Help Me Spend $300

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:20 pm

I have an old TBird 1.6 / ASUS MB based box that has been sitting in the garage ... prolly a dead mobo ... I'm not real interested in the TBird 1.6 CPU. Case is good, video card is good, drives are good, PSU is good ... Anyhow, I am thinking I might yank the mobo/cpu/ram and replace it with something that works ... just to have a spare PC laying around at home. I was thinking about an Athlon 2500+ (Barton) CPU but I can't find a new one. I don't want to spend more than $300 ...

Note: Current RAM is 512Mb PC2400 which is pretty much worthless ...

Repeat ...

1) $300 or less
2) Need RAM / MOBO / CPU
3) Prefer MOBO w/onboard NIC and AUDIO

Ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Ice out...

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:27 pm

Gigabyte Socket 939 Board $58 (onboard audio and LAN, but no PCIe slot for upgrades down the road. But for $58 who's complaining?)
A64 3200+ Venice $167
Kingston 2x512 DDR2 400 Value Ram $85

Total $310 (I'll loan ya the 10 bucks)

If ya sniffed around, you could probably save on a CPU somewhere else. I just like the convenience and customer service of NewEgg. It's worth 20 bucks to me.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:31 pm

Another vote for the Athlon 64 system.

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:25 pm

Would that force him to buy a new PSU aswell, though?

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:34 pm

Hmm no, as long as its ATX, it'll drive that, the rest of the hardware isn't exactly high-end.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:41 pm

That does look good ... IIRC my PSU is 350 Watts.

Mr. Perfect · Post by **Mr. Perfect** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:01 pm

I was thinking more of the 20 pin vs 24 pin deal, but it looks like that mobo is 20 pin anyhow...

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:08 pm

punisher wrote:Gigabyte Socket 939 Board $58 (onboard audio and LAN, but no PCIe slot for upgrades down the road. But for $58 who's complaining?)
A64 3200+ Venice $167
Kingston 2x512 DDR2 400 Value Ram $85

You have DDR2 ram with an A64 system

If you wana save a few more bux go with the A64 3000+ Venice.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:13 pm

Matrix wrote:You have DDR2 ram with an A64 system

Color me stoopid ... huh?

fliptw · Post by **fliptw** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:34 pm

DDR2 won't work on that board.

I don't think there is any Athlon-based motherboard that does support DDR2 currently.

Pun · Post by **Pun** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 6:51 pm

oh damn sorry ice. DDR400 should be 10 bucks cheaper anyway.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:17 pm

Wow, this isn't looking so bad at all. Any ideas how the Venice Core 3200+ will fare relative to a Barton 3000+ ? I may just use my gaming PC mobo/ram/cpu in that old box and upgrade my primary.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 9:09 pm

DDR2 won't work with the A64's until the new memory controller is finished.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:15 pm

Iceman wrote:Wow, this isn't looking so bad at all. Any ideas how the Venice Core 3200+ will fare relative to a Barton 3000+ ? I may just use my gaming PC mobo/ram/cpu in that old box and upgrade my primary.

The Venice will totally distroy the Barton clock for clock in every way.
And they overclock like mad if your into that.

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:24 pm

Yes I am into that ... have a water cooled system too, that'll help. How much control does that Gigabyte mobo give you over the settings?

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:54 pm

Coolio ... howz dis be ...?

Note that ABIT board has 8Gb max, 1Ghz FSB

ABIT UL8 Socket 939 ULi M1689 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $70 (1Ghz FSB)
A64 3200+ Venice $165
Kingston 2x512 DDR 400 Value Ram $79.95

Shipping $9.30

Total $324.25

fyrephlie · Post by **fyrephlie** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 1:11 am

i'd buy that for a dollar!

DarkShadow · Post by **DarkShadow** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:59 am

Or here would run a little closer to your $300 and free 2 day shipping.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939

Abit UL8 Uli M1689 Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail

Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/1G 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Memory

$308.69 Free Shipping.

AceCombat · Post by **AceCombat** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:35 pm

Help you spend $300? send it to me

Robo · Post by **Robo** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:58 pm

My dad looked at these specs you guys have quoted, got out his wallet, and bought 2 PC's worth

He's very spontaneous, I'll say that.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:51 pm

I would ditch the Cas3 Kingston ram, and get some Corsair Value RAM or Budget G.Skill.
Cas3 @ DRR400 is really, really bad.

Corsair makes some great budget ram, I have used these same sticks in 3 systems I built for other people and JesusFreak uses them in his A64 system.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820145440

This stuff will do about 230HTT w/ 2.5-3-3-6.
G.Skill isn't a very popular brand among common users but they make some of the best overclocking RAM there is
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231027

Tho if u really want to do some serious overclocking, I recommend this stuff

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231006
That’s what I run.

Gammaray · Post by **Gammaray** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:04 pm

Just built a similar system...

A64 3000+ ($125 )
Asus K8v deluxe ($68 ) <-- onboard LAN, Sound and IEEE1394
2x512MB corsair XMS pro DDR400 CAS2 ($150 ) screw value ram

$343 grand total, but RAM is where I HAD to have it. could have saved $74 had I gone with 512MB

Iceman · Post by **Iceman** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:26 am

Sheesh ... will the sickness ever end? I keep mulling this over and over and all I can think of is \"but for another $50 I could get ...\". sigh ...

Help Me Spend $300

Help Me Spend $300

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