putting things in perspective........New PC ?

[speedy_s]

Hi all,
I am just wondering what would be the best choice for my pc which i will be buying in in late Jan-early feb (cheap prices). And i just wanted your opinion what should it be ?

Today i have this pc :
Amd xp 2100+ palmino
512 SDram
9200se
seagate 7200.7 40GIG (ABSOLUTE NO NOISE)
Ebuyer 500watt power
CDRW

I bought this pc in 2002, and then it was £400 excluding monitor+keyboard and mouse(Made by someone else, bought on adtrader new Good deal ?). Now it is really slow and barely play new games like hl2, doom3 and is quite slow in some apps like Photoshop CS and Dreamweaver. It can play nba live 2005(1024X768) at max settings, and nfsu2(800X600) at lowest setting smooth-ish. AND Takes 2-3 minutes to come to my desktop, from the moment i switch it on.

I want my next pc, to perform better than this(old pc) has performed in 3 yrs(from 2002-2005) in mid 2007. I mean in 2007 i would like to play games on the pc at atleast medium setting at 1280x 1024, and run apps like dreamweaver and VB.NEt without any glitches or hits in performance ? It would be a bonus if it is silent or overclocks well or even 64Bit?

The budget is no more than £700 without the monitor, key+mice. I can also buy from multiple sites.

Thank you very much for your time

[BenW]

You won't get a pc that performs very well in 3 years time at that price but maybe something that performs ok.

Does it have to be upgradable or will you do nothing to it in the next 3 years? If not then the best cpus to look at are probably AMD Athlon 64s on the old socket

[speedy_s]

it dosen't have to be massively upgradeable like the cpu and stuff but, extra ram and may be gfx would help?(like on this mobo i am running my 9200se @ 4x AGP and it dosen't bothers me that much, just like the ram runs at 100mhz) How much would i need to spend to get taht performance ?

[johnnr892]

taken of e-buyer and are the old socket for 64bit AMDs so it won't be upgradable but it will way outperform your old computer in the tasks that you have listed:
MSI K8T £68
AMD(newcastle) 3000+ retail £95
6800GT £265
Antec True power 480W £63
OCZ platinum pc3200 RAM £147
Total:638+about £15 postage equals about £650

This, however is the old socket AMD, but I myseld arent too clued up about the 64 proccessors so if somedoy could clarify that the things I've suggested are ok. You would pay about £60 more for the new socket and a proccessor, but it would be upgradable in the future and it would support the new 90mm proccessors so i would recommend gettinga socket 939.

[speedy_s]

cheers mate, but i am quite a occasional gamer so i thik a 6800Gt would be a overkill ! i would say how about a amd 64 3400? and generic PSU

[johnnr892]

I think with the money you would pay for the new kit it would be definately worth getting abranded PSU just to be safe.

[johnnr892]

Right, this time with the new socket with upgradeability but a less beefy graphics card:

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum SKT 939 Nforce3 £93
AMD (winchester) 939 3200+ £133
Antec True power 480W £63
1gb OCZ platinum pc3200 RAM £147
6600GT £150
TOTAL=586 aprrox £600 when postage is taken into account.

You could overclock the cpu easily past 3400+ speeds quite easily and save yourself a few pounds, which leaves £100 in the bank and upgradeability for the future should you wish to. I like the sounds of that setup so much, I'm getting tempted myself

[mike_w]

I would avoid buying a generic PSU - buy a decent brand (NOT Q-Tec) instead. There's no point buying a decent system, and then risking it all by saving a few pounds on a PSU.

[johnnr892]

Definately, I couldn't agree more.

[speedy_s]

few pounds on a PSU.

HELL, few pounds ?there is a differnece of abt £50 !

[mike_w]

HELL, few pounds ?there is a differnece of abt £50 !

You can get a decent PSU for around £50, and a generic for around £20, so about £30 more, which isn't very much compared to the cost of the entire system which you would be risking.

[speedy_s]

Right, this time with the new socket with upgradeability but a less beefy graphics card:

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum SKT 939 Nforce3 £93
AMD (winchester) 939 3200+ £133
Antec True power 480W £63
1gb OCZ platinum pc3200 RAM £147
6600GT £150
TOTAL=586 aprrox £600 when postage is taken into account.

You could overclock the cpu easily past 3400+ speeds quite easily and save yourself a few pounds, which leaves £100 in the bank and upgradeability for the future should you wish to. I like the sounds of that setup so much, I'm getting tempted myself

And the other extra £100 on the case and cdrw and dvd writer i suppose

any recomendations for the case apart from Jeantech Phong, and do i need to buy a new hSK for ocing ? Is truepower quiet ????

I *think* i can save some money going nforce 4 ? as the 6600GT is 117 in LOW. But the mobos will be quite expensive ?

[speedy_s]

on my current setup, i have a ebuyer 500watt running, which most people would think is very risky. but nothing as gone worng so far, the amps from gigabyte managment tool says this:

5V mostly @5.1, only one time at 4.9 when encoding
12V @12.7(high ?) very stable
3V @ 3.2 mostly

a bonus it has only one fan = low noise

however i understand your argument for a decent psu.
If possible can u list some good psus ?Cheers

[speedy_s]

btw that psu was a tenner

[StormPC]

Right, this time with the new socket with upgradeability but a less beefy graphics card:

MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum SKT 939 Nforce3 £93
AMD (winchester) 939 3200+ £133
Antec True power 480W £63
1gb OCZ platinum pc3200 RAM £147
6600GT £150
TOTAL=586 aprrox £600 when postage is taken into account.

This is a great way to go, but unless you really know your stuff I'd replace the K8N Neo2 with an Asus A8V. It's much more stable and full featured for those who are not really experienced overclockers. Also there seems to be a lot of variation in the Neo2, some good and some bad. The A8V is more consistent.