Ok, I am putting together a Christmas list to update my computer system. I already have 4 HD's that total 225 gigs with XP Professional on it, so I really don't need new drives. I also have a CD burner drive and DVD Burner drive and a plain DVD drive, and the case is an Antec, so thats just fine too.

The stuff I will need to upgrade is my processor (Ath XP 1500+), motherboard (MSI K7T Turbo Limited Edition), graphics card (ATI Radeon 8500), and RAM (3 chips totalling 768 megs).

Now here is what I wanna know. I want to build a midrange gaming system. For the video card I am leaning towards the new X1600 XT w/256 megs of RAM (supposed to go for about ($250) which should be out in November. I have not really compared this to the nVidia cards, so suggestions on this as well as the motherboard/processor and the RAM I should put down for. Keep in mind I can't let this get too expensive. So I figure 100-200 for the mobo, and dunno what yet for the proc/RAM. Again, I don't need something thats gonna be a screaming bat outta hell, I want a pretty high performance rig on a bit of a budget. So no crazy expensive suggestions.

I also want to know if when I do this, will I have to reinstall the my XP and everything else, or will I just be able to put the drive in and let it reconfigure for the new board/mobo? And I want something that has a good RAID array so I can have 4 HD's and 2-3 CD/DVD drives on it.

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't been up with my systems anymore since I rebuilt this one a few years ago, so I dunno if I should go with AMD/Intel and ATI/NVidia. So any and all help and pricing would be greatly appreciated.

10/8/2005 11:00:01 AM

there is a small chance you can boot in safe mode and you can load the drivers for the mb and everyting else and get it working. VERY small, like 1 in 500, so I would plan to reload.

you do not need cd drives on a raid array. if you are going to setup a raid array, you have to set it up before there is a load(windows in this case) on it. so you would have to set it up again anyway.

AMD would save you some money.

ATI or nVidia, someone else would know more than me.

10/8/2005 11:05:24 AM

Those must be small hard drives. I'd check their speeds, if you've got a slow 20 gig in there it could do more for slowing down your system then it helps

10/8/2005 11:07:42 AM

Go with a new HDD with SATA. The new drives will be faster and geeze 4 HD's, I bet it gets hot in there.

I did a component upgrade when my computer was struck by lightning back in the win98 days. It worked without reinstalling but after a month I said screw it, formatted the disk and reinstalled everything.

10/8/2005 11:11:04 AM

XP won't like the hardware change.. with the whole license/activation crap they have now..


along with possible hardware profile issues.. (you may not be able to use a mouse and keyboard in XP) which involves using the recovery console and restoring it to a default configuration of generic drivers...

it's probably best to back up your data and do a full format. you won't run into many of the issues you would without the format, and it'll speed up your system..

the benchmarks for the ATI R520 cards are generally lower than the same generation in NVIDIA.. but are cheaper.. I would definitely go XT models if your sticking to ATI..

it's probably best to drop the CD burner and just use the dvd and dvd burner drives.. easier to setup.. and the cd burner seems redundant since the dvd burner burns cd's as well..

10/8/2005 11:24:00 AM

I'd go with a nVidia 6600 (has HD gaming support and dual DVI and is affordable)
i'd also go with a socket 939 AMD 64 3500+ (thats what i just upgraded from if you are looking for mid-range) and definitly go wit SATA. go with a raptor drive if you want to see a huge difference in performance and don't care much for storage. I've got two 300gb seagates hooked up externally which is why i use raptor drives for RAID 0. And also buy a floppy drive or borrow one from someone if you plan on loading a SATA or RAID drivers at all...and make sure for the initial setup you use a ps2 keyboard not a USB keyboard. (trust me i learned the hardway, it won't let you load the 3rd party drivers during the windows setup without one.)

10/8/2005 11:33:29 AM

Yea I have had to swith my XP activation thing once already when I redid my system before. But I was able to use it all like before.

I don't really care to use the three drives, I just have them. The DVD is actually the oldest, the CD burner is a newer Lite-On 48x24x48, so I'd probably keep that and the DVD burner, actually. Probably put the old DVD drive in another case with the current system for a system for my wife/son to use.

I do care a lot about storage capacity. I have like 50 gigs in movies and probably as much in music. Plus I have shit tons of games on my current HD's from a number of years that I still like to play.

[Edited on October 8, 2005 at 11:56 AM. Reason : ]

10/8/2005 11:50:16 AM

Well it's not like you've got a huge amount of storage space there, I've got 250 from one sata drive.

10/8/2005 12:03:21 PM

Yea, thats what I'm saying. I'd probably rather keep these drives intact and just use the one new drive I have from this computer thats empty and maybe buy a 250 to throw into the new one.

10/8/2005 12:57:22 PM

just use sysprep on your windows cd BEFORE you do the changes.

you will have to reactivate, but it will wipe all your driver configs and ensure a proper setup with the new hardware. do a google on sysprep to find the flags you need.

10/8/2005 4:49:28 PM

you should buy my shit and a new video card
http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=356103

10/8/2005 5:10:49 PM

^Sorry prefer something faster than 3 ghz and it has to be something my family can pickup from a store or online like @ Newegg.

10/8/2005 9:43:58 PM

there isn't a 3ghz amd out.. but amd's are the fastest out there. you be the judge.

[Edited on October 9, 2005 at 12:34 AM. Reason : ghz != flops]

10/9/2005 12:34:40 AM

Ok, let me rephrase then, I'm looking for at least a 3200+ to 3500+ in the AMD line, and over 3ghz in Intel.

10/9/2005 12:41:32 AM

^ if i'm reading smoothcrim's thread correctly.. he has a 3000+ overclocked to 2.4Ghz.. which is probably equivelant to a 3400-3600+..

10/9/2005 1:52:20 AM

[image]photos/00421718.jpg

[Edited on October 9, 2005 at 1:01 PM. Reason : mod edit]

10/9/2005 9:08:43 AM