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#1 | ||
Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
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Fried mobo, need advice
So, my motherboard decided to bite the big one last week. I'm trying to find the optimum price/performance level to replace the motherboard/cpu/memory/video card. I'd like to keep it around $500-$550, and my main goal is to make FM scream as much as possible, so 2G of memory would be a good thing if I understand correctly. Should I be looking at an AMD dual core (4200 is around $100 if I'm remembering my newegg search correctly) or should I go for the top end single core?
Any hints/advice are welcome. I find the options somewhat overwhelming as far as making sure everything will work together properly......
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#2 |
High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Where you live
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[Hollywood]buy a Mac[/Hollywood]
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if i said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? |
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#3 |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Washington, DC
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I've gone the mac route and I'm quite happy with it.
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Sixteen Colors ANSI/ASCII Art Archive "...the better half of the Moores..." -cthomer5000 |
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#4 |
High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Where you live
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just another reason for us to disagree ![]()
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if i said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? |
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#5 |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Washington, DC
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A) I certainly don't think it's for everyone B) Have you spent a significant amount of time with OS X? C) "You can just install Windows on it." ![]()
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Sixteen Colors ANSI/ASCII Art Archive "...the better half of the Moores..." -cthomer5000 |
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#6 |
Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
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GF has a mac. I can't stand it.
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#7 | |
High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Where you live
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Quote:
a mac can't win without shaq
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if i said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me? |
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#8 |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Cary, NC
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Not sure if you can do the $500-$550 thing if you need to replace all those parts. You may also be looking at a new power supply depending on how old you setup is (or alternately you may not need a new video card). Hard drives are another thing to check, as EIDE has gone the way of the dodo in modern systems. I was hoping to do a big upgrade almost 2 years ago but ran afoul of the power supply / HD issues (which were going to push my cost above the $600 limit I had at the time) and have held off until I get more cash.
Intel Core 2 Duo is the sweet spot for price / performance on CPUs. 2GB RAM is an excellent choice these days.
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#9 |
Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Troy, Mo
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#10 | |
Coordinator
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
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Quote:
I actually bought a new HD a few weeks ago -- I thought that was the culprit originally for some of the odd startup issues I was having, so I'm brand new there. I had a P4 2.4 going with an 128 MB ATI All-in wonder 9800 (or maybe 9600, don't remember offhand). It was about 3 years old, so I guess I could still use it, but figured I could get a decent upgrade there for around $100 or so......besides, it's an AGP and it looks like most of the dual-core MB's don't have a slot for that. Noted on the power supply, I do have a 20 pin so that may need to be upgraded also depending on the MB. What about AMD vs Intel on the dual core? I remember hearing that Intel has grabbed the performance edge again there, but is it close enough to make the lower price of the AMD worth it?
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#11 |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Washington, DC
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Agreed on the dual core. And, if you're not doing cutting edge gaming I don't think you need to get the top-of the line speeds either. Something under 3.0ghz with a dual core would be more than enough for all other applications.
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Sixteen Colors ANSI/ASCII Art Archive "...the better half of the Moores..." -cthomer5000 |
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#12 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Dayton, Ohio
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As of now, I personally would 100% recommend Intel for the dual core processors. AMD just doesn't compare right now.
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#13 | |
Pro Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Cary, NC
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Quote:
Agreed on this. My wife has the E6300 (which is 1.8GHz I think) and it's just fine. When I finally get to upgrade my box, it'll probably be quad-core (octa-core?) 3+GHz ![]()
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#14 |
General Manager
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: New Mexico
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I thought this thread was going to be about food.
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#15 |
Head Coach
Join Date: Dec 2001
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put some soy sauce on that fried mobo!
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