upgrades

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dethangel

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ok heres a list of what im not upgrading on my PC:

sound blaster audigy platinum
32x CD-RW
24x DVD-rom
100GB SATA HDD
floppy
PCI firewire card
keyboard, mouse, monitor


and here is what i am upgrading:

item from to

processor P4 2.0 GHz P4 2.4GHz or 2.6GHz @800MHz
mobo Generic mobo MSI 865pe NEO2-FIS2R
case Crap case ???
memory 1GB (pc 2700) 2GB (pc 2700)
DVD+/-RW none ???
CD-ROM none ???
Video GeForce 2 ???

ok, heres the deal, i need help with

a) what brands of memory, DVD+/-RW, CD-ROM, and case i should get, and where they are cheap

b) where i should get my mobo & proc i know exactly what i want, so i just want the cheapest place, (btw i want reatail box only, no OEM or Refurb)

i dont want to spend over $50 on a case, and i dont care what it looks like, as long as it has 4 x 5.25" bays, and at least 1 x external 3.5" and 2 x internal 3.5" and at least 400w PSU

so far ive found my mobo for $140 at the cheapest place (retail box) if you can find it cheaper, thats great for me

i cant decide between the 2 procs, if i can get the 2.6GHz for under $180, ill go with it, otherwise im going with the 2.4

i dont want to spend over $150 on memory, and it has to be pc2700, or it aint even worth looking at

i want a DVD+/-RW and i dont want to spend over $200, it has to be internal, fastest possible would be great

i want a CD-ROM, just because they are faster for games (if i got a 56x CD-ROM, itll be faster than my 48x CD-RW) and i dont want to use my CD-RW or DVD-ROM for gaming, i dont want to burn them up, id rather replace a cheap CD-ROM

any help would be great, thanks in advance
 
www.tigerdirect.com

They may not be the cheapest place (check www.pricewatch.com) but you will get your order and they are a very respectable company. www.newegg.com and www.hardrive.com (1 or 2 d's, can't remember) are also very good.

If your looking to save money, may I suggest that you hold off on your mobo/cpu upgrades for a while? It doesn't make sence to upgrade only a few mhz in clock speed. Personally, I upgrade my CPU when I can come close to doubling the speed. I went from a AMD 1.33 Athlon to my current AMD XP 2600. I got more bang for my buck. I figure, with Moore's law, I'll upgrade again mid-end of next year.

I think your biggest investment would be a case. This is too often overlooked. The right case will reduce your temps, make it easier to install and maintain your system and reduce any problems that a cheep case would bring you.
 
the biggest thing with the mobo/proc is this: the new chip will have double the FSB speed (400MHz to 800MHz) and the new mobo will have gigabit lan, SATA, RAID, and UDMA 133
 
But will those things benifit you for the money you spend? Gigabit lan is nice, but it won't make a difference with your internet connection or LAN party. RAID is nice, but over rated for gaming/personal systems (IMHO).

So you have the 400mhz fsb jump, but really, you won't see that much of a difference. So why spend all that cash (unless you just have it laying around) on such a small boost?
 
Im getting $2k in grant money from school that is just for whatever i want, so yeah i do have some cash laying around.

Doubling the FSB is a HUGE jump, it will be totally noticeable, and with the addidion of either 400 or 600MHz that will add alot of speed, even without the FSB jump

PLUS with the new mobo, i will be able to have 2GB of ram instead of 1GB, that will be huge too (my current mobo only has 2 DIMM slots whereas he new one will have 4 DIMM slots

The GIGABIT LAN, i can use when i take my comp to work (we have t1 conn speed), and with LAN parties, if the other comps have GIGABIT it will be very noticeable. and plus soon everything will be GIGABIT, and i dont want to have to upgrade my MOBO again that soon.
 
Cool. If you have the cash, go for it.

But, so you know, the network hardware has to be able to handle 1000 meg line. You can have a gig card, your buddy can have a gig card, but if you go through a 100 meg hub/router/switch then that's what you get. Remember, data only travels as fast as it's slowest link.
 
dethangel said:
24x DVD-rom

24x dvd-rom... there is no such thing is there? i thought 16x was the fastest available.

and lostman how much is a 1gigabit hub/router/switch going for these days?
 
i think it is a 24x, thats what the specs said when i bought it, but ill look into it, i dont care what the speed is, i just dont want to burn it up

and its $175 for an 8 port gigabit switch from linksys

5 port switches are about $114, so they aint no big deal
 
and i am going to set up a wholly gigabit lan (except for the internet connection, i wish i could get a gigabit connection) so the gigabit nic is worth it for me
 
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