Buying Suggestions

[GoggleBoy]

Hi All,

I have decided to upgrade my current set-up 2.2Ghz Intel CPU, 512mb and 9700 Pro.
To something that can make games like FarCry and BF2 look good and have a half-decent framerate. I am on a budget of around 400-500 pounds.
I am kinda lost at the moment as to what’s hot and what’s not.
Looking to buy CPU,MB,Ram and Gfx card.


Any Advice gratefully accepted.

Rgds,
Goggs.

[nez]

you might need to get a new psu with that if your current one is not upto it, i'm building one for a friend at about the same spec:

Motherboard - Asus A8n-SLi (£90) (non-sli £75)
Processor - AMD A64 3500 (£150)
Graphics - NVidia 6600 GT (£120)
RAM - 1Gb Corsair TwinX (£90)
PSU - Tagen (£40)
Total = £475

If thats too much you could get a slower A64 for less or stick with you current ram.

What motherboard do you have? it might be possible to upgrade just the cpu and graphics but it wouldnt be as future proof

What do u think?

Nez

[mike_w]

What's hot? With CPUs for gaming, AMD Athlon 64s. The Pentiums of the same price are just slower. As for ATi Vs nVidia, they are pretty similar at this point in time - you can argue how one is better than the other, but that's another topic. Right now, I think the ATi X800XL is the best value card, but I'm sure plenty of other people will disagree.

As for RAM, I would choose 2 cheap, but good quality, sticks of 512MB. While you can get more expensive RAM, I don't think it's worth it for the price premium. You can get a couple of decent 512MB sticks for around £60.

[nez]

the x800xl is a wonderful card and very cheap, all very true mike_w, if skimped on the ram you could get an XL.

nez

[GoggleBoy]

Cheers Guys.

Nez the MB and Cpu look good and I like the look of the X800 XL Mike.
My old MB is a 478 socket, so I could go for a 3.2 Ghz chip but I don't like the fact that it's only a
X4 AGP slot. Also I really need to update my soundcard as well and the nforce4 mb looks like it could do the trick.... I think.
When you say cheap ram Mike do you mean Crucial memory or would another make be a better bet?

Cheers again.
Goggs.

[nez]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=75522

Corsair Value is pretty good, you wont notice the difference in real life but it might make a few points difference in benchmarks.

nez

[sawyen]

3500+ for 150 quids (OEM version), add in sum Arctic Silver... an XP-120, plus a 12cm fan... and u've just got urself an almost killer rig.. Pentium 4 is only a relic to its former fame... Athlon 64 series is the top dog.... and yea.. add a 6600GT, it'll be alright for all current games.. but I'll dish a further 50 quids for a 6800GT or X800XL

[GoggleBoy]

How does this look.
1Gb (2 x 512 Mb) Corsair Value Select Kit, DDR, PC3200, non ECC, Lifetime Warranty
AMD Athlon 64 3000 32/64Bit CPU S939 "Venice" 90nm *OEM*
Asus A8N-SLi (Standard), ATX, DDDR400, PCI-E, Gbit Lan, USB 2.0, 1394, 8ch Audio, 4 x SATA, Raid
256M Connect 3D PCI-E X800XL GDDR3 TV/DVI ViVo
Net Total £370.27

Carriage £7.00

V.A.T. £66.02

TOTAL £443.29

[nez]

And just enough left over to get an xp120, i got one at xmas, and love it:


nez

[sawyen]

seems alright, but hope.. hope real bad your 3000+ will clock good! but hey... I've benched a 3000+ that ran 2.6Ghz no prob (rock stable)... Good setup! Its a very good buy... still would insist u get a 3500+ tho.... or a 3700+ SD

[StormPC]

The 3.2GHz P4 would be a cheap way to go but it would be slow compared to even the slowest A64 in games. The 4X AGP is not as big a problem, but if you're going to upgrade you should do something that will last you awhile or it's not worth it.

I'd go for the 3700+ San Diego for gaming. It will slaughter a 3500+ Venice (and for gaming it's even better than a 3800+ Venice especially when overclocked). I also really like the Asus A8N-E Deluxe. It's full featured, fast and stable. It's also the best board for the X2 right now IMO.

P4's were great 3 years ago (the technology is actually older than that), but since the release of the A64 they just don't cut it in most applications. They are still decent crunchers, and they're fine for internet browsing and word processing, but even the newest P4 is pretty weak in games compared to the A64s.

If you just love Intel you may want to check out the 90nm Dothans. They spank the P4 and are actually faster clock for clock than the A64 at many things.

[GoggleBoy]

Storm what would be the better system.
Go for the 3.7 AMD and get the lesser Gfx card (say the 6600GT)
Or go for the 3.0 AMD and get the X800XL and look to update the CPU sometime down the line.

Thanks again
Goggs.

[nez]

I would say go with the better graphics card and update the cpu down the line, other wise you'll have to update the graphics down the line instead

nez

[Gipo]

I say new graphics card and more ram will do to be honest Save yourself a few pennies (also a better psu if you need one)

[sawyen]

better gfx... u wont lose much on a 3000+ venice, u cud always clock it higher when the 1.8Ghz cpu becomes a bottleneck... and it really clocks like WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

[Bender316]

better gfx... u wont lose much on a 3000+ venice, u cud always clock it higher when the 1.8Ghz cpu becomes a bottleneck... and it really clocks like WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!

Yeah, 2.6GHz on stock cooler is not unheard of, so if you get some decent RAM at some point (which can handle 250MHz+) then any Venice CPU will serve you well.

Would go with 3200+ Venice, X800XL, 1GB 3200 (for now), Asus or DFI board (not too fussed with SLI though, and not necessary with the X800 neway), a good cooler like the XP-90C, XP-120 or ThermalTake Typhoon. Would make for a nice gaming machine.