500 dollar budget... what to buy for a friend?

g0dM@n · 11-11-04, 03:19 PM

My friend has his cdroms/dvd/floppy/vidcard... he wants to upgrade his 1ghz athlon. His budget is about 500bucks. I need to get him a case/cpu/mobo/ram. His vid card is the 9500pro (good enough). He has 512 DDR, but I'm thikning it's pc133 so that is a no go.

I was thinking Athlon64 3000 with a powerful board (room to upgrade CPU). In all honesty... dollar to performance... is the A64 3000 or 3200 a better buy than a 3.0 pentium4? If you're going to be biased about this DO NOT POST plz. I'm serious... I have many people that ask me to build them new rigs and I need to know what's really worth it. Also, is the A64 3000/3200 as good as pentium4s when it comes to rendering? How about gaming? My athlonXPs own at games, but I don't know how well the a64 is compared to pentium for gaming.

I don't want mixed feelings... I need some facts here. Thanks guys.

<3 ocforums.

Sjaak · 11-11-04, 03:27 PM

With that budget, its most wise to go with the A64, because its just cheaper. The 3000+ is a good choise, pick a nice S754 board with it and there ya go. If the RAM is DDR (pc133 is always SDR), it will fit the new board, but you might be limited to pc2100 or pc2700, so upgrade to ddr400 / pc3200 if possible.

As for a case, its mostly his own preference i guess. Antec and Chieftec make nice miditower, solid, easy and not too expensive.

- That would leave you with enough money left to throw a little party

Daewood · 11-11-04, 06:20 PM

^ ^ ^ agreed go with amd if you are on a tight budget and you cant go wrong with the A64 even though i am an intel guy i always recomend amd for people on a budget...

g0dM@n · 11-12-04, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sjaak

With that budget, its most wise to go with the A64, because its just cheaper. The 3000+ is a good choise, pick a nice S754 board with it and there ya go. If the RAM is DDR (pc133 is always SDR), it will fit the new board, but you might be limited to pc2100 or pc2700, so upgrade to ddr400 / pc3200 if possible.

As for a case, its mostly his own preference i guess. Antec and Chieftec make nice miditower, solid, easy and not too expensive.

- That would leave you with enough money left to throw a little party

I was just wondering if I should go for socket939 for DC or not. I mean... I want to make a little money off this too. I don't work for free. He's probably going to give me 600 bucks, so I'm looking to spend 500 and make 100bucks for all the work and software install.

Sjaak · 11-12-04, 03:27 AM

S939 is far more expensive...IMO not worth it. Dual Chanel offers very little extra performance for the A64 (unlike it does for the P4).

Im sure he will be happy if you can tell him that of that 600, you can return him 100 for buying smart.

dropadrop · 11-12-04, 06:52 AM

The only really big advantage socket 939 has to offer is future upgradability.

g0dM@n · 11-12-04, 02:53 PM

Alright, thanks guys. I'm gonna 754 it... 3000 or 3200. THANKS

Sjaak · 11-12-04, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by g0dM@n

Alright, thanks guys. I'm gonna 754 it... 3000 or 3200. THANKS

cheers

g0dM@n · 11-12-04, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sjaak

cheers

Speakin of beer... I was supposed to go into the city today (Manhattan -- NY), but my gf got to my house later than expected. I guess we'll hit up the locals =)

Have fun tonight, guys.

11-11-04, 03:19 PM	Thread Starter #1
g0dM@n Inactive Moderator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: 20mi W of NYCity, USA	500 dollar budget... what to buy for a friend? My friend has his cdroms/dvd/floppy/vidcard... he wants to upgrade his 1ghz athlon. His budget is about 500bucks. I need to get him a case/cpu/mobo/ram. His vid card is the 9500pro (good enough). He has 512 DDR, but I'm thikning it's pc133 so that is a no go. I was thinking Athlon64 3000 with a powerful board (room to upgrade CPU). In all honesty... dollar to performance... is the A64 3000 or 3200 a better buy than a 3.0 pentium4? If you're going to be biased about this DO NOT POST plz. I'm serious... I have many people that ask me to build them new rigs and I need to know what's really worth it. Also, is the A64 3000/3200 as good as pentium4s when it comes to rendering? How about gaming? My athlonXPs own at games, but I don't know how well the a64 is compared to pentium for gaming. I don't want mixed feelings... I need some facts here. Thanks guys. <3 ocforums. __________________ ASUS Crosshair V Water \| FX-8150 Enzotech Sapphire CPU block \| 8GB Mushkin 2133 \| 6970 2GB \| 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 \| SB X-Fi Elite Pro \| Corsair 520W Modular \| 3x 26" Asus VW266H Eyefinity 5760x1200 \| DDC pump with petra top @ 18w, Thermochill HE 120.3 w/ 3x120x38mm Deltas 152cfm on controller \| Xbox 360 Gamertag: g0dMAn114 My Heatware (1000+ flawless) IHS Removal TutorialHotFlashing TutorialDFI NF4 UTT ProblemsFunny-ChuckNorrisFactsCustom RAM Cooler nightelph: I wanted to play so bad last night but I was OC'ing my video card.
	QUOTE Thanks

11-11-04, 03:27 PM	#2
Sjaak Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: The Netherlands	With that budget, its most wise to go with the A64, because its just cheaper. The 3000+ is a good choise, pick a nice S754 board with it and there ya go. If the RAM is DDR (pc133 is always SDR), it will fit the new board, but you might be limited to pc2100 or pc2700, so upgrade to ddr400 / pc3200 if possible. As for a case, its mostly his own preference i guess. Antec and Chieftec make nice miditower, solid, easy and not too expensive. - That would leave you with enough money left to throw a little party __________________ 'Apparantly reality has a strong liberal bias'
	QUOTE Thanks

11-11-04, 06:20 PM	#3
Daewood Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: The Abyss	^ ^ ^ agreed go with amd if you are on a tight budget and you cant go wrong with the A64 even though i am an intel guy i always recomend amd for people on a budget...
	QUOTE Thanks

11-12-04, 03:27 AM	#5
Sjaak Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: The Netherlands	S939 is far more expensive...IMO not worth it. Dual Chanel offers very little extra performance for the A64 (unlike it does for the P4). Im sure he will be happy if you can tell him that of that 600, you can return him 100 for buying smart. __________________ 'Apparantly reality has a strong liberal bias'
	QUOTE Thanks

11-12-04, 06:52 AM	#6
dropadrop Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Finland	The only really big advantage socket 939 has to offer is future upgradability.
	QUOTE Thanks

500 dollar budget... what to buy for a friend?

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11-12-04, 02:53 PM	Thread Starter #7
g0dM@n Inactive Moderator Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: 20mi W of NYCity, USA	Alright, thanks guys. I'm gonna 754 it... 3000 or 3200. THANKS __________________ ASUS Crosshair V Water \| FX-8150 Enzotech Sapphire CPU block \| 8GB Mushkin 2133 \| 6970 2GB \| 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 \| SB X-Fi Elite Pro \| Corsair 520W Modular \| 3x 26" Asus VW266H Eyefinity 5760x1200 \| DDC pump with petra top @ 18w, Thermochill HE 120.3 w/ 3x120x38mm Deltas 152cfm on controller \| Xbox 360 Gamertag: g0dMAn114 My Heatware (1000+ flawless) IHS Removal TutorialHotFlashing TutorialDFI NF4 UTT ProblemsFunny-ChuckNorrisFactsCustom RAM Cooler nightelph: I wanted to play so bad last night but I was OC'ing my video card.
	QUOTE Thanks

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