Frankenputer

G

Glitch

New Member
Well, i'll start by saying i'm fairly new to computer building group. I know the basics so i figured i'd give it a shot.

Senario: I've got a long lived Dell Dimension 800mhz computer that i've had for... 5 years? 6? Maybe? But anyway as i move into college next month i figured its time for a upgrade. Pretty tight budget. I'm going to set the bar at around 500 bucks but less is always more. I want to salvage as much as i can from my computer now, and just buy the essentials to increase speed for now. I want to just to upgrade to a new motherboard, processor, and memory. Going to reuse as much as possible, case, soundcard, video card, DVDROM, hard drive, power supply (if possible) etc.. for now, i want to leave room for upgrades in the future.

Usage will be pretty well rounded. I'm into video editing, photoshop, flash, dvds, as well as gaming, i don't have to be pushing the limits with XtReMe graphics (limited budget) but i'd like to still be able to play. The graphics card will be updated in the future as well. Right now it would be a Radeon 2900 128mb AGP.

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131523
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131517

Processor: (uncertain about the integrated FSB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103534
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103502

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440


Any and all info/input is greatly appreciated.
 
A

alanuofm

VIP Member
i would choose the second mobo because the second and third are basically the same.

the first processor because it supports SSE3.

and of course the 2 x 512 because you want dual channel plus its cheaper.
 
ilovefishsticks

ilovefishsticks

New Member
Going to reuse as much as possible, case, soundcard, video card, DVDROM, hard drive, power supply (if possible) etc.. for now, i want to leave room for upgrades in the future. You probably wont be able to salvage the case and power supply . I have a dell about that old and it has a 50 watt pwr supply. ur gonna need a hell of alot more power than that for a computer nowadays. You will probaly need a new case at that also, you can try your dell case but it wont do all too well and mite not even work because they are built for dell parts.
My bro made a computer recently and it has 3.2 ghrts processor and asus mobo along with our salvaged 768 ram, new 120 gig sata hdd and nice looking x-infinity case all for about 600-650 USD and new nvidia 6200 graphics card. I can understand keeping the video card you have but if you get an agp board they are slower and will need a new mobo later if you want to upgrade to PCI-E. I got my fairly nice 256 mb video card for only 50 bucks w/ rebate. Just shop around and you can go by spending 500 bucks. Soundcard, video card (prob should upgrade), DVDROM,and hard drive can all stay in the system. case and power supply should prob should be changed (btw cases usualy almsost always come with psu's but i heard of them shorting out parts so i bought one from ultra to stay safe, i would reccomend doing so to u too)
 
R

ripken2004

New Member
ur vid card is agp and the new mobo's support only pci-e so u would need to get a new vid card

u might need a new case b/c the cooling sucks and u definetly need a new psu

dont use the old soundcard, the onboard will be way better than a 6 year old sound card

how much money total can u spend?

mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152

cpu:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

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

vid card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121180

psu:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=17-189-003&depa=0
 
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G

Glitch

New Member
Just Curious, but you wouldn't be Cloud and Praetor from NHOP Tribes would you? Just found it a coincidence.


Does DFI live up to the name like Asus?
 
G

Glitch

New Member
Good to know since the asus and DFI now are both similarly priced. I'd like to keep the dollars around 500ish, but once i start seeing SLI this, and 2.0ghz that, i'm truely thinking about bumping it up a bit and laughing later on when i cant buy the books at college but i can render from 3dsMax and kick ass in BF2 at the same time or something.

Well, lets say for now i dont need top-o-line graphics. AGP vs. PCIexpress. Apparently the PCI is faster, and economically AGP would be easier on the Bill, but still PCIexpress sounds way cooler. So basically, would it be better to go the way of the AGP and get a better vidcard? or go PCIexpress and get a cheap vidcard?
 
R

ripken2004

New Member
pci-e is the way vid cards are going now, so most new and future vid cards will be pci-e, and they are around the same price anyways
 
G

Glitch

New Member
Ok. I'm pretty sound on these three. From what im hearing/reading they appear to be best for the money.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813131524
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819103535
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820145440

For a PSU from what ripken recommended:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-189-003&depa=0

Now i'm just lookin for a video card and case. Curious if a 17" Dell Trinitron monitor would be able to connect to DVI. Maybe with the use of a converter if there is such a thing.
 
Greg J.

Greg J.

VIP Member
A DVI/VGA convertor? It should come in the graphics card box. Don't worry! :)
 
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G

Glitch

New Member
No no. The outputs on a video card. Generally 2, DVI and D-sub right? Or for me, a blue one and a white one. Now my monitor has a blue plug that goes to the blue one (d-sub?) But say i go all out and get a 6800 which has 2 DVI's? Could i still use my monitor which appears to only have a d-sub(blue plug) connector?
 
Greg J.

Greg J.

VIP Member
Glitch said:
No no. The outputs on a video card. Generally 2, DVI and D-sub right? Or for me, a blue one and a white one. Now my monitor has a blue plug that goes to the blue one (d-sub?) But say i go all out and get a 6800 which has 2 DVI's? Could i still use my monitor which appears to only have a d-sub(blue plug) connector?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the confusion, yes, VGA/DVI adapter plug.

If the card doesn't come with what you need, Radio Shack may have it for both male and female connections:
http://www.radioshack.com/search.as...rch&image1.x=0&image1.y=0&image1=submit&SRC=1
 
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Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
PSU is good ... any reason you're shelling out for an SLI board? (as opposed to say a NF4Ultra?). I might suggest DFI/MSI for K8 boards as well
 
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