Maximum PC

I'm ready to do an upgrade but I have a couple questions that compound in to one overall question "should I upgrade?"

1) I currently have a 2.4 P4 w/ HT on an IS7-E Abit board. I feel its time to jump back into the game even if a little. I've had my eye set on a 3200+ AMD socket 939 on a Foxconn 939 board. Will I feel a performance boost from this upgrade or is it pointless?

2) I currently have a 9600Pro AGP. If I upgrade to a 939 board that still sports AGP that'll save me 200+ bucks since I wont have to upgrade. Should I stick with AGP or go ahead and shell out some extra cash for PCI-E. If so, what card do you recommend in the 200-250 range?

3) I'd like to spend at most 500 dollars with a little leeway for a AMD proc, mb, and video card. Please advise me as to which items will give me the best bang for my buck.

I'm a gamer, so please keep that in mind. I'd also like for the board to have 4 ram slots. Thanks a lot. You guys and gals are the best.

Me personally I think I would keep the mobo and processer and shell out for a 6800gt video card.

In my opinion, this setup would be THEkick ass bang-for-buck PC:

A64 3000+
MSI K8N Neo4-F
Rosewill X800XL

$147 + $90 + $282 = $519

Crap. Anyway, this is one of the best setups because of the X800XL. If I had gone with the 3200+ route, I would have been limited to the 6600GT, which is a good value card, but the X800XL offers almost twice the frames.

Looks good OC. One question, will I suffer a performance decrease since I'm going from a 2.4 P4 to a 1.8 AMD?

Actually, quite the opposite. The 1.8GHz A64 is rated to compete with a 3GHz processor (specifically, rated to compete with a 3GHz Thunderbird core). Coincedentally, the 3000+ competes with a 3GHz P4 extremely well. You're going to enjoy a 600MHz performance boost.

Just remember this: you can't compare the clocks of a P4 to an A64.

$150 AMD 3000+ socket 939
$150 MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
$200 Leadtek 6600 GT

$500 grand total... plus shipping & tax.
those are newegg.com prices.
if you shop around I'm sure you can get it all under $500.
By the way... that's the setup I plan on purchasing end of May.
I'm thinkin' I might try to get the 3200+ offa e-bay.

WOW weeee..!!! The AMD 64 3000+ 939 is near par with a Pentium4 @ 3Ghz... shhhaaa-weeet..!!!

-paul

Awesome, you've been a lot of help. Thanks bud.

One last question, I currently have a 420watt psu. Should I be considering an upgrade or will this still work?

I've also heard you have to have a unique PCI-E plug on your PSU which I'm positive I don't have. Does that mean I need a new one or do they sell adapters?

The adapters don't do jack for those extra 4 pins. They're just blanks that fill in the holes. Getting a new power supply would be the best decision.

My recommendations include these two:

Enermax 420W
Antec TruePower II 380W

Yeah, unfortunately, your budget will have to be widened. You could always wait and save up.

for me at least..
budget minded PSU:

$70
Antec True 430w PSU

or

$60
ThermalTake 480w PSU

once again, these are newegg.com prices.
if you seek lower prices, you shall find lower prices.
hahaha.. umm.. yea.

anywayz... those 2 psu should do for this set up right..?
if I'm wrong, please correct me.

also..if you wanna keep it low as possible.. like some have mentioned:

$90 MSI K8N Neo4-F
$150 AMD 3000+ S939
$200 Leadtek 6600GT
$60 Thermaltake 480w psu

and maybe lower if you wanna do the e-bay thing

hope that helps as that is what I have gathered up from this site along with my research.

-paul