budget upgrade

vigos

Hi,

I've a P4 2.0Ghz Northwood skt 478 system with an AGP graphics card, the 400W PSU only has a power connection for 20-pin motherboards so I'd be limited in that way.

I'm not a heavy gamer, and just mainly use the machine for some development work, internet, burning cd/dvd etc.

I would however start to play around with one of the 64-bit operating systems i.e. linux maybe vista so I'm looking for the cheapest upgrade to accomplish this.

Would it be worthwhile upgrading this system to a Socket 754 motherboard, Sempron 64 or Athlon 64 chip? I was thinking maybe I could pick up one cheaply enough on ebay for less than a 100 euro. Would I see much of a performance gain?

I'm hoping to get away with just a CPU/Motherboard upgrade as I dont want to go to a system where I'll have to replace my graphics card and PSU just yet.

I know I'm probably mad to shell out any money on parts which are more or less obsolete but if I could get it cheap enough I figure why not. So any suggestions on motherboard/CPU combo which might suit?

8T8

AMD chips & board can be picked up pretty cheaply get a socket 754/939 one so you can re-use your current RAM without having to buy new though if you plan on using 64-bit Vista 1GB is recommended.

Pixmania have an Asus K8N which is a socket 754 board going for €54 it is based off the nForce 3 chipset so you will be able to re-use your AGP graphics card and RAM.

Sempron 2800+ €44 & 3000+ €55 will give you 64-bit support.

As for performance not sure but at least marginally better than the P4 you currently have I'd say.

Oh yeah and you need a Direct-X 9 class graphics card in order to make use of the hardware accelerated Vista user interface, otherwise it will default to the non-Aero Glass UI.

vigos

thanks for the reply, will take a look at those components you mentioned. Am also keeping an eye out on ebay too.

I think I'm confined to the Skt 754 boards as my PSU only has a 20-pin lead for the motherboard, as I think Skt 939 is 24-pin right?

hopeful

vigos wrote:

thanks for the reply, will take a look at those components you mentioned. Am also keeping an eye out on ebay too.

I think I'm confined to the Skt 754 boards as my PSU only has a 20-pin lead for the motherboard, as I think Skt 939 is 24-pin right?

A lot of Skt939 boards are 20 pin. I have an Asrock 939 Dual-SATA II and a Sapphire A9RD480 that are both 20 pin.

vigos

hopeful wrote:

A lot of Skt939 boards are 20 pin. I have an Asrock 939 Dual-SATA II and a Sapphire A9RD480 that are both 20 pin.

Thats good to know actually might give me another option! thanks for that

hopeful

Keep an eye on Adverts.ie as there is a shedload of Skt 939 stuff coming up for sale the past few weeks as everyone is upgrading to Core2Duo gear.

My Asrock will prob be for sale in a week or two once I get my new rig running (although I'm staying with AMD )

vigos

yeah I've been looking on adverts.ie myself a bit, will keep an eye out for your asrock so!