AO-Help me spend my money and upgrade my PC

[Steelrat]

Okay AO, there seems to be a decent amount of computer knowledge on here, and I need to upgrade or replace my system. Now, I thought I used to know a little about computers, but conversations with Mango have shown me that I know NOTHING.

Playing BF2 last night (crashing, low FR even at lowest settings, etc etc) made me realize that I need a new gaming setup. All I use my PC for is gaming, web browsing, and photo editing. Thats it. So I need a machine that can do a good job, and keep me happy for a couple of years.

Here is my current setup:

Alienware Area 51
Alienware case
340 watt power supply
Intel Pentium 4 2.53
Unknown board, though that really doesn't matter, because...
512 MB PC 800 RDRAM
ATI Radeon 9700 128 MB
Western Digital 80 GB drive, unknown speed
additional 250 GB HD I slapped in there
Soundblaseter live! 5.1
DVD player
CD burner

Now, I figure I have four choices:

-Upgrade my machine
-Build a machine from scratch
-Buy a mediocre system from Bestbuy or something, and upgrade it
-Buy a hardcore gaming pc from overdrive, alienware, falcon NW, Voodoo, etc etc

My problem isn't so much funding, its the fact that I have problems payint $3000+ for a machine used to run one or two $50 games. Thats why option 4, the premade hardcore gaming PC, is probably right out.

So, AO, gimme your best suggestions.

[Indignant]

Put in a battle axe. Everything is better with a battle axe.


(option 2)

[wad04]

is your mobo capable of using sata? and does it have a pci-e slot? In my opinion, if it doesn't have a pci-e slot, I would start from scratch because all video cards that are made now days are pci e. And using a sata hdd is A LOT faster then using the standard ata. But if you do have pci -e, just upgrade your video card to a 7800, and throw in another 512mb of ram. adding more ram could really help boost your system. But don't have more then a gig.

[Steelrat]

The ram my mobo uses is RDRAM, which is ridiculously expensive, and I don't have PCI-E, so I was pretty much leaning towards assembling a new system. I thought maybe I could just drop in a new mobo and junk, but with only a 340W power supply, Im not sure that would work.

So, given a decent budget, help me assemble a system!

[personman]

Well.. since you dont have pci-e I'd defently get another motherboard that does. I'd go with an AMD Athlon 64 if you can afford it. Yeah, you're probably going to need a new power supply as well and at least a gig of ram. You could probably keep using your current IDE hard drives if you wanna save money, but you defently need to get a new video card.

You could probably upgrade your computer to a pretty good gaming computer for under 800 dollars..

But dont buy pre built computers. It's a waste of money. Computers are STUPID simple to build, anyone could do it. Either upgrade your current computer and ebay your old parts which will save you a little bit of money, or build a computer from scratch which if you pick dececent parts will probably run you over 1000 depending on what you buy.

[Steelrat]

Okay, well here is a challenge.

Take about $1000-$1200 and show me the parts you would slap together to make a gaming machine. I can expand that budget a bit if necessary, but I don't need the absolute latest chip thats $800 more than the previous, almost-as-fast model.

[slade]

/waits for mango to post

i really need to learn more about computers. i was going to build my own, but since i wasnt funding it (my parents are, its a family computer) i couldnt, and we got a sony vaio.

but from what i do know, it sounds like your best bet would be building your own. you could keep your computer as well as building your own, ebay it, or scrap it for any parts you think you could use. From what ive heard i guess AMD would be the better choice since youre computer will be mostly for gaming. unless you want to put your current hard drives in the new computer, you might as well get SATA hard drives. as has been said, make sure you get a pci-e video card. and a larger power supply would most likely help.

i dont really know too much about the different types of ram you should get at least 1GB though.

[personman]

Alright im probably missing a few things but here would be a pretty good setup... for $888
And im not exactly an expert on computer parts but I have a pretty good idea of what's good and what's not. Here's what I came up with.
case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119090

hard drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148065

mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131569

vid card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814150108

power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817153023

memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145440

processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103539

[Steelrat]

Thanks, thats the kind of thing I'm looking for. I might actually do 2 gigs of RAM, and maybe a better vid card. My primary concern may be the processor. Manog mentioned some stuff about AMD chips that I never knew, so I want to proceed carefully.

Please note that I don't need neon lights, clear cases, or any such stuff. All I need is an understated case, and I'll sink the saved money into better parts.

EDIT: I know almost nothing about AMD processors, or any processors. I know the FXs are supposed to be good, and I know that AMD also came out with dual core processors. I also know Mango went with an Opteron, but I have no clue what makes the Opteron different from the other chips.

[maxama10]

build from scatch...customize to your own preference

[Steelrat]

build from scatch...customize to your own preference

The catch is, I don't know what the best parts in my budget are.

[slade]

Alright im probably missing a few things but here would be a pretty good setup... for $888
And im not exactly an expert on computer parts but I have a pretty good idea of what's good and what's not. Here's what I came up with.
case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119090

hard drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148065

mobo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131569

vid card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814150108

power supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817153023

memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145440

processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103539

that looks like a good setup... but i just had to comment, thats the exact same ram i bought, which i had to return it was causing a lot of problems, but newegg replaced it for free and everythings been working fine since.

[wad04]

DON'T buy more than a gig of ram, it's a complete waste of money.

I guarantee you that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference from 1 gig compared to 2 gigs.

[Steelrat]

DON'T buy more than a gig of ram, it's a complete waste of money.

I guarantee you that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference from 1 gig compared to 2 gigs.

Did not know that, just saved me some money, thanks!

[kosmo]

Ehh that depends entirely on what youre doing. For most things, no. If you play Fear or BF2, then you absolutely will tell the difference.

BTW, PM sent.

Edit:
Ok heres some info on AMD processors for you. There are 4 different kinds of processors for you to choose from.

You have the Venice core Athlon 64s. These are the consumer level single core chips, theyre cheap, they run very cool, and they generally overclock pretty well.

The next step up from that would be the FX chips. With the exception of the FX-60, these are single core chips with an unlocked multiplier, and more L2 cache than the Venice core chips. Generally, if you arent going to overclock, these are the best processors without taking money into account.

Then you have the dual core A64. Their speed ratings dont change with each number increase, IE Athlon 64 4000 vs 4200. The 4000 is the same clock speed as the 4200, except the 4200 has twice as much L2 cache.

Then come the Opterons. Until semi recently, these were strictly for server level computers using the socket 940 architecture. But then AMD started making the 939 optys, which is what the A64 uses. The advantages to the opterons are as follows: Generally speaking, they will overclock better because they are screened more thoroughly for defects that would make a server less reliable. They also all have the extra L2 cache. For a minimal price increase over their corresponding clockspeed A64 chips, you can get a chip with twice as much cache and greater chance of overclocking success. Some of the opterons are also clocked slower from the factory than the A64s, which means they are cheaper. But they come with more cache, and they overclock better, so it doesnt matter that they come slower. You can save money and come out with a chip that is faster. The Optys come in both single and dual core flavors, but the only thing denoting that is the 3 digit code of the chip, so know what you are looking at before you buy it.

Some caveats to this stuff. Since everyone loves optys now, their prices have generally gone up to be more on par with the athlons. Also, sometime this quarter, AMD will introduce the M2 architecture, the replacement for the socket 939 architecture. There are no more 939 chips on the horizon, so you wont be able to upgrade to a new processor a year or two down the line. Youll still be able to get processors for it, but itll be the same old things that are out right now.