I haven't upgraded my rig for years, and it turns out that if I want to play Bioshock I have to have a Smart Shader 3.0 card. Seeing as how my current motherboard takes AGP cards, I pretty much have to get a new motherboard that takes the new PCI Express standard.
So if someone can recommend some parts that are cheap as possible (CPU, motherboard, video card, and memory), that preferably don't run TOO hot and are quiet (or passive) I'd appreciate it.
ETA: I'm looking for gaming power equal to or greater than my current rig in my sig: P4 3 gig, x800 xt pe.
Need some advice for some CHEAP parts
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
-
Shadowknight
- Posts: 1283
- Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2003 2:43 pm
- Location: Charlotte, NC, USA
Here is a good link for some help:
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=553826
Here is a link to a copy of the Wiki. http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.p ... stcount=77
This old thread has some good information, it is just that the deals are not up to date.
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=502120
Editted to add Wiki link.[/url]
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=553826
Here is a link to a copy of the Wiki. http://forums.slickdeals.net/showpost.p ... stcount=77
This old thread has some good information, it is just that the deals are not up to date.
http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?t=502120
Editted to add Wiki link.[/url]
Last edited by Dazrin on Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
Hi Shadowknight, there are lots of answers to your question(s), depends how cheap you want, whether you value upgradeability and if you have any pref for AMD/Intel/ATI/Nvidia, they are broadly similar in terms of value for money. Depends exactly what price point and deals are on.
Do you actually WANT to upgrade the whole rig as there are powerful AGP card available that will be cheaper than new CPU/Mobo/RAM/video card. A quick look on newegg found AGP ATI X1650pro for $80-100 and
Radeon x1950pro $160-200. Not sure where the performance of these is exactly, Nvidia 7900 series equally good, possibly better performance and lower watts.
For new guts to a system I picked out, Biostar 945 chipset motherboard that should overclock some if you want, an E4400 (2GHz core 2 duo), cheapest 2x1GB DDR2 6400 and Gigabyte Radeon 2600XT passive video card. Total was $379. Video card is passive and CPU can (probably) be cooled passive by the Ninja you have (brackets maybe needed). With v quiet fan can cool it easily and/or overclock quietly if you want.
I think the 2600XT offers ~X1950pro levels of performance which is more then you current X800XT PE, not sure how much more, I estimate 50-100%. The 'net is awash with video card reviews, you should be able to find more details on relative performances.
With a bigger budget I'd go for a better motherboard, a P35 chipset board should take a 45nm CPUs when they become available, the possibility of dropping quad core chip in excess (possibly far) of 3GHz in the future maybe useful. Personally I go with an Intel chipset board for Intel CPU.
AMD X2 systems are competitive with the budget Intel ones, but there is less room for overclocking and uncertain how next generation (quad core) AMD CPUs will perform and if/how they'll work in current motherboards.
May also want more powerful video card if budget permits, I've read currently the previous (DX9) generation (X1950 / 7950) cards offer better performance/price than the new mid range DX10 cards, in current apps. One argument also goes by time DX10 support is useful/needed you'll need much more power than currently available anyway.
Sorry nothing very concrete but should give you a good start, fortunately can't go far wrong as modern (X2 and core 2) CPUs are pretty easy to cool, pick a passive video card and you're good to go
Regards, Seb
Do you actually WANT to upgrade the whole rig as there are powerful AGP card available that will be cheaper than new CPU/Mobo/RAM/video card. A quick look on newegg found AGP ATI X1650pro for $80-100 and
Radeon x1950pro $160-200. Not sure where the performance of these is exactly, Nvidia 7900 series equally good, possibly better performance and lower watts.
For new guts to a system I picked out, Biostar 945 chipset motherboard that should overclock some if you want, an E4400 (2GHz core 2 duo), cheapest 2x1GB DDR2 6400 and Gigabyte Radeon 2600XT passive video card. Total was $379. Video card is passive and CPU can (probably) be cooled passive by the Ninja you have (brackets maybe needed). With v quiet fan can cool it easily and/or overclock quietly if you want.
I think the 2600XT offers ~X1950pro levels of performance which is more then you current X800XT PE, not sure how much more, I estimate 50-100%. The 'net is awash with video card reviews, you should be able to find more details on relative performances.
With a bigger budget I'd go for a better motherboard, a P35 chipset board should take a 45nm CPUs when they become available, the possibility of dropping quad core chip in excess (possibly far) of 3GHz in the future maybe useful. Personally I go with an Intel chipset board for Intel CPU.
AMD X2 systems are competitive with the budget Intel ones, but there is less room for overclocking and uncertain how next generation (quad core) AMD CPUs will perform and if/how they'll work in current motherboards.
May also want more powerful video card if budget permits, I've read currently the previous (DX9) generation (X1950 / 7950) cards offer better performance/price than the new mid range DX10 cards, in current apps. One argument also goes by time DX10 support is useful/needed you'll need much more power than currently available anyway.
Sorry nothing very concrete but should give you a good start, fortunately can't go far wrong as modern (X2 and core 2) CPUs are pretty easy to cool, pick a passive video card and you're good to go
Regards, Seb