Help build Clutch a computer

ClutchClutch North Carolina New
edited April 2005 in Hardware
Okay guys, my trusty ol' 1700+ finally died on me last week :( That baby ran a smooth overclock at 1.9ghz for well over a year, almost 2 actually.

Well I took down my server to put in a 2000+ in just to get it back up and running, because I got to have my WoW you know, hehe

Well I want to try to build a new computer, or upgrade my NF7S v.2 to the best it can take.

So could you help me piece out a new computer?

Right now I'm running

NF7S v2
512mb pc3200
2000+ xp
420 antec true power
Radeon 9800 pro 128mb
80gig hdd

I really don't plan on overclocking any time soon, but would like the room to.


I have been out of the hardware scene for quite some time now, so I'm really lost on what to look for anymore :(

Come together my fellow friends

I guess budget would be like under a grand if possible

I want a computer that will run WoW very good at high settings that will not lag up during a Raid :)

I plan on ordering parts tomorrow also :)

Comments

  • scottscott Medina, Ohio Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Hey Clutch

    I think the cheapest way to go would be getting another processor. My NF7 rig has a 2500+ mobile in it and it has been running at 2505mhz for about a year and a half now. It runs really good. With some good memory 2300-2400 no sweat . And not much heat. They are still only $85.00 at the EGG Link

    Just a thought.


    I know it is not as much fun as a new machine but it is cheap.

    Scott


    Edit

    I have 2 of the 2500 mobiles one on water and one on air The one on air is running at 2400mhz at 45C full load folding. They are great chips for the dough.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    This is something I've been wondering, and Clutch might want to know too:

    How much of a difference would the extra 500-600 mhz on the CPU make in a game? Usually I've upgraded my video card about the same time as I've upgraded my CPU, so I've never really been able to tell. I happen to have a similar setup to Clutch, and have thought about upgrading to a mobile barton.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    clutch there aren't many mobile bartons left so I'll post the ones that I see. The semprons simply don't OC like these bartons do. You'll need a good heatsink as well.

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-400&depa=0

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-440&depa=0

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-401&depa=0

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-439&depa=0

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-436&depa=0

    the last one is my favorite. With decent ram and a good cooler you can run this at 2.4-2.5ghz/400 fsb no sweat and more likely than not go farther.

    edit:\ actually I'm surprised to see them still around. :scratch:
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited April 2005
    I would like my computer to run really good in WoW, like going into a city or raid. With my current monitor, Dell 20.1 wide aspect, I run my screen at the wide setting so it looks decent. So I need the hardware to go along with that.

    If I upgrade what I have, I will go with 1 gig of ram, and a new cpu. If I were to get a mobile barton, what type of ram would you suggest?

    Also should I stick with a nice agp video card to go with pci express? What would be some of the top dog video cards for agp?
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    well more than likely you probably have ram that will handle 400+ on lose timings. If you want to get new ram just stick with pc3200 but get some really fast ram like the ocz platinum or whatever comes tight and 1 gig. I recommend dual channel but not necessarily if you get it cheaper by the stick individually.
    As far as agp there are some hellacious cards out there just depends on what you want to spend.
    I'm not sure that the 6600gt ($180 starting) would be worth the upgrade unless you sell the 9800 pro.
    However, if you lean towards the 800xl will see far greater improvement for your dollar. If you keep checking newegg they're liable to be below $300 real soon.

    If this route with agp & mobile you can keep saving for your future a64. That technology hasn't quite peaked out yet and venice/san diego is on the way so I recommend holding off. Also, you should be able to reuse that 1gb pc3200 low latency when you do that upgrade.

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-890&depa=0

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-039&depa=1

    http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-520&depa=1 <---this card was 309 all weekend and just went up ...it will drop soon I'm sure.

    If you're considering pci-express then you may as well go a64 ...in that case what's your budget and do you have a good psu?
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Then consider what you could really do.

    DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D $139.99
    AMD Athlon 64 3500+ $267.00
    Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 XL, 256MB GDDR3, 256-Bit, DVI/TV Out, PCI-Express $305.00

    Total = $711.99

    Then add a gig of memory and a new PSU to handle it and get new drives with the cash you get from selling your current parts and it will be in for under a grand.
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited April 2005
    My PSU should be enough, 420w true power Antec. My current ram is pc3200 HyperX, so I could just get another 512 and call it a gig. The thing is I dont know if my video card is what is kicking my butt on the screen resolution in WoW.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    I run WoW smoothly at 1280x with 2x AA/2x AF.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Don't just get another 512 if you get teh new mobo.
    Sell yours, cut your losses, and buy a matched 1G of Tccd.

    If you decide to sell let me know ;);)
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Clutch wrote:
    The thing is I dont know if my video card is what is kicking my butt on the screen resolution in WoW.
    What res would that be?
    do you have 1 stick or 2 of that hyperX pc3200?
    I don't think you'll see much more return by adding 512 more mem ...you can probably tweak what you have and get better results than that.


    what kind of benchmarks were you getting with the cpu before it fried?
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited April 2005
    If you want to go cheap, go with the XP-M 2500 or 2600 with your present setup, Clutch. Depending on how long ago you bought that hyper x, it stands a decent chance of being bh5 or bh6 which will run some good tight timings at 200+ fsb on an NF7-S, so if you aren't running into problems presently with that ram and WoW you don't need to upgrade to a gig of ram. If you do decide to go to a gig of ram, get 2 sticks of tccd or maybe some VX and sell your present ram so that you are running just 2 sticks of ddr.

    If you do decide to go for broke and build a new rig, the setup mtgoat suggested sounds pretty good. Personally, I would hold off a couple of months on building a socket 939 machine and wait for the new rev E A64's to hit the pipeline as I think we will stand a decent chance of getting to 3 GHz with air cooling with the new rev. procs, but that's just me.

    EDIT: BTW, my XP-M 2600 will do over 2300 MHz with 1.65v or less vcore, so you can run them fast without straining everything else. :thumbsup:
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    muddocktor wrote:
    If you want to go cheap, go with the XP-M 2500 or 2600 with your present setup, Clutch. Depending on how long ago you bought that hyper x, it stands a decent chance of being bh5 or bh6 which will run some good tight timings at 200+ fsb on an NF7-S, so if you aren't running into problems presently with that ram and WoW you don't need to upgrade to a gig of ram. If you do decide to go to a gig of ram, get 2 sticks of tccd or maybe some VX and sell your present ram so that you are running just 2 sticks of ddr.

    If you do decide to go for broke and build a new rig, the setup mtgoat suggested sounds pretty good. Personally, I would hold off a couple of months on building a socket 939 machine and wait for the new rev E A64's to hit the pipeline as I think we will stand a decent chance of getting to 3 GHz with air cooling with the new rev. procs, but that's just me.

    EDIT: BTW, my XP-M 2600 will do over 2300 MHz with 1.65v or less vcore, so you can run them fast without straining everything else. :thumbsup:

    yeah what he said! :thumbsup:
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited April 2005
    I think I am running at like 1280x768 in WoW. I started a thread a couple weeks ago in the gaming thread to find out why my game lags so damn much, I did a full format and install of XP, all on default settings and it still runs like crap, and it takes me like 30 seconds to actually move sometimes when I go into a city.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Clutch wrote:
    I think I am running at like 1280x768 in WoW. I started a thread a couple weeks ago in the gaming thread to find out why my game lags so damn much, I did a full format and install of XP, all on default settings and it still runs like crap, and it takes me like 30 seconds to actually move sometimes when I go into a city.
    lets see some aquamark benchmarks and maybe we can make worthwhile adjustments. I know I have certain settings in the smartgart and bios that make all of the difference.
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited April 2005
    I ordered a mobile 2600+ today and two sticks of ocz platinum, 2x512. Should be here Tomorrow so we will see how things go after this upgrade :thumbsup: I will stick to my Radeon 9800 pro for now, and after the upgrade see if I need to upgrade that as well.
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    ok ...well let me know when you're ready to tweak the vid card settings! :thumbsup:
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Clutch wrote:
    I ordered a mobile 2600+ today and two sticks of ocz platinum, 2x512. Should be here Tomorrow so we will see how things go after this upgrade :thumbsup: I will stick to my Radeon 9800 pro for now, and after the upgrade see if I need to upgrade that as well.

