Upgrade

[CJ]

I've got a Celeron 400 with 128 megs of ram, and an Asus v1700 AGP video card, which uses a Geforce 2 MX chipset.  I was thinking of going to a T-bird 1-1.2 Ghz, and upgrading to 256 megs of ram.  Would a cheap FIC mboard and a 300 watt power supply, along with enough cooling fans for the case and cpu be a viable upgrade option? I'd probably get pc133 ram since it's cheaper, and I dont want to spend 20% more for a 5% performance increase.  Also, how do i find out what speed my current memory is?  It could be pc133 or more likely, pc100.  

Thanks in advance

CJ

[whels]

Originally posted by CJ:
I've got a Celeron 400 with 128 megs of ram, and an Asus v1700 AGP video card, which uses a Geforce 2 MX chipset.  I was thinking of going to a T-bird 1-1.2 Ghz, and upgrading to 256 megs of ram.  Would a cheap FIC mboard and a 300 watt power supply, along with enough cooling fans for the case and cpu be a viable upgrade option? I'd probably get pc133 ram since it's cheaper, and I dont want to spend 20% more for a 5% performance increase.  Also, how do i find out what speed my current memory is?  It could be pc133 or more likely, pc100.  

Thanks in advance

CJ

if u keep the Video card, ud probably double
your FPS with the new CPU over ur Cel 400.

u could exspect maybr low of 30 fps and high of 70 fps an avg about 50. just guessing though.

whels

[Lephturn]

Never go cheap on the mainboard.  Just don't do it, buy quality mainboards and you'll have far fewer problems.  As long as you stay away from the fancy newer boards with things like DDR, you can do a cheap upgrade.

If you are thinking of going with a new CPU and mainboard plus RAM with a reasonable price, I would get:

Abit KT7E mainboard: http://www.hardocp.com/reviews/mainboards/abit/kt7e/

Azzo has them for $115.00.  http://www.azzo.com/test2/mother.html

Your choice of AMD CPU budget depending.  If you can afford a new AXIA or later TBird, get one.  If not, pick up a cheap Duron and OC the crap out of it.  Lets check Azzo again just for a price.  http://www.azzo.com/test2/cpu.html#AMD

Cheap route is a Duron 800 for $58.00.  Overclock the snot out of it.
Better power is a T-bird:  1.2 Ghz Socket A is $129.

Either way you'll need a good Heatsink/fan.  http://www.azzo.com/test2/cooling.html

Lets go high end for OC potential:  Black Thermoengine with big hitter fan.  $37.00

Complete the package with a 256 Meg stick of PC133 CAS2 SDRAM.  It's SO CHEAP.  Buy a namebrand like Crucial to get decent quality and still a good deal.  http://www.crucial.com   Sell your 128 Meg stick of slower RAM... it's not really worth putting it in your upgraded box.  If you can afford it, get 2 of the 256 PC133 sticks it's so cheap.  http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.asp?imodule=CT32M64S4D7E   Free shipping... that's $125 for 512 Megs of good quality fast RAM.

Get a decent 300 Watt "AMD Aproved" PSU to go with it.  Gotta figure you won't spend too much here.  Lets say $30.

Upgrade to Kt7E, 512 megs of PC133 RAM, T-bird 1.2 Gig, good Heatsink/fan, new PSU.  $ 437.00

Upgrade to Kt7E, 256 megs of PC133 RAM, Duron 800, good Heatsink/fan, new PSU.  $ 302.00

Both would be nice rigs.  The Duron box could be upgraded to a much higher spec Athlon and more RAM later if needed.

[Nifty]

a side note...  crucial will charge sales tax in some states.  I paid $135 for the 512mb that Leph suggested because I live in Florida.  Still MUCH better than if I had bought Kingston from the local store here.

[sling322]

Wow Lephturn....you answered a question that I didnt even ask yet.  I just talked to one of my buddies yesterday and he expressed a desire to build a fast PC so that he could get into AH and check it out.  I told him that he could probably build a decent system for around $800 or so.  I was gonna post today asking for recommendations to give him for what to buy.  If you wouldnt mind, sir, could you expand your recommendations a bit to include a complete PC.  Or just drop me an email and we can talk.  Address is in the profile.  

[Eagler]

Leph
does azzo assemble and test if you order the mb, and cpu at same time?
thx for links
Eagler

[whels]

Originally posted by Eagler:
Leph
does azzo assemble and test if you order the mb, and cpu at same time?
thx for links
Eagler

1 places i like to buy things from, and they do pretest cpu/mb/ram before shiping.

crucial has 256 meg pc133 ram for like $50 right WOW. http://www.jncs.com/  http://pcnut.com/welcome.html


whels

[Robert]

has anyone ever purchased from www.pricewatch.com  and if so how was it.
The same machine the Lep talked about is like
way cheeper there. Also will these part in the list work together ?

Abit KT7E mainboard:               $ 88.00
AMD CPU 1.4ghz                     $171.00
big hitter fan                     $ 37.00
512 Meg stick of PC133 CAS2 SDRAM. $ 49.00
300 Watt "AMD Aproved" PSU         $ 30.00

total                              $375.00

[Maverick]

All,

Please keep this thread public!!! I am getting ready to either upgrade or build my own (for first time) soon and need all the info I can get. I will also be dirt poor doing this but want to get as much power as possible to keep from having to upgrade inside of 6 months......

Good stuff so far!!!  

Mav

[Defiance]

Hiya's,
Just a note to say Crucial cas2 pc133 is same price per meg as DDR pc2100  
So whether a 200 or 266 version (pc133/ddr board) rams same cost

Also if you get a T-Bird get the 266 version if you can, It works on all 200 fsb boards and obviously works on DDR ram boards  

Have Fun Def

[CJ]

Wow! thanks a bunch guys!  I like the idea of the Abit 7E mainboard.  I'll check the AMD site for the info about the PSU.

CJ