Upgrade advice, thk you

MoTHA_NaTuREMoTHA_NaTuRE All over this bizzatch called FL
edited November 2003 in Hardware
hello people,

i recently been itching to upgrade my computer, it just seems slower and slower every week.

i recently purchased an ATI Radeon 9800XT for an *extremely* good price

i also purchased 2x maxtor 120gb 8mb cache 7200rpm hdd pata. i wanted sata, but at $50 a hdd, i had to buy it.

right now i am running a 1.3ghz athlon at 200fsb on a kt7-raid with 512mb of ram and a geforce 2 gts 32mb.

my question is, should i just go ahead and pop this 9800xt in my computer now, and wait 2months to upgrade, since i been hearing about the athlon 64's and the new pin configurations are coming out.

or should i start purchasing parts and building me a new pc. ive read good things about the abit nf7-s 2.0 and a barton 2500+ at 333 fsb.

right now, by budget is not so high, since my recent purchases depleted a lot of it.

oh i should restate this, im not exactly planning on upgrading this pc i have now, but rather build a whole new one, so i need a new case, powersupply, etc.

so if any advice on what i should do, or what i should get, will be greatly appreciated.

oh, and i also have a question about ide->sata converters. does this just convert the interface and nothing else, or does it offer a speed increase, and is it recommended?

i really appreciate all you guys help, thk u.
:respect:

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    The pin upgrades are not expected well into the middle of next year, and still at a considerable price point as far as AMD is concerned.

    Personally, with the components you have, I'd say a 2500, nf7-s 2.0, Antec 420w PSU, Thermalright SLK-800, 512mb of Corsair 3200 and a good case would get you well on the road.

    SATA converters just convert, but the SATA interface provides a SLIGHT, (Less than 2%) speed increase, but offers better aggregate transfer times.

    That said, if you could tell us exactly what parts you need, someone will come by and help.
  • MoTHA_NaTuREMoTHA_NaTuRE All over this bizzatch called FL
    edited November 2003
    wow, i swear im always amazed by the speed of the replies.

    the parts i need are the case, power supply, memory, cpu, mobo, sound, speakers if any recommendations.

    thrax, your reply is very helpful, thank you. oh and, what do you mean by better aggragate times? will it be worth purchasing these converters?

    so far from what ive been reading, what thrax recommended is about the optimal price/ performance for my scenario.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    The thrax is on the money. (I was in RO for Thanksgiving, but I didn't have any free time to call you). Don't put the parts into your current system, build a new one. The current one will work fine as a dedicated folding box.
    You won't need a sound card, on board Soudstorm will handle that.
    Don't bother with sata converters.
    When you get the memory make sure that it is rated for cas2, and buy two matching sticks so that you can run dual chanel
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited November 2003
    edcentric had this to say

    When you get the memory make sure that it is rated for cas2, and buy two matching sticks so that you can run dual chanel

    If you're overclocking? Yes. If you aren't don't bother. Most ram should do 2-2-2-11 easy at stock as long as it's not GeiL.
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    MoTHA_NaTuRE had this to say
    wow, i swear im always amazed by the speed of the replies.

    the parts i need are the case, power supply, memory, cpu, mobo, sound, speakers if any recommendations.

    thrax, your reply is very helpful, thank you. oh and, what do you mean by better aggragate times? will it be worth purchasing these converters?

    so far from what ive been reading, what thrax recommended is about the optimal price/ performance for my scenario.

    Honestly, you won't notice the real-world difference between the IDE drives and IDE drives with SATA converters.

    Make sure that when you get RAM, it's 2 identical Low-Latency sticks. Athlon systems LOVE low-latency memory. Corsair's XMS3200-LL is great stuff :)

    Athlon XP 2500+, NF7-S, Antec TruePower 430W PSU, Radeon 9800XT, Onboard Soundstorm APU (it's damned good) and either Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1's or Logitech Z680's for speakers. :)

    You'll have one kick ass machine. :)
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    xp2500+

    Get Kingston Memory (corsair is better but more expensive and the Kingston is damn good )

    Abit NF7-S 2.0

    onboard sound with The klipsh speakers

    Sata converters are nice for the simple reason you dont have to link anything
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited November 2003
    GnomeWizardd had this to say

    Sata converters are nice for the simple reason you dont have to link anything

    What do you mean by link anything?

    To me sata converters just seemed like too much of a pain, so i sold them on amdmb. What's wrong with good old ide and rounded cables :)
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited November 2003
    Al_Capown had this to say
    GnomeWizardd had this to say

    Sata converters are nice for the simple reason you dont have to link anything

    What do you mean by link anything?

