{URGENT} UPGRADE HELP !!!

[mohit]

A frnd of mine is having the following rig at present,

AMD 3000+ (939 Pin)
MSI RS480 M2
256*2 DDR 333 Mhz hYNIX
80 GB Seagate PATA

He is willing to spend 45k at the max for an upgrade and he has the following options. Please advise/suggest which option should he go for. He requires only a mobo , procc , ram , ups . hdd and psu.

I.
Keep the same processor ie AMD 3000+ (939 PIN)
ASUS A8N-E Motherboard - 6500/-
XFX 7800 GTX PCI-E - 30,000/-
Keep the same RAM i.e Hynix 512 DDR 333
Coolermaster / Antec 450 W PSU - 4,000/-
Numeric 800VA UPS - 3600/-
160 GB SATA 2 Hitachi / Samsung - 4700/-

Total :- 48,800/-

II.
Intel P4 630 (3.0 Ghz , 2 Mb L2) - 8500/-
MSI/ASUS 955X Board - 9,000/-
512 MB DDR2 667 Mhz Kingston - 4500/-
Leadtek 6600GT Extreme 128 Mb - 10,500/-
Coolermaster / Antec 450 W PSU - 4,000/-
Numeric 800VA UPS - 3600/-
160 GB SATA 2 Hitachi / Samsung - 4700/-

Total :- 44,800/-

III.
Keep the same procc i.e AMD 3000+ (939)
ASUS A8N-E - 6500/- (he is worried bout the fan problem of this board so he does not want to go for it)
or
MSI K8N-NEO4 Platinum - 8000/-
512*2 Kingston DDR 400 - 5,600/-
Leadtek / XFX 6800GT / Ultra - 22,000/-
Coolermaster / Antec 450 W PSU - 4,000/-
Numeric 800VA UPS - 3600/-
160 GB SATA 2 Hitachi / Samsung - 4700/-

Total :- 47,900/-

IV.
Keep the same mobo + procc
Powercolor X800 XL 256 MB 256 BIT - 18,000/-
or
XFX 7800 GTX - 30,000/-
512*2 Kingston / Corsair DDR 400 - 6,000/-
Creative Soundblaster Live 7.1 - 2000/- (he does not like the sound quality of this board)
Coolermaster / Antec 450 W PSU - 4,000/-
Numeric 800VA UPS - 3600/-
160 GB SATA 2 Hitachi / Samsung - 4700/-

Total :- 38,300/- or 47,300/- (for 7800gtx with 512 mb)
he can buy 512 mb of ram when he is buying the 7800GTX card .. i think it will suffice.


I am strongly advising him for Option I . What do u say guyz ? I am creating a poll on this post also. Please cast your vote. Thanx.

 

[supersaiyan]

option1. he can get some more ram afterwards too right?

 

[mohit]

I have edited the post as he requires a SATA 2 HDD also.

@supersaiyan
ya thats wht i am advising him to do .. buy ram within a month or two.

 

[drvarunmehta]

Option I: Makes no sense to pair a 7800 GTX with just 512 MB DDR333 RAM.

Option II: Totally $ucks. Your current proccy will be wasted. Since this is a gaming rig, stick with AMD.

Option III: Most sensible option. But you don't really need to change the mobo. Shifting from a RS480 to a nForce4 gives a marginal boost in perfromance (but not 6500 bucks worth of performance).

Stick to the current rig. Add a 6800GT (or a 7800GTX if you really need it), HDD, PSU and UPS as mentioned above. The money you save by sticking with your current mobo can be spent on low latency DDR400 Corsair XMS series RAM (2x512).

A RS480 with Corsair XMS will perform better than a nForce4 with generic Hynix (especially after OCing).

 

[mohit]

@drvarunmehta

keeping your suggestions in mind , i have added another option. Now what do u say mate ?

Does anybody know how to edit my poll ? I want another option added in the poll , how do i do it ?

 

[drvarunmehta]

Option IV is the most balanced of them all. Before buying a seperate soundcard, tell us which speakers will be used. If the speakers are low end, shifting from onboard sound to 7.1 makes no sense.

 

[asdf1223]

option 3 hands down.just dont replace the mobo.get 6800gt though.6800u is just a waste of both money and power.the money saved can get u a good speakers+live 7.1

 

[Aniruddh]

@Dr.Varun which gpu u suggest X800 or 7800GTX or 6800gt for 4th option?creative inspire 4.1 speakers.

 

[diabolic_saint]

i will suggest option 2 with intel platform all the latest stuff and a good grapix.the best part all this is in your budget.

 

[drvarunmehta]

If your budget permits, buy the 7800GTX, but do find out the price of the 7800GT. If you don't mind waiting a bit, postpone your purchase of the graphics card till ATI launches the X1800 series (it won't be too long a wait). You can use the onboard graphics till then.

 

[Ringwraith]

option IV
dont even think of dumping that board! its still very new
a nice pair of RAM sticks and a monster gfx card /PSU is wat u need

 

[mohit]

ok thanx guys i have decided on the 4th option for him and buying a 7800gtx .

 

[Kniwor]

That's a good decision, i just wanted to add that it was hopeless to go for option 1, as u cannot continue with that ram.