$100, what would you upgrade?

NiTrO bOiE · Mar 14, 2004

Here's the system I plan on building for my birthday. The total is $500 right on the money. (if newegg doesn't change prices again)

DFI nForce2 Ultra 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU, Model "NFII ULTRA INFINITY" -RETAIL
$94.00

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -BULK
$132.00

AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2400+, 266FSB, 512K Cache - OEM
$77.00

OCZ Performance Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200
$98.00

Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive, Model ST3120026AS, OEM
$98.50

Subtotal » $ 499.50

My question is... just incase I get $100 extra what should I upgrade? Should I double the memory? (1GB) Should I get another 120GB and run RAID? Should I get a better video card? Better PSU? (the one I have now is ok, but is kinda on the so-so side) Should I get more waterblocks? (video, northbridge) Or should I just save it and wait until later to spend it?

Agent_Mull · Mar 14, 2004

Id save it, but if you really want to spend it, id probably up grade video card or ram. Ive heard best buy has 9800 pros for $200.

KaHNZa · Mar 14, 2004

The Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro should be ~$210 at newegg right now. Its only $78 more than your listed card.

Hagakure · Mar 14, 2004

KaHNZa said:
The Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro should be ~$210 at newegg right now. Its only $78 more than your listed card.

I agree with that but if you really want to change something else I'd go with the Ultra B DFI mobo.

{PMS}fishy · Mar 14, 2004

Its a toss up if you ask me.

I would either go with a nicer video card, or more RAM.

If you can't decide, either do both, or flip a coin.

Sentential · Mar 14, 2004

Lookin good! Im sure you will love it.

BTW BB is selling 98pros for $250 with a $50 MIR

gaza · Mar 14, 2004

if you plan on playing a lot of games go with the 9800pro.. if you do any thing like photoshop get the ram.. if you just want faster boot time and app loads go with the raid.. i love raid make every think feel much faster in raid 0...

sandman001 · Mar 14, 2004

Video card, for sure.

Get the 9800pro.

CeeDeeJay · Mar 14, 2004

Question for You

You didn't tell us what you planned on doing with the computer.
It would really help us when we try to provide you specific information. If you gamne quite a bit it would definatly be worth upgrading the vid card to the 9800 pro.

XunknownX · Mar 15, 2004

Overall performance, I'd go with the RAID 0 plan.

Stupid Boy · Mar 15, 2004

Re: Question for You

CeeDeeJay said:
You didn't tell us what you planned on doing with the computer.
It would really help us when we try to provide you specific information.

That's exactly what I was going to say.

If you're gaming, get a better video card.
If you're editing video, get more memory.
If you're word processing, get second video card and moniter.
An ergonomic keyboard and Ratzpad is nice for anything.

mtb856 · Mar 17, 2004

_OR_

you could take that theoretical $100 and split it between a faster processor and more ram(or a nicer video card)
Just an idea

Fire58Mech · Mar 18, 2004

It's funny how you ask what should you get for 100$ and every one keeps giving you things more than that?

It would help a lot to know your intentions of the use of this pc.

What about a sound card?

NiTrO bOiE · Mar 18, 2004

I plan to mostly game on it. All of my upgrade choices would improve gaming so that's why it's kind of a hard choice for me to choose. Oh yeah, and for sound card. I have a spare SB Live card and it sounds fine to me, but I might just get an Audigy and get a waterblock for the video card.

NewBldr · Mar 18, 2004

Fire58Mech said:
It's funny how you ask what should you get for 100$ and every one keeps giving you things more than that?

That may be because they're upgrading something that was already planned on

I'd upgrade the video card. The chip is fine... and can be oc'd if you need more. Ram is enough for most all games today (I ran BF1942 fine with 512mb). Motherboards are always a good place to splurge.

Up to you.

Spidie2000 · Mar 25, 2004

I would do Ram or the Video card...... but I would do the video card on the initial build and go with the 9800 pro and here is why. Ram is upgradable, you can always upgrade later if you fall into some more $$, but if you have the $$ to spend then start off with the 9800 pro, that way if you ever decided you want a different video card, you dont have to go through the trouble of selling your old one or just having it sit around. You can always buy more ram later.

penquissciguy · Mar 25, 2004

I'd probably save that $100 for a couple new games or for unforeseen issues, like when your power supply wets the bed or an overclock goes terribly wrong and you fry a processor. That's when that extra money is really going to come in useful.

Ken

lancingfury · Mar 25, 2004

yeah. id buy ut2k4 and save the rest.

NiTrO bOiE · Mar 25, 2004

Spidie2000 said:
I would do Ram or the Video card...... but I would do the video card on the initial build and go with the 9800 pro and here is why. Ram is upgradable, you can always upgrade later if you fall into some more $$, but if you have the $$ to spend then start off with the 9800 pro, that way if you ever decided you want a different video card, you dont have to go through the trouble of selling your old one or just having it sit around. You can always buy more ram later.

Cool, I just checked the prices on newegg between the 9600 Pro and the 9800 Pro and it's only ~70 so I'll go with the 9800 incase I get teh bonus. My b-day was yesterday and my dad asked me what I wanted but I told him I didn't know yet (stupid me), so now I'll just wait until he asks me again (probably this weekend since he's outta town right now).

forbin rhodes · Apr 11, 2004

What optical drive and operating system do you have?
You will need both?

$100, what would you upgrade?

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