[redsniper]

So, my mom asked me what I want for my birthday and I suggested she give me money to upgrade my computer. She agreed to pay up to $100. It's not enough for any major overhauling but I figure I've got to be able to improve something with that kind of money. So here are my specs:
Asus A7N8X-E
Athlon 2800 XP
1GB RAM (all the slots are full so this would be expensive to upgrade)
Radeon 9800 Pro
80GB SATA HD (big enough for my purposes)
cheap offbrand cd burner/dvd-rom (I'll most likely upgrade this to a good dvd burner)
That's about it since I'm satisfied with all my peripherals. Suggest away.

[mitac]

No need to upgrade anything, but if you need one, get a DVD burner. Some good speakers or also always worth considering. That's it.

[Col. Fishguts]

5.1 soundcard and/or surround speakers ?

[mitac]

The mainboard *should* have 5.1. Does it?

[redsniper]

I already have onboard sound and good speakers. The thing that worries me is stuff like Athlon 64 and PCI Express. I'd like to upgrade a little bit at a time so I don't fall way behind and find myself having to do a massive overhaul in the future. Basically, is there any way I can begin to future-proof my computer for around $100. While I'm thinking about it, what's the feasability of selling my old mobo/cpu/whatever when I eventually upgrade them?

[Singh]

if you chip in a little and go to the good hardware stores that sell second-hand stuff, you can find an excellent motherboard that will probably support it for somewhere around 140-150.

At least, that's in singapore.

[Singh]

also, if you go to these same stores, you could probably trade in your 9800 (if its  in good condition) for a good discount rate on another GFX card. If it's one not that much higher in price than your current one, it'd be worth it.

[WMCoolmon]

Save it up.

[Taristin]

the A7N8X-E Deluxe has nVidia Sondstorm. It is one of the best sound cards available, and it's integrated. So Don't tell him to get a sound card

[Liberator]

If you absolutely must spend it, bling you're system out with better cableage or even a new case.  I've got my eye on an Antex Sonata/Lanboy at work.

[Stealth]

either save it, or upgrade your hard drive... wow... 80 GB would NEVER work for me :-/

[DeepSpace9er]

$100? nothing big thats for sure... but think of all the tootsie rolls you could buy with that!!

[phatosealpha]

If you're attempting to just keep yourself from falling behind noticably, $100 isn't going to be able to do anything.  Upgrading the CPU would require a new motherboard, and you don't have money for both.  Upgrading the vid card would be a poor idea - from your plan here, sooner or later you'll need to upgrade the mobo and CPU to keep up with the curve, and that will almost certainly mean PCI express - which would mean you'd need to switch over your graphics card when you do it.  Memory is stalled for the reasons you've already said.

So, you're pretty much stuck with little stuff.  Maybe a better case.  Maybe a new DVD burner.  Maybe a new PSU.

[IceFire]

Originally posted by redsniper
So, my mom asked me what I want for my birthday and I suggested she give me money to upgrade my computer. She agreed to pay up to $100. It's not enough for any major overhauling but I figure I've got to be able to improve something with that kind of money. So here are my specs:
Asus A7N8X-E
Athlon 2800 XP
1GB RAM (all the slots are full so this would be expensive to upgrade)
Radeon 9800 Pro
80GB SATA HD (big enough for my purposes)
cheap offbrand cd burner/dvd-rom (I'll most likely upgrade this to a good dvd burner)
That's about it since I'm satisfied with all my peripherals. Suggest away.

Not much you can do really.  For $100 you'd not be able to do much at all.  You already have a great system and there's nothing much wrong with it.  Pocket the $100 and save for the next major overhaul.

Basically in the next year and a bit you'll see:
- Dual core processors
- 64bit standard
- DDR2
- BTX form factors
- SATA taking over
- PCI-Express as standard

These are significant changes in the standards....they are replacing things that have sometimes been around for 15 years or at least have been well established for 4-5 years.

[WMCoolmon]

too bad 'modular bios' isn't in that list.

*dreams of a system whose power on time is only the time it takes the kernel to uncompress*

[Stealth]

my next computer (ETA: beginning of summer) is going to be running dual opteron 246s.

[DaBrain]

If you want to keep this system for at least this year, you could buy an Athlon XP-M (Mobile) 2500+/2600+

These mobile processors run with lower voltage, so they are perfect for overclocking.

With the right cooler you may reach 2,6 Ghz. Now some of the Atlon64s will look pretty slow next to this power. (Not all )

That is if you want to overclock.


I got a XP-M 2500+. It's @ 2.3 Ghz now. But if I raise the voltage I can push it further.

But ATM it's fast enough.

[redsniper]

Hmm, just as I feared. Oh well, my dvd/cd drive is pretty crappy. It doesn't even match my black case since it's beige. I guess I'll get a decent dvd burner. Thanks for the input.

[phreak]

you can always get a new mouse or keyboard.

[redsniper]

maybe a new mouse, but I already have a 5-button optical one, albeit a kind of crappy one. Heck, I'll probably chip in a little and buy both.