Is this computer Upgrade worth it?

[Weapon_R]

I currently have a weak ass computer and i'm looking at buying a possible upgrade/new system.

Here's what I have:

AMD Athlon 700
384 MB ram
ATI 3D Rage LT Pro
30 GB hard drive
16 bit Sound card


I am thinking about getting this very cheap upgrade:

AMD Duron Pro 3000+ CPU
256 MB ram
ECS L7Vmm3 ATX MB / USB 2.0
20 GB HD
52X CDRW
16 Bit Sound Card
10/100 Ethernet
32mb AGP Video
300 Watt ATX Tower

It's was $600, now only 300 bucks at Techtronics sunce they have their 50% off sale - seems like a fantastic deal to me since it's worlds ahead of what I have. I am thinking about calling them up and asking them to upgrade the video card and hard drive and see if they can do it. Actually, here is a third system they have:

AMD Barton XP 2500+
256 PC3200 Ram
64 MB DDR Ram 8x AGP Video
20GB hard drive
52x CDRW
5.1 Digital Sound
300w ATX tower

This one is $400. What are your thoughts? The weakest part of the system is the 20gb hard drive, but that is a cheap upgrade if I need one. Any help would be appreciated before I go down there and talk to a salesman.

[Khyron]

Get the XP one. The Durons are ok but the XP chips are significantly faster for the price - sort of like a P4 vs a Celeron. 32M video is below the minimum standard nowadays - 64 is the absolute minimum. And the DDR ram looks nice too. Not a bad package for 400 bucks.

I bet you can offer to pay the difference (maybe 40 bucks?) and upgrade the harddrive to an 60 or 80 gig 8meg 7200 rpm drive. That will make you happy.

Khyron

[googe]

no question, dont get that 3000+ one. I was actually about to purchase one of these cpu+mobo combos just cause theyre so dirt cheap, but after doing some research on them they are pretty shady. theyre actually overstock mobile cpus soldered right on to the motherboard, and the speed you get is more or less luck of the draw. granted it will be faster than a 700, it wont compare to a real athlon 2500.

as for going down from 384 ram to 256, if you use win xp you will likely notice this. i would take the 2nd one and upgrade the ram.

also, check out oemdepot if you havent already (oemdepot.com, right across the street from memory express), their prices beat both memory express and techtronics.

[switch]

Well first off, his old ram is most likely pc133 or pc100 and the new ram is DDR pc 2700 or better, more than twice the speed of the old ram.

But yes, if you are running XP it eats ram for breakfast -- you should have 512mb or better, depending on what you are doing.

If I were you I would price out a system at memoryexpress -- good deals and even better customer service.

I would avoid crappy CPUs (durons and celerons), un-upgradeable mobos and onboard video and sound.

Tell me how much you want to spend on a box, what you are going to do with it and I will try and find you something.

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by Khyron
Get the XP one. The Durons are ok but the XP chips are significantly faster for the price - sort of like a P4 vs a Celeron. 32M video is below the minimum standard nowadays - 64 is the absolute minimum. And the DDR ram looks nice too. Not a bad package for 400 bucks.

I bet you can offer to pay the difference (maybe 40 bucks?) and upgrade the harddrive to an 60 or 80 gig 8meg 7200 rpm drive. That will make you happy.

Khyron

I have no problem paying the difference for a big HD, and I am going to try and see if they will upgrade it for me. So I guess the $400 system is much better? I am a little concerned with the video card capabilities and the ram (256 is kinda shitty), but I guess you get what you pay for

I have been pretty happy with my system so far, as I only use it for internet/processing etc with the odd game here or there, but it's getting frustrating when I try to play a game or something and the system reboots (most likely because my video card/processor are pretty weak).

[D'z Nutz]

I could be wrong here, but I don't even think there's such a thing as a Duron 3000+, which kind of speaks about how shady Techtronics is. I think they only went as high as 1.3gHz, if I'm not mistaken. I wonder how they're trying to pull this one off... Maybe they're overclocking some old Duron chips or something?

Avoid Techtronics at all costs.

[Weapon_R]

I just called them. Here's what they said:

The 3000+ CPU/Motherboard are soldered together

The 2500+ is not. It is two separate pieces. The video card is an onboard piece. To upgrade the HD to a 40gb, its $40, to upgrade to an 80gb HD, its $80. So far, it's all good.

Now here's the shitty part.

When I asked about warranty, he said "Through us, you get a 7 day warranty". WTF? Then i'm like "Don't you think 7 days is too short?" Then he said "Well, I can give you a 10 month warranty for $50 more".

Has anyone bought from them? Do they use good quality parts or are they going to crap out on me 6 months down the line?

[D'z Nutz]

Techtronics hasn't been known to use quality stuff in their systems. And the fact that the CPU is soldered into the board is a bad idea. If one or the other goes, they're both useless.

