Help for the old and stupid!!

[Cannon fodder]

Hi Guys

Firstly, must say, what a great forum you have here...loads of really intersting and informative stuff!!

I was wondering if I can get some advice and help on my impending upgrade. A few years ago a friend helped me build the following:

iwill kk266+r with 1.2 athlon, 512 sdram, 40 ibm hd, gf4ti4200 etc etc

Now I mainly use this to play games (as I have my super, lovely cool G4 powerbook for work!!) and I want to upgrade, however after the pb expense I am left without much funds.

To cut my ramblings short I have looked at parts on ebay, but have got scared off by posts on lots of different forums about bad ebay experiences (I was going to try and force a 1.8 xp cpu in the iwill) btw great thread on that at http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=80953

So now I am looking at the bundles that Overclockers do, my question being if I went for the AMD Athlon XP 3200 Retail / AMD Heatsink+Fan / Abit NF7-S / 1GB GeIL PC3200 Value Dual Channel Kit - Bundle (£220 ish) would my old psu (300w sparkle),graphics card and hd work/hold back new system.

I am still quite new to the self build game so any help would really be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Mark

[johnnr892]

Your graphics card would hold the system back i feel, and i would say better to be safe and get a high quality psu like and antec or similar. The hardrive would be ok and you could add another one later. If in you budget you could get a new 6600gt graphics card for bout £135 and a high quality psu for about £35-45. But If your strapped for cash, buy the psu first and then upgrade the graphics card later as that card isn't terrible and will just about play all lastest games. John.

[ed^chigliak]

NF-s + XP3200 is a dead end for CPU upgrades. Look at the cheapest options on A64 instead. Just remember to pick up a 6800gt/x800xl class AGP graphics card before everything goes PCI-E. For now the Ti 4200 will be OK.

Consider something like

DABS
A64 3000+ 939 (performance is better than the XP3200+)
£87
Abit AV8 939
£67

CRUCIAL
1 GB Crucial RAM PC3200
£73

You can get cheaper RAM £50 from Aria (see bargains forum)

Total £207 / £227

[iranu]

Great advice given ^^. Also look at other retailers such as Scan, Komplett, Ebuyer, Overclocker/Aria, Microdirect, Tekheads as Overclockers tend to be a bit more expensive than others. (I won't say anything about their rma/customer support system though )

[johnnr892]

Sorry, i forgot 3200xp was obsolete...

Definitely get a 64 3000+ or 3200+ not 3200xp, because the performance is much, much better and they will have upgradeability in the future.

[oralpain]

Honestly, I see no point in going socket 939 unless you will also be going to PCI-E. Socket 754 is cheaper and is not much slower.

Actualy, there is really no reason to not go PCI-E, in your case. Your video card is old. You should wait till you can upgrade everything at once. Get a good PSU, good 939 PCI-E board, and a PCI-E 6800GT, or an X800XL.

Why bother with AGP when it is not cheaper, and leaves you with less of an upgrade path?

Look into an Enermax, Antech (the true power line is ok, not the cheaper ones), OCZ, PC Power and Cooling (defiantly the best, but definatly the most expensive), or Coolermaster PSU.

[Cannon fodder]

Thanks people...great advice. I thought it might be a save up and wait job, but unfortunately I am impatient and want to improve NOW! Being serious, I think I will have to wait until the coffers are looking a bit more healthy. Is second hand a bad, bad idea???

[ed^chigliak]

Get 512mb RAM and you have £35 to spend on a PSU. It will be fine until you can afford another 512mb.

Antec True380SPGB True Power 380w ATX PSU is excellent and only £35 from ebuyer
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=86751

DABS
A64 3000+ 939 (performance is better than the XP3200+)
£87
Abit AV8 939
£67

CRUCIAL
512mb Crucial RAM PC3200
£36

EBUYER
Antec 380W PSU
£35

Total £228

All brand new kit.
All with manufacturers warranty.
All top brand manufacturers.
Two out four bargains from the bargain forum.

CPU is OEM... no heatsink or fan.

If you PM me and willing to pay P&P I'll send you a A64 stock heatsink I will never use. I used the fan off it but you can use an 80mm case fan or something.

Edit: If you can stand to wait then you need to be researching options for NF4 939 mainboards with PCI-E. At the time of upgrade you need to buy a PCI-E graphics card. Minimum £115 MSI 6600GT £92 9800pro Savastore bargains but preferably 6800GT/X800XL £200-£250... ouch!