Need Upgrade Advice (Long)

[ForbiddenDonut]

Hey all. I'm a long time reader, first time poster here. I have been out of the computer hardware loop for a while now, and I'm looking for a bit (read: a LOT) of advice. My current system is an AMD Athlon XP 1700+ running on an epox 8kha+ with 768 megs of ddr 2100 (crucial), and a gf3 ti200. Needless to say, it would seem that an upgrade is well overdue. Here's what I'm looking to try to do. First of all, I want this system to be close to top of the line. Secondly, I would like it to be relatively quiet. Thirdly, I would like it to be relatively cool (meaning it won't burn me out of my room during the summer). Lastly, I want to be as cost efficient as possible.

That being said, here are my thoughts. I'm switching from AMD to intel, and I'd like to run an 800 mhz fsb processor. I've heard rumors of the 2.4c processors being overclockable to over 3 ghz using the stock hsf. If this is true, does the core voltage increase end up resulting in a lot more heat generated? I was thinking of just going for a 3 ghz processor, but they're so expensive. If I did go with a 3 ghz processor, overclocking would not be a priority, so would the stock hsf be sufficient, or would you recommend something better?

As far as a motherboard is concerned, I'm torn between the 875 and the 865 chipsets. As far as the 875s are concerned, it would seem that Asus and Gigabyte offer the best solutions, but I have some questions about the two. How big of a difference would it be raiding two harddrives on the Gigabytes ata133 raid controller compared to the ata100 controller offered on the Asus. This is assuming Raid 0. I simply don't have much experience with raiding hard drives, so I don't know how much of an advantage/disadvantage it is. The raid point aside, is there anyone with very strong feelings here one way or the other? The gigabyte board just seems to have so much going for it, but the performance seems to lag slightly behind the Asus. I have very little knowledge about the 865 mobos, so if anyone would care to enlighten me, that would be great.

Ram...here's a tricky one. Everywhere I go, I read "corsair this" and "corsair that." Now, admitedly, corsair makes very, very nice ram. They likely make the best ram out there, and ram isn't something generally to skimp on. My question is this...are there any other popular ram brands out there that are as reliable and fast as corsair, but without the price tag? My plan is to get a gig of pc3200 ram, and if I went corsair, it would be of the XMS variety.

On to the power supply! My current system is running an old enermax 330W whisper PS. It seems to be doing just fine, but it doesn't really whisper as much as it shouts. It's simply a loud PS. Now, can anyone reccomend a good, quiet, cool power supply? I was thinking about one of the antec truepower models over 400 watts.

Hard drives...are there any recommendations on hard drives that are quiet and cheap enough to get two of and raid together?

And lastly, we have the video card. This one is the toughest decision as far as I'm concerned, and here's why. Currently, the top of the line video cards can run anything and everything under the sun without much of a hitch. However, it isn't clear that they'll be able to run future games, such as doom 3, well at all. This, coupled with the fact that they're just so darn expensive makes it a tough choice. I've lost a bit of faith in Nvidia after the whole futuremark thing, and those ATI cards just look really nice. If I really wanted to splurge, I'd get the the 9800...maybe even with 256 megs of ram. However, the 9700 pros have come down in price enough that it's not out of the question to grab one of those, and swap it out again in six months. Any thoughts on this?


Furthermore, if anyone has any knowledge of things due out before the end of summer (ie video cards, chipsets), please let me know. I'm not in a particular hurry to do this upgrade, but I'd like to do it before the end of the summer.


Sorry for the novel, and thanks in advance to any replies.

 

[ForbiddenDonut]

bump!

 

[Hardtarget]

just a quick reply.
i have to strongly suggest a 865 mobo instead of a 875 ESPECIALLY if your trying to be cost effective. check out Anand's article on teh 865 from a couple days ago and you'll see what I mean. I can't see any reason in getting a 875 really.

