No announcement yet.

Tight budget purchase- Did I do OK?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Tight budget purchase- Did I do OK?

    :confused:
    Hi all,

    This is my first time posting and I need some opinions on an upgrade purchase I just made for a motherboard/CPU/Cooler.

    I wanted to stay under $300 USD as much as possible so I purchased:

    Soyo P4VSA Socket 478 Motherboard w/ P4 1.8GHz CPU
    ThermalTake P4 Dragon 478 w/ Fan Speed Controller

    Total: $265 USD w/o shipping

    I'm biased toward an ASUS motherboard, but I'd have to buy DDR RAM and I can't afford that much. The Soyo has 3-SDRAM DIMMS, so I went with it. I hope I didn't buy a crap board.

    Let me know what you think and thanks in advance for your opinions.

    Baronhawk

  • #2
    Well i dont mean to be rude, but i will put it bluntly. That was a bad choice. Using the P4 and SDRam will seriously bottleneck your performance. For under $300, you are MUCH MUCH better off with an athlon XP and DDR2100/2700 board.

    Comment


    • #3
      Here you go:

      AMD Athlon XP 2100 - $135US
      Epox 8K3AE - $85US
      Thermaltake Volcano 9 Cooler - $25US


      Im guessing that would be a good %20 ahead of that P4 selection in terms of performance

      Comment


      • #4
        i can definitely say that p4's on sdram SUCK when compared to a base DDR equivalent, I have used 2 identical PCs here at work, only difference being the mobo model was the ddr version (hence ddr ram) and the difference for me was phenomenol.

        also the difference of 256 to 512 Mb of DDR is stupidly amazing in winXP

        Comment


        • #5
          Yeh but for under $300 usd i think an athlon XP would be much more beneficial than a P4 on DDR, the only time the P4 starts beating the athlon is when you start spending big money.

          Comment


          • #6
            Athlons are just so much cheaper. A 1600+ is 55 USD at newegg.com..thats great man...1.6 GHz performance for under 60 bucks. A Epox or Abit KT333 mobo for less than 80 bucks..you could have gotten yourself a case with the rest...

            You should have asked that question before you bought your stuff dude.

            Try to return that thing...if you can if not try to make the best out of it.
            - Damien

            Comment


            • #7
              That athlon XP 1600+ would match that P4 in some areas too, and with the P4 running on SDRam the XP 1600+ would be alot better, i say XP 1600+, 8K3AE, and 512MB of decent DDR memory, you could do that for under $300USD easy

              Comment


              • #8
                Well, I think I will definately post messages on this forum more often. Especially when I'm going to buy some more upgrades or something.

                Thanks to you all for your input and suggestions. The order isn't fully processed yet so I think I can cancel and change the order.

                Some of you mentioned some good suggestions as to what to get, but didn't mention "where" to get it at that price. Any good places to get this stuff?

                Thanks again for all the good information. I need to use forums more often.

                Baronhawk

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Ehhe Yebeb
                  That athlon XP 1600+ would match that P4 in some areas too, and with the P4 running on SDRam the XP 1600+ would be alot better, i say XP 1600+, 8K3AE, and 512MB of decent DDR memory, you could do that for under 0USD easy
                  Hello Ehhe Yebeb,

                  I'm wondering where you normally go to get this hardware. What are some good sites to check for them?

                  Thanks again,

                  Baronhawk

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Probably the two U.S. etailers that you will hear most in these forums are Newegg.com and MWave.com . There are usually some pretty good prices. Of course you will want to shop around and make your own decisions based on what it is you are after, but these are usually good starting places. I have used both and was fully satisfied with price, selection, and customer service.
                    *end commercial* :laugh:
                    Have you hugged a Midget today?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Yeh those prices i quoted earlier were from newegg.com im sure you can find cheaper but apparently newegg has really good service

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Thanks Ehhe for the help. :thumb:

                        Baronhawk

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Newegg.com has great service and ship FedEx which i prefer right off the bat. They are based in California. Also, check out shentech.com they ship UPS and are based in NY. They are competitive with newegg but not so much with cases or fans. If you want an all around good retailer newegg is the one.

                          PS there is also directron.com
                          - Damien

                          Comment

                          Working...
                          X