maybe upgrade my motherboard/cpu/ram

[AWILLIAMS64]

i currently have an athlon 64 3200+ processor and just installed windows7. I only have 1gb of memory and i am running 64 bit w7. I have a couple hundred dollars that if i could i would buy a new mb/cpu and memory if i could. I just have not been into the trends since i built the athlon64. I have an antec power supply, 1 sata hd, 2 ide hd and 2 dvdburners so all i would need is the mb.cpu memory. i have a ide controller card that i can use becuase i know most new motherboards only have 1 ide controller. so here is what i have been looking at.

i was looking at this combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Com...mbo.320282
and adding this memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6820231166

i know that puts me $50 over my budget but that would be ok. I already have a promise card that i could use for now for my extra ide devices.

i also see the same thing at microcenter, i have one of those within an hour of me, at least i think it is the same product for just a few dollars cheaper. does this look like the same processor?

http://www.microcenter.com/single...id=0315787
http://www.microcenter.com/single...id=0319782

so my questions are....would i be wasting my money buying this board/cpu/memory combo? i could use my old board/memory/cpu to upgrade my daughters computer.

Is there something better out there for around the same price?
any newegg discounts floating around or bing search words?

I know i can spend $50-$100 and get some more ram for my current setup but i figure if i am spending that to just upgrade, would i be better off getting something much newer. I dont want to waste money but i dont mind spending it if the upgrade will be alot more noticable over just a memory upgrade.

 

[Etheric]

What sorts of things are you looking at doing on your computer? Is it more for everyday/business use, or do you want something more geared towards gaming, editing, etc?
The MoBo/CPU upgrade would be good, but a different combo might be more suitable depending on your wants and needs =)

As for the memory, you'd see a nice boost by adding in those 3 extra GB of RAM, especially since you're running a 64-bit version of W7 (I think Coco stated on another thread that the minimum is 2GB). Aside from that, I like your memory choice - I've had a good experience with G.Skill myself, so that pair should serve you well =D

 

[Nibiru2012]

Excellent choice of parts. You can't go wrong with Gigabyte motherboards, they're very stable, top quality parts and support. They offer a very big bang for the buck!

I see the motherboard is a micro ATX and has an external eSATA port, for hooking up an external SATA drive with eSATA connections. That is sweet! You'll have transfer speeds of around 80 - 100 MBs per second!

Also there is an 8-pin CPU power connector. Does your power supply have an 8-pin CPU connector? If not you could buy an adapter for that.

Are your DVD burners IDE or SATA connect? You may want to buy an extra SATA hard drive sometime in the future. Sell the IDE drives on Craigslist and use the money to get a new SATA drive.

 

[AWILLIAMS64]

i have 1 sata hd right now and the rest of my stuff is ide. 2 other hd and 2 dvd roms. I do alot of video editing. I take old vcr tapes, edit them and make them into dvd. I also surf the web and have some guitar programs that i run. i am not sure about the 8 pin connector, i have an antec earthwatts ea-380 power supply

 

[clifford_cooley]

i was looking at this combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Com...mbo.320282
and adding this memory
[URL="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6820231166"]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Pro...6820231166[/URL]

GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H

Storage Devices
PATA: 1 x ATA133 2 Dev. Max
SATA: 5

i have 1 sata hd right now and the rest of my stuff is ide. 2 other hd and 2 dvd roms.

Please note the Motherboard that was linked to can only support 2 IDE devices

Edit:
Sorry, I see now you knew that

i have a ide controller card that i can use becuase i know most new motherboards only have 1 ide controller. so here is what i have been looking at.

 

[Nibiru2012]

i have an antec earthwatts ea-380 power supply

Not to throw a monkey wrench into the works here, but your power supply will probably not handle the new load of parts you'll be throwing at it.

Go to this page to configure your anticipated power supply needs. http://www.vbutils.com/power.asp This website suggested a power supply of no less than 523 watts!

There are several websites with computer power supply calculators available to size a power supply for you.

Thermaltake has an excellent calculator too. http://www.thermaltake.outervision.com/ This website says that a 625 watt power supply is needed.

So does Newegg, it's similar to Thermaltake's site.

I wasn't sure of exactly all your parts so I guessed a little on the high side, especially on the video card and RAM.

If I were you I would definitely go to several websites and get a good idea of your anticipated size of power supply, especially since you'll be doing a lot of video editing.

 

[AWILLIAMS64]

i never thought of that. Well unfortunately i have to put things on hold for a while now anyways., I think i need a new hot water heater. On the other hand, i did get 2 more gigs of ram for my athlon64 and it is running better than ever. I also added a video card my friend gave me so i am no longer using onboard video. Thanks for the replies and helping me. I will come back again once i get some extra money saved (e-mail address removed)

 

[Nibiru2012]

Adding more RAM is the least expensive yet most effective upgrade you can do to the system to improve performance.

 

[catilley1092]

That is right. Though I haven't upgraded mine yet (I'm running 2GB on a 64 bit PC), I will in the next few months. Crucial has a scanner that inspects your system and makes recommendations. The 4GB package (2048MB x 2) is $110. That's actually cheaper per GB than when I upgraded my laptop to 1GB (512MB x 2). That cost $40. Right now, I have no problems, but as developers create more 64 bit apps, I may need it.