So far, so good

[mrfederalist]

First, a hearty thanks for T.H.G.C. for all the regular posters and the great information I have found to help me begin to understand the harder side of systems.

So far, I have started to come up with the components I would like to purchase, over a period of time, to replace my aging sytems. I like to play games, and develop software (business related)

I have selected..

Case:

Antec P160 Case (Can't rationalize a Lan Li)
Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939 Nvidia Nforce3 Motherboard
Fortron 350W "FPS350-60PN-R1" Power Supply
Athalon 61 3200+ Winchester.

Need to find

Memory

? Video.

Have OS
Have Apps

Thinking I can move the old drives over and they will work??

Please advise.

Regards to all.

 

[Crashman]

I'd go with a cheaper case. I didn't say a cheap case either, you can get quality cases for around $60.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[fishmahn]

Drives should work fine from your older system, although they may not be the speed of today's drives, that's usually not much of an issue in games - might be more of an issue when compiling your development projects. If you have more than 4 IDE drives (HDD and CD/DVD), be sure the new mobo has enough connectors...

RAM: I would go with 1gig (2x512), PC3200, by some name-brand (Kingston, OCZ, Corsair, etc.) of the CAS 2 or 2.5 variety. If you're really into the edge of performance, or want to overclock, then get the more expensive, lower latency stuff, or faster (PC4000, etc.), otherwise, plain old PC3200.

Video? How much do you want to spend? What games do you prefer? 6800GT or X800XT for the higher end (unless money is no object), but if you're on a budget, 6600 or X700 may be better... If you get the 6800 or x800, you may want to bump the PSU up a notch - 420w or so.

I'm like Crashman - I'm into less expensive cases...

Mike

 

[pickxx]

First off get a A61 (lol, or a A64) 3000+ unless the price difference is tiny, like a couple bucks. Newegg had the 3000 for $159, and 3200 for $219. Its not worth the 60bucks just for that.

Secondly for RAM, get <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-440&depa=0" target="_new"> CLICKY </A>Because you will want Duel Channel so a matched set is always nice. It has a CAS of 2.5 and matched set for $155.

Thirdly video card...it all depends on what you want to spend. $200ish look into a 6600GT or an X700, for $400 you can get a 6800GT, and if you have some seriously deep pockets a 6800Ultra or X800XT for like $650-$700. Its all about how much you want to spend and what you want to play. Personally if you can string together the $400 a BFG 6800GT is what i would reccomend.

Fourthly your old HDD's will work in the new setup. I would format the one with the OS on it to start fresh.

Fifthly Get a slightly larger Power Supply. 350 is the min. for a 6800GT and with 4HDD's, a couple optical drives, and a gig of RAM. Its just better to be safe then sorry. Fortron is what everyone loves.

Sixthly Almost all of this changes slightly if you want to Overclock your system. If you want stock options this is what i would put forth to you.


<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-117&depa=0" target="_new"> Case </A> $54
<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-974&depa=0" target="_new"> PSU </A> $58.50
<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-501&depa=0" target="_new"> PCU </A> $158
<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-128-263&depa=0" target="_new"> MoBo </A> $116
<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-440&depa=0" target="_new"> RAM </A> $155
<A HREF="http://www.futurepowerpc.com/scripts/details.asp?PRDCODE=VCBF-R68256GTOC&REFID=PW" target="_new"> Vid card </A> $400
<A HREF="http://www.computerbrain.com/applications/search/itemdetails.asp?sku=BFG68256GTOC&sc=PW" target="_new"> Vid card 2 </A> $400
TOTAL $941.50

Things change around if you want to Overclock the system. Mainly the RAM and the Mobo.


I found the prices on <A HREF="http:// www.newegg.com " target="_new">http:// www.newegg.com </A> in like 10min. the video cards i looked on <A HREF="http:// www.pricewatch.com " target="_new">http:// www.pricewatch.com </A> The links will allow you to pay $400. If you find the card through the website without linking from the "buy now" link the card is like $45 more. So use the link here or from the 'buy now' from pricewatch.

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I lost.....again. Atleast it was close....135-70.

 

[jammydodger]

How much money to you have to play around with? It would be nice to know what kinda cost we are aiming for.

 

[pickxx]

The total cost of system and if you want to OverClock or not would make this much easier.....good call

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I lost.....again. Atleast it was close....135-70.

 

[mrfederalist]

That is a good question...

I'm flexible on budget since I'm not planning on shelling out all of the money at once and I'm planning on reusing my OS, HD. I won't be able to reuse memory and I'm not sure about the graphics card. I have a Nvida GeForce3 Ti 200 video card.

So at this point I am fishing for what a new system, compromised by what I can salvage from my old system, would cost.

I know I need a new CPU, mobo, memory, case(maybe i can reuse a dell shell).

If I can keep it under 800 buck and play FarCry or Doom 3 and Spongebob I'd be happy.

I'm thinking if I go for good, upgradable components now I can upgrade misc. stuff (dvd, cd, more mem) later.

Thanks again for all you help

 

[mrfederalist]

Hey. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Pilgrims ---> Happy to be alive after winter.

Me -------> Happy to be alive after winter (plus a new platform for playing FarCry, etc).

 

[pickxx]

If i were you i would get theCase, Mobo, pcu, psu, and memory i said. That would be $540. and either buy a 6600GT for 200bucks. or wait a little to save up for the 6800GT.

The 6600GT is a great choice for the $200 price range but will choke a little on Farcry and D3. It will play them, but with a lot of settings lowered. The 6800GT you can play at nearly maxed out settings. Maybe maxed out settings at something less then 1600x1200.

You will be able to play your games with either card, but its all about how detailed you want to see the game.

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The streakbreaker....