Thoughts on Possible Upgrades

airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
edited June 2005 in Hardware
Alright, first off. I'll tell ya what I got.

Antec Truepower 330 watt
Gigabyte K8NS Pro
AMD Athalon 64 2800
Patriot 256mb x 1 DDR 400
Generic Soundcard
Trident 8mb Video "accelerator" (maybe ten years ago) made in '95
Verbatim 48x CD-RW (in the process of dying)
lite-on CD-Rom (Works when it wants to)
Maxtor ATA 60 gig
Old, ugly, beige, heavy, generic case (but I'm attached to it)



now for the upgrades I want to get:

Corsair Value Select 2 x 512mb DDR 400

Saphire Radeon 9800 Pro 256 mb

Western Digital Raptor

SATA 100-200 gig hard drive???

Convert IDE and Floppy to round-cable

Add side pannel window with switched fan

add top blow-hole

replace front and back fans with more powerful ones

VGA card cooler

IDE - DVD Rom

SATA - Plextor DVD Burner

Ok...so those are my choices so far and money is REALLY limited, $5.50 an hour...only the summer, gota get it lanable again...

I really need input. Is the plextor SATA dvd burner a good drive? havent heard much about it, and particular, (cheap) brand you recomend for the DVD rom drive? also on the raptor, I'm pretty sure i wanna boot off of this and put my other stuff on the other drive.

The memory is good from what I hear. My friend uses it in all his computers that he assembles and he owns a business doin it. plus heard good stuff all over the web bout it. but what about the video card, i was wanting to stary at or under $160...the card looks good on paper, anyone konw more about it? also wanted to use the cooler with it to make it a little more OC'able. Rember low budget, good quality good performance. thats what I'm aiming for.

I spent $100 on the P3 system during christmas. for 600 Mhz, 60 gig, 256 mb 66Mhz ram,....15" LCD, the only reason I bought it was for the case,monitor,and Hd. and then I put $350 into it right after christmas for the mobo, proc, power supply, and patriot mem. now its time to add a little more. I probably wont be able to do all this at once. some of the stuff is $30 or $40 things though, like alll new fans.
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Comments

  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited June 2005
    this is the only dvd burner you should be buying
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=Go&DEPA=0&type=&description=3540a&Category=0&minPrice=&maxPrice=&Go.x=0&Go.y=0
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited June 2005
    Trident 8mb Video "accelerator" (maybe ten years ago) made in '95
    haha thats so tyte. i though my old mx440 64mb was old! :p

    also - this is some of the best RAM right now. its verrry cheap and has BH-5 chips!!
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    Any thoughts on the video card? I heard that ATi was comin' out with there next gen chips and that would mean price-cuts all around, so I'd be able to stick with the same card for lower price, or better card for same price. This card is already aging, but compared to my mine, its what? 16 times more memory, and probably 20 or 30 times faster...heh heh heh, you dont know what its like to put up with this card, maybe when I get my new card I'l sell it here as an antique for $20 or $30...
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited June 2005
    airbornflght, looking at what you presently have, I say that you need to upgrade your psu first of all, then the vid card. Any modern vid card will draw much more power than that relic you are presently using and the A64's need to have a good power reserve to run stably, expecially if you plan of overclocking any at all. If you look around, you can find some good psu's for around $70-80 that will do your system justice. I think I saw a link here in the deal depot about a good psu in that price range that both mtgoat and Tex thought highly about.
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited June 2005
    on the subject of the video card, I doubt you're going to see much of a price cut on a card like that, thats like 4 generations old.

    one thing though, don't waste your money on the 256 mb card, you get little to none performance wise out of the extra money
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited June 2005
    yeah i was wondering about that. I have the Sapphire 9800pro 128mb, and its great. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102477
  • teflemingtefleming
    edited June 2005
    muddocktor wrote:
    airbornflght, looking at what you presently have, I say that you need to upgrade your psu first of all,

    Yup, I'd reccomend an Antec TruPower 430 as a good choice for decent money. Of course the True 550 and Neo 480 are also nice choices, though a bit harsher on the budget.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    I was thinkin bout gettin the X800 pro, will there be much of any pricecut on that generation? they are the best right now arent they?, but right now they are just a lil bit outa my range....if they came down i probably wouldnt mind the extra dough bein dished out. I knew I shouldve got a bigger psu when I did, now I'm gonna have a 330 watt antec layin around.....
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    is coolmax a good brand, havent heard much about them

    LINK HERE
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103924
    Here is a good PSU at a good price.
    That is not a place to cut corners.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    I was wanting a modular power supply when I did eventually get one..
    no of anygood brands that have modular supply's?
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited June 2005
    thermaltake i think.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    Here is the best PSU for the money and then some.
    SUPER FLOWER 550W PLUG-N 14CM MODULAR BTX POWER SUPPLY
    I have one and it is far superior to my Antec True 550 EPS12v. It holds better rails and has a lot less fluctuation. The pots are adjustable and it looks good to boot. These are made by TTGI, who has been around and making solid PSU's for a long time. They are rated @ nominal power like the PC Power & Cooling PSU's and not @ peak power like most.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited June 2005
    Thanks for stepping in and posting that, mtgoat. I read you bragging on it a few days ago but couldn't remember which one it was.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    muddocktor wrote:
    Thanks for stepping in and posting that, mtgoat. I read you bragging on it a few days ago but couldn't remember which one it was.
    NP!

