will more than likely use it for more than a year and that means that when you want to upgrade CPU 2 years down the road, that you more than likely will be able to get a great price on it. Those are the examples that immediately come to my mind.

No need to get Bleeding edge video card or CPU - they will only be on the edge for 2 months. After that you can pick them up on the cheap as the the next Big Thing hits the streets.

Agree? Disagree? Hit me with everything you have. Except the kitchen sink - those things hurt!

"He who will not risk, cannot win"
- John Paul Jones

 

[petrolhead2003]

I got myself an ASUS K8N skt 754 board yesterday(NF3-250),agp/pci lock,fsb 200 - 300 etc.

UK price of £46, not bad.

Looking forward to getting as much as possible from my Sempron 3100(dirt cheap on ebay).
According to reports,these chips will hit >2.4ghz and outperform 3400 A64's(in 32 bit).

Should be better than my xp2000+, i can even use my ddr400 to good effect.