Cheapest upgrade with value for money: Intel or AMD? Budget £100

[Andaho]

I'm upgrading my second PC due to unidentifiable very rare BSOD which is probably the motherboard.

It's currently just a Athlon XP 2600, with a geforce 6200 and 512mb DDR1.

I'm guessing that onboard graphics on a new mobo will probably be about the same performance as my current 6200? If anyone can correct me if I'm wrong?

My real question is: do I go for the cheapest AMD or the cheapest Intel? Or what is worth streching to for value for money? My budget is around £100 for mobo cpu and ram - it's only my second PC after all.

[Mithrandir]

What will the PC be used for?

[staffsMike]

45w 2.5GHz X2 (scan today only) ~£46
Asus M2A-VM (690G, blu ray capable) ~£35
or abit/asus 780G for £45 (which isn't bad for a bit of light gaming)
2GB PC6400 ~ £30

You can do Intel for the same price but the motherboard choices aren't nearly as good and will have to overclock to get to 2.5Ghz (ish) with a pentium or celeron dual core and a G31 or 610/630i motherboard.

I'd stick with Amd for this sort of build

[Andaho]

What will the PC be used for?

oh it's only a second PC that mates use when they come over to go on facebook and playing web flash/java games on, and a bit of warcraft III.

[Andaho]

45w 2.5GHz X2 (scan today only) ~£46
Asus M2A-VM (690G, blu ray capable) ~£35
or abit/asus 780G for £45 (which isn't bad for a bit of light gaming)
2GB PC6400 ~ £30

You can do Intel for the same price but the motherboard choices aren't nearly as good and will have to overclock to get to 2.5Ghz (ish) with a pentium or celeron dual core and a G31 or 610/630i motherboard.

I'd stick with Amd for this sort of build

possibly looking for a bit cheaper than that... what are these AMD Athlon 64 LE-1620 and 1640 like in comparison to the Athlon 2600 that I'm replacing? and alo I want on board graphics that will be just as good or better than the geforce 6200 that I'm replacing?

It's a tight budget because it's only a pc that mates use lol, and a basic workbench PC for use when working on other PCs that have problems.

But in saying that, I suppose value for money is important if it's only a little extra to make it a lot better - thinking of second hand value when I upgrade my main PC and it replaces my second PC.

[staffsMike]

Not sure about the single cores.

Well drop to a 2.3GHz version of that chip and that gets you to £42 or the brisbane 5000+ at £40, The 690G motherboard (similar to 6200 I would think, 780G would certainly be alrigth for gaming) is £38 on today only.

So with PC5400 4-4-4-12 (today only again) at £26 you're looking at around £105. Could always just get 1Gb I suppose. The system could easily double as a blu ray player for you later though

No intel onboard is worth a damn compared to either 690G or 780G.

BTW, I think ebay might work out a shade cheaper, the 2.3GHz ~45w is £40 and some cheap RAM

[Andaho]

oh not interested in second hand or dodgy stores on ebay... I want next day delivery and a warranty lol.

EDIT:

Trying to find some comparison chart or some idea of the spec of the on board graphics... anyone know of any?

[staffsMike]

Oh well scan will be the closest to next day, Ebuyer will be the 5 day supersaver without paying for it.

[Mithrandir]

You can get a general idea of onboard gpu performance with THESE stats. Looks like the 7050 is best followed by the 690 then 6150.

There's an Abit with the 7050 for about £37 from Novatech

[Andaho]

You can get a general idea of onboard gpu performance with THESE stats. Looks like the 7050 is best followed by the 690 then 6150.

There's an Abit with the 7050 for about £37 from Novatech

ahh nice find with that comparison chart! I'll check toms hardware chart to see how that compares ot the 6200... if they still have a chart that has that on it!

EDIT:

Oh bugger, it doesn't go down that far I think I'll just go for the 690 and hope it runs warcraft III as good or better than the geforce 6200.

[Andaho]

780G is an AM2+ board right? and start at £49? and AM2+ will support the cheap AM2 cpu? thinking it might be worth the extra tenner or so for good on board graphics

[Andaho]

You can get a general idea of onboard gpu performance with THESE stats. Looks like the 7050 is best followed by the 690 then 6150.

hmmm, am I getting thes figures correct? That 690 chip does 9.9fps on doom 3 at 1024x768... but then here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2238&p=6 It says the geforce 6200 does 42.1fps at 1024x768?

[Mithrandir]

Looks like the 6200 is much better than an onboard gpu - HERE

[Andaho]

Looks like the 6200 is much better than an onboard gpu - HERE

Damn, that sucks according to those figures! I'll have to wait for more comments on weather to get a cheap mobo and a cheap graphics card rather than on board graphics! Was just about to order it all now with the 780G mobo, but I'll wait for more input if those figures are correct!

EDIT:

Infact, if I'm looking at around £45-50 for a mobo anyway, I could probably get a mobo for £25-30 and a graphics card like the 8400GS for £20! the same price! that would be better wouldn't it?

EDIT again:

Or is there a better ATI card for around £20?

[ackrite26]

An 8400GS would be an improvement over onboard GFX but not by much. It is about on par with a 6200 in games, just.

A bit better

[Andaho]

An 8400GS would be an improvement over onboard GFX but not by much. It is about on par with a 6200 in games, just.

A bit better

oh thanks, but I'd have to pay postage on that on top, so probably better to order it all from scan. Is it really only on par with the 6200?!?!?! I thought their'd be much more improovement stupid tom's hardware for taking off the 6200 when I want to compare them!