Upgrade suggestions?

[ragolis]

This is my system now

1.92 ghz atlon xp
256mb kingston pc2700
AM39L motherboard socket 939
Intergrated Graphics Card
250 w power supply

and I want to upgrade it with these parts

400W AKASA PAXPower ATX 2.2 Ultra Quiet PSU with hi-effiency of a minium of 80% even at full. £50.51
1Gb Corsair Value Select DDR PC2700 (333), 184 Pin, Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 2.5 £33.22
256Mb Sapphire Radeon X1600Pro AGP4x/8x 800MHz DDR2, GPU 500MHz D-Sub DVI-I S-Video/TV Out, Retail £70.01

Total 165 pounds

I want to spend a maximum of 200 pounds and I am wondering whether anyone could offer any suggestions?

[Clunk]

Personally, I think that is dead money.

If it were me, I would try and get second hand parts for cheap, and save the rest towards a proper upgrade later.

[ragolis]

This upgrade is just to get me by until I can get a new computer entirely, my computer is dreadfully old and I just want to play some computer games its got to the point that I have to remove the cover of my system to stop it from overheating

[godsdog]

Provided you can make it work so that the new PSU can fit into the new setup you envisage, then you might just about be able to justify it.

I keep an old tower on the go and use it often - 300w PSU, Asus A7V amd 1009Mhz - I'm on it right now. I picked up some decent dirt cheap SD RAM (1GB) for it and a £20 Asus N6200 and it gave it a new lease of life, it made a real difference - there's no way you could game on it to any great degree though, but for practical running, it was a justifiable spend, but then again the PSU turned out to be a little cracker and has been a stalwart.

You do have options though on the PSU front if you do decide to go for it. You need to think what your next system is going to comprise of.

Edit: You'd have to sort those temps out though, could just need a clean out, could be more serious. have you looked into it? Mine's been running hot for years and years, it just keeps on trucking. I've given up cleaning it or tampering with it now. When it dies it dies. ..and you just know it won't.
.

[Mithrandir]

Personally, I think that is dead money.

If it were me, I would try and get second hand parts for cheap, and save the rest towards a proper upgrade later.

I agree.
You'd save quite a bit if you source 2nd hand parts.

For what you've listed, those prices are expensive for what you're getting.

However, if you must buy those items:

A 400w branded PSU you can get for around £40 such as Antec Earthwatts or even Corsair VX450WUK 450W for around £45.

Ram you can probably pick up for £25-£30.

x1650pro for £55

[Sprite]

FSP 400w at Scan for £32
29a on the 12v rails

[d19z]

FSP 400w at Scan for £32
29a on the 12v rails

thats pretty amazing for just 400W I guess people are much more conscience of the amperage than the wattage, as the cheaper psu's have lower amps on the 12V rail and more on rail's which you are less likely to use and high ripple, whch can blow out sensitive components such as the PWM', I have an FSP blue storm and it has served me, very well, also another very good brand which I've used is Hiper, they too, are pretty inexpenisve, and far cheaper than coolermaster and antec ones.

[ragolis]

it has 2 white sockets, what monitor do i need to be able to connect it to the white sockets

[Pob255]

If that's the FSP I think it is then is only 70% effecenty and will get rather toasty under load

The PAXPower2 is a bit pricy but it is a good PSU, however with the good model Antec's (EarthWatts or NeoHe) and now the Corsair VX450w, the paxpower is starting to look a bit pricey.

Sticking in a half decent graphics card and a 1gb of memory will be a lift to this PC and will allow you to play many games, just not at high end setting.
Alot of people with C2D, 4gb ram, 8800's and 24" tft, seem to forget that you really don't need much to play most games at 1024x768 & medium settings.
Yes it's not as pritty but it'll still be better than HL1 or Quake2 was when you first played them on you then Uber system.

EDIT: I'd Also agree look for 2nd bits might be a better idea, esp if you're looking to replace the lot soon.

[DanceswithUnix]

OK Guys, bang on this quick £200 budget list:

Pimp case with PSU (yes, you can get it without side windows ) £50.05

uATX motherboard £37.07

1GB of Corsair Value DDR2 667MHz ram £21.55

X2-4000 dual core CPU £42.99

Total so far: 151.66

You still have integrated video here, but it is a huge step up in integrated video and gives you a PCIe connector for a decent selection of video cards. You also with this have a modern dual core platform to build on.

Uses existing hard drive & optical, keyboard and mouse. Leaves some money left over for a copy of Windows. Some people would re-use their existing Windows license, but that is only allowed if your existing motherboard met with an accident so I'm sure you wouldn't do that.

OK, the case is overkill and a PSU would be cheaper in the existing tower, but this way you might get the option of selling on the old tower. I also have no idea what you think is a tasteful box, so I went for something that should generate feedback

[MrP]

ocuk do a nice little bundle of a intel 2140, 1gb ram and a motherboard for £104+vat. £30 odd for a psu and pick up something from retekdirect and you could just about squeeze under £200.

actually, aria are doing x1800xl's for £30 arnt they??

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...id=339&subcat=

http://www.aria.co.uk/SuperSpecials/...roductId=28498

maybe something like this as a psu??

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Compo...roductId=24511

thats £70 for the bits from aria, and £130 for the ocuk bundle, so £200 plus a bit for P&P

[godsdog]

beat that fugly box thing with a stick till it's dead

[Smudger]

I've got a 1-year-old 400w Paxpower that I might be willing to let go for about £30. It's got blue neon, which makes it go faster, or something...

No problem with it, just upgraded to an HX520...

[DanceswithUnix]

beat that fugly box thing with a stick till it's dead

I said it would get feedback

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I came up with this system from Ebuyer:

Foxconn A690GM2MA-8KRS2H 690G Socket AM2 Onboard VGA 8 channel audio mATX Motherboard 132915 132 in stock £33.03 £33.03

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ (2.1GHz) Socket AM2 Energy Efficient L2 1MB (2x512KB) Cache Retail Boxed Processor 125199 60 in stock £35.95 £35.95

Leadtek WinFast GeForce 7600 GS 256MB DDR2 PCI-E with Silent Heatpipe classic edition 116162 64 in stock £34.88 £34.88

Antec NSK4480 Black & Silver Mini-Tower ATX Case - With 380W EarthWatts PSU 130947 12 in stock £45.56 £45.56

Kingston 1GB DDR2 533MHz/PC2-4200 Non-ECC CL4 1.8V Unbuffered Dimm 240 pin 064183 877 in stock £17.41 £17.41

Approx Cart Weight: 12.82Kg


*FREE SHIPPING ON THIS ORDER» Shipping Charge:
Subtotal:
VAT:
Total: £0.00
£166.83
£29.23
£196.06

I know that PC4200 is a bit slow and that 380W is not a huge power supply but in all honesty the components are low power anyway!!

[iranu]

I think it would be dead money too. I'd look at something like this

Mobo - Asrock ConRoe1333-DVI/H, i945G, S775, PCI-E (x16), DDR2 533/667MHz, SATA II, uATX, On Board VGA - £41.74

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - £44.64

(or Core 2 Duo E2160 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.80GHz [/URL] (800FSB) - £52.86)

Memory - GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2 Dual Channel Kit - £46.99 - this week only - bargain of the century.

PSU - 520W Corsair HX Series Modular PSU, ATX, EPS12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty - £63.32

Total £196.96 (add £8.22 for the E2160).

This then means you are up to date and can still play games with the onboard vga and just save for a good PCI-e graphics card. Second hand maybe. It makes a lot more sense to spend money on something that is going to last and be used for a long time.