PC Upgrade with $500

Dori-Ma · Post by **Dori-Ma** » 2002-11-04 07:43pm

I just recently came into some extra money and I was planning on upgrading my PC but I really can't decide what I should add. Any suggestions?

Stats

CPU - AMD XP 2100 1.73 GHZ
Motherboard - ASUS A7V-333 with SB1394 and RAID
RAM - 512MB DDR PC 2700 333 MHZ (single stick)
Harddrive - Maxtor 80GB ATA 133 7200rpm
DVD-rom - Pacific Digital 16x
Disk Drive - Generic 3.5"
Zip Drive - Iomega 250MB
Video - ATI Radeon 7500 64MB DDR
Sound - Audigy MP3+ with SB1394
Network - LinkSys 10/100
Case - ATX with 235W power supply
Monitor - KDS 19" CRT
OS - Windows 98

Post by **Dalton** » 2002-11-04 08:02pm

Maybe a new case, one with a power supply >= 300W?

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2002-11-04 08:08pm

Beer Lots of Beer

//and Win xp instead of win98 of Linux if you prefer the free route

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2002-11-04 08:09pm

New Case with 500W PSU, Maxed-out Vid Card (Radeon 9700 or Geforce4 Ti 480), Lite-On CD/DVD/RW, and a warezed Win2K Pro OS. Lata and Happy Fragging!
P.S. Can I have your old Radeon and a copy of your Win2K Disk?

salm · Post by **salm** » 2002-11-04 08:15pm

double the RAM!

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-11-04 08:18pm

New Case new Card

I recomend ATACOM

I build da pimping for you to revert to slang for a second

Koolance, WaterCooling Case, Extremly pimping looking plus Watercooling means it cools good and it cools quiet

The CPU Cooler the 200G Gold Cooler

And the Video Card

ASUS
V8420TD

Yes it be a 4200, But it have 128 Megs of Memory on there Rated the same as a 4600, it will overlock like nobdys business and lets you squease in the excellent Water-Cooling Case

By the way the Watercooling be extremly easy to assemble, if one can water the flowers and put the hose off and on to do it, one can put togther a Koolance rig, very easy

Raptor 597 · Post by **Raptor 597** » 2002-11-04 08:31pm

Dori-Ma, might want too invest in a new computer. Or not I admit even I am inclined not too give up the Windows 98 OS

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-11-04 08:34pm

New Computer? No he has a great basies now, he's fine for the next 2 years

And don't double the Ram, There is nothing in bobs name you will ever do with more than 512 Megs of Ram

Yet

But just to let you know nothing will use even all 256 megs yet short of massive multitasking so 512 is right there on the edge of overkill and not leaping of the abyss of insanity
IE 1 Gigabite

Raptor 597 · Post by **Raptor 597** » 2002-11-04 08:38pm

Mr Bean wrote:New Computer? No he has a great basies now, he's fine for the next 2 years

And don't double the Ram, There is nothing in bobs name you will ever do with more than 512 Megs of Ram

Yet

But just to let you know nothing will use even all 256 megs yet short of massive multitasking so 512 is right there on the edge of overkill and not leaping of the abyss of insanity
IE 1 Gigabite

Why not buy a goverment supercompter with 1200 Gigabytes and more then 2 processors. Now thats the life.

XPViking · Post by **XPViking** » 2002-11-04 08:42pm

Mr. Bean,

When should a person consider a watercooling system for their computer?

XPViking

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-11-04 08:49pm

When should a person consider a watercooling system for their computer

When your Computer has the Words "Pentium IV" or "AMD" on any of the compents

Raptor 597 · Post by **Raptor 597** » 2002-11-04 08:52pm

Mr Bean wrote:
When should a person consider a watercooling system for their computer
When your Computer has the Words "Pentium IV" or "AMD" on any of the compents

Hmm, my AMD never burned in 6 years, but anyhows Bean whats the cost for a decent water cooler compatible with a Pentium IV?

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-11-04 08:55pm

Hmm, my AMD never burned in 6 years, but anyhows Bean whats the cost for a decent water cooler compatible with a Pentium IV?

