Okay, I thimk I got it but would like your opinion

[kRocket]

I do general computing and play MMORPG's online. My old AGP computer is getting long of tooth and I need to build a bridge to the 21st century. I am retired and on a fixed income with very little room to spare. I am somewhat of an AMD fanboy but might convert (usually put off by price/performance). Here goes with the proposed new system:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
ASRock AOD790GX/128M AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX ATX AMD Motherboard
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma 2.7GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Dual-Core BE
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler

This set-up from Newegg incl. shipping is $465.00. I have an Antec 900 case, LG IDE DVD R/W. Antec 430W power supply.

So that is it, I may need to upgrade the power supply also, since it is somewhat old (2-3 years). Thank you for your comments and I know your advice will be useful to me.

 

[Blain]

Is it your AGP card that you're not satisfied with or the whole PC?

 

[kRocket]

I have a Radeon 850 XL that is a reasonably good card, but my CPU is an Athlon 2800+ w/1GB of PC2400 Memory. It works reasonably well for internet browsing and playing WoW, but it won't accept the new games coming out later this year and next. I want to get to a point where I can upgrade piece by piece again. I have saved for a year to have the $500 to buy this one. I am running out of years The motherboard should be a little more advanced than the CPU and that is on purpose to allow for upgrade to Phenom II X$ or whatever.

 

[zerocool84]

The system looks fine but I don't know too much about AMD's current offering but maybe you might want to get a bigger harddrive. One 500GB hd is small by today's standards but obviously it depends on what kind of things you do.

Also is the onboard graphics going to be fine for you? What kind of MMORPG's do you play?

 

[Denithor]

PhII 920 + Biostar TA790GX combo $255 - $10MIR
Corsair 2x2GB DDR2-1066 $74 - $30MIR
WD6400AAKS $75
Vista Home Premium 64-bit $100

Total: $504 - $40MIR = $464

Go for the faster quad and skip the aftermarket cooler. That combo deal makes the motherboard a mere $50 after the $10MIR. You will need a video card if you expect to play games.

Sapphire 4830 $100 - $10MIR

EDIT: Plus all of the parts I linked have free shipping which should save you another $10 or so.

EDIT2: Try coupon code AMD1815 to knock another $15 off the cost of the PhII cpu. Don't know if this will stack with the combo savings or not, but worth a try.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: Denithor
PhII 920 + Biostar TA790GX combo $255 - $10MIR
Corsair 2x2GB DDR2-1066 $74 - $30MIR
WD6400AAKS $75
Vista Home Premium 64-bit $100

Total: $504 - $40MIR = $464

Go for the faster quad and skip the aftermarket cooler. That combo deal makes the motherboard a mere $50 after the $10MIR. You will need a video card if you expect to play games.

Sapphire 4830 $100 - $10MIR

EDIT: Plus all of the parts I linked have free shipping which should save you another $10 or so.

EDIT2: Try coupon code AMD1815 to knock another $15 off the cost of the PhII cpu. Don't know if this will stack with the combo savings or not, but worth a try.

Nvm, misread

 

[kRocket]

I have an 80GB drive now that is half full, if that gives you an idea. I figure I will be wallowing around in 500GB. Performance would be an issue if there is a difference in access time or cache size, etc.

BTW, that motherboard has a built in graphics card (Radeon 3300). I was hoping I could at least play WoW for a few months while I save for a better video card.

 

[FrozenPie]

$152.99 - $10 MIR AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Kuma + BIOSTAR TFORCE TA790GX A2+ Combo

$79.99 - $10 MIR ASUS EAH4670/DI/512M/A Radeon HD 4670

$44.99 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)

$69.99 Western Digital Caviar Green WD6400AACS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

$99.99 Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders - OEM

Total: $447.95 wo MIR/Shipping

Since you're stepping up from a 2800+, 1gb, 850 XL;
I think this build is well balance for your taste since its more than enough for WoW and several fps if you don't play on really really high resolution. The HD4670 should last a good year or two before you'll want to upgrade again. Also, you shouldn't waste your money on a quad-core unless you run some applications that benefits from it because a dual-core would suffice.

 

[kRocket]

Pie: that is a pretty nice system. You may have beat me since I get a video card also. Do you consider the HD4670 to be superior to just going with the 3300 on the MoBo ? I really don't know how good those onboard videos are, but I read here or in Toms and they made builtins viable for gaming again. Haven't seen any benchs on them though.

 

[heyheybooboo]

I can't recall where the 850xl fits in the overall vid card pecking order but it's fairly stout. The onboard IGP is a die-shunk HD2400xt so yes, the HD4670 would be a very nice step up (and roughly twice the performance of the 850xl).

My only question would be how the HD4670 128-bit would play compared to an HD3850 256-bit (they are roughly the same price). The video guys will have to help you with that one ...

