Looking For Upgrade Suggestions.....

sammy5gs · May 27, 2004, 09:33 PM

Hey All...

Here is what I am running right now, and actually, rather satisfied with:

CPU : Athlon XP 2500+ Barton (overclocked to 3200+ speeds)
Mobo : Shuttle AN35N Ultra (Bios L)
GPU : Radeon x800 Pro (256MB)
Memory : 2x512MB Crucial DDR400
Sound : On-board 5.1
DVD : Memorex 16x DVD-Rom
CD-RW : Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW
HDD : WD 120GB / Maxtor 80 GB EIDEs
PSU : Antec True Power 480 Watt

I am looking for valid reasons to upgrade, and if valid, what components. I will tell you now I am not into modding cases, neon lights, etc. Just pure component upgrade. . I know about the sound (currently taking up cpu cycles), but wanted to throw out to you guys what else I can do. I am really happy with my recent x800 pro from a GPU standpoint, and understand there could be a bottleneck from my CPU, but again, just gathering some thoughts.

kemet64 · May 27, 2004, 09:48 PM

I dont think you need to upgrade. You have fast Processor, best graphics card, enough memory....nothing really that I can see that needs changing.

swimtech · May 27, 2004, 09:54 PM

Add an Audigy 2ZS sound card - will drop CPU usage from 8-12% down to 2-3% and thereby boost fps in games - cost about 80-90 bucks US. It will also increase the overall quality of your sound noticeably...

Edit: Forgot... this card will also add Firewire I/O to your unit...

The sound is the most effective thing to upgrade on your system - seems to me - even though you mentioned knowing about it...

dipstick · May 27, 2004, 10:28 PM

Your sys is great for now, if you got the upgrade itch wait 'till the end of the summer and go for a 939 A64.
You can add a nice soundcard like swimtech suggested and maybe a DVDRW if that's your thing..

mkk · May 27, 2004, 11:55 PM

Perhaps a DVD recorder could be useful? They've become fairly inexpensive recently. While waiting for duallayer might seem like the thing to do it will take a while for that to become really affordable. A simple unit capable of 4x RW doesn't cost much today and is great for backups or bringing data to others.

Consider a speaker upgrade if you don't already have good speakers. Doesn't have to be multichannel positional set unless you really want that for games. Think quality before numbers.

Perhaps your system makes a little more noise than you would like it to? That could be an area to look into. Fan controllers and sound proofing material can be found everywhere these days, and without any real modding required. And if you would feel like getting a new harddrive, make sure it's a less noisy type like Samsung or Seagate.

Chaos · May 27, 2004, 11:56 PM

The only 3 things I thought of are an Audigy 2 and DVD/R and some 5.1 Pro Media's to go with the Audigy

Vampyromaniac · May 28, 2004, 08:00 AM

That system seems pretty fine to me!
But, if you really want to spend some money, an Audigy2 and DVD recorder (Dual Layer perhaps) could be worthy upgrades.
Or if you want to experiment with water-cooling, you can switch to P4 and water-cool it, overclock to maybe 3800 or more(?).
Athlon64 is also viable, the new socket 939 should be out soon, with an nForce3 250-Gb mobo, should be even better when overclocked.
Also, you didn't mention your speakers or monitor. Speakers, if you need them, the Klipch 5.1's Chaos mentioned should do nicely.
Or for a monitor, you can get a Dell 2001FP if LCD is your thing, or a top-brand 21-22 inch CRT if that's what you like.
Lots of things you can do still, just depends on your wallet/desire. Some things would be more significant than others.
Such as DVDRW, or a new monitor if your current isn't that great. As far as what 's in the "box", the only thing I'd do is get a sound card.
That's the only thing that I think there's a reason to upgrade. The rest are ample for the time being. Unless you want to get a RAID going

pr0digal jenius · May 28, 2004, 08:56 AM

i would definately gt an audigy nice speakers, and possibly a nice big monitor to go w/ that schpankin x800

**dj_stick** · May 28, 2004, 12:53 PM

audigy sound cards (the original version) are quite cheap nowadays and the sound quality rivals that of the audigy 2â€¦ and you can still use eax4 with some tricks
unless you choose kX like me (but its not for everyone)

Necrosis · May 29, 2004, 12:26 AM

1. New Sound Card

2. Dvd Burner

3. Raid Setup

grog · May 29, 2004, 08:15 AM

Sound card?
Maybe a few years ago I would say yes. But if you are happy with the sound not worry about it.
See, when processors were a lot slower we really cared about the amount of time to process synthesized sounds "midi..etc.". Reality is compress audio is sent raw even to the best sound cards. Really a question of the quality of you speaker system and if you can tell the difference between 20 and 24BIT AtoD conversion.
One other reason to go for the Audigy card is if you go for the version with LIVE-DRIVE. Front panel access is nice. Headphone jack is a great thing to have. Creative Labs AUDIGY 2 ZS PLATINUM SOUND BLASTER PCI SOUND CARD.
http://www.soundblaster.com/products...ro/welcome.asp

If you have a run-of-the-mill sound setup ('speakers included') then I would say no. You won't tell the difference.
If you have the something like the following:

Altec Lansing ALTEC 4100LA 5PC Speaker System
Logitech Z680 5.1 450W THX Certified w/ Dolby Digital
Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Personal Audio System

Then I would say go for it.