    I don't know how these things get overlooked as there are several good reviews out on all the Superflower and Link Depot PSU's. Just Google it. ;)
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited June 2005
    Hey airbornflight, didn't notice any budgeting figures for your upgrade. How much are you looking to spend? We can probably make some better recommendations in that case..
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    around $600 for PSU, Video, Memory, DVD Burner, All New fans, Paint job, and some other mods.

    I know its kinda short on the bill for all the stuff I wanna do but I think I can pull it off. Im gonna have about $200 a month to spend on it. so gonna have to do this stuff in phases. Right now I'm puttin a window in the side and the top. Right now its a total mess.....gonna have it back together by next week hopefully.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    hey just checked out that super flower. That thing looks awesome. It fits the bill perfectly. Powerful, Modular, Looks good...cant believe I've never seen them before.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    One nice difference you will see (in Windows itself) is that the display will be a lot crisper and clearer. Cards pre-1999 seemed to be quite rough 2D wise. (i.e. going from my ATi Rage Pro Turbo to a Voodoo 3 was a massive visual difference, much clearer).
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited June 2005
    Enverex wrote:
    One nice difference you will see (in Windows itself) is that the display will be a lot crisper and clearer. Cards pre-1999 seemed to be quite rough 2D wise. (i.e. going from my ATi Rage Pro Turbo to a Voodoo 3 was a massive visual difference, much clearer).

    Yeah, a lot of those old cards had nasty DACs, like 150mhz or something. Back in the classic pentium days, I found the matrox cards to be the best for visual quality. Pretty much all modern gaming cards employ dual 400mhz DACs now, and the quality is great. My new X850 and the previous 9800pro both had fantastic 2d quality.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    yeah, there is a huge difference from my computer in my room to the computer in the living room computer which has a 9200 SE, with a 3.2 p4, (sucks) my computer is only running 1.8 but i swear its faster. retarded hp
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    I think for the video card im gonna splurge and get the Saphire X800 Pro VIVO so I can flash it to the XT PE ;D after an investment for a better cooler of course.

    So funny how people waste their money for a box that says XT PE on it, I just buy a box that says Pro on it but I see XT PE all over it... :thumbsup:
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited June 2005
    yeah but im sure it wont last as long. its not meant to be changed.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    its the exact same thing as the XT PE just a different fan and bios...I can fix both of those
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited June 2005
    oh.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    wow, I'm very well on my way to doing a comlete repaint of my computer case. So far I have the window holes cut on the left side panel and top panel. and all sanded down and primered. Tomorrow I'm gonna do the actual painting part of it. I'm painting the inside jet black and the outside midnight blue and I'm gonna use green fans and neons, the paint colors are staying but do you think there is a different fan color that would look better against the blue? anything will look good against the black I'm pretty sure.. :scratch: Im also gonna paint the front panel...Have a question??? will the paint adhere to the palstic front panel alright???

    Then I have to go and jerk all the stuff out and actually paint the motherboard mount and drive mounts and all that crap.... but thats for another day. Then I'm gonna start buyin stuff for my computer. So, so far here is the list. Do you have any crituqes on the list id apprecitiate it.

    Memory: 1 gig OCZ ram
    Video: PowerColor Radeon X800 pro VIVO flashed to XT PE specs
    DVD: Nec DVD Burner
    All new fans
    LED Light tubes
    Custom light and fan On/Off controler
    WD Raptor 36 gig
    160 Samsung gig SATA drive

    I need to knowof a reliable and fast SATA 150 drive that is around 200 gig, doesnt have to be 200 gigs, just around there
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    These are very hard to beat for reliability and are quite fast too.

    Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3200826AS 200GB 7200 RPM 8M Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive $112.00
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited June 2005
    sounds great man! post pictures of the progress. Which OCZ ram are you getting? I would highly recommend this, but I'm not an expert. I have verified that those DO indeed have BH-5 chips in them. I've heard they are VERY good chips, and that price on newegg is a steal. I'm trying to get money to buy those ASAP. Yes i think the paint will stick fine. I spray-painted my front floppy bezel to match the rest of my case, and it turned out fine. Good luck on the rig.
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    I cant wait till the end of july because that will SURELY mean a pretty good price cut on the X800's and will put them into my budget, hopefully...cause I really want one :bawling:
  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2005
    thats the ram Im gettin

    should be awesome. now i gotta go work my @$$ off some more....for those ice-cream dippin slave drivers at braums...
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