Up Grading My PC

[PitchBlackM3]

Hey guys im looking to upgrade the old 2.6 celeron to something new and up to date. All i need is a mother board, ram , and processor, i was wondering what you thought i should go with. I think i want to go to a Anthlon 64 system and a gig of ram b/c i recently purchased a 6600Gt Video card and with this pc it won't run that well. I have a Maxtor 200gb Hard drive. and a turtle beach sound card, the video card is AGP so. Alright thanks , Also i have about 350$ maybe a little more to spend on this upgrade thanks.

 

[Amarkarian]

have you thought of overclocking, also 350 is probally not enough for a good setup bertter then yours/

 

[Xris]

You're not going to have enough money to buy what you have listed. $400 might buy a motherboard and a processor, but not the ram or a video card.

 

[Scott9027]

Chaintech VNF3 Socket 754 -- $55.00

Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle Socket 754 -- $134.00

That leaves plenty in the budget for RAM, and you can use your new 6600GT.

I'm not sure if the Chaintech motherboard's BIOS lacks overclocking features, but some other boards can be had for slightly higher prices that do allow you to overclock. The processor can be upgraded as the budget allows as well to increase performance.

Q: What kind of overclock have you achieved with your Celeron?

Depending on how far you have pushed that, you will not be upgrading much, if at all. The Celeron could easily be as powerful as the A64 that you can afford with your budget. I think you will be better off keeping your current system until you can afford a more significant upgrade.

 

[Vulcan]

You're not going to have enough money to buy what you have listed. $400 might buy a motherboard and a processor, but not the ram or a video card.

Like he said, he already has a video card. I think that much should do for a relitivly nice upgrade. I built the current system, overclcocking is pretty unlkely. We have tried it before and its just not stable.

Heres the configuraion I am figuring:

3000 Venice @ 146.00
Mushkin 1gb (2x 512mb) (2-3-3) @ 100.25
DFI UT NForce3 ULTRA-D Socket 939 @ 126.00 (currently having ram issues?) -OR- EPoX EP-9NDA3+ Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 Ultra @ 104.00 (overclocking features?)

That brings a total of 350.25 with the Epox or 372 with the DFI.
I think this would be a big improvement over the current system with the 2.6 celeron/512mb ram. My only concern is weaher the 400w thermaltake PSU you have is up to the job. (stock psu with a tsunami dream)

Another (cheaper) option would be to build a 754 system.

Oh and... Welcome to the forums.

 

[Vulcan]

Chaintech VNF3 Socket 754 -- $55.00

Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle Socket 754 -- $134.00

That leaves plenty in the budget for RAM, and you can use your new 6600GT.

I'm not sure if the Chaintech motherboard's BIOS lacks overclocking features, but some other boards can be had for slightly higher prices that do allow you to overclock. The processor can be upgraded as the budget allows as well to increase performance.

Yeah, thats the cheapest option... BUT buying a socket which is already on the decline is never a good idea. Still, if needed to fit the budget then sure, its still a good upgrade.

Q: What kind of overclock have you achieved with your Celeron?

I've had it up to near 3ghz b ut that was definatly not stable. I'd bet anything its the memory and motherboard holding back.

Depending on how far you have pushed that, you will not be upgrading much, if at all. The Celeron could easily be as powerful as the A64 that you can afford with your budget. I think you will be better off keeping your current system until you can afford a more significant upgrade.

I'm not so sure of that... I think an overclocked 3000 Venice would be a good bit faster.

 

[Scott9027]

Well I'm wondering what the OP had his Celeron at since I have seen some @ 3.8 GHz.

I agree that the Venice would be faster, but I'm not sure how much faster a middle of the road 754 system would be.

And as far as 754 dying, it's the new mobile platform...where all the good overclockers come from (Dothan goodness )

 

[Vulcan]

Well I'm wondering what the OP had his Celeron at since I have seen some @ 3.8 GHz.

I agree that the Venice would be faster, but I'm not sure how much faster a middle of the road 754 system would be.

And as far as 754 dying, it's the new mobile platform...where all the good overclockers come from (Dothan goodness )

well, as I said... I built the OP system. Its on stock cooling and using low end ram, a pretty low end MSI motherboard. Not exactly built to overclock. This was the second system I built, when I was still somewhat inexperieced at picking components. It wa up to around 3ghz, it will boot at that but its not stable. Geting this thing to OC would require a new motherboard probably, so I figure the best thing to do is just to move to an athlon 64.

 

[Scott9027]

Alright, I couldn't tell that you were connected to PitchBlackM3. If the celly can't really be overclocked then any decent A64 upgrade should be good. Good luck with whichever route you decide to pursue.