Upgrade ideas

[Yosh]

System Spec.

AMD 64 X2 4600+
Abit KN9S
Corsair XMS 2GB PC6400
XFX 7600GT OC XXX
O/B Sound
Enhance 380W PSU

General use is gaming/internet.

I have considered upgrading the Graphics card, and add a new PSU to power it.

I have also been considering perhaps swapping to an E5200 + Motherboard + Cooler and overclocking but its been a very long time since i have overclocked. On top of this i want a 100% stable system due to gaming. - Also would my current memory be ok, if i were to OC?

Just wondered what others think. Product recommendations etc. And also wondering i should see a good increase with the first option, and thinking Performance vs cost if that option would be the best.

Thanks

[vmong]

get a new PSU Corsair HX520 and a 8800 GTX will play all games

[e36Adz]

Is that CPU a socket 939?

[PeterStoba]

Is that CPU a socket 939?

It is

[Mithrandir]

Is that CPU a socket 939?

With that ram and mobo I think it's AM2

[Yosh]

get a new PSU Corsair HX520 and a 8800 GTX will play all games

This is something i could not decide out of 8800GTX / 9800GT / 9800GTX+ / 4850, as is normal i would like to keep the budget down where possible so i'm wondering which will offer the best price-performance and future proofing.

[Yosh]

Is that CPU a socket 939?

KN9S is an AM2 Motherboard. If it were infact 939 i would have put it on Ebay myself

[e36Adz]

KN9S is an AM2 Motherboard. If it were infact 939 i would have put it on Ebay myself

I was just about to say lol.

Anyway, how much are you looking to spend in total?

[Yosh]

I was just about to say lol.

Anyway, how much are you looking to spend in total?

My preference goes to a Graphics Card / PSU if i'm not going to see a massive gain switching over to Intel. Budget upto/around £300

[PeterStoba]

£300 would get you

E5200, 4830, Corsair VX450, 4GB RAM, P43 mobo

And by selling your old stuff you could get a new hard drive, optical drive, cooler, case etc...

[e36Adz]

My preference goes to a Graphics Card / PSU if i'm not going to see a massive gain switching over to Intel. Budget upto/around £300

Personally if I had £300 to spend, I would go for something like:

Q6600 G0 ~£110 (used)
Mobo ~£70 (new)
4GB DDR2 ~£40 (new)
PSU ~£50 (new)
8800GTX ~£80 (used)

Total: ~£350

plus you can obviously ebay off all your current items.

[vmong]

This is something i could not decide out of 8800GTX / 9800GT / 9800GTX+ / 4850, as is normal i would like to keep the budget down where possible so i'm wondering which will offer the best price-performance and future proofing.

oh i dont know the diff between those ones, but from my experience, its a high end card (or was) and when you buy at top of the range you know its something good. but if cost is an issue, then i would get the cheapest option. all this cack about Crysis, so what if you can play that game... will you play it that often? and is it worth the extra £100?

but with 300 you can pretty much get a good second hand comp. my bedroom rig was second hand.. i for that for 260, with another 100 i could get a brilliant 8800gtx with it..

[Yosh]

Well some good feedback so far, one thing i've decided on is to look around for 2nd hand items and maybe cut the costs down a little.

The only thing i was worried about is buying used goods then realising they are faulty through overclocking or misuse. So for some items i think buying new will give me peace of mind.

[Yosh]

Right semi decided on the E5200 route, here's a breakdown

E5200
MSI P43 Neo F
Corsair XMS 2GB PC6400
Videocard
PSU

I'm hoping with my ram i should be able to get an overclock of 12.5 x 240 with the standard cooler, should i just budget for an AC7 Freezer Pro?

However all this could change if i see something 2nd hand

[Hawker1986]

Well I always say an aftermarket cooler is the way forward (I would get an akasa 965 rather than the freezer, its cheaper and just as good). But if thats all your aiming for on overclock and budget is really tight im sure stock will work fine.

Hawker

[vmong]

oh with buying second hand stuff, i only buy from places where i can test the item, i live in London so there are lots of options. also with the overclocking business, i would say only overclock AFTER you realize that you don't have enough power. i mean i only have 3ghz spu, its fine for most games and daily tasks.
i also have AC7 and its brilliant. you can use speedfan to adjust the speed. but when you turn on computer initially, it runs at 100% you can run it at 10 when no load.