[unstablefears]

Hi,

I am going to attempt to upgrade my current PC.

I want to buy a new motherboard, RAM, and CPU. I may need a new power supply too.

I was just wondering if someone could check out what i was planning on buying and telling me if it was good and compatible.

Asus M2N-E NVIDIA Socket AM2 ATX Motherboard / Audio / PCI Express / Gigabit LAN / S/PDIF / USB 2.0 / Serial ATA / RAID

OCZ Dual Channel XTC 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Gamer Memory (2 x 1024MB)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 2.50GHz / 1MB Cache / 1000MHz (2000 MT/s) FSB / Socket AM2 / Dual-Core (Brisbane) / Processor with Fan

And a Radeon X1650 512MB Video Card ( might get a X1900 if I can ).

I already have a case, 2 hard drives, DVD/CD drive and power supply ( 450 i think ).

Thanks for any information.

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Hi and welcome to Geeks to Go!

Not sure about much else, (looks pretty good to me but you might need a bigger PSU), but as far as your graphics cards are concerned, what do you need a graphics card for? If you need to buy now, go for a Radeon X1950 Pro or an Nvidia 7900GS. I've read lots of different reviews that these two cards are your best bang for buck for decent gaming performance. Otherwise wait a bit for ATI to release their DirectX 10 cards, as this will bring some good competition to the price market...

See if anyone else knows about the other things...

[Troy]

Hi and welcome to Geeks to Go!

Not sure about much else, (looks pretty good to me but you might need a bigger PSU), but as far as your graphics cards are concerned, what do you need a graphics card for? If you need to buy now, go for a Radeon X1950 Pro or an Nvidia 7900GS. I've read lots of different reviews that these two cards are your best bang for buck for decent gaming performance. Otherwise wait a bit for ATI to release their DirectX 10 cards, as this will bring some good competition to the price market...

See if anyone else knows about the other things...

[james_8970]

-Don't use OCZ with Asus motherboard, there have been to many problems.
-ATI has already launched 1 DX10 card with more to come in June.
-If you plan on spending as much as the x1900 go for the 8800GTS 320mb version. Unless you gaming at a resoltion of 1680x1050 or higher.
-450 watts will not be enough to power this.
-Get a Evga or MSI board over Asus, they have had to many DOA's lately.
James

Edited by james_8970, 17 May 2007 - 08:05 AM.

[unstablefears]

Thanks

I have a Radeon X1650 right now, but it's AGP, not PCI-E .

I want a good video card for gaming.

[unstablefears]

-Don't use OCZ with Asus motherboard, there have been to many problems.
-ATI has already launched 1 DX10 card with more to come in June.
-If you plan on spending as much as the x1900 go for the 8800GTS 320mb version. Unless you gaming at a resoltion of 1680x1050 or higher.
-450 watts will not be enough to power this.
-Get a Evga or MSI board over Asus, they have had to many DOA's lately.
James

Are Evga or MSI more expensive? I choose Asus, because that's the same motherboard type i have in my current one.

What about this for RAM?

US Modular Dual Channel 2048MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)

[james_8970]

Whats your price range on all this stuff.
OCZ is better memory, that US Modular stuff is value Ram and from what I have seen isn't as good as other brands.
Do you plan on overclocking?
James

[unstablefears]

I would like to keep it under 1000 dollars. Maybe around 600 if possible. I'm going off of tigerdirect.ca, dont know of any other canadian online computer part stores. Will probably get the video card from FutureShop. I can't find any motherboards that are Evga at tigerdirect. I found an MSI or 2.

I won't be overclocking.

Edited by unstablefears, 17 May 2007 - 08:21 AM.

[james_8970]

Future shop is over priced for video cards, do not go there!
Try NCIX.com they are really good I find.
I'll put a little something together when I get back home, but I can see this build being around 600$ since your compleatly rebuilding your system and wanting a new video card, a new PSU will also be need if you upgrade your video card.
James

[unstablefears]

Yea, I don't mind future shop that much, if something is on sale, that is usually when i pick it up. The Radeon X1950 was on sale for basically the same price as the X1650, so i am going to keep my eye out there as well, just in case.

