A nice system on a budget, what do you think?

[david_bryan]

Hello,
For the past few years I have been doing a lot of photography (with my DSLR), and alot of Photoshop. I have recently got into 3D modeling, (Maya 7 mostly), and I've been into video editing for a while (Adobe Premiere, and After Effects). My old celeron just can't hold up any longer. I'm planning on spending under $500 on an update. I already bought a nice case, with a 500w power supply. I also have a few big sata drives So this is what I'm planning. (prices
are current from newegg.com)

AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor - $282.00
Motherboard - ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ---------------- $70.00
2x -512mb of RAM CORSAIR (ValueSelect) -------------------------- $70.00
Powercolor Radeon 9550 256MB AGP 4X/8X Video Card------------ $ 64.00
--------------------------
Total = $ 486.00


So tell me what you think, I'm not doing any gaming, but if you gammers have an opion on the video card, then go ahead and tellme. If any one has had experience with windows 64bit, I'm cuirous if you notice a big difference in speed. Maybe one of you have had problems with one of the products I've chosen, if so, then tell me about it. Thanks alot

- David

 

[turtile]

Get the 3700+ (not worth the difference)

 

[SHAWN]

Get the 3700+ (not worth the difference)

Agree'd

Get a better video card with the money you save from getting the new processor like a 6600GT. Also, dont get an asrock motherboard. Go with MSI or DFI

 

[Camden]

Improve the mobo (msi or asus)
and the gfx card (evga)

It's worth it. As for the processor... I agree with turtile and shawn. You can do just as good for less, which frees up some $$$ for the better mobo and card.

 

[PZEROFGH]

MSI K8N NEO4-F for 81 bucks
3700+ san diego for 233 bucks
corsair valueselect
9600XT

looks good to me, but i would try to get like a 3200+ venice processor and upgrade to 2GB

 

[RockyZ]

Yes the video card, get a mobo that supports PCI-E and if you're on budget, get the 6800GS.

 

[david_bryan]

you have me thinking.

I thought a lot about getting PCI express or a new AGP card. I did my of research and both PCI-e and the AGP cards in my budget (around $100) preformed about the same, I would love more input. But you guys have me thinking...Maybe I should get the 3500 or the 3700 and an extra gig of ram...hum? Thanks for the info so far I'd love to hear more opinions.

 

[PZEROFGH]

i woudl say go with AGP sense you are not gaming, and probably not going to upgrade any time soon on your video card, so i say you buy my mobo and video card for 200 dollars then you buy 2GB of ram for 200 dollars and then a 3200+ for 150 which would be 550 dollars just 50 dollars over your budget but with 2GB of ram

 

[Quintox]

Yeah, get a weaker processor, but at least a 3200+, no weaker.

Ha, I can't say I've ever told anyone to get a weaker processor before.

Wow, haven't been on these forums in a while.

 

[Mr. Switch]

since you don't do much gaming, it seems superfluous to get a 6600GT, 6800GS, or 2GB of RAM because Maya isn't THAT demanding, and i doubt this person will be playing FEAR or BF2.

I say:

PZEROFGH's DFI LanParty Ultra-D
A PCI-E eVGA 6200 (NON-TC [TURBO-CACHE])
512MB-1GB of PC 3200 RAM
AMD Athlon64 3200

If you do alot of multitasking, you might want to pony up for a Pentium 4 since they are much better multi-tasker's compared to Athlon 64's (excluding the X2's). If you decide to get a P4, than you'll need to get a P4 motherboard.