Revamping computer for $1000

[Simetrical]

Okay, my current rig is this. Yes, I know, not highly recommended for gaming. The relevant options I picked are

• Processor: Athlon 64 3400+ (2.2 GHz / 1600MT/s); 512KB L2 cache
• 1 GB DDR PC-3200 (2 DIMMS)
• GeForce 6200SE
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

I haven't made any other changes. Now, as I say, I have about $1000 I'm willing to spend. Here's the shopping list I have picked out so far at ZipZoomFly, with some help from my brother:

• Motherboard: Asus P5L-VM 1394 945G ($103.99)
• Memory: Kingston KVR667D2N5/1G 1GB ($112.90)
• CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600
• Power: Ultra ULT33136 XVS Modular 600W

Subtotal: $605.78. I anticipate using the remainder to buy a video card. Now, a few questions.

1. Should I go for a better video card and 1 GB memory or a worse video card and 2 GB memory? Either way, while I'm asking, which video card should I buy?
2. Is the resulting purchase good for the price? Any other questions I should be asking?
3. Do I have to worry about a case, or will the motherboard fit the one I have? The HP website says that mine is ATX, not microATX, but gives the same dimensions, 9.6"×9.6". If I do have to worry about the case, should I get a different motherboard (I couldn't find ATX with those dimensions) or just spend the extra $30 on a new case while I'm at it?

Ideally I'd like to get this order sorted out soon, so I can get to playing with it and not have to run NWN2 on minimum settings with regular freezes, although that's not really critical.

[SweetDreamz]

Don't know about the case, but here's my inference. That rig isn't using a propietary motherboard, so I'm willing to bet that it should fit the new motherboard. Whether it's a good case is a different matter.

Why not get the E6400 & then you can get your good videocard & the extra gig of ram?

[SPARTAN VI]

Don't know about the case, but here's my inference. That rig isn't using a propietary motherboard, so I'm willing to bet that it should fit the new motherboard. Whether it's a good case is a different matter.

Why not get the E6400 & then you can get your good videocard & the extra gig of ram?

You bring up a good point. But when I cracked open my mother's Compaq to install a wireless ethernet card, I noticed that it was a regular Asus mobo. On the other hand, a friend's Gateway was using some crap motherboard, specific to the case... upgrading would not work.

The E6400 has a 2MB L2 cache vs. the E6600's 4MB L2 cache. Honestly don't know what that means for performance, especially if they're both OC'ed to 3GHz.

[Simetrical]

Well, that's another question, then. Which two of the three should I invest the extra $100 in?

[General Sun]

Simetrical, for the video card I'm going to ask what kind of games you want to play. If only for RTS like M2TW, you will not need a super heavy duty video card. However, if you're itching to play Crysis or Unreal 2007...

[HorseArcher]

Okay, my current rig is this. Yes, I know, not highly recommended for gaming. The relevant options I picked are

• Processor: Athlon 64 3400+ (2.2 GHz / 1600MT/s); 512KB L2 cache
• 1 GB DDR PC-3200 (2 DIMMS)
• GeForce 6200SE
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

I haven't made any other changes. Now, as I say, I have about $1000 I'm willing to spend. Here's the shopping list I have picked out so far at ZipZoomFly, with some help from my brother:

• Motherboard: Asus P5L-VM 1394 945G ($103.99)
• Memory: Kingston KVR667D2N5/1G 1GB ($112.90)
• CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600
• Power: Ultra ULT33136 XVS Modular 600W

Subtotal: $605.78. I anticipate using the remainder to buy a video card. Now, a few questions.

1. Should I go for a better video card and 1 GB memory or a worse video card and 2 GB memory? Either way, while I'm asking, which video card should I buy?
2. Is the resulting purchase good for the price? Any other questions I should be asking?
3. Do I have to worry about a case, or will the motherboard fit the one I have? The HP website says that mine is ATX, not microATX, but gives the same dimensions, 9.6"×9.6". If I do have to worry about the case, should I get a different motherboard (I couldn't find ATX with those dimensions) or just spend the extra $30 on a new case while I'm at it?

Ideally I'd like to get this order sorted out soon, so I can get to playing with it and not have to run NWN2 on minimum settings with regular freezes, although that's not really critical.

not sure about your case, but you could always buy one for cheap from millions of websites such as this


I would go with a better video card and a 1GB of RAM. Later if you happen to have a 100 bucks somehow, you can always add another gig.

You will be playing games a lot better happily ever after, even with 1 gig of ram.

So, in an order I would do this:

1.get the motherboard/CPU
2.get the ram
3. get the video card (whatever you can fit in and afford)
Try fitting your MB into your old case and if it doesn't work then-

4.get the case (you must have at least 20 bucks laying around or to be made if you are out of money)


(+ add your stuff (CDROM etc) I assume you gonna recycle your pre-existing ones into it)

[Incinerate_IV]

Simetrical, are you planning to overclock?

If not, then this is the best bang for the buck Core 2 Duo motherboard: $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157096

If you are overclocking, this is the motherboard to go for, 500+ FSB: $105
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138037

For the ram, if you don't plan on overclocking, just get the cheapest pair of 1 gig sticks you can find.

If you are overclocking, get a nice pair of DDR2-800, like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227139

You should have more than enough money left over for a X1950XT 256mb for $260.

