Upgrade Advice Requested

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

My current system:
ALIENWARE
Processor: Intel Pentium III, ~600MHz
MB: ASUS P3C2000
Memory: 512MB SDRAM
Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200(Xtasy 128mb)
Sound Devices: Aureal - Vortex2
HD:IBM Deskstar 20.5 MB
Windows 98SE

I have been very happy with it, very stable, and I can play everything I am interested in, but soon I won’t be able to.

I called ALIENWARE tech support for recommended upgrades, I was given following recommendations and prices:
CPU: P4 2.8 $272 or
P4 3.06 $ 484
MB: ASUS A7N8X deluxe $160 or
ASUS SK8N Nforce $272
Video Card:
Radeon 9600 Pro $181
Memory:
3200 SCRAM per 512 $119
HD: 120 G $123

The nice tech lady said they would do it for the above “special returning customer” prices plus $70/Hr labor or sell me the components for these prices and I can do it myself. Takes two weeks if they do it.

Then the bad news, I go to newegg to check prices, after some confusion, I discover she recommended MB and CPUs which apparently don’t go together, makes me pretty nervous :( !

So what do the experts here recommend for me?? How hard is doing the MB, CPU and HD updates myself ?? I’ve never done these, but have added memory, video and sound cards. Do you guys think I need something else she did not suggest ? Thanks in advance.

[XPav]

Its not too bad to put in a motherboard. Just take your time, ground yourself, and screw everything in. Don't force anything, and make sure that all the parts you've got work together in the first place. If you've installed the other stuff, and you've got the confidence and a bare minimum of screwdriver skills, then you can pull it off.

What I would do with your system is buy a new Nforce 2 motherboard for an AMD CPU, new RAM, a CPU, and possibly a new power supply. Put those in your current case, and keep all the rest of the stuff you have. I might also go for an upgrade to Windows XP, and if you're doing that, get a new hard drive to put that on.

The video card upgrade I might hold off for a bit.

[Rywill]

Yeah, I made the jump from novice ("I've installed PCI cards and RAM") to initiate ("I've installed a motherboard and CPU") last year, and it was really pretty painless. Loyd has an excellent, photographed, step-by-step walkthrough (www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,751308,00.asp) on ExtremeTech, which I found incredibly helpful. Bottom line: it's not nearly as difficult or intimidating as it seems at first.

(I am assuming it doesn't violate the pimpage rules to pimp someone else's site. I have no connection to ExtremeTech or to Loyd, other than being a fanboi.)

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

Thanks.

Anyone have any specific MB/CPU combos they recommend for both P4 and AMD's latest ie any specific brand rather than a chipset recomendation, since my review at newegg showed oddles of features on different MBs, most of which I'm not sure I understand! :)??

[Bull]

Thanks.

Anyone have any specific MB/CPU combos they recommend for both P4 and AMD's latest ie any specific brand rather than a chipset recomendation, since my review at newegg showed oddles of features on different MBs, most of which I'm not sure I understand! :)??

Truth be told, doing the research for parts is the hardest part of doing the upgrade. That and figuring out why the damn thing won't go on after you've put it all together and hit the power button the first time.

For the first, just take it slow, read your favorite hardware sites, pick your parts, then come back here with a list before you buy.

For the second, it usually means I got the console wires (wires that connect the power button on the case to the mb) wrong. Take a deep breath and check every connection until you find the gulity party. It helps if you have a second PC handy so you can do internet searches, ask for help, or test parts.

Speaking of testing parts, it's always a good idea to have the vendor test your parts before shipping, if they offer this service. It usually doesn't cost much, and it saves you mucho headaches later on.

Good luck!

[steve]

The hardest part of getting everything working is that damn front panel. Why that's not standardized by now--at least for power, reset, and lights--is one of the great mysteries.

