Newbie system help

Shikkapow · Post by **Shikkapow** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 4:40 pm

I have an old P4 1.4 ghz that I put together a five

years ago and its time for an upgrade.
I looked around newegg and put together a system that should work for me, and retain some upgrade ability in the future:
http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wis ... itle=maybe

I am not looking for a cuting edge system, just one that will allow me to play new games at decent settings. I'm not a hard-core gamer, but I like to play the new ones, and have the ablility to upgrade in the future.
My old (current) computer does just fine, but I can't play some of the new games that have come out lately.

In addition to the wish list I have a GeForce 6200 256 MB videocard, and 5.1 surround sound.

powersupply, hard disks etc etc will migrate over to the new machine.

I just want a few opinions on the setup I put together.

Thanks!

-mogwai · Post by **-mogwai** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 5:35 pm

i'd get a lower-grade motherboard.... the reason is because you already said you dont want a really sweet system or anything and you aren't a big gamer. it'd be kinda pointless to spend that much more money on a motherboard you wont utilize.

Shikkapow · Post by **Shikkapow** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 9:11 pm

audiophile wrote:i'd get a lower-grade motherboard.... the reason is because you already said you dont want a really sweet system or anything and you aren't a big gamer. it'd be kinda pointless to spend that much more money on a motherboard you wont utilize.

What about for future upgrades?
There is a chaintech mobo for about $50 less, but not quite as flexible for the future.
I'm not knocking your opinion, just giving a reason to back up my choice, but wouldn't the ASUS board be a better bet in 2 years when I want to drop in an FX55 for $100?

I got burned with my last one becuase I put together a P4 1.4 Ghz system that used pc800 memory, and I thought that the pentium class would be the way to go.
turns out I was wrong, and pc800 memory upgrades are insane $$

With a better mother board I would think I would have more options for processors and memory, and then the ability to overclock (for free) an older processor.

Thanks!

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:22 pm

well any 939 mobo is the way to go for that, DDR1 is not going any where to fast and the AMD X2 cpu is pin for pin compatable with skt 939. The asus is a good board, i think DFI make one thats slightly better. I do think you will be better served using an nForce4 based chipset as it has wider adoption in the US. This means there will be more memory supporting it as well as more bios updates.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:36 pm

I'd ditch the ASUS board, i did not care for their socket 939 solutions. i would highly recommend the Chaintech board based on your use and my experience with the board, The Chaintech is the best budget board on the market. you leave room to upgrade and overclock by adding some active cooling to it also. If you simply want the best board, go with the DFI NF4 Ultra, or even the MSI Neo 4, which is a close second. I like ASUS's Intel boards, but have not been impressed with their AMD socket 939 boards so far
I would recommend the 3000-3200+ Winchester, both are great CPUs that also overclock well and run very cool. I'd pass on the Kingston ValueRAM, not a big fan of that stuff. Go with some OCZ or PQI, their good stuff is decently priced, and system memory is no place to skimp. Use the money you save on the board and the difference between a 3200 and the 3000 to get some great memory.

-mogwai · Post by **-mogwai** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 12:16 am

capper5016 wrote:I'd ditch the ASUS board, i did not care for their socket 939 solutions. i would highly recommend the Chaintech board based on your use and my experience with the board, The Chaintech is the best budget board on the market. you leave room to upgrade and overclock by adding some active cooling to it also. If you simply want the best board, go with the DFI NF4 Ultra, or even the MSI Neo 4, which is a close second. I like ASUS's Intel boards, but have not been impressed with their AMD socket 939 boards so far
I would recommend the 3000-3200+ Winchester, both are great CPUs that also overclock well and run very cool. I'd pass on the Kingston ValueRAM, not a big fan of that stuff. Go with some OCZ or PQI, their good stuff is decently priced, and system memory is no place to skimp. Use the money you save on the board and the difference between a 3200 and the 3000 to get some great memory.

i gotta agree with that. if you're not a big gamer, then you dont really need all the bells and wistles... you just need something that will last you a long time and will stay through a future upgrade. nforce4 would be the safest bet, but look for a good budget board.... bang:buck. also, good ram is important because chances are that it'll stay in your computer longer than your processor will regarding future upgrades.

Shikkapow · Post by **Shikkapow** » Fri Jun 03, 2005 8:21 am

With the nforce4, there are no AGP slots, all those are the PCI Express correct?

The reason I ask is I have a new chaintech 6200 AGP.
I made the mistake of getting a video card before I even looked at the memory prices for my new mobo.
And now I am sorta stuck... dammit..
But even if that is the case the 939 should stretch for a while as well as the memory, so when the video is out of date, i'll need a motherboard as well.

The biggest difference I see with the chaintech s1689 and the asus board I posted is the audio (I already have 5.1) and the bios is a little more feature packed.

but for $50 less, that frees up money for other hobbies

Thanks for the info!

gvblake22 · Post by **gvblake22** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 4:32 pm

Shikkapow wrote:With the nforce4, there are no AGP slots, all those are the PCI Express correct?

The reason I ask is I have a new chaintech 6200 AGP.
I made the mistake of getting a video card before I even looked at the memory prices for my new mobo.
And now I am sorta stuck... dammit..
But even if that is the case the 939 should stretch for a while as well as the memory, so when the video is out of date, i'll need a motherboard as well.

The biggest difference I see with the chaintech s1689 and the asus board I posted is the audio (I already have 5.1) and the bios is a little more feature packed.

but for $50 less, that frees up money for other hobbies

Thanks for the info!

Correct, there are no nForce4 chipsets that have AGP, they all have PCI-Express and PCI

Good luck with the new system!!

killswitch83 · Post by **killswitch83** » Sat Jul 09, 2005 10:09 pm

well, it's kinda hard to find a good cheap board for a noob, but I think I might have a suggestion....If you're looking to go with a straight up AMD system, but don't want to break the bank, I would personally suggest the Jetway 939AGP-OC; though it has a VIA chipset north and south bridge, it's a good price for it to have SATA, 5 PCI, an 8x AGP slot, and 5.1 audio, and on top of that, I've heard nothing but good things from many of my friends who bought the boards, but that's just me.

LVCapo · Post by **LVCapo** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 7:50 am

Well, to be perfectly honest, I'd see if you could flip that AGP card in a trade or return it straight up. If you have the box, sometimes stores will understand that you don't know the difference.

Bio-Hazard · Post by **Bio-Hazard** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 5:09 pm

killswitch83 wrote:well, it's kinda hard to find a good cheap board for a noob, but I think I might have a suggestion....If you're looking to go with a straight up AMD system, but don't want to break the bank, I would personally suggest the Jetway 939AGP-OC; though it has a VIA chipset north and south bridge, it's a good price for it to have SATA, 5 PCI, an 8x AGP slot, and 5.1 audio, and on top of that, I've heard nothing but good things from many of my friends who bought the boards, but that's just me.

There's always the DFI LanParty NF3 Ultra.........supports AGP and socket 939 and overclocks extremely well..................

That's if you're stuck with your video card.