Which direction to go in? (Upgrade)

CocheseUGA

CocheseUGA

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It's been over three years since I built this computer. It's been a nice computer, but it needs more oomph. I don't play games on it, but I will be doing some work with movies (home and DVD) in the near future. I'd rather not have a movie take four hours to convert, and basically not be able to do anything else.

The specs are:
  • ASUS A7V600
  • AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton)
  • 1GB PC3200
  • 9600XT AGP 8X
  • 200GB SATA HDD
  • DVD-RW
  • XP Home

I have a fully functioning 'spare' computer, a HP Kayak business tower, XP Home, 10GB IDE HDD, P3, ~256MB memory of unknown type. I also have the old PSU out of the first machine, a 500w unit that still works fine. I also have a spare A7V600 board that I assume to be fully functional.

I want to have a nice machine to do what I stated, and a seperate media server/HTPC.

My choice seems to be one of the following routes:
  • Upgrade the Athlon processor and video card, and get more memory.
  • Start all over

The first route would probably involve me finding a 3200+ and a better AGP card, and taking the replaced units out and installing them in the Kayak case (thereby gutting and tossing all the HP parts). This SEEMS like it would be the less expensive way to go, especially if I'm thinking I will receive a decent laptop upon my 'graduation' in the summer.

The other route would be to completely start over and build a more modern setup, and again use the existing parts as a HTPC. I'm pretty sure this will be a good deal more expensive. I also am three years behind on the technology - I bought this at a discount when the 64 stuff was on the rise.

I'm planning on doing some comparison shopping over the next couple of weeks, I just wanted some input on which way to go. This machine will display video just fine, so I don't anticipate it being a problem for HTPC use.

I suppose a third option would be to use an Xbox as a HTPC/media server, but that still leaves me with the issue of upgrading this one.
 
Since your goal is to get an HTPC you might want to consider getting a Athlon X2 dual-core. Unfortunately, that would likely require a new motherboard and processor. I bought a X2 3800 socket 939 (retail, w/stock fan) for about $67 from TigerDirect to upgrade from an Athlon 64 3200.

A motherboard supporting X2 socket 939 CPUs shouldn't be very expensive as it's past-generation tech. If you do make the switch to X2 then you likely won't have to change the memory.

As for your 9600XT; that card depends on how it performs displaying 720p or 1080p video. I used to have it, but I've never played HD video with it; someone else with HTPC experience may have more knowledge on the 9600XT's prowess.
 
I'm considering a 64 X2, but as the main PC. Specifically, I've seen great reviews on the 5000+ ($130). Probably go for a $50-$70 mobo, and I can get 2GB of DDR2 800 memory for about the same price as 1GB of DDR 400 memory.

Looks like that would be the better way to go. Even a new card would only be about $100. So for $400 I can have a brand new computer that looks like it would be a serious upgrade.

I'm not concerned with HD video right now, as I don't have a HDTV. I'm more concerned with storage and implementation of DVDs and DVR.
 
New motherboard. With a 400 MHZ FSB your current board will be the bottleneck of any new parts. Your old cases are re-useable, so you can save $30-$50 right there, and as the above posters mentioned you can grab new old stock mobos for cheap that will still be a significant upgrade over your current one.
 
OK, I'm all for that. I do need specific suggestions to look at, though. I can only get so much advice from user reviews on NewEgg.
 
Start over. My next "upgrade" will be taking that route. About the only thing you could salvage with an upgrade is maybe the case and the drives. With a new rig you could add those in, anyway. Everything else is way outdated and would just be a performance bottleneck for you. A system will only perform as well as its weakest part, y'know?
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']OK, I'm all for that. I do need specific suggestions to look at, though. I can only get so much advice from user reviews on NewEgg.[/quote]

Well, you'll want as many PCI Express slots as you can afford. 2 PCI E graphics slots are nice, if possible. 1000 MHZ FSB or faster is reasonable. 2 memory slots with a decent capacity (4+ Gigs total). 2 or more SATA plugs. Little things like extra fan plugs with lots of thermal control options in the BIOS are nice too. What else am I leaving out...

Newegg reviews are pretty helpful actually. Just stick with a popular product that has at least 50+ feedback and 4+ egg ratings and you'll do fine.
 
I'd upgrade... 939, DDR memory, and AGP are all very difficult to upgrade due to availability and/or cost.

I'd start over. I know it'll be expensive now but if you just upgrade your current set up, it would cost a good bit and what'll you do when those upgrades become too slow?

Also, you'll see a huge boost in encoding speed using a cheap C2D processor than 'high-end' 939 processor.

I'd use your current main computer as the HTPC though because that HP is pretty damn slow.
 
[quote name='Vinny']

I'd use your current main computer as the HTPC though because that HP is pretty damn slow.[/QUOTE]

No doubt. The only thing I'd keep off of it is the case and possibly the HDD (would save me from buying another OS).

