LITTLEBLACKDOG.COM

Stray Dog Joined: 18 Apr 2004 Posts: 57

Here's what I'm currently running:

Asus K8N4-E Deluxe with
> Audio-GB.LAN-Firewire-PCI.Ex-S.ATA RAID (Socket 754)
>
> Western Digital 120 GB, Ultra 100, 7200 RPM, 8MB
> Cache
> Mitsumi 1.44 MB Floppy Drive - Black
> Enlight 7250 Mid-Tower ATX, 430 Watt, 2 Front USB -
> Black
> Black 80mm Case Fan
> LiteOn Combo CDRW 52x32x52x + DVD 16x - Black
> Corsair XMS TwinX 512 MB PC3200 DDR400, Heat
> Spreaders, Matched Pair
> AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 2.0GHz, 512k Cache, Socket 754
> Sapphire Radeon X600 PRO 256MB with TV-Out, DVI (PCI
> Express)
> Microsoft MultiMedia Keyboard and Optical Value Pack
>
> Windows XP Home SP2 (OEM)

It's kinda old. Lately we've been experiencing some black screens on our monitor that are always preceded by pixelated screen tearing. So assuming it's the video card crapping out I've ordered this:

SAPPHIRE 100226L Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

After ordering that, I started thinking it might be time for a new processor too.

So here's my question:

With what we are currently running, and the new video card en route to us, could you offer up 2 suggestions...

1. A new processor for our existing system [if such a processor still is available for our mobo]? But that is not costly [under $100 would be best].

2. A new processor and mobo for our current system that will work well with the newly ordered video card + what we already have [listed above]... and -also- is very cost effective.

By the way, and just to let you know... about a year ago I also ramped up our RAM to 1gyg of memory.

Thanks as always for any and all input.

Thanks

zenjones wrote:
1. A new processor for our existing system [if such a processor still is available for our mobo]? But that is not costly [under $100 would be best].

Sorry. There aren't any options for Socket-754.

Quote:
2. A new processor and mobo for our current system that will work well with the newly ordered video card + what we already have [listed above]... and -also- is very cost effective.

The good news is that DDR2 memory is very affordable.

AMD:
$80 Gigabyte GA-MA770-S3
or $90 Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H
$58 Athlon64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 2.3GHz w/ HSF
or $100 Athlon64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6 GHz "Black Edition"
and $25 Freezer 64 Pro heatsink & fan
$75 -10MIR 2x2GiB Mushkin PC2-6400 DDR2-800

Intel:
$90 Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L or GA-EP35-DS3L
$70 P E2180 Allendale 2.0 GHz
or $135 C2D E7200 Wolfdale 2.53 GHz
$75 -10MIR 2x2GiB Mushkin PC2-6400 DDR2-800