[Crunchy409]

hi everyone.

This is my current set-up and I'm looking to upgrade. I definitely need to get a new motherboard, case, and psu because of the fact that this is a DELL and 'proprietary.' To upgrade anything, I will need those three new items.

I have:
cpu- P4 2.5 (Socket 478)
CPU FSB- 133.31 MHz
memory- 512 MB (PC2100 DDR SDRAM)
video card- RADEON 9200 SERIES (128 MB) (AGP)

I currently plan on keeping:
IDE Hard drives (two 80 gig), but I would like SATA capability on new motherboard for future upgrading
CD-R/DVD drive
Monitor/keyboard/mouse
speakers

I would like to aim for $300-$500 for this minor upgrade, with further upgrade possibilities in the future. This price is in addition to any money I can get for my Dell GX260 case, motherboard, and any of the parts I have not used for the upgrade (i.e. cpu chip, memory, video card).

I am considering switching to a motherboard with AMD.
I use the system for multitasking as well as gaming (Madden, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, etc.)

Thanks so much for any ideas!

[Advertisements]

well for starters you cant just "switch" to AMD it is a totally different chip, architecture and the whole lot

you have an intel pentium 4 you have to find a board that supports intel socket 478
or
you have to buy a new proccesor ,
troppo

[troppo]

well for starters you cant just "switch" to AMD it is a totally different chip, architecture and the whole lot

you have an intel pentium 4 you have to find a board that supports intel socket 478
or
you have to buy a new proccesor ,
troppo

[warriorscot]

He didnt say that he was keeping the cpu troppo.

Its doable for under $500 since you allready have a monitor.

What you are basically wanting is a whole new system which is just doable. Getting a good cheap PSU and case will be your biggest bother, i would try and get a 939 system with a 3000+ venice, which i think you could maybe just manage if you shop around.

Edited by warriorscot, 18 April 2006 - 09:13 AM.

[troppo]

yes right you are once again warrior scot sorry im tired big day at school lol
dont you just hate maths lol

AMD's are good chips and so are intels,

AMD's are better for gaming and from what i understand are cheaper but my p4 3.0 ghz runs and handles games pretty well
better with a good grahics card.
troppo

[warriorscot]

You dont have to tell me about maths, ill probably have to resit all my maths exams this year.

AMDs are ALOT cheaper which is the biggest factor here.

[Crunchy409]

I was debating two options, as far as motherboard/cpu is concerned:

get a new motherboard that I can put my p4 2.5 INTO, and then add more memory than I currently have, and a better video card..

OR

get a new motherboard AND new chip (AMD perhaps) and try to get a few bucks for my intel chip (which I could package with my current motherboard)

any thoughts?

Also, Warriorscot your idea from earlier- "Getting a good cheap PCU and case will be your biggest bother, i would try and get a 939 system with a 3000+ venice." Would this be a worthwhile upgrade and get me better performance than my current set-up, and make for easy future upgrading? (Or should I wait a little and put some more money into it originally)

Edited by Crunchy409, 18 April 2006 - 07:51 AM.

[warriorscot]

Thats the combo i was thinking of reccomendng you can get it pretty cheap, <$200 which is good for a mobo and cpu and it would be faster than what you have now especially in games.

It was actually typo, i meant PSU and case as in power supply and case, its hard to get those cheap enough as you need to avoid some PSUs as they arent great.

In terms of having something upgradable a 939 system is your best bet as that would give you PCI-e and a chipset with plenty of choice, its also being replaced by a new AM2 chipset which should mean getting the soon to be obsolete 939 chips will be cheap and because of there popularity easy.

[Crunchy409]

you think I could get anything for my dell case/powersupply, motherboard/cpu ?

[Seven!]

The Pentium IV's on Socket 478 run hot enough to contribute to global warming. If you're going to stay with Intel, upgrade to socket T (LGA 775).

[Mr.Chow]

In terms of having something upgradable a 939 system is your best bet as that would give you PCI-e and a chipset with plenty of choice, its also being replaced by a new AM2 chipset which should mean getting the soon to be obsolete 939 chips will be cheap and because of there popularity easy.

939 Can get pretty expensive ... They only have PCI-E Slots for video so he proably couldn't switch his video card over, so he would have to buy a new one. The proccessor would cost about $500+ Motherboard about $120-$200. He would proably need a whole new system =P ALthough it would be prety neat

[Crunchy409]

yeah.. the ultimate goal of this whole thing is to get better graphics while at least maintaining my current multi-tasking performance (and try to keep the bottom line under $500 after selling current parts)... I CANNOT upgrade my video card without also upgrading my case/psu/motherboard due to DELL's amazing proprietary system which doesn't put enough power through to run any graphics card worthwhile!!

So I'm just trying to figure out my best options...
thanks for the help so far.

Anyone else have any other ideas?

Edited by Crunchy409, 18 April 2006 - 08:21 PM.

[warriorscot]

Chow where are you buying your CPUs $500 will get you a fairly high end chip low end AMDs run at about $100 for 939, low end gfx card $100 again, motherboard $80ish, vid card $80-$150 for a decent budget card, you can get them a little less if you want really cheap, you can get decent case and PSUs for under $50 but you have to shop around for them and pick carefully.

You might get something for the old dell parts dell prices for spares can be quite high so you might get lucky and find some that needs a PSU like yours or that cpu you never know.

Edited by warriorscot, 19 April 2006 - 06:22 AM.

[jrm20]

939 Can get pretty expensive ... They only have PCI-E Slots for video so he proably couldn't switch his video card over, so he would have to buy a new one. The proccessor would cost about $500+ Motherboard about $120-$200. He would proably need a whole new system =P ALthough it would be prety neat

socket 939 starts at $115 for a venice 3000+ up to over $1000. They all dont run $500...

You can get a fast 939 for$200-$300

[p-zero]

Crunchy, you can put together a system for roughly 500. You can get a pretty nice motherboard (asus,abit,msi,etc) for under $100 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131584, for a little over you can even get a SLI mobo. As for the cpu heres the cheapest one http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103537. Heres a case http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811209025.
And heres a video card http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811209025.
These items are just suggestions for your price range, it would be an all around GOOD system with GOOD performance.
And as for your dell stuff, put it on eBay, itll go like hot cakes.
Hope this helps.
-P.

[Crunchy409]

p-zero--- really appreciate your time. two quick questions- first, that last link (to the video card) goes back to the case. secondly, I just want your opinion on whether this will improve my performance and if it is worth it (or whether I should save for a couple more years and see what I can do then, - or - does this set-up give me upgrade options for the future?)

Thanks again!

Edited by Crunchy409, 19 April 2006 - 09:25 AM.