Its pretty strange that someone with such a low post count (like me) is asking for a great deal of help/advice, however any input as to my computer upgrade plans would be greatly, greatly appreciated.
Well, here goes.
My current system looks something like this:
Generic beige ATX full tower w/ 80mm exhaust fan (usually unplugged due to case noise)
350W antec smartpower 2.0 psu (+3.3V@22A, +5V@21A, +12V1@10A, +12V2@15A)
Asus A7N8X-X motherboard (similar to the standard nforce2 motherboard, albeit lacking SATA compatibility and the capacity to dual channel ram)
2 x 512mb NANYA technology pc3200 ram chips (according to cpu-z, rated at 3-3-3-8 for 200mhz performance, however i haven't been able to overclock my cpu to that tier )
AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton (Slightly overclocked from 11 x 166mhz to 12 x 180mhz- for some reason, even after adjusting the Vcore i can't get the bus higher than 182mhz and have the computer load)
Gecube radeon 9550 extreme 128mb (not as bad as it seems- actually comes stock at 400mhz core and 300mhz memory, the equivalent of a 9600pro. I have been able to overclock it to 490mhz core and 322mhz memory (2.8ns) on stock cooling)
80gb 7200rpm Western Digital ATA-133 HDD
Liteon DVD-RW (beige, if its relevant)
As you can probably visualize, its pretty lackluster =\
I do, however, have AU$1000 to spend on upgrading my PC.
Seeing as I have a rather limited budget (the Australian price demographics vary quite a bit from that of the US), I feel that i should only replace the case, motherboard, CPU and graphics card- Here are my proposed parts:
CASE: Antec Super lanboy ATX case - AU$117
Well, i wanted an aluminium case with good airflow and nice aesthetics, so i was pretty much tossing between this and the coolermaster praetorian (PAC-T01). I feel the 2x120mm fans wins it for this case. Any suggestions of other good, light and well designed cases in this price range? I considered the centurion 53x range, also, however i must say i prefer the weight and cosmetic appeal of the super lanboy.
MOTHEBOARD: MSI k8N Neo4 Platinum - AU$170
Well, i do want an nforce 4 ultra motherboard, and seeing as i can't find any chaintech products selling in Australia, this seems to be the way to go. Perhaps i should invest in the gigabyte K8NXP-9 range, or forgo the nforce 4 ultra setup and instead make do with the standard nforce 4 chipset for a mere $130 - i have heard that performance hardly differs.
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 3800+ - AU$513
Hmm, now is where things start really getting expensive. The reason i feel that investing in a dual core is justified is that i want this upgrade to last a few years, and as the trend is shaping (and as intel is constantly attesting), dual core will soon become ubiquitous.
It is alot of money (more than 1/2 my full-time-student budget), but do you think its worth it? Alternatively, the athlon64 3000+ is AU$205
Graphics card: Gecube x800 256mb extreme (pci-e) - AU$300
I know this is stretching my budget, however this appears to be a great deal. Being fitted with 2.0ns memory, this comes stock with a memory clock of 980mhz- augmented by 280mhz over the standard x800. Gecube's also tend to have great stock cooling, so i hope i will be able to overclock this card nicely.
Total:
$1100 ($100 over budget, but i can wait)
Anyway, does anyone have any amendments to any of the above components? I understand that most of you wouldn't have a clue as to the hardware prices in Australia- it would be great if you could check out this pdf:
http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf
Which details the prices from my preferred retailer.
One issue that i would like to discuss is whether the 350W smartpower 2.0 powersupply would be sufficient in powering my hypothesized components.
I understand that even after overclocking the graphics card is capped at 75W, and that the 3800+ shouldn't consume more than 120W after an overclock and at max load, however is this cutting it too thin? Should i invest another AU$130 into a quality 500W power supply, or can i do with this antec?
Anyway, thanks in advance to any suggestions, or input at all
Well, here goes.
My current system looks something like this:
Generic beige ATX full tower w/ 80mm exhaust fan (usually unplugged due to case noise)
350W antec smartpower 2.0 psu (+3.3V@22A, +5V@21A, +12V1@10A, +12V2@15A)
Asus A7N8X-X motherboard (similar to the standard nforce2 motherboard, albeit lacking SATA compatibility and the capacity to dual channel ram)
2 x 512mb NANYA technology pc3200 ram chips (according to cpu-z, rated at 3-3-3-8 for 200mhz performance, however i haven't been able to overclock my cpu to that tier )
AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton (Slightly overclocked from 11 x 166mhz to 12 x 180mhz- for some reason, even after adjusting the Vcore i can't get the bus higher than 182mhz and have the computer load)
Gecube radeon 9550 extreme 128mb (not as bad as it seems- actually comes stock at 400mhz core and 300mhz memory, the equivalent of a 9600pro. I have been able to overclock it to 490mhz core and 322mhz memory (2.8ns) on stock cooling)
80gb 7200rpm Western Digital ATA-133 HDD
Liteon DVD-RW (beige, if its relevant)
As you can probably visualize, its pretty lackluster =\
I do, however, have AU$1000 to spend on upgrading my PC.
Seeing as I have a rather limited budget (the Australian price demographics vary quite a bit from that of the US), I feel that i should only replace the case, motherboard, CPU and graphics card- Here are my proposed parts:
CASE: Antec Super lanboy ATX case - AU$117
Well, i wanted an aluminium case with good airflow and nice aesthetics, so i was pretty much tossing between this and the coolermaster praetorian (PAC-T01). I feel the 2x120mm fans wins it for this case. Any suggestions of other good, light and well designed cases in this price range? I considered the centurion 53x range, also, however i must say i prefer the weight and cosmetic appeal of the super lanboy.
MOTHEBOARD: MSI k8N Neo4 Platinum - AU$170
Well, i do want an nforce 4 ultra motherboard, and seeing as i can't find any chaintech products selling in Australia, this seems to be the way to go. Perhaps i should invest in the gigabyte K8NXP-9 range, or forgo the nforce 4 ultra setup and instead make do with the standard nforce 4 chipset for a mere $130 - i have heard that performance hardly differs.
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 3800+ - AU$513
Hmm, now is where things start really getting expensive. The reason i feel that investing in a dual core is justified is that i want this upgrade to last a few years, and as the trend is shaping (and as intel is constantly attesting), dual core will soon become ubiquitous.
It is alot of money (more than 1/2 my full-time-student budget), but do you think its worth it? Alternatively, the athlon64 3000+ is AU$205
Graphics card: Gecube x800 256mb extreme (pci-e) - AU$300
I know this is stretching my budget, however this appears to be a great deal. Being fitted with 2.0ns memory, this comes stock with a memory clock of 980mhz- augmented by 280mhz over the standard x800. Gecube's also tend to have great stock cooling, so i hope i will be able to overclock this card nicely.
Total:
$1100 ($100 over budget, but i can wait)
Anyway, does anyone have any amendments to any of the above components? I understand that most of you wouldn't have a clue as to the hardware prices in Australia- it would be great if you could check out this pdf:
http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/PARTS.pdf
Which details the prices from my preferred retailer.
One issue that i would like to discuss is whether the 350W smartpower 2.0 powersupply would be sufficient in powering my hypothesized components.
I understand that even after overclocking the graphics card is capped at 75W, and that the 3800+ shouldn't consume more than 120W after an overclock and at max load, however is this cutting it too thin? Should i invest another AU$130 into a quality 500W power supply, or can i do with this antec?
Anyway, thanks in advance to any suggestions, or input at all