    Let me know how much of a difference the processor makes in WoW. Nobody noticed my earlier post :)
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited April 2005
    I got the ram and cpu in yesterday. I haven't really tested anything out, but from general use and some WoW last night, my computer reacts a lot different. I haven't tested it out as to flying into any cities or anything yet. I'm trying to build up my alt mage, but even going into the Undercity and all, I dont lag up and run into walls or anything, lol.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    I think we've lost clutch to WoW, just like Cyclonite ;D

    He hasn't been here in two days... :eek3:
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    CSimon, I'm interested in the tweaks and settings you're proposing for Clutch's 9800 Pro. Mind posting them in here anyway?
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited April 2005
    primesuspect wrote:
    I think we've lost clutch to WoW, just like Cyclonite ;D
    Is keto still wandering through Azeroth as well? :D
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    well ...I don't mind at all however I have a little problem for the next week. My new 9800pro is on the way now and should be here on friday. If there are specific questions you have I will try and answer for now. I also found a teak guide that is really lengthy but also very infomative. I think it is a great reading. Check it out here.

    Once I get my card back I can get back into the drivers and go over the ones that matter most ...probably saturday.

    So you have any questions in particular for now?

    One thing I do remember is to enable fast writes in the bios but disable it in smartgart. I noticed performance improvement there.
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Thanks for the guide, I'll read though it once I'm finished with some work about here (ugh.) I didn't have any particular questions, per se, I just wanted to make sure I was getting the most out of my current setup and mabey the ability to squeeze more out of it. One thing I have noticed, for my own setup at least, is that I think I get better performance when I don't install the ATi control panel or whatever they call it. I seem to be able to run things better if I just allow for the tabs to be placed in the properties panel of my desktop and the small system tray icon.

    Whenever I tried to move the tab to performace in their control panel games ran at half the speed they used to, even older less graphically intense ones.

    Anyway, I appreciate the article, and take your time with the videocard advice, no rush here. I just finished HL2 (wow amazing ending, great game) and was able to run it at 1024x768 with 4xAF/4xAA without any noticeable problems on a stock 2500+, stock 512 XMS, and the 9800Pro. But more for my money is always better. :D
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    cool ...I'd like to check out hl2 sometime but I'm so busy now it may be a few more mos. :shakehead
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited April 2005
    ;D I'm sorry guys, I am back. I got my ram and all in and I been sucked into WoW even more. I just started a undead mage and got to level 27 in 2 days 4 hours playing time ;D so I been busy, hehe

    Everything is running really great now with the new ram in. I can fly into Org and not be lagged up all to hell, it is amazing.


    Now if you will excuse me I have to make it to 28 and go get some mage training... ;)
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    I'm not sure if you'll be able to tell if you replaced them both at the same time, but what do you think made a bigger difference, the CPU or RAM?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Without a doubt the RAM made the bigger difference, as WoW's primary source of lag comes from caching models/textures/zones/etc.
  • PreacherPreacher Potomac, MD Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    I have played WoW on my son's NF-7S with a 1600+, 512MB RAM, and a 9800 Pro as well as my machine (a NF7-S with a 3200+, 1 GB of RAM, and a 6800GT). I upgraded his CPU and RAM to the same as mine and it does great at a resolution of 1024x768 with everything maxed. Depending on your video card, the CPU can be seriously holding you back. That is the exactly the case with my setup. My 3200+ is the weak link for me and unable to keep up with the 6800GT. I'm just waiting for a "Newegg Gondola" to take me to Venice and the island of 64 bits...

    http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2381

    http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1304-x-x-x

    These links should really answer the questions on what effect video cards/settings, RAM amounts, and CPU speed make on WoW. I don't know about the rest of you, but I play almost every day and there is always a lag spike about every couple hours. And after spending numerous hours in Ironforge, I have dubbed it the City of Lag.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited April 2005
    Thanks for posting those links, Preacher. That was exactly what I needed to see. It's shocking to see the Athlon XP rating so low, though.
Sign In or Register to comment.