    To me sata converters just seemed like too much of a pain, so i sold them on amdmb. What's wrong with good old ide and rounded cables :)

    I think he means the master/sl... err... primary/secondary hard drives on each IDE channel (damned LA officials). :D

    SATA is easy.. you just plug a cable into the motherboard and the other end into the hard disk.

    With IDE, you need to set jumpers and then use the ribbon cable to attach everything. :)
  • GnomeWizarddGnomeWizardd Member 4 Life Akron, PA Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    SimGuy had this to say
    Al_Capown had this to say
    GnomeWizardd had this to say

    Sata converters are nice for the simple reason you dont have to link anything

    What do you mean by link anything?

    To me sata converters just seemed like too much of a pain, so i sold them on amdmb. What's wrong with good old ide and rounded cables :)

    I think he means the master/sl... err... primary/secondary hard drives on each IDE channel (damned LA officials). :D

    SATA is easy.. you just plug a cable into the motherboard and the other end into the hard disk.

    With IDE, you need to set jumpers and then use the ribbon cable to attach everything. :)



    Exactly Sim!
  • MoTHA_NaTuREMoTHA_NaTuRE All over this bizzatch called FL
    edited November 2003
    ok, right now it seems the barton 2500 and the nf7-s is pretty set in stone.

    memory wise, if i need 2 identical cas 2 memory for overclocking, so 2x 256mb corsair xms? i really do not know about which brand to use, what brand do you guys recommend for a good price.

    i guess ill just forget about the sata converters.

    antec 420 or 430 watt power supply.

    the onboard nvidia soundstorm is comparable to the audigy's for gaming?

    i see that the barton can do 200fsb and over on air, which hsf do u guys recommend.

    i guess case would be my preference, ill find some aluminum case with good air going thru.

    oh, since i have 2 identical hdd's, should i consider striping them? i don't know how reliable these maxtors are, this is the first time im using them, ive used western digital and ibm, and they been pretty good for me, cept for one ibm 75 but thats a normal occurrence for those.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    If those drives are DiamondMax 9s, I would have no hesitation about striping those puppies. By their size and cache, I think they might be. If memory serves me correctly, you'll want to use 16k stripe/cluster on those when you RAID them.

    The onboard nVidia DSP sounds as good as an audigy 2 with tweaking, and is the middle of the problem-free road as far as the distance between the Audigy 1 and 2 are concerned. The Audigy 2 will cost you a lot more, come with some "Prosumer" level features that I suspect you won't be using...In your particular case, the soundstorm 2 will be great.

    The memory, I definitely suggest Corsair XMS3200LL pieces. 2 x 256 should suit you nicely, and will suit the system nicely also! Those should weigh in at about $75 a stick in US dollars.

    I recommend a Thermalright SLK-800 and a Thermaltake Smartfan II. The heatsink is good and big, but without being obscene and cumbersome for the newer builder like the SLK-947 is. The SmartFan II moves between 23 and 81 CFM of air at the turn of a knob. It'll allow you to set the balance between heat, noise, and overclockability as YOU want it. Free reign there.
  • MoTHA_NaTuREMoTHA_NaTuRE All over this bizzatch called FL
    edited November 2003
    okok, thank you everybody. i pretty much got all my questions answered.

    now i just have to go count my money and kiss them goodbye, i really hate wasting money in large amounts at a time.

    again, thanks all for the advice, i worship this place
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited November 2003
    Everything that Thrax has recommended is good advice. BTW, sidewindercomputers has the SLK800-U heatsinks for $27.95 right now. That is the one that uses the 4 holes around the socket for mounting instead of the socket lugs.

    One other thing; the NF7-S mobo comes with 1 serillel converter, so you can try a drive out on the sata ports with no extra cost to you.
  • drasnordrasnor Starship Operator Hawthorne, CA Icrontian
    edited November 2003
    I bought SATA bridges for my parallel ATA 160GB hard drives only because I wanted to RAID 0 them, but all the motherboards I'm looking at implement SATA RAID on-board and not parallel RAID. I found these "generic" SATA bridges and though I'm normally leery about buying generic anything, the clear plastic packages let me see the Silicon Image bridge chips on the boards. I figure if Tyan and Iwill use Silicon Image SATA RAID chipsets on their server-class motherboards, SI probably makes a decent SATA bridge as well.

    -drasnor :fold:
Sign In or Register to comment.