So it’s time to upgrade it. I don’t have as much money as I’d like to atm to upgrade it, so I need some input as to the best possible upgrades and be the cheapest as possible. I’m only upgrading certain parts of it but of course they are the more expensive parts :P. I need a new motherboard, video card, and CPU. I may need to get a new hard drive and if I do, I’ll just do that after I know I need it. I have around 600-700 tops to work with here. I want to get an nvidia 7 series card, an amd cpu (at least 3600+ or higher), and whatever mobo will get me the best performance with those parts. I’m used to Asus, but after having a really bad experience with an asus board in a computer I built recently, I’m probably going to get something else this time. Your input is very much appreciated and I look forward to whatever advice you guys may have. Thanks in advance!
Exactly what parts are you looking to get replaced?
With a new motherboard, you’re gonna need a new power supply, because you’re gonna need a 24-pin connector (ATX 2.0) Check your power supply connections to your current motherboard. If it has a 20-pin P1 and a P4 connector… that’s one more thing to add to the shopping list.
Do you have DDR memory? How much? What do you want to end up with?
Instead of a regular AMD + processor, I suggest you go for an Opteron processor. They have double the cache, and perform so much better. They are also amazing overclockers.
an 80GB SATA 3.0Gb/s hard drive is around $50. A 160 is probably around $70.
I’d go for a DFI Ultra Infinity nForce4 socket 939 motherboard. If you’re into lanparties, go for the lanparty edition, otherwise… the regular board is around $89 at newegg. I have used this board countless times, its boasted about by the overclockers, and is an amazing board with all of the features you could want.
PM me if you need specific questions answered. I’ll do more research if you need it, or just tell you exactly what to buy. I’m in a hurry, so just wrote this out for ya real quick.
Hrm… didnt think about a power supply. Good point. My memory is fine at the moment. All I need to get for now is a motherboard, video card and processor. I also have a limit of around 700 right now as my dad said he’d go 50/50 on it for now to help me pay for it. I’m not worried about a hard drive or anything else since I just want to get it running for now. I’m sure I will upgrade other parts when I can get some more hours at work. Thanks for the input so far! I’m gonna try and order tomorrow night so any more help you can give is greatly appreciated 
One more issue I just thought of. All of the 7-series have DVI outputs only. Do you have an LCD screen with DVI?
If not, you will be running with the adapter, from DVI to VGA. It’ll have an impact on video unfortunately.
If you are very keen on going 7-series, start at the XFX 7600GT. I’m not sure what video card you’re running now, but an eVGA 6800XT for less than $100 might be OK for you for now, as well. Sure, it’s definitely a lesser card. With the DFI motherboard, an opteron 144, and 1GB Ballistix PC3200, it scored a 3500 in 3DMark05 on a computer I just built. For a $79 video card, that’s pretty friggin nice with a stock opteron single-core 144, considering the 7600 doesn’t do all that much more at around 6500 on a $600 processor FX-57 with 2GB RAM!
I am still running my 6600GT, playing Oblivion. Sure, I can’t get super-high-ultra-perfect graphics, but I have no complaints. I’m also saving my money as prices for the newer cards keep dropping.
Here are links:
XFX GeForce 7600GT http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Shopping/ShoppingItem.asp?ItemList=N82E16814150140 ($195. $30 MIR = $165)
eVGA GeForce 6800XT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130261 ($119. $40 MIR = $79)
Motherboards:
DFI nF4 Ultra-Infinity Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail ($89): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813136163
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail (113): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136152
The Ultra-D LANPARTY has two Network ports, and two PCI-E slots. It isn’t capable of SLI right out of the box, but a simple google search, and you can trick it into thinking it is the SLI-D using a pencil
I say just go for the Regular Ultra Infinity. You won’t need much else. You’re not even utilizing its Dual-Channel memory capabilities, nor is SATA 3.0Gb/s hard drive possibilities It is an expert board, with mounds of changeable settings in the bios for overclockers. I recommend reading before touching them… or you might think you’ve broken it when it doesnt boot up
Processors:
Single Core Opteron 144: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103600 ($170)
Dual Core Opteron 165: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588 ($325)
I say go dual-core if you can afford it The processor is the center of your system… why not, right? But, if you are an avid overclocker, the 144 (and 146) opterons are capable of adding near a gig of extra speed. Thats right… from 1.8 all the way to 2.8 GHz! Be careful though… don’t fry your new system! LOL
K, I’ve written a small novel. Ask anything else… I work all day tomorrow, but I’ll try to come on and check before tomorrow night. Don’t rush into buying computer parts. It is always good to do research.
BTW, what happened exactly to your old system? Mind if i have the bad parts you’re getting rid of? Who knows, maybe I could use the video, motherboard, or processor if they’re still good…
Yes, I have a dvi-vga adapter lying around. That shouldnt be a problem for me. I do plan on getting a new monitor soon so I’m not too worried about it for now.
