Help My N00bish PC Knowledge.

[Princess]

I have been considering upgrading my current computer. I'm no Wiz at computers by no means and I have no idea what I need. This is what I have (I think):

-Athlon 1.4 Processor
-18 gig HD
-512 RAM
-GeForce 3
-And that's all I can remember.

Basically, what I'm looking for, is something that makes graphics super smooth. Something that I can load my PC up with tons of crap w/out having to delete things. And that's really it. I guess I want to update my graphics card, maybe my processor (I really don't understand these things), maybe some more ram?, and a larger harddrive? I'd like to spend ~500. I'd also like to know how I can get a good, lightweight, labtop for ~1000 that I could use Photoshop/Flash/Word/Mp3s on. Thanks!! You guys are the smrtest! ;).

[Uthor]

Basically, what I'm looking for, is something that makes graphics super smooth. Something that I can load my PC up with tons of crap w/out having to delete things.

What graphics are you looking to make super smooth? Any particular game or program? Or are you talking just working within Windows?

For $500, well, you can get a nice video card for $250 or so. You can spend less and get a noticable upgrade, but it won't be DirectX 9 compatible and will be dated once HL2 and Doom3 come out.

I just bought an Athlon XP 2500+, new mobo, and a new power supply for about $300 (i needed a quick fix for my broken computer, and I had 512 MB of RAM still) and coupled with my GeForce 4 Ti4400 (a DirectX 8 card), well, I tried FarCry and that played decently, but I had to turn down the graphics to get a playable framerate. Since you already have an AMD proc, your old RAM should work in this kind of setup.

I have a friend who bought a 2.4 GHz P4, mem, mobo, and power supply, but no video card for $460 a month ago. Going that route, your video card will still be holding back the super smooth graphics that you're looking for, but running multiple programs in Windows will be really smooth. Also, this setup will require you to get new RAM. He bought this at a local shop, so you caould get this some what cheaper looking online.

As for the 512 MB of RAM, I personally think that's plenty for now. If you have the extra cash, another 512 won't hurt, but I never notice draw backs from having too little RAM. At least, not yet.

Personally, if you could scrounge up a $100 or so more, I'd go with the P4 setup above with a mid level ATI card. $500 would make a great budget PC from scratch, but you'd need a bit more for a good gaming PC.

A bit of a help would be knowing what kind of motherboard you have. With a 1.4 Athlon, I doubt you can handle a much better processor, but you might.

For cheap laptops, well, hopefulyl someone else will know cause I don't.

[Princess]

Ah, interesting. Well, I'm planning on playing World of Warcraft & possibly HL2 when they come out. I'd like something better than a GF4. I forgot what kind of motherboard I have (and am not at home), but I'll try to load up that info later. I can spend more than 500, in fact, I can spend 1500, but I'd like to get a nice laptop for school (dragging around my desktop sucks). I like being able to have multiple things open (i.e. Flash, Photoshop, internet explorer, games). That's an interesting setup though, I'll have to check into that. Thanks a lot Uthor.

[Uthor]

Well, no one seems to know the specs on HL2, and everyone is waiting so they know what they need to upgrade. I heard that it should run on a computer similar to yours, but running and being playable are two very different things.

I look at laptops every once in a while, and the only ones that interest me are the ones around $1400 with Cantrino procs, 512 MB of RAM, decent harddrives/video cards, and DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drives. If you're going for just school work/internet surfing (a cheaper P4 setup or an Athlon setup, no fancy vid card, less battery life, maybe losing the combo drive), you might be able to get something new around $1000, but I bet you'll most likely have to look at a refirbished model. But, I'm no expert.

[Spyder]

depending on your budget, you might want to wait a while (we all know HL2 is taking its sweet time), and get the GeForce 6-series when it comes out. That would make your graphics smoooooth as silk ;) especially for a game like HL2.

