I'm upgrading my computer, want to know everyone's thoughts......

[whitejremiah]

right now, im running a rather highly modified emachines t2460 computer, im just looking to speed things up a bit...i know im gonna have to replace my motherboard in order to do so, and i know that my pci-express slot wont be useable until i upgrade my power supply (i dont intend on making use of it right off the bat.......) but right now, i've got an AMD 2400+xp processor in it.........i'd just like to know if there's anything else i need besides the mobo, a new heatsink+fan, and obviously thermal paste.......


new processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103539

new mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

i do NOT intend to overclock this setup........if anyone has any suggestions to throw my way, im fairly open to them at the moment, and also if anyone else knows where to get these parts cheaper, feel free to let me know.....(must be a reliable place, too, obviously)

PS: "upgrading" to a p4 is one option i will NOT take......i don't like intel... :P

[ROF]

Do you plan to keep your current case and power supply?

Does your emachines case support ATX style boards?

Does your power supply support ATX 20 pin boards?

Is your current RAM dual channeled 184 pin DDR?

Your choice of motherboard is good as is your choice of processor. The processor your purchasing includes a heatsink+fan(no thermal paste required). Since you don't plan to overclock this stock fan will work fine but even if you do overclock the AMD stock fans work great since the chip runs cool by nature anyways.

[unclebud]

I'd start with a new generic case with lots of bays and a 400w or larger power supply. You can't have too much power.

[ROF]

I gotta agree on the case. Read some reviews for sub-$40 cases with 500 watt power supplies from newegg. JPAC makes quite a few good ones.

[whitejremiah]

i was intending on just keeping the same power supply+case, but i may as well just replace it, since im not too sure of the power rating, ect on it......

just looked at the JPAC cases on newegg, honestly it looks like you get what you pay for.......i saw a few people report DOA power supplies, or dying shortly thereafter.......i may just hit up the local computer store for a new case if i need one, because honestly, by the time shipping charges and whatnot are done, i may actually be better off just buying it at a local store anyhow......

[ROF]

You may also find the case is designed for proprietary boards in which case you'd have to drill new holes in order to stand off your new motherboard. You might also find your power supply has an extra lead connector attached to the current mainboard. This would indicate a proprietary power supply.

[whitejremiah]

http://www.milwaukeepc.com/SKUInfo.asp?SKU=050576

they sell those at a local store, and they are the type of place that can wheel and deal on prices, so i may actually be able to talk em down to like 50 bux or so on it...i know 400w isnt THE highest end of all power supplies, but it should work decently for what im gonna be running, no?

also, just to verify, yes, im running compatable ram, hdd's, ect, so none of that should be a problem, thats mainly why i chose this board instead of others that are out there.....

[ROF]

codegen makes some good casings but be careful of their power supplies. Alot of them will fluctuating voltages on the 12v rail. I've replaced enough raptor power supplies in the codegen cases that I tend to either buy just their casings or buy a power supply with one of their case packagings.

[joepic]

There are two sites that you you need to visit: www.Tomshardware.com
and www.Pricewatch.com.

Here is where you find all of your technical information.

CPU Charts - performance comparison between AMD and Intel processors
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html

VGA Charts
http://www.tomshardware.com/site/vgacharts/index.html

Hard Disk Charts
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storage.html

After you know what hardware you need the get the prices from Pricewatch.

[whitejremiah]

hmmm...so those included power supplies are kinda craptastic, then, eh? oh well, guess i will bite the bullet and buy a decent power supply and just a barebones case without a power supply....

[MJA]

just buy everything you need from newegg.com,chiefvalue.com(egg and chief are the same company),or zipzoomfly.com no need to go to pricewatch or any other sites.

BTW Nvidia bought ULI few months ago. so the future of ULI isn't known yet (I hope it doesn't endup like 3dfx/voodoo) its a good idea to go with the Force.lol

[MJA]

I think only antec cases come with good PS

[whitejremiah]

sorry, it's been a while, so im kinda reviving a rather dead topic, but just wanted everyone to see what i finally decided on........i didn't thourougly think through the whole fact that i needed a new power supply and case, beforehand, so i decided to go with this....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8780514573&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.e...0%3D%26fvi%3D1
depending on what people think of the power supply, i may just up and replace it outright, but the mobo doesnt seem too bad....im gonna probably wait for my next motherboard to go to pci express though, because i thought about it, and my AIW 9600 card is still alive and kicking good enough for my purposes....only real downfall to this motherboard (other than the lack of pci-e) is the fact that it's only got 2 RAM slots, so im gonna be fairly limited as far as that's concerned.....but the case is nice, and i'll have some spare room for things such as more hdd's, maybe a pci slot fan, ect....

[budz]

why buy from Ebay? did you see how many negative feedback the seller has? 207 negative feedback! scary to buy from someone who has that many negative feedback.

imho i wouldn't buy a barebones from ebay because you would do better at buying the components yourself. just my 2 cents!

[whitejremiah]

if you go back and actually LOOK at the feedback though, a lot of it was miscommunication and people not understanding the terms of the sales, ect.....(one of em for example, was someone complaining that the price of shipping was more than the price of the item.....that type of deal...and they even had a shipping calc on that auction and a FEW people complaining about shipping taking too long when they were getting items shipped overseas...) ya gotta look at the upside of things, too....they do have over 25000 feedback.....they appear to be a very legitimate buisness...i can honestly understand negitive feedback here and there, it happens no matter where you buy stuff from...there's always gonna be dissatisfied people.......they said they are sending it out within the next 48-72 hours anyhow....as for why i didn't buy it elsewhere, i looked at other places, tigerdirect, newegg, ect and i couldnt find a barebones rig with ONLY the components i needed, they all had extra stuff included that i'd personally make no use of, and all it did was jack the price up anyhow, i suppose i couldve bought the mobo, the case, and the processor separately, but by the time everything was said and done, it wouldve costed me just as much if not more because of shipping costs and such....and i've checked local stores...some of em want like 250 for the processor alone, another 75 for the case, and another like 50-100 for the motherboard...i figured this route, i could get it at least SLIGHTLY cheaper and have everything sent to me all at once....

and btw, a SCARY seller on ebay has like 50/50 feedback, i dealt with one of those a long time ago, and i actually lucked out on it......i dont like to play the odds, but occasionally ya gotta.... (the item was a video game accessory for a system that hasnt been made for some years.....)

[budz]

Good luck!

[MJA]

ThermalTake TR2 W0070RUC 430W Power Supply $29.99 shipped free,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023&ATT=17-153-023&CMP=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r