What's important about PCI-E besides video?

OK, here's what I'm considering at this point in time:

ASUS M2N32-SLI Wireless $170.00
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz $160.00
4GB DDR2 800 $174.00
8600GT (TBD) ~$110.00

The board looks like what I really want, the choice between wired and wireless aside. The CPU is a moving target, honestly. If it will run FSX great, then it's wonderful.
 
Alot of things are starting to use PCI-E now besides video cards. Sound Cards and the new usb 3.0 and the new fire wire standard will be using it.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']No doubt. The only thing I'd keep off of it is the case and possibly the HDD (would save me from buying another OS).

What's important about PCI-E besides video?

OK, here's what I'm considering at this point in time:

ASUS M2N32-SLI Wireless $170.00
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ Windsor 3.0GHz $160.00
4GB DDR2 800 $174.00
8600GT (TBD) ~$110.00

The board looks like what I really want, the choice between wired and wireless aside. The CPU is a moving target, honestly. If it will run FSX great, then it's wonderful.[/quote]

I only see one problem with your build. it's a waste to buy 4 gigs of ram unless you are going to use a 64bit OS. Since you plan to reinstall the same OS I doubt you will be going that. You are better off with 2 gigs of ram and putting the extra money into another area.
 
Yeah, 32bit XP can only recognize 2.5GB or something but I think 32bit Vista can recognize 3.5GB.

I don't see any major reason to move on to PCI-E for anything other than video cards.

Also, are you sure you wanna go AMD? C2Ds are much better processors at the moment and AMD has been trying to catch up since Intel released them.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']I don't play games on it, but I will be doing some work with movies (home and DVD) in the near future.[/QUOTE]

It sounds like everything you want to do is CPU-intensive, not graphics intensive. I've read of users who have made HTPCs with the Asus HDDVD/BR combo drive and get by fine on integrated video, if they have a good enough processor. Video editing, converting, etc is again all CPU-intensive, not GPU-intensive.

Just something to keep in mind.
 
I've had good luck with the AMDs, so I'm going to give them first shot. If I can find something more powerful for the same price, then of course I'll keep an open mind.

As far as games, no. Except for FSX, which was lag-errific on the current setup. But I assume I would have better results with almost anything else.
 
[quote name='CocheseUGA']I've had good luck with the AMDs, so I'm going to give them first shot. If I can find something more powerful for the same price, then of course I'll keep an open mind.

As far as games, no. Except for FSX, which was lag-errific on the current setup. But I assume I would have better results with almost anything else.[/QUOTE]

TH's charts show that the 8600GTS averages 22 fps on FSX at 1280x1024 so... an 8600GT might not be enough to run the game smoothly but what resolution/quality you play it matter too.
 
[quote name='Vinny']TH's charts show that the 8600GTS averages 22 fps on FSX at 1280x1024 so... an 8600GT might not be enough to run the game smoothly but what resolution/quality you play it matter too.[/QUOTE]

Hmm. May have to look at that. I was just doing blind review shopping, I have no idea which nVidia card is best now.

I just know that I want far away from ATI.
 
I recommend reading the reviews of the 8800 GT, if you can afford $250-$300 price tag. It's the best bang for the buck Nvidia card at the moment.
 
[quote name='Vinny']Yeah, 32bit XP can only recognize 2.5GB or something but I think 32bit Vista can recognize 3.5GB.

I don't see any major reason to move on to PCI-E for anything other than video cards.

Also, are you sure you wanna go AMD? C2Ds are much better processors at the moment and AMD has been trying to catch up since Intel released them.[/quote]


both xp and vista 32bit can recognise up to 4 gigs, but that includes stuff like video memory, so if you put 4 gigs into the system it will never see 4 gigs as being available.
 
[quote name='mwj']I recommend reading the reviews of the 8800 GT, if you can afford $250-$300 price tag. It's the best bang for the buck Nvidia card at the moment.[/quote]
8800GT's are the best bang for the buck, but aslo hard to find. The 8600 is pretty bad when it comes to gaming, but excellent at video which is what he wasnts to do. The 8800GT is the only card in the 8 series that does both well.
 
Here's a question: would any of the Turion Dual-core laptops be able to do what I'm looking for instead?

If I could spend the money to get a nice laptop instead, I may wait another year or so to upgrade the desktop.
 
If you are looking for a laptop I would look into a C2D as the seperation between them and the turions is greater than the desktop side of things. The turions are really the "no other option available" choice.
 
Cochese, really, nothing you want to do is all that demanding other than FSX, and FSX is a very demanding game -- among the most demanding.

Any modern CPU, bar Celeron or Sempron, will get the job done quite well. You'll need a buff videocard for FSX, but everyone else you want to do would be fine even on integrated video. If you want to use Aero, you'll want a cheapo GPU, but nearly anything would work.

How much are you looking to spend?
 
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