Advice Needed

Last edited by krazykaveman on Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:28 pm; edited 1 time in total

Ok here's the two issues im facing.

Currently i have a dell dimension 2400 with the following specs

2.4GHZ celeron
512MB DDR266
80GB Hard Drive
Radeon 9250 256MB PCI
Windows XP Home Edition

I want to play games better and yadda yadda yadda
and i was wanting to upgrade my ram to make my dell run better but then i thought im gonna wait before doing that because im debating between these to ideas

1). Is to upgrade my current dell with the following

DFI/S478/661FX/FSB800/AVL/MATX
COOLMAX CX350B 350W BLACK
STT D400 512M/32X8 CL2.5 16CH
SAP X1600PRO AGP 256M DCT LRTL

with a total of $223.75

or i couldsell my dell on ebay but i dont know how much my dell is worth and if i should sell the moniter with it. 2 all depends really on how much i sell my dell for.

2).is to buy a new computer with the following

ASRock 939DUAL-SATA2 Socket 939/ULI M1695/AGP+PCI-E/SATA2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3000+* (1.8GHz) 939pin Retail
STT DDR400 1G-2X512 C2.5 DUAL KIT
WD800JD 80G SATA 7200RPM 8M
Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB No Power Supply Case (Black/Blue)
SONY CDRW 52X32X52 BLK
EVGA GeForce 7600GT 256MB PCI-Express
CTX 17\" CRT BLACK .27 1280X102
WINDOWS XP HOME W/SP2 1PK(NEW)
Coolmax CXI-400B 400W Power Supply

with a total of $782.70

/* this is old im keeping it here for those who want to see it
then i would sell my dell then earn the difference between the two prices. But it depends on what costs more upgrading my computer or buying a new one. Also if i dont sell my moniter with my dell that would knock off $113 off the new computer price.

so what i need your help for is finding out how much my dell is worth with and without the 17inch CRT and deciding between option 1 and 2 now that i finished writing this i just thought that you guys are probly all going to tell me to go option 2 so this might be pointless but i typed it anyway so i want honest opinoins i dont really care about my current CPU because i know that the 3000+ is like 50X's better than celeron 2.4 but i want to spend as less as possible. because if i went with option 1 id later on get a P4 3.0 GHZ CPU and overclock it to 3.2 or something.*/

I doubt you would get much for a Dell off of eBay. Shipping would be pretty high (especially if you sold the monitor with it), so either the buyer would pay a lot for that or you would pay for it and loose money on it. Because there is no telling how much you would make off of it, I would recommend upgrading instead of selling. That Dell upgraded to those specs would be pretty good.

Also, I wouldn't recommend overclocking a P4, unless you have a very good cooling system. P4s just don't overclock well, since they are already clocked pretty high. And if something goes wrong with it, your toast.

Yeah so now my plan is to

1. get a paper route
2. Get more ram
3. get a new power supply
4. get a new motherboard
5. get the X1600PRO
6. get a P4 3.0 GHZ

and how good really is the X1600PRO is it better than a X700 or X800?

You should get the X850 instead, it may be older, but it is still better...

I'd go for option 2. It would really help if you could save up a little more to get a better video card. But otherwise, it looks pretty good.

Last edited by krazykaveman on Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

Yeah well if i get a paper route i could save up some more plus im also going to start mowing my neihbors yards. And how much do you think i could sell my dell for on ebay?

$150-200

Ok so heres the news i havent bought anything yet but i may be able to put a new processor soon i just have a question.

My motherboard can only support up to 533 MHZ bus speeds (or something like that) and i currently have a northwood core celeron.

would it be ok to put a Pentium 4 2.8 GHZ with 800MHZ bus Prescott core in my motherboard

so to summerize
would my motherboard automaticly downclock the bus speed so it would work? And would a prescott core work in my motherboard?

The processor just won't be able to run as fast.
You see, your motherboard can handle up to DDR533, which is the same as a literal FSB of 133, just quad pumped. So, it will only be able run at like 1.8xGhz, without any 'overclocking'. Depending on the motherboard, you might be able to get the FSB up to 200MHz (DDR800 for Intels), but I don't think it will be as stable as a motherboard designed for DDR800, even if you have an AGP/PCI lock.
So, technically, yes, it might work. But realistically, I wouldn't suggest it.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/syst...sm_en/specs.htm

heres what dell says

\"Intel Pentium 4 that runs at 2.2 or 2.4 GHz internally and 400 MHz externally, or 2.266, 2.4, 2.53, 2.66, 2.8, or 3.06 GHz internally and 533 MHz externally.\"

I can't tell for sure, but I really don't think you'll be able to get it to go with DDR800.

But im not trying to put DDR800 in.

and im now thinking of just getting a 754/939 board have it lay around for awhile then get a new processor new power supply and new video card. (i have a 300W Amd compatible power supply sitting around here somewhere) but i want to get a 754 then a sempron 3000+ since that is cheaper and i can get those faster than an 939+A643000+

well if you read my first post i already have a radeon 9250

no i wont be ordering through newegg but you can give me linked suggetions through newegg if thats what you were thinking.