Less than $300 with Koolance, I tend to pimp there stuff as its very easy for babys born yesterday to put togther

Espcilly when they start putting out stuff like this
http://koolance.com/products/ext-a01/

Yep fokes, External Water-Cooling, Now any Case can have a Water-Cooled CPU, Video Card and HD too if you want

Koolance also I pimp because they sell for less than $10 Brackets so thier CPU coolers can be used for any CPU invented avaible off thier website and thier Coolers are designed as such to be Modualr, So your System will be good for the next ten years(And conicdently, thier Warrenty runs that long as well)

Raptor 597 · Post by **Raptor 597** » 2002-11-04 09:01pm

I've had $1200 accquired by Christmas 2004, though I'll get my parents to get it or something.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2002-11-04 09:36pm

Suggestions:

Radeon 9700 Pro + new PSU
Better monitor
Better sound card (TB Santa Cruz, for example)
Better network card (Intel or 3Com)
CD-RW

Enlightenment · Post by **Enlightenment** » 2002-11-04 09:53pm

Mr Bean wrote: But just to let you know nothing will use even all 256 megs yet short of massive multitasking

You've never run Lightwave, Maya, 3DSMax, or done high-res Photoshop work, have you?

LW can easily eat up 200MB with only a moderately complex scene. 3DSMax is worse.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2002-11-05 06:26am

Mr Bean wrote:New Computer? No he has a great basies now, he's fine for the next 2 years

And don't double the Ram, There is nothing in bobs name you will ever do with more than 512 Megs of Ram

Yet

But just to let you know nothing will use even all 256 megs yet short of massive multitasking so 512 is right there on the edge of overkill and not leaping of the abyss of insanity
IE 1 Gigabite

bah! have you ever had 3ds max running with a modell with 100.000 polygons?

Crazy_Vasey · Post by **Crazy_Vasey** » 2002-11-05 06:29am

Geforce 5 should be out soon, might want to hold off and wait to see how good it is before splurging on a 9700.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-11-05 08:28am

You've never run Lightwave, Maya, 3DSMax, or done high-res Photoshop work, have you?

You seem to be missing the point eh? How many of those things cost under $1000?

You relise of course to justfiy the 1GB of Ram one has to have programs that will use it... and an OS that will address that much Memory like the Various Versions of Linux, Win200k and Win XP Proffesional(Home edition means you have to do some reg hacking to get it off the 256MEG limit of ME)

Dori-Ma · Post by **Dori-Ma** » 2002-11-05 09:44am

Faram wrote:Beer Lots of Beer

//and Win xp instead of win98 of Linux if you prefer the free route

Beer? Since I don't drink beer how about we change that to lots and lots of Sprite?

Back to the subject at hand. I do plan on upgrading to XP soon. I actually have a copy laying around somewhere but I'm waiting to install it until I get a second hard drive. Reason being, XP still has compatiblity issues with some of my games, so I'll have 98 on one drive and XP on the other. I also forgot to mention that I have a rather crappy sound system for my computer. It consists of Sony headphones for when I need to restrict the sound levels and a pair of very tinny speakers. What speaker sets would you guys suggest?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2002-11-05 02:04pm

XP Home Edition does not have the memory-size issues that plagued the W9X series.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-11-05 02:14pm

It consists of Sony headphones for when I need to restrict the sound levels and a pair of very tinny speakers. What speaker sets would you guys suggest?

Klipsch ProMedia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The THX®-Certified ProMedia™ 5.1
Only Speakers on the Market that Can Bust Windows out on High End Volumes
FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL THE POWER BWHAHAHAHAHAH!

XP Home Edition does not have the memory-size issues that plagued the W9X series.

Not if one does a quick bit of Reg-Hacking or Downloads any of the Service packs but an unknow number of XP Home's Where shiped out with some improrer memory setting limiting it to regcongize any amount of memory but only USE 256 Megs

Much like one had to order Win98 to "Conserver Swap Space" in order to get it to use all your RAM

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2002-11-05 02:42pm

Bah. Axiom Audio M1ti Bookshelves + Cambridge Audio A300 Integrated Amp would 0wn that system.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2002-11-05 02:56pm

Mr Bean wrote:
You've never run Lightwave, Maya, 3DSMax, or done high-res Photoshop work, have you?
You seem to be missing the point eh? How many of those things cost under $1000?

You relise of course to justfiy the 1GB of Ram one has to have programs that will use it... and an OS that will address that much Memory like the Various Versions of Linux, Win200k and Win XP Proffesional(Home edition means you have to do some reg hacking to get it off the 256MEG limit of ME)

the price is not the point if you already have one of these programms. furthermore he might want to run the 30 day trial versions, gmax or maya PLE which are for free.

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-11-05 03:18pm

the price is not the point if you already have one of these programms.

The point IS if he has the money TO Afford these Programs money likely is no object and/or he's a fiflth weasel(IE downloaded a Warz) in which case I would advise him to vigiruously wash his computer with soap and water