Have £200 to 'future proof' my PC

It looks like by some wierd luck I'm going to end up with a 'spare' £200 in my bank account at the end of the month, I think I'm going to spend it on my PC. I want to invest wisely so I'm wondering what others think ?.

I've been jammy enough to get an 8800GTS for free so I'm fine GPU wise, my CPU is an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ so I suppose this is what I should aim to replace to get the most out of the 8800GTS and provide support for games for the next few years ?.

Regarding C2D's is the 6750 the best bang for buck at the moment ?. I'm not too fussed about mobo's but will go for one that allows some overclocking options. Intel have cheaper CPU's that I could OC to 6750 speeds but the 6750 is just so cheap so why bother ?.

If I intend to overclock the 6750 then should I make sure that I spend that little bit extra on good memory ?.

ta :)

Also I'm not up to speed on Intel chipsets right now (965/975, x38 etc), which one would be best for a mid range mobo that would support any Intel CPU's coming out over the next six months or so and is known to be stable and allow good overclocking ?.

EDIT: Ah, looks like the P31 and P35 are the mainsteam now, so it's just a case of finding an affordable one with a P35 chipset then...

Is that a S939 setup? If so you only have DDR ram not DDR2 so you need another 50 quid for RAM as well.

You have a reasonable setup, so whilst a C2D would be faster it seems a lot of money for very little gain.

Intel seem to change bus speeds regularly atm, so whatever motherboard you buy you can't expect the next generation of CPU to plug in.

I think I would save the money and wait for the next generation of quad cores to turn up. Do you actually find anything slow right now?

OTOH, if you are on socket AM2 (sorry, too lazy to look up your motherboard) you could probably drop in a Phenom and get OK performance with quad core.

It's a 939 board. Have you tried overclocking the chip?

I would hold on to the money myself and maybe add to it so you have more to spend later.

Yep, it's socket 939 so I can't realy just upgrade the CPU. Also I'm aware of the fact that I'm currently running DDR. I don't mind loosing this lot though as I know I can flog it off (current mobo + cpu + ddr etc) for a reasonable price (or finaly build a HTPC :) )

I've been able to overclock the 4200+ a little but not enough to equal a friend I know who has an 8800GTS + C2D E6750. He's doesn't overclock so in theory I can oc the E6750 I may buy and end with a pretty fast setup.

The trouble here is that if I just sit on my 'spare' £200 I know for certain that a couple of months down the road it will be gone, so if I'm going to upgrade I'd better do it now unless there a genuine reason not to such as new Intel CPU's out in January that beat the E6750 and come in at around the same price...

ABit IP35E @ £60
2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2-6400 @ £35
E6750 @ £116

Its a little over budget and doesn't include a PSU (you may need a new one)

The alternative is to source a cheap E6300/E6400 second hand which would free up a fair chunk of cash.

shaithis, yep that's the sort of kit that I'm looking at.

Now though I'm all confussed by the Yorkfield based CPU's. If Yorkfield C2D's are definately coming out in Jan 2008 and a decent one can be picked up for no more than £150 then I'll wait...

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Originally Posted by Fatboy40

shaithis, yep that's the sort of kit that I'm looking at.

Now though I'm all confussed by the Yorkfield based CPU's. If Yorkfield C2D's are definately coming out in Jan 2008 and a decent one can be picked up for no more than £150 then I'll wait...

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If you wait you may find the £200 gone after Christmas I know I would spend it. Unless your good with money :)

Since you asked about overclocking and memory I will say a couple of things

The FSB of the E6750 is 333MHz therefore you need 667MHz memory to run at stock speeds. To overclock you will need at least 800MHz memory (the next step up) this would enable an overclock of the E6750 to 3.2GHz without overclocking the memory, providing the chip can take it you have sufficient cooling and the motherboard will cope with a FSB of 400MHz.

Obviously with overclocking every ones mileage varies.

So if you go E6750 then get 800MHz RAM if you go for one of the older chips with a 266MHz FSB then you may get away with 667MHz RAM depending on the chip and its multiplier.

Hope this helps, see Clunks overclocking guide for a more complete explanation.

I wouldn't bother spending the money now tbh. Do you have problems running current software with your set up? If not then no point in upgrading. Your current cpu will not bottleneck your gpu. There really isn't any point in chasing benchmarks or people who value their e-penis above all else.

DDR2 ram prices are going to remain at rock bottom prices for the time being. New processors will be launched in the new year so it's best to wait and simply enjoy what you have now.

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Originally Posted by Paulm@scan

If you wait you may find the £200 gone after Christmas I know I would spend it. Unless your good with money :)

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Yep, I said that in a post earlier on as it will burn a hole in my pocket :crazy:

Do you have any idea if we'll get Yorkfield C2D's in Jan 2008 at reasonable prices ? (being with Scanand all ;) ).

I'm also waiting for the more affordable (*deep breath*) 45nm Yorkfield Q9 series quad cores, and yes, they should be released in January 2008.

Code:

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C2Q 9300 2500 MHz 2 × 3072 KiB 1333 MT/s 7.5x $266
C2Q 9450 2667 MHz 2 × 6144 KiB 1333 MT/s 8x $316
C2Q 9550 2833 MHz 2 × 6144 KiB 1333 MT/s 8.5x $530

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A Q9450 will be mine. :D