Thinking of computer upgrades

BudBud Chesterfield, Va
edited December 2003 in Hardware
K guys right now I have:
Asus A7N8X w/ barton 2500
512mb 3500 Ram
Volcano 11 heatsink with 80mm Tornado
9000 Pro
Lanboy Case with 2 loud a$$ fans

I was thinking of upgrading to a P4 but i dont have a big budget, would it be better just to upgrade my current computer with a 9600 or 9800 and ram, and maybe a 2800 or 3200 barton and save money for 64 bit processors. Need input please make suggestions.
:respect:

Comments

  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Here's an idea:

    First of all, what rev. is your A7N8X?

    How about you get rid of the Lanboy case (you realize that that thing is godawful, right?) and the Volcano 11, and upgrade those.

    Then upgrade the video card, and overclock the CPU.

    What kind of ram is it? I know it's PC3500, but what brand?
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    Grab an SLK-900U heatsink and install it on your 2500. You'll be able to overclock the thing past 2.2 GHz without a sweat. :)

    As for your 9000 Pro.... how about replacing it with a Radeon 9800 Non-Pro, or refurbished Radeon 9700 Pro. Either will offer amazing performance for little coin and allow you to enjoy your current system to the fullest :)
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Simguy, he won't be able to overclock anything in that case. That LanBoy case is (for lack of a better term) a total piece of sh!t. It's almost impossible to buy a new case that has worse cooling than it does.
  • TemplarTemplar You first.
    edited December 2003
    64bit Processors arn't worth the money right now unless you want extremely high benchmarking scores over 32bit Processors. Other than that, there's some improvement to games, but not worth shelling out the amounts. Longhorn will be out in 2005, so expect everyone to really start releasing/announcing 64bit Programs then.

    The majority of us here use the NF-7S from Abit, mainly because it's a better overclocker board. They're priced the same and offer very little difference between the two, so it comes down to whether you need a small feature on one, or you like one company over the other. I think Asus is a great company.. I'm using a A7N 266C right now, and so far, while it lacks onboard LAN and audio, it is a stable motherboard (Palamino 1800+ @ 1.6, Stable as a rock).

    As far as I've heard, the Barton 2500+ is a solid processor, and probably overclocks well. I'm getting one soon and I'll make a post about it or something :)

    What company are you buying RAM from? If you're looking for performance, you'll want to look at Kingston, Mushkin, or Corsair. They've all got top of the line stuff.

    Might wanna get that case some quieter fans, unless you're crazy about airflow :eek3:
  • SimGuySimGuy Ottawa, Canada
    edited December 2003
    Geeky1 had this to say
    Simguy, he won't be able to overclock anything in that case. That LanBoy case is (for lack of a better term) a total piece of sh!t. It's almost impossible to buy a new case that has worse cooling than it does.

    Funny, with the Vantec Aeroflow, no-name thermal paste, an unmodded Lanboy and 2 pissoff 25 CFM 80mm fans, I've got my Barton 2500/A7N8X up to 2.25 GHz that folds 100% of the time. :)

    Sure, CPU temps are horrible (56*C full load), but it does the job until Christmas... :)
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Simguy... don't be contradictory. ;):D;D

    Ok, so I exaggerated a bit. Let me rephrase that:

    The Lanboy is not well-suited to overclocking. You'd be better off with just about any case you can think of. I doubt you'll get anything over 2.2GHz out of it if you don't get a halfway decent case.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2003
    the ram is pny, im ordering a slk-800 this week. i was thinking of going of watercooling cause the lanboy doesnt have good cooling. I hate it I have 2 50cfm fans and a tornado and get like 38 C on cpu and thats stock.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    Could go with watercooling, but it'd be cheaper to just buy a decent case.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2003
    yea but it woukld be quiet
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited December 2003
    The antec sonata is quiet but has terrible cooling, or so i've heard. Does anyone have any ideas for a case said to be quiet but with good ventilation. Hey Bud you might be better of getting the slk 947 u. It fits more mobos where as the 900 might interfere with parts of it. Other than that there's as far as i know no big differens.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2003
    yeah i need a case that will allow for better airflow, i also gotta get a better heatsink. i just started folding and it got my computer hot so i took the side panel off.
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited December 2003
    Cases are supposed to have the sidepanel for airflow to work but if cooling doesn't work i think it's good to remove it.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited December 2003
    http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=11-129-119&depa=1

    ^ Case that can be set up to be quiet, with good ventillation

    http://www.directron.com/fullall.html

    All of the Chieftec "Matrix" cases on that page are nearly identical to the Antec SX1240, which would also work well as a quiet case.

    The Lian-Li PC70 series would also work well...
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