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  #1 (permalink)  
Old May 22, 2009, 06:57 AM
Dr_BenD_over's Avatar
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Dancing_Banana Upgrade - for a co-worker
Present System:

AXP 2100+, TI4800SE, some crappy VIA chipset mobo (all old junk I sold him for next to nothing)

Anyway, he'd prefer to keeps things as cheap as possible. It will not be used for gaming, he uses it for creating DVD's *cough* and his son uses it for some audio work. He'd like to at least double his speed.

So I was thinking...

AMD route:
A64 X2 5200+
MSI K9N6PGM2-V
2GB of cheapo ram
$151.96 before taxes and shipping


Intel route:
E2200
Gigabyte GA-EG31M-ES2L
2GB of cheapo ram
$168.24

Which would be the better choice, or would say an Atom 230 at $112.87 with ram give him the performance increase he's looking for?
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Old May 22, 2009, 07:13 AM
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Atom = Not worth it IMHO. You'll be noticing slowdowns all over the place, and probably in certain cases an Athlon XP will be faster.... so Atom wouldn't be much of an upgrade. My suggestion:
AMD 7750 Black Edition - $79.99
NCIX.com - Buy AMD Athlon X2 7750 Black Edition Dual Core Processor Socket AM2+ 2.7GHZ 3MB 65NM 95W Retail Box - AD775ZWCGHBOX In Canada.

Biostar 780G Motherboard - $79.44
NCIX.com - Buy Biostar A780G M2+ SE AMD780G mATX AM2+ PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 RAID Video Sound GBLAN Motherboard - A780G M2+ SE In Canada.

Kingston DDR2-800 1x2Gb - $29.99
NCIX.com - Buy Kingston ValueRAM KVR800D2N5/2G PC2-6400 2GB 1X2GB DDR2-800 240PIN DIMM Memory - KVR800D2N5/2G In Canada.

Total = Approx. $190

Reasons: Its not worth getting the 5200+ when the newer 7750BE is not even 10 more expensive and can be OC'd a bit with the stock HSF. The onboard 780G graphics on the Biostar board will be capable of some very light gaming, as well as watching HD videos without issue. Kingston ram = lifetime warranty and inexpensive.

OR

Get this:
NCIX.com - Buy Shuttle XPC K45 Barebones Mini PC LGA775 GMA950 DDR2 1PCI SATA VGA Sound LAN -FACTORY REFURB- - K45-K1-BK-V1-REFURB In Canada.

With any mid-range 775 CPU (e2xxx series) and some ram (the above mentioned Kingston stick would work nicely)
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Old May 22, 2009, 07:36 AM
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What about.....

NCIX.com - Buy AMD Power of Black Bundle Deal Ahtlon X2 7850 2.8GHZ AM2+ CPU & ASUS M3A78-CM DDR2 Motherboard - 7850-M3A78-CM In Canada.

Includes free shipping which should make the difference on the cheepo ram.
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Old May 22, 2009, 07:45 AM
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Free shipping with this combo...
NCIX.com - Buy AMD Power of Black Bundle Deal Ahtlon X2 7850 2.8GHZ AM2+ CPU & ASUS M3A78-CM DDR2 Motherboard - 7850-M3A78-CM In Canada.

X2 7850+Asus M3A78-CM=$149.99

Ooohhh....ninjad by sswilson! (I was distracted by the NCIX extreme deal o' the day)...lol
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Old May 22, 2009, 07:46 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sswilson View Post
What about.....

NCIX.com - Buy AMD Power of Black Bundle Deal Ahtlon X2 7850 2.8GHZ AM2+ CPU & ASUS M3A78-CM DDR2 Motherboard - 7850-M3A78-CM In Canada.

Includes free shipping which should make the difference on the cheepo ram.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stoanee View Post
What... you didn't like my link to the same product???? :)
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Sabertooth 990FX / PhII X4 965 / 2X4G Corsair XMS3 / EVGA GTX580 + EK Block / Corsair 120G Force GT
Corsair TX750 / XSPC EX240 / Swiftech MCP655-B / XSPC Dual Bay Res / ? CPU block / Bitfenix Ghost / Samsung 931BF
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Old May 22, 2009, 08:00 AM
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Excellent suggestions.
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Old May 22, 2009, 08:08 AM
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I second the Shuttle suggestion; I've built a few for casual browsing and Office work, just slap an E2200and you're good to go.
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