Suggestions for computer upgrade

[Militaris]

I plan to upgrade/replace my computer in the near future, mostly because the motherboard has slowly been failing, although I already have a fairly good idea on what I want, I am interested to hear other suggestions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amount to spend: $1200 NZD inc GST (Although less is better)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably would limit it to the following three stores. They all have good product ranges for New Zealand standards. (Maybe only top 2)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz

 

 

 

http://www.c1com.co.nz

 

 

 

http://www.dragonpc.co.nz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alternatively there is always http://www.pricespy.co.nz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I plan to use the computer for light gaming, upload and edit my photos (Mostly jpeg although potentially raw files from a dSLR), I rarely use the computer to watch movies/videos or play music. Mostly would do Internet surfing, word processing, maybe a little spreadsheet work. Stability is of great importance, although so is performance (Hate waiting). I do not intend to over-clock it (Unless I get bored enough), might get a TV-tuner card or appropriates hardware to use computer to watch TV and/or connect to satellite dish and to connect to the local Free to air satellites (Although this would be a later purchase so the card does not have to be included). Would like to use dual monitors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current set-up I own

 

 

 

Two 17ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

[darthoctopus]

Upgrade your video card to any nVidia and upgrade your RAM if possible. If there's any money left over, upgrade to a CD-RW/DVDÃÆââ¬Å¡ÃâñRW drive as well.

[Stuart_G]

If youd like a new motherboard, it would require a new processor, so i think that these two would do nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GIGABYTE GA-K8NF-9 Skt 939 Motherboard - $182.29 - http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?8957

 

 

 

AMD Athlon64 3000+ (1.8Ghz) Socket939 CPU - $218.13 - http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?33539

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Never heard of your PSU, but it would be worth upgrading while your at it. I suggest something like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antec 450W SmartPower, ATX 12V 2.0, PCIE - $178.88 - http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?18026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For light gaming, i would say the GeForce 6600 128MB Card would be fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GIGABYTE GeForce 6600 128MB Graphics Card - $217.14 - http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?4795

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upgrading your hard drive wouldnt hurt either if you feel your starting to run out of space.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western Digital (WD1600JD) 160GB SPECIAL EDITION 7200RPM 8MB SATA150 - $159.17 - http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?47735

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, another stick of ram wouldnt go astray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corsair Memory 512MB PC3200 Value DDR RAM - $118.17 - http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?32015

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All together this comes to a total of $1073.78 inc GST.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All these parts are just suggestions, they are things that you may want to upgrade or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They should all be compatible with each other and if some one else find that there not or you can find something better, feel free to correct me so he doesnt buy something that doesnt work with other parts or can get a better deal somewhere else.

[Hannibal]

I'm going to build on Stuart's post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I like most of what he suggested, but I think the power supply is not necessary. The system suggested isn't top notch-I-buy-the-best-money-can-buy, so it definitely doesn't need such a heavy-duty power supply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I personally prefer ASUS for motherboards. All the pc's I've owned had one, and none of them failed (even if up to 10 years old (where I hadn't been the owner the full 10 years, obviously)). The fan and/or other hardware might fail at times. The motherboards definitely didn't.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the Athlon... I'd actually suggest a P4 if you're not going to do too much gaming. That may hang on personal preferences though :).

[Stuart_G]

Your probably right, you dont need such a top notch PSU to run your system. I just felt that you may need a better one because 300w PSU from a brand ive never heard of made me think that it might not be suffiecent to run every thing. This could be an alright alternative, its also about $70 cheaper than the other one i mentioned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooler Master (RS-430-PMAR) ATX Regular 430W - $100.13 - http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?66062

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I went with an AMD CPU because of the price. The two 3ghz intel processors i looked at were over $300 inc GST while the AMD chip was only $218 inc GST and the cheapest intel chip was a Celeron, but i would steer clear of them just because i dont think they are very good, but once again, its all up to you. I dont want to get into an arguement about which is better, but i chose the AMD due to price and personal preference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the end, it all comes down to Militaris's personal preference though.

[Militaris]

What I was thinking is quite simalar to what was suggested. The Hyena PSU is widely regarded as usless,ch they are a brand which comes with many of the cheap cases. A few slight differences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In brief.

 

 

 

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ $$284. (Dragon)

 

 

 

Galaxy 6600GT 128Mb DDR3, 1x TV Out, 2x DVI $250 (Tastech)*

 

 

 

Enermax 420w $123 (Dragon) (might get new case + psu)

 

 

 

512mb Dual channel $175**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the part I always found the most fun, deciding on a motherboard. I have manage to reduce it to the following ones. (Only looked at dragon pc, might look at a few other sites later)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gigabyte GA-K8N-SLI

 

 

 

http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?42843

 

 

 

GIGABYTE GA-K8NF-9

 

 

 

http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?8957

 

 

 

ASUS A8N-E

 

 

 

http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?14440

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

($185)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total: $1017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two gigabytes seem to be very simalar, although the Ga-k8n-SLI have support for SLI but seems to be at the expense of a 3x PCI slot. While the Asus has a PCI x4 which are not on the gigabytes. It also seems that the k8nf-9 has support for IEEE 1394b which the other two lacks..... Although I have never used that interface before. Not sure of what alternatives. The asus/gigabyte also has slightly different software. in summary I do not think there is much difference between the boards. The only reason to choose the Ga-k8n-SLI if I want to use SLI or Quad monitors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* I did not include tastech in my original list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

** How important is memory brands really, I can get the likes of Kingmax, Kingston valueram, a-data, twinmos for <$180. While for around $250+ ram like Corsair, Kingston, Mushkin can be brought. (Based around 512mb x2 dual channel). Have heard lots of mixed messages, same people swear by expensive stuff while others claim it is a rip-off, kindof like arguments around PSU.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comprehensive memory list

 

 

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz/HardwareCategor ... ame=Memory

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Currently thinking about getting one of the two.

