New PC build

S.O.A.P

Hello, I am in the process of building a new PC. Im recycling my old RAM and cd-drive, but everything else is being replaced. So far this is what im looking at.

CPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103747

Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813188006

Video card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127201

Hard drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136062

Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811156062

So what do you all think? If you know something better I should replace a part with please let me know!

bighornsheep

the 1600Pro is kinda old.....more than a year....

the board is average, I wouldnt choose that brand name but that's my preference, and it's not fitting well with what you're building. ie. the SLI

what kind of memory do you have now that you plan to use with that board?

S.O.A.P

kingston, 1 1g stick and 1 512 stick.

But about the video card, im not trying to make a real extreme PC or anything. Right now im using a AMD 2800+ with a abit NF7 mobo and a ATI 9600 pro (made it 4 years ago). So far my system has been running world of warcraft, wc3, and CS fine and without any lag for me (some exeptions).

Im just trying to make an above average computer and looking to upgrade for WoWs coming expansion .

bighornsheep

I can almost tell you that your new 'upgrade' will not have anything improvement noticable.

1600pro is basically your 9600pro with higher bandwidth, and perhaps faster ram. your board's chipset is basically the exact same with SLI (which is not in use), and SSE3.

the only thing you're really upgrading is your cpu. Every system has it's bottle neck, it's almost impossible to have everything "at the top" With this upgrade of yours, you're almost replacing one bottle neck, with another.

Your board is sick btw, if you can find a S754 A64 with New Castle Core, upgrade to OCZ performance memory, you're probably spending less, but getting much better results.

Ricka182

I've been thinking about upgrading to duo-core my self, but with the quads coming out next year, the prices for duo will drop bigtime soon enough. I may even go for the quad-core, depending on total price.....also to note, I had an MSI video card once...it crapped out 17 days after the warranty expired, and I had to buy a new one.....

bighornsheep

Ricka182 wrote:

also to note, I had an MSI video card once...it crapped out 17 days after the warranty expired, and I had to buy a new one.....

I still have an MSI mx440 and it's going strong.

S.O.A.P

bighornsheep wrote:

Your board is sick btw, if you can find a S754 A64 with New Castle Core, upgrade to OCZ performance memory, you're probably spending less, but getting much better results.

Sick as in good or bad? Hehe. Also, if this setup is going to basically give me the same performance as my old one what would you recommend I swap out/in?

bighornsheep

S.O.A.P wrote:

Sick as in good or bad? Hehe. Also, if this setup is going to basically give me the same performance as my old one what would you recommend I swap out/in?

sick in a good way. Like I said, I would swap the cpu and memory. You can get a better graphics card if you really desire top notch graphics @ highest settings.

Athlon64 S754
http://cgi.ebay.com/AMD-Athlon64-3000-socket-754-2-0-ghz_W0QQitemZ130058054671QQihZ003QQcategoryZ80139QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

OCZ Performance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227031

The main 'issue' with your machine now is not that your graphics card is bad, the 9600Pro is actually a very decent card, your cpu is likely the cause.

When I worked at a computer store, I have seen tons and tons of cases where people go for the kind of "upgrade" you are thinking, and end up being upset from the results.

If you are serious about an upgrade, and you want to go for AMD again, get the new M2 socket because they have a larger cache. Go for DDR2 667 memory, and a SATA2 NCQ hdd, that would be what I would call an upgrade. Otherwise, you're not doing much other than the assembly experience.

S.O.A.P

The processor I originally listed is an M2 socket isn't it?

Edit- Reading back did you mean my NF7 board was a good one?

bighornsheep

S.O.A.P wrote:

The processor I originally listed is an M2 socket isn't it?

Edit- Reading back did you mean my NF7 board was a good one?

hmm..didnt realize you actually picked an M2 processor, well in that case, your machine isn't even compatible, you picked a S939 board with a M2 processor.

Yes, I meant that your Nf7 is a good board.

S.O.A.P

Bleh, I'm an idiot, can't believe I didn't notice that. I guess for my motherboard I will stick with Abit, as I have no reason not to. I found these..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127007
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813127008
Both of which have a package deal with this processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103029

Only thing I'm kind of disappointed with is that the processor is not a duo-core. But the main goal of my current PC project is to just build a faster PC than my current one and be able to play WoW lag free (even with 50 characters running around on my screen).

Also would this be a better video card for my needs?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143064

By the way, thank you so much for your help, I really appreciate it. After talking with you I feel like I know so much less than I thought I did =P.

bighornsheep

yeah, the 7600gt is much better, I dont know too much about the nforce 5xx, but it seems like both motherboards are almost identical, why not get the cheaper one?

dont forget to invest in decent memory, you will not regret it. you're better off having good memory in 1gb than regular/value series in 2gb.

I wouldnt go with a single core anymore, especially if you're going to be spending that kind of money already, might as well get an X2. You dont necessarily have to get an abit board, I heard good things about this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813136021

for your cpu, consider even
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103732