Author Topic: Time to Buy a new Cpu..advice?? (Read 802 times)

28sweep · « **on:** December 24, 2002, 07:45:59 PM »

I got a PIII900 and I think its time to buy a new CPU (for Il2 and FB's). What is the biggest bang for the buck (a good trade off between $$ and power)?? Do I need a new muther board (what does that mean) and is it like installing memory..just plug it in and it works??? Any help would be greatly apprech......

JB73 · « **Reply #1 on:** December 24, 2002, 08:54:27 PM »

the "Motherboard" has the babies w/help from the "Fatherboard" (think the movie "batteries not invluded)

once you get the "Motherboard" and the "Fatherboard' together, depending on the type, you get the "Babyboards"... ie. the video and sound boards. the occasional network board comes out and that is very fortunate if you want to be on a network.

this is why IT people get paid so well... they have to know which "Motherboard"s and "Fatherboard"s will produce the correct output that a company wants.

there is of course "help desk" out there for when the "Motherboard" goes into menopause. the inherant mood swings that come with that condition. the help desk also cares for the "Motherboard" during the gestation process. they must be fed the proper diet of drivers and CD roms.

The "house" that the "Motherboard" and "Fatherboard" live in also needs attention. it is not uncommon for the IT staff to have to upgrade for more space once the "Babyboards" are born. they take up space quickly.

it can be alot of work raising a "PC" family, but it is worth it in the end. a well cared for family can give you hours of fun and games that the "Motherboard" "Fatherboard" and Babyboards" love to play so much.

the side effect is that companies don't like their PC's playing, they like them to work only. thats another IT job... keeping them form playing. the boards in return rebel against the work, try to play and IT puts them back in line... or simply replaces them. thats what keep them working sometimes, the threat of beeing "put out to pasture".

i hope this helps.

T0J0 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 24, 2002, 09:03:30 PM »

I prefer ASUS Motherboards because they just make good damn products.. Once I find the board I need then I look at the chips that fit on the board and then price factors in... I went the other route for years and bought the chip first then the MB... But ended up with some real crap motherboards... a couple of % either way on chip performance means nothing but a Motherboard that sucks period is worse of the evils... And chips are cheap now anyway...
IMHO
http://www.pricewatch.com

T0J0

AKDejaVu · « **Reply #3 on:** December 24, 2002, 09:39:56 PM »

You'll have to get a new motherboard regardless. Your current setup is a P-3 and there's not really much room for improving on what you have without getting a P-4 or an Athalon. Most likely, you'll have to get memory too.

The hardware forum usually has a group of people that love to answer these types of questions.

AKDejaVu

Mw007 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 25, 2002, 02:24:11 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by T0J0
I prefer ASUS Motherboards because they just make good damn products.. Once I find the board I need then I look at the chips that fit on the board and then price factors in
IMHO
T0J0

I agree. I just built my first home pc w/ about 3 mos of research and I went w/ Asus w/ an AMD 1800xp processor. I built in July- no probs so far. I am very happy w/ Asus.

boxboy28 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 25, 2002, 10:54:56 AM »

Sweep like the others said go for an ASUS board!
if your an AMD ma go fot the A7N8X ( i think thats it) Its the Nvidia base KT400 chip set with dual channel DDR.
what ya need is:
Mobo (your old P3 is out dated) <$160
CPU - depends on brand
RAM - depends if you buy 1 stick or 2 and type!
I just upgraded mine this fall and spent $512 for mobo,cpu,ram
Im using win XPpro so slapped all my stuff together entered bios right away and every thing booted fine and XP installed all the stuff i needed right away, (no probs what so ever)

Most will tell you to do a complete reinstall of you OS and everything else! but i was lucky and didnt have to, for me that would have been a last resort!
If you decide to do it ill be glad to help ya. Im up in waterford not too far from berkley!

i hope i answered some of your questions!

Box:D

28sweep · « **Reply #6 on:** December 25, 2002, 11:02:11 AM »

Thanks BOXBOY...I got a stick of 500meg of RAM that I'm using right now and a new GeForce4Ti4200 but my frames in Il2 still suck....I'm sure its a processor Problem. PIII900 is rather low end now. I just want to buy a new muther board and chip and use the rest of my computer. So I'll get a ASUS mutherboard....any good documentation on how to build intall all this stuff??????