DVD?
I do agree a DVD burner is a nice addon and this upgrade won't break the bank.
A Pioneer DVR106 DVDÂ±RW will run about $100.00.
Great for doing backup's etc.

RAID?
As long as you are fine with the disk space you have the upgrade would not be for space but for speed.
If you are doing video editing I would say go-for-it. The speed increase will be seen. I do a lot of video work and having 240 GB or RAID-0 in WinXP PRO helps a lot.
For any other use you will gain faster loading of programs and quicker startup and shutdowns. But actuall games for example will run the same, no speed increase other than loading.
Still a good upgrade just may be more of a luxury upgrade especially if you don't do a lot of multimedia.

Overall I think your system looks great. If you don't have a great set of speakers for example, I would spend the money there, nothing makes you feel better than shaking the house down as you play on your computer!

Nothing on your monitor specs as well. If you have a small monitor that may be another place to spend the money. Well if you went for the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Personal Audio System you got to play that DVD on a great monitor, right.
The idea is to upgrade where you will actually see the benifits, don't upgrade just to upgrade.

Here are my full system spec's. (Note: My system came with the Audigy card).

* Nokia 445PRO 21' Monitor
* Motherboard: ASUS K8V Delux Athlon64 Motherboard - BIOS 1004 FINAL
* CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+
* Memory: 1GB (512 MB x 2 PC 3200 400MHz DDR - 2.5-4-4-4 )
* Video: AGP - ATI ALL-IN-WONDERÂ® 9700 PRO / 128MB - AGP aperture size 128MB
* Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy
* Ethernet: Onboard 3COM 3C940 10/100/1000Base-T Gigabit
* Hard Disk-1&2: 120 GB Maxtor SATA 8 mb 7200 RPM x 2 (total 240GB) RAID-0
* Hard Disk-3: 160 GB Maxtor ATA-133 8 mb 7200 RPM
* Floppy drive, 3.5" 1.44MB
* DVD-R/RW: Pioneer DVR-106 DVD+/-RW/R+/-Writer
* CD: 54x Black CD-ROM
* CASE: Thermaltake V1000A Black Fulltower w/ANTEC TRUE CONTROL 550W PSU
* APC XS-1000VA UPS
* OS: WinXP PRO / SP1, VIA Hyperion 4in1 v4.51, AMD Cool 'n' Quiet enabled [240GB]
* OS: Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition [100GB]
* OS: Mandrake Linux-AMD64 10.0 Beta-1 [60GB]

Greg

pr0digal jenius · May 30, 2004, 12:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by grog
The idea is to upgrade where you will actually see the benifits, don't upgrade just to upgrade.

well put

Necrosis · May 30, 2004, 02:21 AM

I'm not too fond of the looks of these speakers but they sound great.

http://store.klipsch.com/details.asp?prodID=58

I'd also recommend something not as expensive as the Platinum series..it's just not worth it. If you want front panel access you might think about the Hercules Game Theater XP 7.1 too. Now if you don't care about FP, the standard ZS, Fort. III, or Santa Cruz's are a great choice. I also recommend the M-Audio Rev. too but it's gaming abilities are "weaker" compared to an Audigy card.

For DVD burner I'd have to recommend the Nec 2500A since you can now flash the firmware to a 2510 to make it a DL burner.

The raid setup was off the top of my head but you also could pickup a single raptor drive for less hassle.

Honestly though I think even with average speakers/headphones you still would appreciate a sound card upgrade even if just for the quality. If you had Soundstorm I would say otherwise.

pr0digal jenius · May 30, 2004, 02:41 AM

cambridge gigaworks put the klipsch's in their place, but cost a lil more

Necrosis · May 30, 2004, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by pr0digal jenius
cambridge gigaworks put the klipsch's in their place, but cost a lil more

I'm not too sure about that but those are great speakers. Now we just need games & movies that actually support 7.1.

