Upgrades from an Athlon 1700XP

[NoahFrenzy]

Hi all,
I was planning on upgrading my brother's computer as a birthday gift for him, but I haven't been in the market for motherboards or processors in some time now. He's currently running an Athlon XP 1700 on a semi-unstable ECS K7S5A with 256 megs of ram and a crappy Radeon 7000SE and a 20 gig 5400rpm harddrive.

It's caused him random headaches from time to time, and ideally I'd like to get him the most bang for the buck possible for around 200 to 225 bucks. Obviously just about every part of the computer could stand some upgrading. Any ideas on good combinations of parts? He doesn't game a whole lot, so if it came down to it, i'd imagine that the video card could stick around.

*edit: typos.

 

[skeedo]

Ditch the ECS motherboard they are junk, go for something like Asus, Epox or Abit MUCH better quality.

New motherboard will run around 60-80 bucks so that leaves you around 150 for other upgrades, I would recommend a faster processor maybe a Barton 3200 those go for about $120.

 

[boyRacer]

if you want to take a shot at TD rebates check this deal out.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: skeedo
Ditch the ECS motherboard they are junk, go for something like Asus, Epox or Abit MUCH better quality.

New motherboard will run around 60-80 bucks so that leaves you around 150 for other upgrades, I would recommend a faster processor maybe a Barton 3200 those go for about $120.

So you tell him to ditch the "junk" ECS board and spend 60 dollars for a mobo and 120 dollars for a processor, and stick with Socket A? Give me a break. :roll: The K7S5A is a legend, and ECS isn't as bad as it used to be. As for upgrades check this out:

motherboard - $57.50
processor - $120.00
memory - $43.32

total: 220.82 shipped

If he doesn't game he can stick with the video card, but that HDD will then become a bottleneck.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: NoahFrenzy
He's currently running an Athlon XP 1700 on a semi-unstable ECS K7S5A with 256 megs of ram and a crappy Radeon 7000SE and a 20 gig 5400rpm harddrive.

It's caused him random headaches from time to time, and ideally I'd like to get him the most bang for the buck possible for around 200 to 225 bucks. Obviously just about every part of the computer could stand some upgrading.

The ECS brand name has almost always had a JUNK appellation, even when the K7S5's were big sellers. They have always had more QC problems than just about anyone else, which is curious, since they do a lot of insource work for other board brands. Their prices have always been pretty low, so maybe it was a tradeoff - and for all we know, he already did get a lot of use from it the past three years.

In terms of users' subjective judgments on speed increases, more RAM almost always shows up first to their senses of quickness. A faster hard drive is also readily noticeable, and the difference between a 2 K buffer, 5400 rpm drive and an 8 K buffer, 7200 rpm drive is easily discerned. Right now, both drives and RAM are at all-time bargain rates. It takes a huge jump in raw processor speed to be as easily experienced as the other two, but the various 2800-3000-3200 XP's aren't priced favorably, and in fact have been going UP since the supplies began to shrink.

An overclocked XP-mobile 2500 is another matter entirely. Most can equal the 3200 when given the chance, and they cost half as much. There are many bargain MB's that replaced that old ECS, so it may still be possible to strip the enclosure it's in now and replace almost everything for under $225. I've just assembled a Socket A system as a gift for a grandson that probably would've fit into your budget (I don't know yet what OC, if any, I'll apply to his machine).

I personally am using an older model Epox MB that cost about $40, for that gift PC, and it seems to be a winner. {Newegg has a similar, refurbished (MSI) K7N2 for $41, but it looks like a Micro size MB. That wouldn't have been so bad on the new one I built, it may have 6 PCI slots, but I didn't use even one of those!}


:thumbsup:

 

[xylem]

On a site note, check the stepping on that 1700+. Some of the Thoroughbreds are damned fine overclockers, and can reach ~2.2-2.4 GHz.

 

[cubeless]

for the $ u mention the best upgrade is a vid card. what os r u running? i have a k7s5a with a 266bus xp2600@2.28 with a hacked 9500 that does 35315 aquamark 3's... or a xp1700 (that can do 2.2ghz in a different mobo) running 1.6ghz in a k7s5a with a ti4200 that does 17250 aq3's...

fot $250 to try to buy a new mobo/cpu makes not much sense... a stick of memory and a 6600gt agp would be your best $ use right now if there's not something really wrong with the rest...

what is flaky about the rig?

 

[NoahFrenzy]

Thanks for all the comments so far. I'm really thinking that whatever happens, the motherboard does need to be replaced. Usually the issues are sound related, though there's also been a general instability that results in bluescreens and lockups that I can't trace down to anything in particular. Last time I ran memtest86 on it, the memory checked out, but I suppose things can change.

Anyway, as it is, I've got a friend of mine selling me his old GF4MX and CD Burner for 35 bucks. As I said, he doesn't game very much, the the 4MX is still a step up from the 7000SE 32Meg SDR. I've actually considered giving him my current board/cpu/ram (GA 7VRXP/XP 2400/512 megs samsung DDR 333) and just buying something new, myself. Still trying to figure out what to do, though.

 

[shortylickens]

88 posts since 2001. I'm impressed. You seem like someone who spends a lot more time listening and less time blabbing away. Unlike myself.

If you just want to upgrade CPU, go to Pricewatch.com and look at processors in Socket A with your FSB speed. I also had an XP 1700 and moved to an XP 2600. Even without the proper bus speed, I noticed a serious improvement. Eventually I changed the MB over to something high-end and took advantage of the faster bus. Come to think of it, I also had an ECS Mainboard to start. Its good for most folks if you dont plan on Overclocking.

 

[jackschmittusa]

Hard drive, 256mb ram, and new mb fit the budget and will make a big difference.

 

[BigLan]

You could get the MSI RS480 board + athlon 3000+ chip for about $220 from monarch. Mobo incudes sound and decent video (better than the 7000.) I just upgraded a 2100+ to this and love it.

Reuse the HD, optical drive, memory & case and you'll have a nice system with room for future upgrades.

 

[Arcanedeath]

BigLan's suggestion will give you the bigest upgrade w/ the most furture proofness. after getting the MSI board and a 3000+ I would suggest upgrading to 512mb of PC3200 then a 7200 rpm hdd w/ 8 meg buffer and you should be set.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: BigLan
You could get the MSI RS480 board + athlon 3000+ chip for about $220 from monarch. Mobo incudes sound and decent video (better than the 7000.) I just upgraded a 2100+ to this and love it.

Reuse the HD, optical drive, memory & case and you'll have a nice system with room for future upgrades.

He still needs memory and only looking to spend $225 at most.

My recommendations are perfect.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: tfinch2

Originally posted by: BigLan
You could get the MSI RS480 board + athlon 3000+ chip for about $220 from monarch. Mobo incudes sound and decent video (better than the 7000.) I just upgraded a 2100+ to this and love it.

Reuse the HD, optical drive, memory & case and you'll have a nice system with room for future upgrades.

He still needs memory and only looking to spend $225 at most.

My recommendations are perfect.

Yeah both of your recommendations are good. He should just make sure that the PSU is good enough to handle a new A64 setup. That 5400rpm Hard Drive has got to go. You could always upgrade the HDD later though - they come with MIR all the time.

 

[skeedo]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
[The K7S5A is a legend, and ECS isn't as bad as it used to be.

ROFLMAO!