 

[Denithor]

You really gotta have a true video card for any kind of gaming. Trust me on this.

Is there any chance of recycling the OS from your current system? That would save you $100 and you could afford some better hardware. If not, here's my updated suggestion for you:

e8400 (3GHz, 6MB cache, 65W) $165
ASRock G31M-S $48
G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-800 $40
WD6400AAKS Caviar Blue $75
Sapphire 3870 $85 - $15MIR
Vista64 Home Premium OEM $100

Total: $513 - $15MIR = $498

The 3870 beats the 4670 almost across the board (linky) and costs less after the rebate.

WoW loves CPU+RAM and the e8400 will stomp the X2 7750 flat and do it using less power (65W versus 95W) - meaning it will run cooler/quieter & cost less on the monthly bill. Not only will the e8400 beat the X2 today but it will remain a strong contender going forward (so you won't have to upgrade as soon).

 

[kRocket]

HeyheyBooboo:

I am not sure whether it is 850XL or 850XT (think this one), but it was last in the 850 series and is seriously better than the 850 PRO since it has GDDR3 instead of GDDR2. It was the best AGP video card until some recent offerings that might be better. Only deficiency is that it is DirX 9.0c and Shader 2.0 instead of Shader 3.0. That gives me bad results in some games.

 

[kRocket]

Denithor:

Thank you for your advice and I believe you! I am just trying to build a bridge to the modern world of 10.1 Video. This is my initial shot, but not the end result. I recently came into some retirement income (+- $90/MO) and I plan to use that to upgrade gradually. I was hoping the MoBo would allow me to upgrade CPU's eventually and I would be able to buy a video card around $150 after a couple of months. Will the built-in Radeon HD3300 get me over that first bridge? I am really trying to look at games a year or so down the road, if I were to play just WoW I have plenty of horsepower in the AGP machine and it will move on down to the wife and kids. But I have 2 games I can't even load because they don't respect my computer, and there will be more to come down the the road soon. I played Guild Wars for 3 years and I already know that GWII won't run on my machine.

I really need to get a new OS. Mine is the upgrade of WIN98 to NT with several Svc-Pks since then. I don't even have a disk that I can rebuild from anymore. I have a friend on the Development team of Vista and he told don't even consider anything less than Vista 64 and 4GB to run it effectively.

 

[Denithor]

Ok, yeah, you don't want to reuse NT. :laugh: **See the edit below**

The problem with the IGP route is - it's just so weak. Even for WoW, which needs CPU&RAM more than GPU, an IGP is going to crawl (turn down everything to low, 1024x768, maybe...). The 780G might (possibly) work for a little while, but then you're stuck with a lower-performance X2 processor. Intel's IGP sucks ass at gaming but the GF9300/9400 boards might work (although they are rather expensive these might work, as you won't be buying a GPU up front).

Read the review above then consider these boards.
Gigabyte E7AUM-DS2H $130 shipped
Zotac GF9300-A-E $115 - $20MIR + free shipping
-and-
e8400 (3GHz, 6MB cache, 65W) $165
G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-800 $40
WD6400AAKS Caviar Blue $75
Vista64 Home Premium OEM $100

Total: $510 or $475 (after $20MIR) depending on which board you get.

Gigabyte is a better maker & a stronger IGP so I would probably recommend that route. You should be able to just get by in your games (at low res & eye candy off) until you can collect enough cash to buy a nicer GPU. As an added bonus, GPU prices have been falling steadily so this will actually help you (get more card for your money in a couple of months).

EDIT: You could consider downloading the Windows 7 beta (assuming you have a fast connection) and use that until July. Then buy Windows 7 when it launches. Most of the reviews say it's a lot better than Vista and very stable. That could save you $100 now to use for a better video card (in which case - you could even possibly snag the PhII 920 setup linked above with the 4830). If you grab the PhII system use the memory FrozenPie suggested instead: G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2-1066 ($45).

 

[Lonyo]

Samsung 640GB $70
Radeon HD4830 $105 (-$20 MIR)
2x2GB RAM $50 (-$20 MIR)
Gigabyte EP43 DS3L $80
Intel E5200 $73
Vista Home Premium 64 $100
OCZ Vendetta 2 $43 (or another of your choosing)

$520.93 total (-$40 MIR)
430w PSU should be more than enough.
E5200 should be fine at 3~3.2GHz at least.

 

[kRocket]

Thank you folks for your input, it has been very useful. The part about Windows 7, especially, intrigued me so I did a little research and guess what with Windows 7 is coming DirectX 11. That will cause a change in Vid cards overnight. Games being developed today are probably somehow taking advantage of 11's power. For these reasons and the fact that I don't need to change immediately since Wow isn't goona change in the next few months I have decided to hold on to my money and wait a little longer to buy the upgrade. Again thanks for your contributions and I appreciate your help. I'll be back.