Upgrading system, really need your advices!!!

[yellow1912]

Hi, 1st of all, I dont know if this is the right room to ask this question, so please forgive me if its not and feel free to move it to a more approriate room, Thanks.

I'm planning to upgrade my processor and motherboard. Well, I dont really know much about hardwares that's why I'm asking for advices. Im looking for an economic solution for my new system:
Intel P4 around 3.0GHz or AMD with similar speed(prefer 64bit).
Approriate board for the processor above (better with sound on board)

I dont want to spend too much on this nor buy out-dated stuffs that I will have to upgrade to soon later.

Thanks alot in advance^^

PS: and where is the best place to buy those? newegg?

 

[yellow1912]

BTW, my current video card is AGP, so I would like a board that support AGP, better if it support PCI-E also

 

[ew915]

depends on a lot of factors,
what is your budget to start off with?
what do you do with your pc? Heavy gaming, basic surfing/word processing etc, etc.
what do you currently have?
and most important which company do you like more? AMD or intel... not to start a flaming this is the better cpu war/debate, some people prefer one to another.

newegg is one of the best places, you can also try chiefvalue, monarch, ewiz, zipzoomfly, there are a bunch of good ones around. check out the hotdeals section.

well i dont think there is a board that has both AGP and PCI-E yet. if you have a AGP board and you dont want to upgrade video card, then get another board with AGP, but thats probably not the best option as you are holding yourself back from future upgrades. but then again, also depends on what your other components are.

 

[Fresh Daemon]

Intel P4 around 3.0GHz or AMD with similar speed(prefer 64bit).

If gaming, AMD. Well, if you do anything except content creation (where MHz is king), or you really want dual-core but have a very tight budget, AMD.

BTW, my current video card is AGP, so I would like a board that support AGP, better if it support PCI-E also

The new ULi chipset boards should be able to do this without a performance hit but they're only just beginning to appear. They're still an unknown quantity. Initial reports suggest they perform and overclock well, though.

AGP is nothing like future-proof. I don't know when the G70 cards will be coming to AGP, if ever. The generation after that will never see AGP. If you really want to keep your AGP board, then get a socket 939 with AGP (nForce 3), but when the time comes to upgrade your graphics card, odds are you'll be upgrading the mobo too.

Approriate board for the processor above (better with sound on board)

They all have on-board sound. MSI has an onboard Creative Live, which is the best onboard offering. DFI has the Karajan module on the UT NF4 boards, which is in second place. Other than that, it's all codecs.

 

[DruidAT]

Well theres the K8N Neo2($74) + 3000+ Venice($146) on newegg. Not including shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130514
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103568
The mobo has a usable Realtek on-board sound. But, I do suggest upgrading to PCI-E if you dont want to upgrade that video card in the future. It'll cost you having to replace the motherboard as well. or you can get this ASRock board which I don't really like because I've had problems with the company in the past.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081
It supports both AGP and PCI-E as well as SATAII

 

[ribbon13]

board
cpu

Next...

 

[yellow1912]

I do play games like lineage2, not alot. I mainly use my comp to run test program, or work as a local server.
budget? erm, shouldnot be more than 300usd
I have never tried AMD b4, but I dont really care tho, as long as it works well.

From my old sytem I have 1GB DDR RAM 184-PIN 400MHz (will 400MHz wont work for 64 bit ??? )
ATI AIW 9600

Erm, I dont know if I should upgrade to PCI-E then? It'd be a pain to sell this ATI and get a new PCI-E. But prevent myself from future update is not a very good idea also . Kinda confused about this now.

 

[yellow1912]

Originally posted by: ribbon13
board
cpu

Next...

wow, this board seems to support both ^^. Thanks a lot. I'll ceck this out and try to get all the review about it

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: yellow1912
wow, this board seems to support both ^^. Thanks a lot. I'll ceck this out and try to get all the review about it

how about the site you're on?

 

[DruidAT]

you might want to wait till you have a bigger budget line. and if you really dont play games much and you use it for high mhz purposes i suggest getting an intel although i'd still get AMD. AMD junky I am.

 

[yellow1912]

Originally posted by: DruidAT
you might want to wait till you have a bigger budget line. and if you really dont play games much and you use it for high mhz purposes i suggest getting an intel although i'd still get AMD. AMD junky I am.

It's not like I cant spend more than that, but I also consider if I should spend more than that. It's kinda like a waste if I buy a super system and then do word typing .
Actually my P4 2.6GHz died ( so I need a new one. My current mobo doesnt support DDR 3200 also, so I think this is the time to uprage both of them

 

[yellow1912]

I read mix review about this ASRock board, some say it works great, some says it's just a piece of junk . Now Im more confused

 

[Fresh Daemon]

From my old sytem I have 1GB DDR RAM 184-PIN 400MHz (will 400MHz wont work for 64 bit ?

As long as it's not DDR2, yes, it'll work.

I guess the most important question is "How satisfied were you with the performance of your old rig"?