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Sanji,

Thank you for the awesome guide! You've already spent enough of your time putting it together; however, I was hoping to pick your (and anyone else's) brains on my current setup and see what you thought was worth salvaging, if anything:

ANTEC P-160 ATX case
AMD Athlon 2500 XP 2500+
ASUS A7N8X deluxe motherboard
nVidia GeForce 6200 graphics card
2 x WD800JB 80GB hard drives
1 GB Kingston ram (As I recall)

I built this system in 2003, but haven't much kept up with developments since then. I fully admit to being a noob, though I have built a few systems over the years. Your guide is a godsend, but it leaves me with some specific questions I would love your input on:

1. What build options do I have if I want to save the case with its ATX orientation? After a little reasearch, I was able to determine it is the P-160 case. I realize the case is a small part overall, but wondering if I went with an ATX orientation, whether I should keep the case.
2. I noticed when looking at new graphics cards, that they fit in a slot I don't have on my motherboard. If I recall it is the PSI-e slot or something similar. So, I am assuming new motherboard here.
3. I already have the 2 x 80 GB WD drives.... And I would probably be looking for a RAID array with the new machine. Would it make sense to get 3 more WD 80 GB drives (if they are even made any more) and give myself a 5 disk RAID array since I already have 2? I know storage is dirt cheap, just trying to conserve where it is reasonable to do so.
4. The point of this machine is 90% gaming and 10% work from home. I have a Viewsonic VX2235vm monitor and thinking about adding a second one. I don't play quake or any of the 1 person shooter types. I am more of a RPG type, Total War, Diablo, Civ, etc.
5. I haven't explored much with overclocking, but would enjoy the opportunity to try it out.
6. My sound card is fo shizzle, so that, along with the severely limited graphics card, is enough for me to want to build an entirely new system.

I would love your thoughts on this and will probably also reply to your post to get others' thoughts. I am happy to spend between 1K and 1.5K $. Thanks again for your guide!

Vlad

1 to 1.5k?

Would you consider yourself a power user or megatasker? If you're really into multi-tasking, I would suggest a wait until Apr 22nd. Intel is having a MASSIVE price drop on quad-cores then.

The case will be salvagable, but the hard drives I'm not quite sure. Once again, I'm not a RAID expert. That being said, I'm suggesting a new build from the ground up.

If you arn't a massive multi-tasker then this build should be fine.

Case: Any ATX Case
~$15-100

CPU: E4300
~$169

Mobo:GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard
$107.99

RAM: 2GB of DDR2-667 RAM
~$120-150

GPU: 8800GTS
$259.99-$300

Hard drive of your choice
~$40-100

DVD: Generic 18x or 20x DVD burner
~$30

PSU: Antec True Power Trio TP3-550w
~$100

CPU Cooling: Scythe Ninja
~$40

OS: Vista/XP
~$119

Total: ~$1086

This gives you some room to get a 2nd monitor and such. The Quad-Core path would take abour $100 more after Apr 22nd.

As for your RAID questions, I would take it to the storage forums. I'm not a RAID expert.

As for overclocking, this is a great place to start! There are many guides and such to help you on your way.

Also, your motherboard is too old to support PCI Express 16x, it appears. Given the difficulties of replacing a motherboard in a build, I'm suggesting a whole new ground up build.

Your thoughts?

Sanji,

Thanks for the immediate response!

Would you consider yourself a power user or megatasker?

Not sure I know the difference.


PSU: Antec True Power Trio TP3-550w
~$100

I "splurged" on my power supply in 2003 and got a Antec True 480 ATXRTL. Do you think I can recycle this into the new machine? What does the "Trio" stand for in the one you recommended?

OS: Vista/XP
~$119

I already have my XP disc and I believe can transfer it to the new machine, assuming I take the other out of service.

I notice that at least in this build (I'd have to go back to your original posts to check those, but) you don't mention a sound card. Is there a reason for that other than the onboard Mobo sound? Onboard sound was generally a thing to be wary of in 2003 ... Has that changed? If you had to recommend one, what would you go with? My Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX external USB "card" just crapped out, which is, among other things, what got me checking this forum out again after 4 years.

Just to clarify, there's no need to save money for the 2nd monitor I mentioned. Just one of those extra things I may or may not pick up at some point. I'd just like to make sure I am maximizing my ability to upgrade rather than replace as the expected new technologies come out in the processor, cpu, gpu etc. areas.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and taking the time to respond to my post(s)!

Vlad

No way this info should be lost.

STICKY!!

/bump

Thanks I think. Just when i thought i kind of knew what I wanted along came your guide, lol. Think I'll wait till May and try again to see how far the $ will go.

8O

8O

HAHAHHA...that must be one HUGE die!

How many transistors do you need for one byte of L2 cache?

Back on topic, why is the P160/ANTEC SOLO not in the case list? They are the same, P160=White + Bundled 430W PSU, ANTEC SOLO=Black w/ no PSU.

8O

HAHAHHA...that must be one HUGE die!

Hahaha. It is the biggest and best processor ever! I'll fix it

You may want to change the $500 Intel build to a Pentium D 915; $20 more, you get a cooler included, and better overclocking (65nm), not to mention much better performance at stock speeds.

Bumping this.

This is a great resource but perhaps the mods won't make it a sticky cause they are worried that you might not keep it up to date! This is really a hell of a lot of information, I love it

good work