Upgrade options

[johnny]

Hi all,

I'm looking to upgrade my PC and wouldn't mind getting some input for what components to buy. I'll be using it primarily for games but don't really need a beast of a machine so SLI wouldn't be a real consideration, well, yet anyway. I'm looking for something that packs a punch, is pretty good value for dosh and has good upgrade options.

My current spec is:
Intel Monterrey D850 SKT423 Motherboard (4x AGP)
Intel 850 Chipset
Pentium 4 1.4GHz CPU
256MB RDRAM
128MB Radeon 9800 Pro (R350)
350W Power Supply
1 x 160GB Samsung SpinPoint IDE
1 x 250GB Maxtor IDE

As you can see, it's a pretty crappy spec, the best bit being the 9800 pro.

I'd like to go up to a 915 chipset with SATA, 7.1 Sound, IE1394
I've been looking at the ABit AG8 3rd Eye as a possible MB as it can cater for DDR and DDR2, lga processor and has SATA + ethernet.
Processor wise, I'd be probably looking at the 3.2 GHz Intel 540 1 MB Cache although the 6 series with 2MB cache could be an option.
For memory, I'd go with at least 2048 DDR/DDR2.

Needless to say, if I go with the ABit board then the radeon has to go which would be a shame.

So, would I be wise to go with the above options and look for new graphics card too ? Or possibly go for a socket 478 board with 865 chipset in order to keep the card.

If going with the above spec, has anyone bought these components before ? Are they trustworthy ? This will be my first time upgrading to this level so I'd like everything to go as smoothly as possible.

[Trippledence]

No AMD 64, whats wrong with you man!

[noah]

agreed, if its gaming and value you are looking for then there are few that would advise against an AMD 64 setup.

9800pro is a good card, but is looking a little old in some of the very newest games, but to be fair if i was looking to keep the costs down id spend my money on other parts and keep it.

when you say 2048 is the min amount of mem, id say its the max. its useful in battlefield 2 and photo/video editing but in many games its slower because of the higher latencies.

hope it helps

[Trippledence]

Unless your going to shell ot for low latency gig sticks. Or spead it across 4 slots.

I think now is the time for PCI-E, what kinda price range are you looking at?

[StormPC]

Even if gaming and value are not important AMD has the best platforms right now, whether it's dual core crunching, gaming or everyday stuff, AMD is the bang for the buck leader. The only good Intel is a Dothan. If you must go Intel I'd check out the new Dothan chips (Pentium M).

The cheap dual core Intels might be good in certain applications, but even then the AMD either beats or comes close to beating the Intel dual cores without sacrificing much single thread performance.

[johnny]

Thanks for the info.

I've been using Intel for years now and haven't really ventured into AMD territory even though there are some good reviews out there for the Athlon 64 processor so I might be tempted to take the plunge.

My only concern would be compatability issues. Didn't they have problems with a version of Windows before ? I'd have to assume that these would have to have been reolved, especially for XP.

From what I can gather on the web, the Athlon 64 3200+ 512Kb Cache and the ASUS AV8 Deluxe SKT939 seem to be pretty decent. Again, has anyone used these before ? Is there any particular chipset that I should be looking out for ?

[sawyen]

A8V series are all based on VIA's K8T800 chipset, these are modestly value for money boards... not really an enthusiast board, unless you're referring to ABIT AV8 K8T800... which I'm using, ; P... Its the closest a K8T800 will ever reach as an enthusiast board. A8V Deluxe's are very fast and stable boards on stock speeds... pretty weak OCbility from several reviews tho.. Hexus reported only 220MHz HTT chipset ceiling...

3000+ venice core would be your best bet... older winchester arent bad.. less the SSE3 support and worksmanship. Venice will probably get you furthest, should you decide to OC. Then again, if you're going to overclock, A8V wouldn't be a good board... 220MHz HTT would probably get you 2Ghz on a 3000+... which is... umm... sad!

Well... PCI-E would be the future, NF4 boards are all typically stable on A64 and are very OCble.. the limit would probably be your CPU and not the chipset ceiling. If you're still inclined to stay with AGP... like me... ehehehe... NF3 based boards would be the best overall OC board available.. MSI Neo2 Plat had a chipset ceiling of just over 300 Mhz HTT... The board I'm using Abit AV8 3rd Eye, in my opinion, would be the best K8T800 based board (cheapest too) should you decide to OC... Mine tops at 295MHz HTT... The choice however, will depend whether you like Nvidia, or VIA... Personally Nvidia would be best, but VIA offers pretty affordable boards compared to Nvidia..

[johnny]

Thanks again for the info.

From what was said there, it looks like choice would come down to chipset and ability to overclock ? To be honest, overclocking wouldn't be that much of a concern. Getting a relatively quick stable system would be the first priority. What are the k8t800 (pro) chipsets like ? Are they stable and regularly updated by VIA ?

I've been taking a look at the ABit AV8, Abit AV8 3rd-Eye (any real difference) and the MSI K8N Neo2 with NF3 Ultra chipset like you mentioned and they all look pretty good. They all support AGP 8x, IEEE1394, UltraDMA 133 and SATA 150. The ABit AV8 is cheaper by around £20 but the MSI edges it on features. My only concern would be the age of the NF3 chipset and if it's as easy to tweak the MSI board compared to the ABit.

Ok, so with that in mind, how would this sound for a rig list:
ABit AV8 with k8t800 Pro
AMD Athlon 64 3200 32/64Bit CPU S939 "Venice" 90nm

Now what's the story with memory ? A few sites have said that 1GB should be plenty but MSI recommend that at least one module be deployed in each of the mem banks. I'd obviously be going for at least 1GB DDR400 regardless but is there anything dodgy or really good I should be looking out for?

Cheers.

[chazt]

i have a k8n neo2 and 2x512mb ddr400 sticks, which works fine, however, if you fill the other 2 banks the speed will drop to ddr333