 

 

 

Kingmax Dual channel $179 (Ascent)**

 

 

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz/ProductSpecific ... mID=339565

 

 

 

Kingston dual channel valueram $171 (C1)

 

 

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz/ProductSpecific ... mID=113751

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This message has already gotten longer then I was planning. One last comment, what advantages would going with Intel give over AMD. (I have only used AMD sense the 166 days)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: fixed a couple of prices, I quoted them without GST.... I hate sites which exclude it.

[Stuart_G]

Regarding motherboards, i would probably take the ASUS A8N-E but there isnt alot of difference between that and the GIGABYTE GA-K8NF-9 except for some extra slots and unless your going to build a SLI rig, the Gigabyte GA-K8N-SLI mother board wouldnt be worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for ram, those two you posted seem exactly the same at a glance, spec wise. You listed 512mb up the top, but the two you listed down the bottom are 1gb. Either of those two would do fine i think.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the debate about Intel vs AMD, put it this way, if you want to play games, choose an AMD, if you want to to multimedia work, coding, ect, get an Intel. I feel that one isnt better than the other, but they both excel in areas that the other doesnt. It sort of ends up being personal preference because they are both as good as one another, thats what i think anyway.

[Sharper]

Lolzerz hardware geeks.

[Militaris]

I do not plan on using SLI, I feel it is poor preformance vs investment. The best use for SLI boards is to run a 2nd cheap GPU which allows 2 extra displays :D But then I would need a bigger table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was meaning 512mb in dual channel, I really should of put 2x 512mb up there. I agree, at a glance they appear the same, (with the exception of the warranty, but then its difficult to tell how long they mean as liftime.) I think I would dig around their websites, and look at a few benchmark sites to see how better the more costly ram preforms.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was more interested in the specefics between AMD and Intel. It seems the whole debate around AMD/Intel have not really changed. Due to the fact AMD is almost always consistently cheaper for what they offer I plan to go with them. But I would admit Hannibal got my interests up and I would probably do a little research in that direction.

[Stuart_G]

I do not plan on using SLI, I feel it is poor preformance vs investment. The best use for SLI boards is to run a 2nd cheap GPU which allows 2 extra displays :D But then I would need a bigger table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You wont be doing that because to run a system in SLI setup, you need two identical video cards that can run in SLI and thats not an exactly cheap option.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides, i reckon that an SLi set up is a waste of money, over rated and is only good for bragging rights. You can get a good single card and decent mother board and still get top notch performance for cheaper than an SLi setup. /personal opinion

[Militaris]

 

I do not plan on using SLI, I feel it is poor preformance vs investment. The best use for SLI boards is to run a 2nd cheap GPU which allows 2 extra displays :D But then I would need a bigger table.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You wont be doing that because to run a system in SLI setup, you need two identical video cards that can run in SLI and thats not an exactly cheap option.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides, i reckon that an SLi set up is a waste of money, over rated and is only good for bragging rights. You can get a good single card and decent mother board and still get top notch performance for cheaper than an SLi setup. /personal opinion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is true, but I am not planning to run it in a SLI setup. In my previous post I wrote that I plan to use it to run in a mutiple display set up. The two cards would not be in SLI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: Changed wording a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit #2

 

 

 

Been looking around and now have these 4 options. Tri-monitors would be nice to have, but not at the expense of any other useful feature/function or preformance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Option A

 

 

 

MSI RS482M4-IL

 

 

 

Chipset Radeon XPRESS 200

 

 

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz/ProductSpecific ... mID=344054

 

 

 

$170

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Misc

 

 

 

On-board audio 7.1

 

 

 

2 extra ATA-133

 

 

 

Integrated Graphics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Option B

 

 

 

Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9

 

 

 

Chipset GeForce 6100

 

 

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz/ProductSpecific ... mID=343335

 

 

 

$156

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Misc

 

 

 

On-board audio 5.1

 

 

 

Integrated Graphics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Option C

 

 

 

Gigabyte GA-K8N-SLI

 

 

 

Chipset nForce4 SLI

 

 

 

http://www.ascent.co.nz/ProductSpecific ... mID=342273

 

 

 

$205.94

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Misc

 

 

 

On-board audio 7.1

 

 

 

2xPCIe-16

 

 

 

Expense of 2nd video card.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Option D

 

 

 

The previous 2 boards discussed above.

 

 

 

nForce4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Misc

 

 

 

Only 2 displays, without additional hardware.