Thanks for the help james, i'll be looking forward to see what you come up with.

I'll also take a look around NCIX.com in the mean time.

Edited by unstablefears, 17 May 2007 - 08:33 AM.

[james_8970]

Ok here we go.......

If there is a local computer shop please buy your case there shipping is a killer when it comes to cases.

http://www.tigerdire...p?EdpNo=3048567 -175
http://www.tigerdire...a...&CatId=2320 -80
http://www.tigerdire...a...74&CatId=28 -235
http://www.tigerdire...p;Sku=TSD-320AS -100
http://www.tigerdire...u=O261-8032-100-125
http://www.tigerdire...p;CatId=1483-60 -60
http://www.tigerdire...Sku=L12-1124-50 -50
http://www.ncix.com/...cture=Microsoft -150
http://www.tigerdire...a...35&CatId=84 -13

Don't get me wrong I like future shop, but they are not the people to go to for video cards as they are generally very over priced. But the odd sale brings it down to par. After shipping and taxes this build will probably come to around the area of 1100$. But I wouldn't skimp out any more then whats already there.
James

Edited by james_8970, 17 May 2007 - 06:17 PM.

[unstablefears]

Wow, thanks for all that!

I took a look at each one. I didn't add in either the DVD/CD combo, because i already have one that works fine. I also took out the HDD for now and SATA cable (unless I need that for the power supply?). I already have 2 hard-drives. But I will probably end up adding them back in if i get more cash. Also took out Vista, i already have XP, but when I go to upgrade, i'll definitely go to NCIX, much cheaper.

With the ATX motherboard, since I already have a case, how do I figure out if it fits MicroATX motherboards, or is there a difference?

ULT31848 K :: Ultra / X-Finity / 600-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / SATA-Ready / SLI Ready / Black / Power Supply w/16x CD-ROM (8.65 lbs)

O261-8032 :: OCZ Dual Channel XTC 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Gamer Memory (2 x 1024MB) (0.4 lbs)

G452-2340 :: Gigabyte M61VME-S2 NVIDIA Socket AM2 MicroATX Motherboard / Audio / Video / PCI Express / 10/100 Ethernet LAN / USB 2.0 / Serial ATA / RAID (2.3 lbs)

CP1-AM2-4800E P :: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 2.50GHz Processor (Retail) and a FREE 512MB USB 2.0 Vista Boost Flash Drive (1.1 lbs)

H231-7172 :: HIS Radeon X1950 Pro / 512MB GDDR3 / PCI Express / DL Dual DVI / HDTV / CrossFire Ready / Video Card (1.95 lbs)

Edited by unstablefears, 17 May 2007 - 08:15 PM.

[james_8970]

Sorry I keep doing this....
If you have a ATX case get a ATX motherboard, microATXC arn't even quite as powerful.
The cables were for the hard drive since OEM hard drives don't come with the cables needed.
Whats with the quote at the bottom?
James

[unstablefears]

I took a look at my motherboard manual (for my current computer ) and for the form factor it says mATX: 9.6 in. x 8.6 in. (24.5cm x 21.8cm). So, does it mean I need to get that exact same type of motherboard in order for it to fit in the case?

The quote at the bottom is just for me .

Edited by unstablefears, 17 May 2007 - 08:27 PM.

[james_8970]

if it really is mATX (micro ATX) then the build I gave you above will work great with your case. However the power supply might be too big to fit into your case, I'd look into that if I were you.
James

Edited by james_8970, 18 May 2007 - 09:37 AM.

[unstablefears]

Hmm ok, but I was hoping to get a motherboard with more then 2 DDR2 slots, so that I can upgrade it no problem when I want to.

What do you think of this motherboard?

http://www.tigerdire...a...&CatId=2320

Or one i found same brand as you mentioned:

http://www.tigerdire...a...&CatId=2320

I'll try and find out the brand/model of my current power supply.

All it says on my power supply is - Optimax Titan Power. Model: ATX-450PS

Edited by unstablefears, 18 May 2007 - 01:06 PM.