Beyond that, it's putting in a half-dozen screws, plugging in a buch of power leads, and that's about it. Installing Windows XP from a bootable CD is pretty painless, and if you've purchased fairly mainstream PC hardware, you shouldn't have any problems.

[John Reynolds]

I would also strongly suggest not buying from Alienware. $484 for a P4 3.06 when you can buy it, retail, for $264?

[Bull]

I would also strongly suggest not buying from Alienware. $484 for a P4 3.06 when you can buy it, retail, for $264?

http://www.pricewatch.com is your friend.

[Chris Nahr]

Agree with John about the price, $484 for a P4 3.06 is insane. You should get a boxed 3.20 for less than that. Unless you're Canadian I guess.

[Kevin Grey]

Lloyd, in September I built a new system with:

P4 3.0 GHz w/ Hyperthreading
ABIT IC7-G Motherboard
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

on Windows XP and its been rockstable since then. Never had a single crash. If you go the P4 route the ABIT mb above is one of the more highly recommended ones.

Building PC's has gotten a lot easier over the years. These days almost everything on the motherboard is even color-coded!


The hardest part of getting everything working is that damn front panel. Why that's not standardized by now--at least for power, reset, and lights--is one of the great mysteries.



Yeah that's the hardest part IMO. When I built my first computer I went to turn it on for the first time only to find it continuously rebooting. It turned out the reset connector was improperly connected.

Lloyd- if you do build it I would recommend only hooking up the power switch connector initially just to make sure the computer works. Once everything else is up you can go ahead and connect the Hard drive LED, Reset Switch, Sleep Mode, etc.

[SpoofyChop]

Although I certainly agree that building your own system can be relatively painless and fun, I wouldn't recommend it for the faint of heart. There are definitely some risks involved and if you screw something up you may end up frying your CPU.

If you do it, definitely read one of the step-by-step guides. I think the decision to do this is highly dependent on your risk averseness. I'm extremely risk-averse but I built and then rebuilt my system because I'm also averse to spending a lot of money.

:)

Have you looked at the possibility of getting a "barebones" system and then transferring your components into it? That will alleviate the potential problems associated with the MB/CPU/Case setup but will still save a good chunk of change since you get to reuse your old components.

[DennyA]

MWave.com sells configurations with CPU and memory already installed and tested on the motherboard, which goes a long way to towards preventing troubleshooting hassles while building a system. They also sell barebones systems with the stuff already installed in a case.

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

OK, I'm looking at this as a possible system:


ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe Pentium 4 w/ HT, ATX, 4GB DDR-SDRAM, 400/533/800MHz FSB $184 OR

Abit IC7-MAX3 i875P P4 (800FSB) Skt478 DDR ATX Motherboard w Audio, Gigabit LAN, Dual RAID $180

Pentium 4 (3.20GHz, 512KB, 800MHz, Socket 478) $396 OR
Pentium 4 (3.00GHz, 512KB, 800MHz, Socket 478 $269

Kingston 512MB Hyper X PC3500 DDR DIMM x2 $118 ea.

If I decide to do video and audio also:
RADEON 9800PRO 128MB $359 or
ASUS V9950TVD GeForce FX5900 128MB VIVO 8X AGP Video Card $325

Creative Labs AUDIGY 2 ZS PLATINUM SOUND BLASTER PCI SOUND CARD SB0350 $161

newegg prices, BTW.I will also check for the combos Denny suggested I look at.

What do you guys think? Seems similar to what Kevin recomended above. Any strong feelings about the MB,CPU,and videocard alternatives?

Do you think I should bother with the video and audio part of the upgrades or stick with what I have? Thanks to all.

[ElRavager]

OK, I'm looking at this as a possible system:

ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe Pentium 4 w/ HT, ATX, 4GB DDR-SDRAM, 400/533/800MHz FSB $184 OR

Abit IC7-MAX3 i875P P4 (800FSB) Skt478 DDR ATX Motherboard w Audio, Gigabit LAN, Dual RAID $180

Pentium 4 (3.20GHz, 512KB, 800MHz, Socket 478) $396 OR
Pentium 4 (3.00GHz, 512KB, 800MHz, Socket 478 $269

Kingston 512MB Hyper X PC3500 DDR DIMM x2 $118 ea.

