What board and chip combo for £250?

[poindextermatic]

Hi,

Am looking to buy a new mother board and chip soon for around £250, I just wanted to know if anyone had any recommendations.
I currently have: AMD athlon2200, and an MSI Ultra k7. 512MB RAM PC2700
I would still like to use the RAM and dont want anything other than normal IDE stuff - this way I can just get the board and chip put in and away I go without having to buy anything else - a straight swap!
Have not been keeping up with the new stuff the has come out over the past year or so, so dont have a clue :-( there is so much choice.
If anyone has a good combo they can recomend that I can use without getting anymore new stuff and would cost around £250 then I would really appreciate it. Of coarse it needs to faster than the athlon2200 also
Cheers,
Poiny.

[skuzgib]

Socket 939 athlon64 3200+, and the board of your choice depending on whether you want pci-e or agp graphics.

[Rave]

Yeah, what he said.

[poindextermatic]

that sounds good - I want to use AGP 4 or 8X
does that all come at around £250??

[Rave]

Under £250:

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=301893&cks=PRL
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=304047&cks=PRL

What graphics card do you have out of interest? And what's it going to be used for?

Rich :¬)

[0iD]

With that kinda setup you might want to look at using PC3200 ram.

[poindextermatic]

wanna use my old Ti4200 agp 4x - but may upgrade in future when have more cash...
RAM - maybe buy that better too in future....
Cheers. I'll check those links mate.

[poindextermatic]

o - am using for games

[poindextermatic]

^^ that looks like a good combo, I may well get them, I was looking at P4's as they are supposedly better for games but I guess having 64bit is prob a better way to go eh? Are the epox boards better? - they slightly more expensive but....
Cheers.

[0iD]

^^ that looks like a good combo, I may well get them, I was looking at P4's as they are supposedly better for games

Since when?

I wouldn't say Epox boards were better either. But they're generally good quality.

[poindextermatic]

''http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=301893&cks=PRL
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=304047&cks=PRL''

any particular case / fan / PSU I would need?

Thanks in advance

[turkster]

If it is a boxed processor it should come with the standard HSF which should do the job farily well.

As for other stuff it depends what you have at the moment. A decent PSU (around 400watts) would be a good investment.

[poindextermatic]

Hmmmmm? I've been thinking
As I use my machine mostly for Gaming/Internet Gaming would I be better off buying a £250 graphics card instead?? Would this enhance my games better than getting a new board/CPU??

Example: If I got a top of the range GFX and used my current board and chip (see above)
would this be better than using my current Ti4200 and the new board and chip as suggested above^^
? I guess it's kind of the same???

Cheers 4 help so far guys,

Poindextermatic.

[Timmy!!!]

I think you will get better performance for gaming if you just buy a new graphics card as what you have is not really that good. Im not entirely sure though, so let others speak first!

I would personally go for ATI cards but thats just me.
Have a look here for graphics cards:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X800_Pro.html
http://www.lowestonweb.com/Products/...2-0B185DE1E835
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.asp?bn=10413

[StormPC]

If you're a gamer then go for a 6800GT and when you upgrade your computer to a new one you'll probably keep your 6800GT for the new system where you will really be able to take advantage of it with an A64. And whoever told you P4s are better at games than A64s misinformed you greatly.

[poindextermatic]

''6800GT'' - is that a Gainward/Nvidia?
U really think it is a better way to go till I have more dollor then?
Will certainly save me a lot of hassle anyway as I have not put a new board/chip in before... GFX cards are easy enough.
Right - unless anyone else has any pearls of wisdom I'm gonna go for a new GFX
card -
6800GT - I guess u recomend this coz it is the best for around £250??? - It works at AGP 4X yeah?

Cheers