But looking at your specs, to fill all your needs you're probably going to need a new everything. A new processor to speed things up (your old ram should work if you get an AthlonXP), you'll need a bigger hard drive to load crap onto, and you'll need the new vid card. You can balance it out for $500 total, but none of the parts would be top of the line. I'd go with:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ " Barton", 333MHz FSB, 512K Cache - $121.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-377&depa=0

MSI KT400A - $58
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-130-438&depa=0

2x Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive - $133 ($66.50 each)
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-102&depa=0

POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP - $185
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-239&depa=0

Total: $497 + shipping

i just whipped that up real quick, you might find better deals, but that can just give you a good idea of what you're looking at.

[Uthor]

Need to check and make sure your power supply will be enough power for the new set up, also. 300 watts sould be able to cut it, but doesn't leave a lot of head room incase your system needs a bit more, or if you want to upgrade to something nicer in the future. You'd be better served with 400+. And you might need a special connector to get extra power to the mobo (I know I did).

[Uthor]

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ " Barton", 333MHz FSB, 512K Cache - $121.00

MSI KT400A - $58

2x Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive - $133 ($66.50 each)

POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP - $185

Total: $497 + shipping

Makes me wish my computer booted long enough for me to order stuff online, instead of being forced to buy from a local shop. Woulda saved me over $100 getting a better proc and probably a nicer mobo.

[kael]

I am trying to find a motherboard and I see that you have the MSI KT400A, is that a good board to use? I was also looking at the ABIT "NF7" nForce2 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-144&depa=1


what would you suggest as a better deal? the later one is 8 dollars more and I am just cuirous what is the better one? I am pretty mudch doing the same upgrade but I am just keepiny myharddrives. but getting the xp 2800

[sexyownage]

kt400's arent very good. u could go with a asus a7n8x for 80 or a nf-7

[kael]

quick question on the nf-7, it has onboard audio. How exactly does that work? Do I have to use that or do i use my soundblaster card? Any theories?

[sexyownage]

just plug the wires into the back of computer and install audio drivers from the cd and thats it

[kael]

You think thats decent sound though? I guess it would be better then my soundblaster card which is like 3 years old now.

[Spyder]

i use my onboard realtek audio, and its much better than my SB Live 5.1 was. Motherboards really are putting the need for an add-on sound card down to nothing, unless you want some reeeeaaally powerful thing that the onboard doesnt have. My mobo has 5.1 digital output and everything, i dont need another sound card.

But if you wanted to use a separate sound card, you can just go into the bios and shut off the onboard, and the computer will use the one that you added as the primary.

[kael]

Sounds good to me, then I think I am going to go with the abit one. Thanks for the help

[kael]

Princess checkout my thread to see what im doing, its roughly costing me 330 dollars without the video card which I already have, a 9600xt. I have been trying to do my research and this all seems like it will work out. After I am done if you have any questions or whatever how it went for me just PM me. Hopefully I can have everything from newegg quickly and install it around Thursday.

[Uthor]

quick question on the nf-7, it has onboard audio. How exactly does that work? Do I have to use that or do i use my soundblaster card? Any theories?

I'm using my onboard sound instead of my Audigy because it was easier to setup. The sound is about the same to my ears, but ...
1) I have a 5.1 channel setup, and to achieve it with the onboard sound, I lost my mike and my line in jacks
2) I did not get a jack for a standard joystick
3) I did not get a firewire jack

[StealthMonkey]

I didn't read any other posts cause I'm lazy, someone may have already said this... but when you have to upgrade more than two pieces of hardware, you need a new computer... and you need to upgrade all of those... except for maybe the ram.

$500 is a little shallow, but for $750 you could build a really nice computer. You could then sell your old one for like $150, and put that toward your new one.

Upgrading is kinda pointless, you would basically be swapping everything out.

[Spyder]

Stealth, my post covered all of her needs and upgraded everything for $500. Its not the best puter, but its definetly worthy of high powered games, and would definitely run HL2.

and the MSI k8t Neo for the A-64 has the best onboard audio plug setup i've seen so far...check out the ports on the back. This thing has everything right there on the back.

http://66.30.224.98/img/13-130-434-03.JPG
http://66.30.224.98/img/110177_4.JPG