If I decide to do video and audio also:
RADEON 9800PRO 128MB $359 or
ASUS V9950TVD GeForce FX5900 128MB VIVO 8X AGP Video Card $325

Creative Labs AUDIGY 2 ZS PLATINUM SOUND BLASTER PCI SOUND CARD SB0350 $161

newegg prices, BTW.I will also check for the combos Denny suggested I look at.

What do you guys think? Seems similar to what Kevin recomended above. Any strong feelings about the MB,CPU,and videocard alternatives?

Do you think I should bother with the video and audio part of the upgrades or stick with what I have? Thanks to all.

My new system was an IC7-MAX3 with 2.8c (running at 3.4). I also have the 2 x Kingston 512MB Hyper X PC3500, and a Sapphire 9800 Pro that I put a Zalman ZM80C-HP and the optional ZM-OP1 fan on (sucker ran hotter than a bitch, and the stock fan was pretty noisy).

I am really happy with my system, if I could do it over again I would save a couple of hundred by getting the IC7-G and 2.4c (overclocked). The OTES on the MAX3 is a bit of a gimmick, IMO. All from Newegg, their service rocks, etc..

[Kevin Grey]

What do you guys think? Seems similar to what Kevin recomended above. Any strong feelings about the MB,CPU,and videocard alternatives?



You pretty much have my system pegged :) I too went with the Kingston RAM and I already had an Audigy 2. As I mentioned before this is the most stable system I've ever owned.

If you are in the market for a new case I highly recommend the Antec Sonata. Its very stylish looking and more importantly very quiet.

[Lunch of Kong]

If you are in the market for a new case I highly recommend the Antec Sonata. Its very stylish looking and more importantly very quiet.

Heh. I had a dream last night that I was living *in* my Sonata case. Very Tron-like.

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

[quote]

My new system was an IC7-MAX3 with 2.8c (running at 3.4). I also have the 2 x Kingston 512MB Hyper X PC3500, and a Sapphire 9800 Pro that I put a Zalman ZM80C-HP and the optional ZM-OP1 fan on (sucker ran hotter than a bitch, and the stock fan was pretty noisy).

..

You think I need more cooling than what is already on the MB and videocard plus whatever's already in the case from my P3??

Chris Nahr's other thread has me scared to death now.....

[Chris Nahr]

Chris Nahr's other thread has me scared to death now.....

My devious plan worked! Now I'll buy the entire production run of 3+ GHz Pentium 4's and corner the world market on fast CPUs! :P

[Lunch of Kong]

Everyone has different experiences with computer heat. I run an Athlon XP at 70C, and people think I'm crazy and that my computer is going to blow up. Whereas, I don't think twice about it, as I'm running under the 90C maximum operating temperature with a 20C safety margin.

That said, I do strive to keep my hard drives cool. Most of them have max operating temps of about 60C. Without fans, a stack of hard drives can quickly exceed that temperature.

A question for those in the know: In general, are devices with moving parts more susceptible to heat-related failures than solid-state devices?

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

Received the goodies today:

MB ASUS P4C800-E DELUXE CANTERWOOD 1 $180.99
VGA ATI|RADEON 9800PRO 128M 8X RTL 1 $292.00
SOUND BLASTER|AUDIGY 2 ZS PCI RTL 1 $88.00
CPU FAN INTZALMAN CNPS6500B-ALCU RT 1 $27.99
CPU P4/3.0CGHz 800M 478P/512K HT RT 1 $276.00
DDR 512MB PC3200 HYPERX A-k RET 2 $224.00

Wish me luck with the hard part.......


Reading users' Guides tonight! :)