$1000 Upgrade

[viperman5000]

Ok, here's the story:
As of now I need to upgrade my computer from a socket 754 to probably a 939. Also upgrading from good ol' AGP. I have a $1000 budget. I was thinking along the lines of a:

AMD 4400+ ::from:: AMD 3000+
ASUS A8N SLi mobo ::from:: DFI nF3 LANparty
Nvidia 7900GT ::from:: Nvidia 6600GT
2GB RAM (don't know) ::from:: 2x512MB Corsair XMS

So, with that said. I'm not big into OC'ing, although I have, but minimally. It's main use will gaming but also basically multi-tasking. I will be re-using my old HD, sound card, power supply, DVD drives, and case. I am also looking into some type of CPU heatsink as I doubt the stock heatsink will work, perhaps a Zalman. I do intend to run SLi, hopefully, sometime in the future.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[the yellow one]

ever considered a AM2 one?

 

[Ste]

With a large Upgrade theres always the possible need for a new PSU.

So what is your current one?

 

[viperman5000]

I have, but I'm not sure how the cost factor would play out. I've even thought about Conroe, but again, cost. Also, I've heard a lot of the old AMD X2 CPUs are dropping drastically in price now that Conroe is out. And, I was hoping to get this done before I head off to school.

 

[viperman5000]

My current power supply is an Aspire 520W. I got it fairly recently, maybe like 2/3 months.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817148008

 

[arctic388]

i have really learned a lot from this forum but it seems that questions nver get answered "simply".

now i see it as a good thing cause it opnes up a lot of other doors but some people could easily be frustrated by this.


now to answer your question.... what you have picked out looks really good. and the HSF that comes with a 939 processor is known to be really good. unless you OC i dont see the reason for the Zalman.

that is the answer if you plan to stick with socket 939. personally i wouldnt as of right now though. just ask if you want opinions on that.

 

[Nukem]

near the end of this month the prices are supposed to drop... the 24th from reading... if you can wait until then I would suggest it...

 

[viperman5000]

Ok, thanks for the input with the heat sink situation. Any opinions as if I should/shouldn't go with Conroe instead, which I have heard good stuff about.

EDIT: Any opinions on what kind of RAM I should get? Hopefully keeping the cost to a minimum with still good performance. So with everything calculated as of now, I run a few dollars over with $200 RAM (just random). And that's also before all the prices start to drop.

 

[Ste]

Well the Power supply isn't the best, but you shouldn't need to upgrade unless it has trouble powering the new components..

 

[arctic388]

read the section above this one on conroe the graph on page 3 really opened my eyes to conroe. i thought for sure i'd be 939 then AM2 came along and now its all Conroe. for 1000 you could do a pretty good build with a conroe if you can wait.