New CPU parts?!?!?

[volskid2002]

im looking into getting some new parts for my computer and upgrading to a certain extent, heres wat i have so far for upgrade parts:

Mobo:
DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce3 250 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Processor:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle Integrated into Chip FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 754 Processor - Retail

Harddrive:
Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

Memory:
GeIL Value 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) With Extreme Performance Heat Spreader System Memory - OEM

Case:
A-TOP XBlade AT859A-BK Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply - Retail

[RPerry]

You might want to think about using the 939 AMD Athlon 3000+, of course that means you'll have to look for another mainboard too.... :unsure:

[Duffman]

What are you planning on doing with this computer... and 80gb is a bit small, I have trouble keeping my 120 from filling up.

[volskid2002]

my major goal of this computer is to game and other just basic stuff. nothing to heavy except for a couple games here and there. ill look into the other processor type and see what i can find about them! and the reason for the 80 gigs is because i already have a 120 in my computer now so this will just be like another extra hardrive for me.

[zapjb]

Go Antec, Thermaltake or PCpower & cooling for PSU. DON'T go cheapo!

[Duffman]

If you want gaming, I suggest a gig of ram, and maybe a pci express graphics card, whats your budget

[TheNobleEU]

If you're going to buy a new machine, it's always best to buy the most recent technology available today, since this will cause you minimal upgrade headaches down the road.

That said, as several others have mentioned, what you have listed is already outdated and won't run the latest games with full blast settings. I don't believe you need a socket 940 (no one does unless they are running a server) 939 is indeed the way to go, IMHO.

We're gambling that PCI-E is going to make it. If you don't feel comfortable with the SLI gamble, you can safely go AGP 8x (that said there are adapters for PCI-E -> AGP).

On PSUs...

From what I have been reading, the importance of the power supply unit (PSU) is not measured in its total wattage, but how many amps it can supply for use by the machine on the 12+ rail.

Especially for graphical corruption, most on the forums over at e.g., nvidia and anantec will immediately call you to task for having a PSU that doesn't supply at least 20 amps to a new generation machine running a 64 CPU with a recent graphics card (GeForce6 generation and the x800+ ATIs). It's become apocryphal that "manufacturers recommend at least 20 amps for use with the new (especially PCI-E) cards" ...although when called to present proof of this no one steps forward.

I don't believe this is the case, since I have a Thermaltake 420 PSU with 18 amps on the 12 rail, and never had any problems.

Just a word of warning that you shouldn't go crazy buying a 600W PSU, since it is possible to buy a high-end (and very expensive, PSUs aren't cheap) unit around 480W that supplies like 15 amps.

Cheers,
-Noble
(Who otherwise still believes you get what you pay for)

3500+ Athalon 64
Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
1 gig Samsung DDR400
Gigabyte 6600GT Turboforce 128 PCI-E
Maxtor 160 SATA, 200 SATA, WD 200 IDE, etc.
Thermaltake Xaser III Viking & Thermaltake Purepower 420W PSU

2.66 Intel P4
Asus P4P800 Deluxe
1 gig Samsung DDR400
ATI 9600XT 128 AGP
Audigy 2 ZS & Creative T7700 Dolby 5.1 & Surround 7.1
WD160 IDE, WD 200 IDE, etc.

[volskid2002]

thanx noble ima look into the parts you listed and see if i can come up with something!

[lynx]

I disagree with the "buy the latest available kit" philosophy, that is the most expensive way to equipment.

There are 2 situations to consider.

1) Will you want to upgrade in the near future? This is the usual thing for regular upgraders. In this situation you would want technology which will be upgradeable for some time, but not necessarily pay top prices. You need to wait until the "latest" kit is a few months old and the prices have dropped to "normal" levels.

2) Are you going to keep this system as it is for quite some time? If this is the case, why do you need the latest stuff? It will not be the latest in 6 months in any case. Better to buy the stuff that's been out for a few months, save a lot of money and also have proven firmware/drivers.

[Peerzy]

If you're going to buy a new machine, it's always best to buy the most recent technology available today, since this will cause you minimal upgrade headaches down the road.



Disagree there as well, if you wanted to most recent technology you would have to spent £1500+ on some P4 with dual 6800GT's and such.

Where as for at least half the price you could get sometime like a AMD 64 bit which is far more kitted up for the future, sure it might be good to go the extra mile on the graphics card, Ram and PSU but for CPU & motherboard i would always look for decent proforming cheaper models that are ready to imbrace 64bit world and newer CPU's.

[TheNobleEU]

I disagree with the "buy the latest available kit" philosophy, that is the most expensive way to equipment.
--

Disagree there as well, if you wanted to most recent technology you would have to spent £1500+ on some P4 with dual 6800GT's and such....
--
Where as for at least half the price you could get sometime like a AMD 64 bit which is far more kitted up for the future, sure it might be good to go the extra mile on the graphics card, Ram and PSU but for CPU & motherboard i would always look for decent proforming cheaper models that are ready to imbrace 64bit world and newer CPU's.


I should have been more specific.

No reason for one to buy e.g., dual 6800 Ultras for SLI (as you will see in my post above, I didn't, even though I did buy the best SLI mobo out at the moment) but neither, IMHO, should one be buying already outdated hardware (he was thinking about buying a socket 754). This sort of thing is what I had in mind when I said "buy the best tech available at the time."

Buying backward is a waste of cash, IMHO. On the other hand if you buy a cutting edge mobo and a decent CPU, you won't need to upgrade for years (I should have said "you should be spending your money on the grassroots of the machine, not peripherals-ancillaries, if money is a concern.") For example I bought a 3500+ 64 during this time when nothing really needs more than 3000+. Our AMD 64s aren't supported fully by the soft yet...

6600 GTs will probably be $150 in a short time with the release of the x800XL, just as the 6800 Ultras have already come down in price from their initial release. I totally agree that only the hardest core immediately buy the cutting edge upon release (this wasn't what I was suggesting); if we had all done that, we'd be paying $600 for a 6800 Ultra that might already have been potentially eclipsed. No thanks.

I couldn't be bothered to buy even a 6800GT, as the 6600 GT I bought has high OC potential and benchmarks close to the 6800s, at a fraction of the cost. I recommend doing a lot of reading (recommendations and hardware reports) before buying any hardware. NB., see my thread here:

http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/t96980.html

That said I bought the whole new rig listed above only about months and a half ago, including a Samsung Syncmaster 710n 17" LCD and some other goodies, and paid a little over $1600. This is a far cry from the mid 90s where I paid $4000!

Cheers,
-Noble.