Gyro/T69 · « **Reply #7 on:** December 25, 2002, 01:30:57 PM »

Read this and this. Should get you through it.

http://www17.tomshardware.com/howto/20020904/index.html

http://www17.tomshardware.com/howto/20020918/index.html

JB73 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 25, 2002, 08:44:25 PM »

ok seroius post this time...

first decide on the CPU you want. I recommend the Athlon XP2400 about $250

then find a board that suits it... MSI has been real good to me (ASUS on the other hand has major repair support issues in my dealings)

Soyo is also very good.

then you need new memory for the board. minnium 512k for that powerful of a system $150-$200

also a new heatsink for the CPU ... go all copper not just copper contact $45

then a new case with @ least 4+ fans. $90-$250

then a new power supply that the powerful processor needs... minium $90

all other parts (vid card, sound, network, CDrom, Floppy, Hard drive) can be saved and used.

i would also recommend going with XP to control that power (win98 has some issues with over 256 memory and high BUS speeds sometimes)

you should also re-format your HD and reload OS. the bugs with the new Motherboard drivers can be a pain in the arse if you dont.

that should get you going on the right track i hope

T0J0 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 26, 2002, 09:47:45 AM »

I would go with an Asus MB and Athlon xp chip, and either ATI Radeon Vid card or ASUS vid card.... Just an opinion though..
The attachment should speak for itself...
T0J0

lord dolf vader · « **Reply #10 on:** December 26, 2002, 11:03:32 AM »

you know the magic of pricewatch.com yes?

easy to find the sweet spot

Pfunk · « **Reply #11 on:** December 26, 2002, 11:26:20 AM »

WARNING....before you buy anything from pricewatch you had better do some research on the company you are buying from. Several companies on there have HORRIBLE customer service, extremely high shipping rates, and some are just plain scams. Go to http://WWW.RESELLERRATINGS.COM and check the company you plan to buy from. I do all my computer shopping at http://www.newegg.com sometimes their prices are higher, sometimes lower, but they are by FAR the best company to deal with, hence the 9.73 lifetime rating.

StSanta · « **Reply #12 on:** December 26, 2002, 02:44:42 PM »

Might need a new casing with accompanying power supply. Not a bad idea if you have the cash.

You'll have to put in small things the screws that hold the motherboard to the casing. Just check where the holes in the mobo is and attach 'em.

Rest is explained by the manual. Power chord can only go in one place and in one way, so that one is easy. Ram just plops in. Video and sound card just the same. CPU and fan - now that differs depending on what kind of fan you got. Use the manual and read it carefully - know of a few that have messed up wht that. Make sure the CPU is attached correctly, and make sure there's no air between the CPU and the metal cooling device the fan is attached to. Remember to connect power to the fan.

Hard drives, disk drive and cd drive is pretty easy - pop them in, put power chord in, connect the two (usualy) broad cables to 'em all, and a thinner one to the diskette drive. Plop in all the LED/Power plugs - follow manual to the mobo.

It's really easy. Just make sure you put those things the screws that hold the motherboard to the casing in correctly. If you put one in the wrong place, it might short circuit your board (heh, brother did that).

It's no biggie, but computer illiterate people will think you're a computer expert if you know how to connect a few pieces of hardware. You'll get bragging rights around such people

.

Karnak · « **Reply #13 on:** December 26, 2002, 11:13:05 PM »

I disagree. I've had a lot of problems with ASUS boards. Enough to the point where I don't use them anymore, as it just seems that you are paying for a reputation that they have let slide and not actual quality.

The best boards in my experience are MSI boards.

Avoid Abit like the plague.

Avoid any VIA chipset like the plague.

I do agree that the AthlonXP and nVidia nForce2 chipset are the way to go.

Look at this one:
http://www.msicomputer.com/product/detail_spec/product_detail.asp?model=K7N2-L

Do a search for it on PriceWatch to get the best prices.

StSanta · « **Reply #14 on:** December 27, 2002, 07:17:11 PM »

My ASUS CUV4X won't allow me to install Win XP. Not sure why. Father had same mobo; same problem. He changed just the mobo, and WinXP installed fine.