May 27, 2004, 09:33 PM	#1
sammy5gs DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 19 Rep Power: 0	Looking For Upgrade Suggestions..... Hey All... Here is what I am running right now, and actually, rather satisfied with: CPU : Athlon XP 2500+ Barton (overclocked to 3200+ speeds) Mobo : Shuttle AN35N Ultra (Bios L) GPU : Radeon x800 Pro (256MB) Memory : 2x512MB Crucial DDR400 Sound : On-board 5.1 DVD : Memorex 16x DVD-Rom CD-RW : Lite-On 52x24x52 CDRW HDD : WD 120GB / Maxtor 80 GB EIDEs PSU : Antec True Power 480 Watt I am looking for valid reasons to upgrade, and if valid, what components. I will tell you now I am not into modding cases, neon lights, etc. Just pure component upgrade. . I know about the sound (currently taking up cpu cycles), but wanted to throw out to you guys what else I can do. I am really happy with my recent x800 pro from a GPU standpoint, and understand there could be a bottleneck from my CPU, but again, just gathering some thoughts. __________________ ABIT AN8 SLI (Bios 20) AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 2 BFG 7800GTX (256Mb) in SLI 2MB OCZ DC Platinum PC3200 PC Power & Cooling 850 SSI SLI Creative Labs Audigy 2ZS Limited Edition Gamer Hitachi Deskstar 7K500 500GB Plextor PX-712SA/SW-BL Windows XP SP2

May 27, 2004, 09:48 PM	#2
kemet64 DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 457 Rep Power: 0	I dont think you need to upgrade. You have fast Processor, best graphics card, enough memory....nothing really that I can see that needs changing. __________________ Inspiron XPS Intel 3.4 ghz 1gb Corsair XMS DDR PC3200 60gig 7200 HD 128mb Radeon Mobility 9700 Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX Logitech z680 Speakers

May 27, 2004, 09:54 PM	#3
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	Add an Audigy 2ZS sound card - will drop CPU usage from 8-12% down to 2-3% and thereby boost fps in games - cost about 80-90 bucks US. It will also increase the overall quality of your sound noticeably... Edit: Forgot... this card will also add Firewire I/O to your unit... The sound is the most effective thing to upgrade on your system - seems to me - even though you mentioned knowing about it... __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it. Last edited by swimtech; May 27, 2004 at 10:04 PM.

May 27, 2004, 11:56 PM	#6
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,268 Rep Power: 167 System Specs	The only 3 things I thought of are an Audigy 2 and DVD/R and some 5.1 Pro Media's to go with the Audigy __________________

May 28, 2004, 08:00 AM	#7
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	That system seems pretty fine to me! But, if you really want to spend some money, an Audigy2 and DVD recorder (Dual Layer perhaps) could be worthy upgrades. Or if you want to experiment with water-cooling, you can switch to P4 and water-cool it, overclock to maybe 3800 or more(?). Athlon64 is also viable, the new socket 939 should be out soon, with an nForce3 250-Gb mobo, should be even better when overclocked. Also, you didn't mention your speakers or monitor. Speakers, if you need them, the Klipch 5.1's Chaos mentioned should do nicely. Or for a monitor, you can get a Dell 2001FP if LCD is your thing, or a top-brand 21-22 inch CRT if that's what you like. Lots of things you can do still, just depends on your wallet/desire. Some things would be more significant than others. Such as DVDRW, or a new monitor if your current isn't that great. As far as what 's in the "box", the only thing I'd do is get a sound card. That's the only thing that I think there's a reason to upgrade. The rest are ample for the time being. Unless you want to get a RAID going __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

May 27, 2004, 10:28 PM	#4
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	Your sys is great for now, if you got the upgrade itch wait 'till the end of the summer and go for a 939 A64. You can add a nice soundcard like swimtech suggested and maybe a DVDRW if that's your thing..

May 27, 2004, 11:55 PM	#5
mkk Cthulhu/Dagon 2012 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Gefle, Sweden Posts: 4,490 Rep Power: 132 System Specs	Perhaps a DVD recorder could be useful? They've become fairly inexpensive recently. While waiting for duallayer might seem like the thing to do it will take a while for that to become really affordable. A simple unit capable of 4x RW doesn't cost much today and is great for backups or bringing data to others. Consider a speaker upgrade if you don't already have good speakers. Doesn't have to be multichannel positional set unless you really want that for games. Think quality before numbers. Perhaps your system makes a little more noise than you would like it to? That could be an area to look into. Fan controllers and sound proofing material can be found everywhere these days, and without any real modding required. And if you would feel like getting a new harddrive, make sure it's a less noisy type like Samsung or Seagate.

