Sonomaas little tale of KittyboxTwo

[Sonomaa]

Ok, little backstory for you people, I work from home, I operate multiple computers, for my FFXI needs and my work needs. I have 3 computers and a laptop, two of them running at all times. They are BigKitty (main PC), PortaKitty (work PC+second FFXI machine), and Kittybox. The other day PortaKitty started acting up and concerning me, it was an older machine (2.4ghz p4 with HT) but still quite serviceable. I decided it would be good to upgrade it to a newer setup since it was my bread and catnip in regards to my ability to work.

This is what I came up with, and it might help some of you wanting to upgrade without breaking the bank.

What I have is a 6600GT, 1g of DDR1 ram, a nice 120g HD, and a new DVD burner in it. Since its most assuredly the motherboard going bad, I needed a new one of those, but Id rather not have to spend 50-60 bucks on a mobo for parts that simply dont put it to use, so I did some research and this is what I came up with.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115031
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

Core 2 Duo:
Pros: Fast as meow, really nice speed, low budget, about 150, has many cores
Cons: Not quad core ; ;

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6811119068
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Case:
Pros: Quiet, cheap, coolermaster, is shiny
Cons: Not all alu therefore might be a bit heavy, I can deal

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6817710002
Spire SP-ATX-420WB&P4 ATX12V 420W Power Supply 90~120V/ 185~264V UL, FCC, CE, CSA, TUV - Retail

Power Supply:
Pros: Enough watts to handle the system and do a little growing
Cons: Not a super brand name, kindof a risk but should be reliable

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6813157115
ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2 LGA 775 VIA PT880 Pro/PT880 Ultra ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Motherboard:
Pros: Holy meow, agp, pci-e for later (though a little slower), DDR1 or DDR2 support, quad core for later if I want to wiggle, probably a little overclock to wiggle too, doesnt break the bank, sata2
Cons: Its a via chipset, Intel makes kicktail chipsets, so its kinda scary to go with non-intel since they have reliably taken me to the stars and back. Its limited PCI-e support for later, only having 2 ram slots, I can use DDR or DDR2.


Advantage of this entire setup:
I use my ram, hd, rom, video card, I get a new machine, it kicks tail, its cheap, these 4 upgrades are about 330.00 with shipping, so what does that mean to you? It means you can take what good parts you have from your 2-3 year old machine and come back with some kickass and nametakes for minimal wiggle on the funds side.

This is just something people can think about who want a little more bounce to the ounce, its a cheap upgrade that should be reliable in the future and wont hurt you money wise, even if you decide to upgrade later. Six months, a year down the road, I can snag a brand new mobo, video card, and shiny ram, slap it into the machine, reload a nice pirated copy of VistaSP3 that actually works correctly and enjoy the bounty of my money saving meow.

[Shuemue]

I've had a VIA chipset in the past, they're fine, so don't worry too much.

[Casey_]

I've had a VIA chipset in the past, they're fine, so don't worry too much.

mine've been really picky about particular things, like 6600GTs.. not a single 6600GT was stable on that chipset. Went through 3 and said fuckit 850XT PE get

btw, does anyone want to buy a x850XT PE for 50 bucks? Selling mine cause of bioshock >.>

and other than the plug + that 6600GT problem the via chipset worked fine in every aspect.

[Skyylya]

CPU is fine, although if possible try to find a conroe chip instead of allendale, it's a bit better quality esp if you plan to OC.

Case, it's fine i suppose, nothing special but 50 bucks isn't bad for a cheap case. Just double check and make sure it does what you need and has a good intake/exhaust fan set up with decent sizes 120mm fans aer best for those purposes. Personally i'd invest a little more into a case with excellent airflow especially if you plan to OC or upgrade to hotter parts later on.

Need to fix your links for the PSU and MOBO.

As far as those are concerned, I wouldn't get 420w from a no-name company. Save yourself a long term headache and get a PSU now that'll last you through future upgrades, what's the point of gettinga cheap one now if you're just gonna upgrade it later anyway, get a corsair hx520 now and it'll last you longer and is probably the best quality PSU on the market for brand.

MOBO, i'm bias'd for ASUS but i'd look into an asus mobo with the p35 chipset as I feel it's probably one of the best there is for quality, again especially if you want to do some OCing at a later time. I don't see anything wrong with yours, but as I said i'm bias'd toward ASUS and it'd be a good long term board as well.

This might be a few dollars more than you want to spend, but the MOBO is probably the last place you want to skimp out on your PC.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131189

For the CPU, stick with core 2 duo, there is absolutely no reason other than ego to get a quad core unless you're doing a ridiculous amount of video editing through a ton of applications. There aren't many real world uses for duo's at the moment either for that matter, but at least there is more benefit to dual core than quad core right now.

You didn't mention ram or GPU upgrade, but if you're running DDR1, i would upgrade that to 2 gig of DDR2 and as for GPU, it depends on what you will be using it for, you mentioned a 6600, should be fine if this is work and not gaming.

[Sonomaa]

a little update

The mobo is great, works like a charm, uses my DDR1 with no issues and my 6800NU without trouble, yes the power supply was shitty, I did get a better one and Im happy with it

this is my second machine, and for people who want a very inexpensive first machine upgrade, you cant miss this one