[legendboy]

ya that doesn't sound like something i'd buy

[Khyron]

If you start upgrading video/HD and stuff you lose the benefit of the "deal" package. If you have the cash to buy decent stuff, buy individual pieces from memory express or the store of your choice.

You get what you pay for - to a point. Example is athlon chips - you can get a 2.0 for like 99 bucks. But for 5 bucks more you can get a 2.1. Another 10 bucks and its a 2.2. 10 more it's a 2.4. But then it's 40 bucks to get a 2.5. So the best value is a 2.4. Same with Harddrives.

Cost you 1000 bucks for a full box with decent goodies (incl XP).


Processors : AMD Athlon XP 2400+ Thoroughbred (Retail Box) 1 109.95 109.95
Motherboards : Asus A7V8X-X/LAN-UAYZ w/ Audio, Lan, USB2.0 1 94.95 94.95
Memory : Kingston 512MB PC3200 DDR CAS 3 1 129.95 129.95
Cases : Atx SuperCase 115 (Grey) w/ Front USB 1 29.95 29.95
Power Supplies : Atx 300w Power Supply P4 & AMD Ready 1 39 39
Case Fans : EVERCOOL 80mm 32CFM Fan (EC8025M12SA) 1 6.99 6.99
Floppy Drive : Panasonic 1.44MB Floppy Drive (black) 1 24.95 24.95
Hard Drives 1 : Western Digital 80GB Caviar 7200rpm ATA100 8MB Cache 1 109.95 109.95
Optical Drives 1 : LG 52x24x52x/16x CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combo Drive, (oem) w/ Nero 1 69.95 69.95
Video Cards : Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 128MB w/ TV-Out DVI(Retail) 1 169.95 169.95
Sound Cards : Integrated Sound 1 0 0
Ethernet Cards : Integrated 10/100 Ethernet 1 0 0
Keyboard : Fujitsu 8729 Keyboard 1 25 25
Mouse : Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical 1 19.95 19.95
Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition oem 1 159.95 159.95
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub-Total: $ 990.49
GST: $ 69.33
Total Cost: $ 1059.82


Khyron

[rice_eater]

DONT BUY FROM TECHTRONICS!!!!!!!!!!!

i bought a 40 gig hd from them that turned out to be a 30, and when it died a month later they told me it'll take 8-10 weeks before i can see a new one that place is shit and the return policy is garbage. go memory express all the way

for about the same price i bought and

Athlong 2600, gigabite DDR motherboard, 512M of ram, 120GB HD, fan, power suply source. This thing loads windows XP in about 20-30 secs Oh yeah make sure you add a new power supply source to the list, one with dual fans

[D'z Nutz]

If you're not in any hurry, you can always just buy all the parts separately when they are on sale and put your computer together that way.

I buy most of my stuff online cause it's cheaper that way. My favorite places to order from are:

www.tigerdirect.ca
www.ncix.com

If you sign up for their mailing lists, they email you the prices for stuff on sale. Tigerdirect also has some nice CPU/Motherboard combos if you're looking for a basic system. They also have some decent barebone kits at reasonable prices as well.

[Weapon_R]

I'd rather do it in Calgary, I can't have my system away for too long. The prices at memoryexpress are bullshit - So far, i've racked up over $400 for a motherboard, CPU, and powersupply.

[Ben]

Memory Express :thumbsup.

[Khyron]

Originally posted by Weapon_R
I'd rather do it in Calgary, I can't have my system away for too long. The prices at memoryexpress are bullshit - So far, i've racked up over $400 for a motherboard, CPU, and powersupply.

They carry everything - you have to get the cheap ones if you don't care about noise etc.

Chip 100ish
MB 100ish
Power 39ish (75 for a reliable, quiet one). Don't forget, bad power is a major cause of blue screens and other crashes.
Case 30ish for a bare bones, front usb case.

Thats 270 for mb, cpu, ps and a case. AND that's minimum 1 year warranty, even on the cheapest power supplies etc.

Khyron

[googe]

memory express sucks now, they used to be the best but they used their reputation to jack up their prices...im telling you go right across the street to oemdepot (oemdepot.com), they have far better prices

[Weapon_R]

Originally posted by googe
memory express sucks now, they used to be the best but they used their reputation to jack up their prices...im telling you go right across the street to oemdepot (oemdepot.com), they have far better prices

Thanks, i'll check it out

[frostyda9]

The thing about the techtronics deal is it's usually a pretty low end mobo that you are getting. Personally I'd buy a nice MSI/Asus/Abit/Gigabyte/Soyo board...add a CPU and RAM and get it running with as much of your current stuff as you can until you can upgrade video, HDD, drives, etc. The board is going to determine the ultimate performance of the system and I wouldn't go cheap on it.