Tom's Good deal ASRock DUAL-SATAII gaming system. opinions?

[azrealhk]

I was reading Tom's "cheap" gaming system, as I was thinking about the ASRock DUAL-SATAII board, which states good upgrade path.

With the AM2, coming out and DDR2 mem, leads to two paths of thought, one good and one bad.

1. Good AMD64, and X2s and DDR RAM will be cheaper, making upgrading later on for a good system better.

2. After one or two years, the upgrade path will no longer be an option because 939 and DDR will be low end technology.

Is the ASRock board a good buy?

Your opinions are appreciated.

 

[PCcashCow]

I bought one for an XPC build a while back, the idea was to use it for an upgrade for a friend who did not have much money and did a lot of Adobe work. It worked out well becuase she had a gig of 3200 and a decent agp card to work with.

For gaming, I don't think the board cuts it as well as you would think. If you have some old components from an AGP rig that you want to apply in a 939 enviorment, then you have something.

Definatly go for a 939 system, don't wait, It's like saying "I'll wait for Vista."

If you collect a decent budget you can build a system that will last you for a couple of years, up into the AM2 launch.

Keep in mind your building a cheap system, so when AM2 and DDR2 launch main stream, at the end of the day all of that technology is out of your reach for a dozen months or so anyway.

 

[degziebob]

I'm running one of these boards with a X2 3800 overlocked to X2 4600 speeds, a PCIx ATI x850XT, 2Gig ram, a Raptor & maxtor drive & water cooling.

It hits around 6300 3DMark 05 & runs BF2 @ 1280x1024 with 4AA. It runs like a dream for a cheap mobo & I would recommend it.

As for the AM2 slot, it's a cheap board & may be worth it, but when it comes time to go AM2 I'll probably just get a another board .... until then, this rocks.

 

[MrsD]

I was reading Tom's "cheap" gaming system, as I was thinking about the ASRock DUAL-SATAII board, which states good upgrade path.

Where do you see this article?? I cant even find it using the search function. Secondly looking around newegg, I cant find any motherboard called a Asrock dual sata2. A link to the article or a motherboard model number would be nice to have since your asking questions about it. :roll:

 

[shadowduck]

I was reading Tom's "cheap" gaming system, as I was thinking about the ASRock DUAL-SATAII board, which states good upgrade path.

Where do you see this article?? I cant even find it using the search function. Secondly looking around newegg, I cant find any motherboard called a Asrock dual sata2. A link to the article or a motherboard model number would be nice to have since your asking questions about it. :roll:

I own the same board.. its the AsRock 939Dual SATA 2:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

If you need to use AGP now and want to upgrade to PCI-E later, its a great board. You can use both the AGP and PCI-E slots at the same time too. Somehow you can upgrade it to AM2 also, but I am not sure how that will work.

 

[sandmannight]

they raised the prices on that Asrock. When I was considering buying it a while back it was like 60-70 bucks.

 

[doolittle]

Is the ASRock board a good buy?

I think so. I have used several for budget game builds and have not had any problems. The chipset heatsink only gets slightly warm so it is good for a full-size HTPC/PVR/media player as well.

AGP/PCI-E is not only great for transitional upgrade situations, it also means excellent versatility years down the road when you re-task your 939 system to a server or hand-me-down to the kids / relatives and have both interfaces available when you are going through your stockpile of spare parts - chances are you will have both a few 4x/8x and some PCI-E on hand.

 

[shadowduck]

they raised the prices on that Asrock. When I was considering buying it a while back it was like 60-70 bucks.

It's $66.99 @ Newegg...

 

[azrealhk]

MrsD

The article
$500 gaming machine
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/10/14/the_/index.html

Thanks all for comments.

I have decided to Buy it and a cheap CPU, and mid range Graphics card.

Then after the AM2 and Vista bugs have ironed I will buy a new system

Thanks

 

[puternoob]

Thank you for the link to the "how to" article. I was actually looking at that motherboard last week as a bridge to upgrade my current older computer. And one of the big selling points, besides the price, was the AGP/PCI-e choice.

I found it easy to read (except the testing stuff -- that always mystifies me), but overall I understood things. A first!

I've written everything down and will be discussing with my tech person when I can track him down. This may be a good way to upgrade my system - for under $500!