May 28, 2004, 08:56 AM	#8
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	i would definately gt an audigy nice speakers, and possibly a nice big monitor to go w/ that schpankin x800

May 29, 2004, 12:26 AM	#10
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	1. New Sound Card 2. Dvd Burner 3. Raid Setup

May 29, 2004, 08:15 AM	#11
grog Roxy Music Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 623 Rep Power: 66 System Specs	Sound card? Maybe a few years ago I would say yes. But if you are happy with the sound not worry about it. See, when processors were a lot slower we really cared about the amount of time to process synthesized sounds "midi..etc.". Reality is compress audio is sent raw even to the best sound cards. Really a question of the quality of you speaker system and if you can tell the difference between 20 and 24BIT AtoD conversion. One other reason to go for the Audigy card is if you go for the version with LIVE-DRIVE. Front panel access is nice. Headphone jack is a great thing to have. Creative Labs AUDIGY 2 ZS PLATINUM SOUND BLASTER PCI SOUND CARD. http://www.soundblaster.com/products...ro/welcome.asp If you have a run-of-the-mill sound setup ('speakers included') then I would say no. You won't tell the difference. If you have the something like the following: Altec Lansing ALTEC 4100LA 5PC Speaker System Logitech Z680 5.1 450W THX Certified w/ Dolby Digital Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Personal Audio System Then I would say go for it. DVD? I do agree a DVD burner is a nice addon and this upgrade won't break the bank. A Pioneer DVR106 DVDÂ±RW will run about $100.00. Great for doing backup's etc. RAID? As long as you are fine with the disk space you have the upgrade would not be for space but for speed. If you are doing video editing I would say go-for-it. The speed increase will be seen. I do a lot of video work and having 240 GB or RAID-0 in WinXP PRO helps a lot. For any other use you will gain faster loading of programs and quicker startup and shutdowns. But actuall games for example will run the same, no speed increase other than loading. Still a good upgrade just may be more of a luxury upgrade especially if you don't do a lot of multimedia. Overall I think your system looks great. If you don't have a great set of speakers for example, I would spend the money there, nothing makes you feel better than shaking the house down as you play on your computer! Nothing on your monitor specs as well. If you have a small monitor that may be another place to spend the money. Well if you went for the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 Personal Audio System you got to play that DVD on a great monitor, right. The idea is to upgrade where you will actually see the benifits, don't upgrade just to upgrade. Here are my full system spec's. (Note: My system came with the Audigy card). * Nokia 445PRO 21' Monitor * Motherboard: ASUS K8V Delux Athlon64 Motherboard - BIOS 1004 FINAL * CPU: AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3200+ * Memory: 1GB (512 MB x 2 PC 3200 400MHz DDR - 2.5-4-4-4 ) * Video: AGP - ATI ALL-IN-WONDERÂ® 9700 PRO / 128MB - AGP aperture size 128MB * Sound: Sound Blaster Audigy * Ethernet: Onboard 3COM 3C940 10/100/1000Base-T Gigabit * Hard Disk-1&2: 120 GB Maxtor SATA 8 mb 7200 RPM x 2 (total 240GB) RAID-0 * Hard Disk-3: 160 GB Maxtor ATA-133 8 mb 7200 RPM * Floppy drive, 3.5" 1.44MB * DVD-R/RW: Pioneer DVR-106 DVD+/-RW/R+/-Writer * CD: 54x Black CD-ROM * CASE: Thermaltake V1000A Black Fulltower w/ANTEC TRUE CONTROL 550W PSU * APC XS-1000VA UPS * OS: WinXP PRO / SP1, VIA Hyperion 4in1 v4.51, AMD Cool 'n' Quiet enabled [240GB] * OS: Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition [100GB] * OS: Mandrake Linux-AMD64 10.0 Beta-1 [60GB] Greg

May 30, 2004, 02:21 AM	#13
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	I'm not too fond of the looks of these speakers but they sound great. http://store.klipsch.com/details.asp?prodID=58 I'd also recommend something not as expensive as the Platinum series..it's just not worth it. If you want front panel access you might think about the Hercules Game Theater XP 7.1 too. Now if you don't care about FP, the standard ZS, Fort. III, or Santa Cruz's are a great choice. I also recommend the M-Audio Rev. too but it's gaming abilities are "weaker" compared to an Audigy card. For DVD burner I'd have to recommend the Nec 2500A since you can now flash the firmware to a 2510 to make it a DL burner. The raid setup was off the top of my head but you also could pickup a single raptor drive for less hassle. Honestly though I think even with average speakers/headphones you still would appreciate a sound card upgrade even if just for the quality. If you had Soundstorm I would say otherwise.

May 30, 2004, 02:41 AM	#14
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	cambridge gigaworks put the klipsch's in their place, but cost a lil more