 

[dguy6789]

About memory: there is 2 reasons to get corsaird isntead of generic, you are likely it will be glitch free, and it will likely be overclockable, however, new mainboards are not as picky as they used to, and if you are not going to overclock, save yourself some money and get some cheap pc3200, if it says 3200 and doesnt run at that speed take it back and get another brand.

about the CPU HSF: a cpu hsf that comes with it will always be good enough for the cpu, there is no need to change it, but there may be quieter fan solutions.

as for harddrives: there really isnt that much performance gain from raid, let alone raid 100 to raid 133, granted, when the speed becomes needed, it will be handy to have it available, but for now its nto needed, and 1 large harddrive will be quiter then 2 harddrives. I would reccomend Western Digital 250GB 7200 RPM.

for video cards: you need not worry what will run doom 3, all the top cards will run it fine. You should get a card that appeals to what you use it for, dont lose faith in anyone. Nvidia is still a great company that makes great products. So is ATI. Although IMO ATI tends to have better image quality, Nvidia is still miles ahead of them in drivers. And when a game has as much artifacts as some of them do with ati, the image quality is not worth it. Granted, some games have artifacts on each card, and ATI is improving, but nvidia will still be ahead for some time. For a video card, get a direct x 9 card so that it can run future games, I would reccommend any of the following cards: Radeon 9500 Pro, Radeon 9700 pro or non pro, Radeon 9800 Pro 128/256 Meg, Radeon 9600 Pro/non pro, Any of the Geforce FX series.

that is my 2 cents, hope it helps.

 

[Lonyo]

I would go for an 865 with probably a 2.4C for the lowest cost, and they run nicely too. Stock cooling for P4's is usually enough, but you could get something like a Zalman flower with a low RPM 80mm fan to give cooling with reduced noise.
You'll need to get new RAM because PC 2100 won't cut it with a 200MHz FSB, and I would reccommend some TwinMOS PC3200 as it is cheap and runs well. It might not be the easiest thing to find though.
The difference between an ATA100 and 133 RAID controller is nothing. A single HDD might get 45MB/s and RAIDed you might be lucky to peak about 90 I'd say, so don't let the nubers be an issue, but other than that I can't comment on the RAID side.
Most people say Seagate make quite drives, but I can't hear my WD 80GBJB or 60GB BB and would go WD all the way. (my preference though)
Video card is a big one. You could get a Radeon 9700Pro (maybe with Zalman heatsink for noiseless cooling if you want), and that would be a nice performer, or you could wait, but there isn't much that's faster and worth the hefty price premium really.
A 9500Pro or 9700non-pro would also be nice cards, and you could upgrade maybe early next year when the new nVidia/ATi cards might be released and cheap (they'll probably do something new near the end of this year, but prices and availability might not be great). You could also get Zalman silent cooling for them if you wanted.

On the topic of heat, usually it's the monitor that puts out a lot of heat. If heat is a BIG issue, then maybe look at an LCD monitor, as the heat output would be a lot lower. If you did go this route, then anything really above a 9700Pro might be a bit much as you'd be limited to a 1024x768 or 1280x1024 resolution anyway.

My advice would be an 865 board with probably P4 2.4c, paired with some TwinMOS PC3200. A 9700Pro with Zalman heatsink and 2 RAIDed 80GB Western Digital JB drives (size would depend on budget/how much space you wanted).

Also, a good case is important, try for a case with something like 4 fans to give good airflow. 120mm fans would be excellent, as you could lower the voltage to about 7v to reduce the noise level, but still get a fairly nice airflow through your case.

That's my advice, ignore it if you wish

 

[ForbiddenDonut]

Thanks for all the replies!

The monitor point is a good one...but I really love my LG 915FT+...sooo pretty. Plus, LCDs are still pretty expensive.

My case is a Lian Li PC60, so I think that should suffice.

As far as the recommendations for a 2.4c, is this assuming an overclock? And what boards are good for the 865 chipset? The asus 865 seems a bit fishy to me...

Any Power Supply advice?

Thanks again!