Recommend Me Some Upgrades...

[deeloughran]

Well it's my bday in just over a week so decided to treat myself...could anyone recommend me some upgrades to my setup.

Setup is under my name...any other parts of the system that people would recommend they would update please just ask and i'll go find out what i have . Was thinking that i was in desperate need of a Ram update but just checking what youz all think

Thanks in advance!

[nvening]

Definatley RAM, followed by GPU (if your a gamer), followed by CPU (which would include mobo so mabe not) But i dont know how rich you are!!

[teachmech]

I agree upgarde to at least 1Gb of ram, update graphics card to at least a 6800GS if not 7800GS and your cpu as far as you can.

Perhaps it would be better to update cpu mboard memory and graphics in one go?

Its your money take your choice. Let us all know what you us it for and we'll give you more suggestions.

[deeloughran]

Well Dark Horse is selling these

2x512mb Geil Ultra-X TCCD Ram £70inc RMSD
Good stuff. Stock clocks are 2-2-2-5 but had it running at 278mhz at 2.5-3-3-8 on my current board. It can do higher but I never had the time to actually get it up to 300mhz.

Quite tempted...how would you all recommend these? Maybe wait and buy the corsair twinx off ebay?

Well at the minute i haven't really been playing games with all my exams, so not in a hurry to upgrade that yet, only game i'm really playing is FM06 and doesn't need the highest graphics.

What CPU would you recommend? My one at the minute is pretty damn noisey so would be happy if someone knows of a pretty quiet one! I thought the cpu wasn't that bad...

I was recommended to upgrade my motherboard (when mine was having trouble but now fixed) to a asus p4p800, how does that rate now? Amazon have the deluxe version for 62.

[teachmech]

Upgrading to 1Gb or more will certainly make xp and games run smoother, less time waiting when switching between progs.

[ajones]

What CPU would you recommend? My one at the minute is pretty damn noisey so would be happy if someone knows of a pretty quiet one! I thought the cpu wasn't that bad...

You mean the HSF on the CPU is noisy...? Replace it with after market unit like Zalman.. you'll find loads of threads recomending quieter units in the quest for silence

[MSIC]

It might sound picky, but ajones is quite right - your current CPU is hot not noisy, so you could keep the CPU (and motherboard) but make the whole thing quieter. Spending £30 on a good Zalman can be a really good investment, provided that you dont suddenly discover how noisy the rest of your system might be! A good heatsink/fan will cool your CPU better than the standard one, more efficently and quieter. Try this as long as you dont have a low (or thin) case.
The other upgrade that i'd consider is a PCI audio card for better quality sound - on board is ok, but the Creative X-Fi's is currently one of the best. If £78 seems a bit steep, you could try one of the earlier generation Audigy's such as this one for £18. That said, if games are not a priority, plenty of other manufacturers make good quality sound cards, it's just that the creatives are so well supported by games. Beyond this, again if sound is important, you could seriously consider improving your speakers - you dont need to spend major money and dont even need to blast your neighbours away, but either get a nice small set of 5.1 surrounds (Creative Inspires £48) or do what I did, and pop into Richer Sounds for some seperates kit.

Finally, i'd also ask you to consider your keyboard and mouse - getting a great set can also improve your perception of using the computer. Can't go wrong with Logitech's for £56, but you get what you pay for. These things might be worth popping into somewhere like PC World to play with though, to find what's right for you.

Hope that gave some ideas!

[MSIC]

PS I'd also echo what the guys above said.
You would notice a benefit in more RAM, can't go wrong with Corsair Value Select here for £55, plus a better graphics card such as this GeForce 6600GT. It's £117, which might seem a little pricey, but it's in keeping with the whole quiet theme. If, on the other hand you have money to burn, this 6800GS is £158 but I would strongly advise getting a different heatsink & fan, such as this Zalman for £17.

Both graphics cards are AGP.

[GFiSH]

If you're really into FM06 that doubling your RAM is the best suggestion, especially if you wanna run more than 4 or 5 leagues at a time.

[deeloughran]

I currently have the MX700 set myself and find it quite good! so gonna wait until something like the mx5000 comes down a bit in price.

The speakers look good, what about these from Amazon i found though
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...175782-4723614
Or would you stick with the creative ones?

I currently have this case
http://www.cluboverclocker.com/revie...lade/index.htm
so would this be alright for the more pricey Zalman? Think i'm gonna have to buy one of these as i just hate the buzzing sound currently coming from my PC!

Looking at the sound cards i wouldn't want to spend major money on it so the creative set look good, but how much of a difference would it really make?

Thanks for all your help

[MSIC]

Case looks good! Shouldn't be any problem with the Zalman, just wanted to check you didnt have some sort of low-profile thing.
Those speakers from Amazon also look nice, HardAvenue (dont really know that but still) seems to rate them well, so go for it! Your current on-board sound might go well with current (low-buget?) speakers, but if you get better speakers you will certainly notice a benefit from any semi-decent PCI audio card.
Nice mouse too - stick with it unless it starts to go wrong.

Looks like you have a generally nice set-up, but get more memory!

[deeloughran]

Well went for Dark Horse's Geil Ultra X 1Gb (512mb x 2 sticks) so should have them by the start of next week Thats the Ram sorted!

Got in contact with Scan and found out that the free delivery doesn't apply to Northern Ireland so checking around for any other cheaper places...though they all seem to work out about the same with cheaper delivery, and would rather go with Scan due to their excellent customer service

What sort of upgrade would anyone recommend on the CPU?