Currently, i have a 9800pro which is on its last days (i was very surprised that the motherboard died on me before the video card…), and I very much want to get a 7 series card, preferably eVga. I’ve used evga cards in the last several computers I have built and ive always been very happy with the performance of them, although they can get a tad expensive.
Looking at the opteron, it looks very solid and i will probably get the 168 for $325. If I go with the first mobo you linked, ill be at around 425 total spent and that will leave me 275-300 for a video card.
Like I said, I will be upgrading other parts as I can get a few more bucks in my pocket, but for now, i just need these to get my system running again. And I should add, i am an avid gamer, so video card performance must be very good for me. I will be playing oblivion (i hope to god i can get my old save file off my hard drive :P) and WoW and other games, and i do like to have the graphics set a bit higher. again, i appreciate the advice so far and thanks for further help
i would suggest something along these lines http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/10/dual_41_ghz_cores/
The Oblivion saved games are in C:\Documents and Settings\USER\My Documents\MyGames\Oblivion\
You can just copy/paste the folder. But, I don’t see why you’re thinking of losing any data… just put the new motherboard in, and do a windows repair off of the windows CD, install the drivers for the motherboard and video card from the CDs provided, and finish the windows updates to get it up-to-date.
It sounds like you’ve never done this before… ask me before doing anything. I don’t want you to erase anything because you didn’t know of the alternatives.
Don’t forget to buy the power supply! That’d suck to get the motherboard, and not be able to plug it all in
Video card… go for the 7-series then. I’d still budget in some cash for an SATA-II (3.0Gb/s) hard drive. It will be the bottleneck in the system with the older hard drive you have.
You don’t need to start fresh either. Plug the old one in, the new one in, and ask me for a copy of a bootable GHOST. I’ll give you instructions on exactly how to copy the data, and it’ll be bootable with no problem. You complete the windows repair on the old drive and get it into windows, install the chipset and SATA drivers, and then ghost. When you reboot with only that drive in, or it as the first bootable, it will load right into windows like it did before.
I’m getting ahead of your project for now. I’ll TTYL. Give me a final spec-sheet on what you are buying before the purchase, and I’ll give you the OK
Nah, ive done hard drive recovery before and used all that stuff, but after checking out the comp a bit more it looks like my power supply may have surged and messed stuff up… still dont know. im not too worried about keeping all my old stuff either… i need to do a complete reinstall rather badly anyways :P.
Anyways, so far i think im gonna get the opteron 168, and the dfi lanparty mobo as per your suggestion. I’ll do some reviews for the video card tomorrow night aftre the sabres game. hopefully i can find a good one and ill send you links for the parts im getting on thursday or so. that way i should get parts on monday and get to work then
What is a good brand for a power supply? It’s been a while since looking for one and I really dont know who’s good anymore… except for antec… they always make solid stuff.
Also, I picked out an eVga 7900gt vid card for 275… did a bit of research on it and read some reviews and it looks like an awesome vard for its price so I think im gonna go with that.
Lol true that. I just picked an antec PSU out like 2 minutes ago. Total price for cpu, mobo, vid card and new psu = 759. with shipping it comes to 773 so not too bad
What did you end up getting?
waiting impatiently for my new parts sucksssss lol
Now, when you get your new parts… do you want to retain all of your data, programs and windows as is and just run with the new stuff?
Or, are you planning on doing a fresh install and losing EVERYTHING?
I can help one way or another, just PM me as usual. A fresh install will guarantee a perfectly running, nice smooth running computer. I like fresh installs.
But, if you want to have it running all of your programs and have all of your data just as it was, just faster… a windows repair will be required.
Booting off of the xp cd, at the first choice, press Enter, then F8 at the licensing thingy, then R for Repair. It’ll go through what looks like a windows install, but its really repairing and replacing the drivers with the new ones, so that windows will work
After that, put in the drivers disk from the motherboard, and install the Chipset, Sound and Video drivers (maybe also the Network drivers if they arent already installed)
After that, its up to you whether or not you’d like to get updated drivers from online (tweaked drivers, etc.) from the NVIdia website/forums, or the NVidia Chipsets forums. Google search that stuff.
I recommend going to ocforums.com and checking out the forums in regards to what others with the DFI motherboard are using. They have the motherboards section cut up into AMD and Intel, and then into manufacturers websites. I go there to find out all the info I need on my DFI board You should too. Plus, you may find something you didnt know before… tweaks, tips, tricks, etc…
Lol, I know how to install windows and stuff :P. And I’ve been a member of the ocforums since 04 actually. Haven’t really posted on there too much lately though. But yeah, I’m going to be doing a mostly fresh install on my raid disks. Wiping most the data from my storage drive and gonna copy the stuff I want to an external so I can get the drive as clean as possible. I’m disappointed though… the parts were supposed to come today and they didnt =(