Check out this thread for some other parts/info.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=52737

And I suggest you check out Newegg.com too, Zipzoomfly sometimes has a little cheaper price, but Newegg got the bigger selection.

[Simetrical]

Simetrical, for the video card I'm going to ask what kind of games you want to play. If only for RTS like M2TW, you will not need a super heavy duty video card. However, if you're itching to play Crysis or Unreal 2007...

I play a mix of games. They do include games like Half-Life 2, so no, not just wimpy RTSes.

Simetrical, are you planning to overclock?

Nah. Too much hassle.

For the ram, if you don't plan on overclocking, just get the cheapest pair of 1 gig sticks you can find.

Isn't it a good idea to look for name brands/Qualified Vendor Lists?

[Incinerate_IV]

Isn't it a good idea to look for name brands/Qualified Vendor Lists?

As long as it's got good user reviews it's fine. Brands like Corsair/OCZ make higher quality memory for overclocking, but that means it usually cost more.

A pair of 1gig DDR2-533 should be fine.

And it looks like the X1950XT is on sale for only $210 after a $30 rebate, which is a pretty damn nice deal. Why can't they have a rebate when I bought mine two weeks ago.

[UnderdawgIV]

Get a better PSU. Refer to the following guides:

http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index.p...t=42&subpage=1
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1000883

This are the parts I would suggest:

Motherboard: (The motherboard suggested by Incinerate) $83.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157096

Memory:$105.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145526

CPU: $318.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115003

PSU: Antec True Power Trio TP3-550 ATX12V 550W
($79.99 after $15.00 Mail-In Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371002
I normally recommend a Fortron unit, OCZ GameXStream, or Seasonic S12 unit, but none of them are on sale and are priced quite high.

For GPU: eVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express $399.99 after $30.00 Mail-In Rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130071

Comes to just under $1000. This rig will spank any game out there right now.

[Freddie]

Okay, my current rig is this. Yes, I know, not highly recommended for gaming. The relevant options I picked are

• Processor: Athlon 64 3400+ (2.2 GHz / 1600MT/s); 512KB L2 cache
• 1 GB DDR PC-3200 (2 DIMMS)
• GeForce 6200SE
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

I haven't made any other changes. Now, as I say, I have about $1000 I'm willing to spend. Here's the shopping list I have picked out so far at ZipZoomFly, with some help from my brother:

• Motherboard: Asus P5L-VM 1394 945G ($103.99)
• Memory: Kingston KVR667D2N5/1G 1GB ($112.90)
• CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600
• Power: Ultra ULT33136 XVS Modular 600W

Subtotal: $605.78. I anticipate using the remainder to buy a video card. Now, a few questions.

1. Should I go for a better video card and 1 GB memory or a worse video card and 2 GB memory? Either way, while I'm asking, which video card should I buy?
2. Is the resulting purchase good for the price? Any other questions I should be asking?
3. Do I have to worry about a case, or will the motherboard fit the one I have? The HP website says that mine is ATX, not microATX, but gives the same dimensions, 9.6"×9.6". If I do have to worry about the case, should I get a different motherboard (I couldn't find ATX with those dimensions) or just spend the extra $30 on a new case while I'm at it?

Ideally I'd like to get this order sorted out soon, so I can get to playing with it and not have to run NWN2 on minimum settings with regular freezes, although that's not really critical.

Flog you current rig on ebay and build yourself a decent rig. With that kind of budget + what you get for your old one you should get decent PC out of it.

Do you need an OS and/or a monitor?

[Simetrical]

Flog you current rig on ebay and build yourself a decent rig. With that kind of budget + what you get for your old one you should get decent PC out of it.

Do you need an OS and/or a monitor?

Selling my current computer on eBay is too much trouble, honestly, especially when you factor in that then I'd have to replace the hard drive, CD drive, case, and possibly a couple of other things, or else leave them out and get even less money. I have a monitor and, I assume, an OS, unless there will be trouble transferring it (I didn't get a Windows CD: what does that mean?).

[Freddie]

(I didn't get a Windows CD: what does that mean?).

It means you're screwed if you ever need to reinstall Windows for any reason.

Maybe it's best you keep ahold of your old hard drive them. The only thing that concerns me is that big name pc's like Hp sometimes make their PC's so they are hard to upgrade. For example, is your case a normal ATX case i.e. one that any decent motherbaord will fit?

[SweetDreamz]

The Ultra XVS isn't a bad PSU.

[Simetrical]

I linked to the specs for my computer above. It says the motherboard is a 9.6"×9.6" ATX.

[Shaun]

Yeah, if you dont have a window's disc you might as well forget about upgrading as upgrading your hardware can often mean you need to reinstall windows. I had to reinstall Windows today, glad I have a few spare windows discs kicking around!
You can pick up windows for pretty cheap now, free if you know the right kind of people. I wouldnt recommend doing a serous revamp with a spare windwos disc around, if anything goes wrong its Linux for you!

For the remainder of your cash, you should be able to pick up an X1950XT 512mb edition card.

[Simetrical]

I do have a bunch of Windows disks lying around. What about making a "recovery disk"? Will that help? My computer's been bugging me to do that.

[Simetrical]

My father managed to convince me that I don't need an upgraded computer beyond graphics cards, so I ended up getting only a graphics card. Thanks a lot to everyone anyway.

[Shaun]

Which card you get? A recovery disk wont help, what you need is a complete reinstall of windows if anything gets screwed up.

[Simetrical]

7950gt.