I want to upgrade

[eskimo jackson 0]

1x CPU AMD Duron 1.2GHz No Fan OEM $181.50

1x Micro-Star Socket A M/B K7T-Turbo 2 (6330v.5), Retail $181.50

2x VIA DDR-SDRAM PC2100 128MB $154.00

Subtotal: $517.00

hi,

i reckon this forum is full of people who know what they are doing when it comes to hardware and building computers. i on the other hand have no idea about it. anyways . i want to upgrade my old slow p3 500 128 mb ram and shopped around on the net a bit. now i have not even the slightest idea whether the motherboard and the cpu and the ram are compatible to each other , i need your help. above is what i laid my eyes on , the prizes are australian dollars which roughly converts to aus$1 = us$2 ...

can someone tell me how good/bad my choice given that my budget is tight and i have only around 600$ to spend ..

thanks a lot

[Mister Frag 0]

For starters, whoever wants to charge you over $180 for a 1.2GHz Athlon is trying to rip you off -- check <a href="http:/www.pricewatch.com" target="_blank">Pricewatch</a>, you should be paying about $100 less than that!

Edit: Sorry, I just noticed you wrote "Duron", not "Athlon", so the ripoff is even worse! On PriceWatch, you can buy a 1.2GHz Duron, fan, and motherboard package for $114 and up.

[eskimo jackson 0]

hm, that doesnt sound all too promising , eventhough i think the pricewatch.com prices are US$ and not aussie , it is still too much.

unfortunatly the thunderbird amds dont start below , what $300 aus. which right now is too much for me

[Mister Frag 0]

Doh! I also missed the part about Australian dollars...

(Mister Frag kicks himself)

[Burl 0]

If you are going to spend the money, buy a regular ThunderBird CPU instead of the Duron.

Burl

[eskimo jackson 0]

i m not rich so what i am goingf to invest i know isnt top notch. i see it more from the point that what i am going to invest will bring me through another year and a half without another upgrade. then it ll be time to buy everthing new anyways ... okay i need your advise on whether the parts i have an eye on now work together or whatelse i might need or where i could safe some money by getting a different product ... please dont give me that 'better get an athlon' speech , i cant afford an athlon right now. my investment manager already said : " i t ll be rice and soy sauce for you , mate. and that at least for the next 4 weeks"

keep in mind also that prices are AUSTRALIAN dollars .. exchange rate is roughly 56cents US = 1 dollar AUS

it would be nice if you could point out any possible conflicts between the products i ve chosen .. and as to the athlon thing whether those are specs that would allow me to later just get an athlon and stick it on as replacement for the duron

<ul>[*]Akasa Icicle 785 Socket A CPU Cooler w/ 7000rpm Sunon Magnetic Lev 60mm fan, 40 cfm = $35

[*]AMD Duron 1200MHz Processor, Socket A = $165

[*]Micro-Star Socket A M/B K7T-Turbo 2 (6330v.5) OEM = $176

[*]PCI 3D Sound Card 6-channel Sound Card (only because my old mobo has onboard sound) = $27

[*]20GB Maxtor, VIPER D740X UATA133 3.5LP Hard Drive = $170

[*]256MB SDRAM, PC-133, Mitsubishi = $144

[*]300W Clipper Pro ATX Power Supply = $64

total $ 781

thanks in advance for your input

and it is AUSTRALIAN dollars

[Krull SGC 0]

I would say try very hard to find a decently priced Athlon, the Duron is very underpowered in comparison, and certainly not worth the money if you can get an Athlon for a little more.

I would also suggest,that you investigate getting either an Asus A7N266-C or the MSI nforce 415D board if you prefer (do they have one yet?), they have a 266FSB (the K7T Turbo2 uses a 133A FSB), and work with all Durons, but also and best of all, will take everything else up to the XP 2100+, so future upgrades will be easy with a FSB these processors were designed for, in terms of future upgrades this kind of board is a better investment.

The other great thing is that the onboard sound is excellent, better than a SB Live! some say (I agree having owned a Live! prior to my A7N266-C), and definately worth the additional cost,(though then you won't need a sound card, so will save money there).

One point is that you will need some PC2100 DDR memory, PC133 won't work, though if you have to buy that too, it shouldn't make too much of a difference, they are priced about the same.