Advice PLease

[M@rco]

Right people can i have a bit of advice please.

Right i have a ASUS A7V333+Raid Mobo
XP2000 PAL
512 DDR PC2100
Ti4200 (Albatron so clocks to ti4600 speeds easily)
20gig HD
9gig HD

Anyway i wanted to know weaher i should upgrade bu board and chip or leave my board and upgrade my chip and grfx card. I have already got me hands on some new ram and getting new HD. So what do you think

[Spritzup]

Do you want to overclock?

[M@rco]

Not sure , ill just say yes for now.

[fondie]

any reason you need to upgrade at all ? i'd stick with what you've got.

[Spritzup]

I had very close to the same setup in my first pc that I built, it was rock solid, never had any problems, but it was a horrible overclocker. If you want to overclock get a new motherboard and CPU. That's what I did.

[M@rco]

I might just stick well it depends i use it for gaming a fair bit.

[Austin]

At the mo the 9600PRO and FX5600ultra are only going to offer you DX9 and excellent AA+AF, there won't be that much extra pure power from them. Your XP2000+ Pal is a horrible o/c'er, locked and VERY hot, definitely worth upgrading which would also be advisable to update the mobo, you should get XP3200+ out of a £65 XP2500+. Unless you want to stick to 266FSB (so need a mobo capable of a high multiplier like NF7-S v2.0) you'll need to update the RAM, 256MB PC3200 will be fine if you're on a tight budget, just add another 256MB when you can. A lot dpeends on what you want, you could just buy a TbredB CPU as it will run a LOT cooler and you may be able to get some o/c'ing out of your current mobo (and RAM). Whether it's worth the cost or not is up to you, XP2000+ & 4200 is a very capable combination.

[iamwhoiam]

tbh get a 9800SE AIW and hope it softmods, lowestontheweb do them, used to be £131 and now its £144 but still quite cheap

[SilentDeath]

i would stay with what youve got.. or maybe some of the other things that are important (what ive got is in brackets).. like:
monitor (cornerstone p1500 21", cost £60),
mouse (razor boomslang 2k1, cost £50 inc nice mousemat),
keyboard (coolermaster alu one... i like the small keys... £30),
mini lcd (matrix orbital 2x20 blue inverted one - good for winamp etc..),
watercooling (home made - no more niose, £100),
speakers (some rubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishe ones.. i prefer headphones),
and most important, a CHAIR!!! (one from staples, £50 )

[M@rco]

I got nice chair and desk mouse and mousemat ok i was going to get some new speakers and headphones i am getting some pc2700 ram 1 gig for free so i might aswell have it.

[M@rco]

Austin what can i do with some pc2700 1 gig of it plus thanks for the replies guys. PLus what budget case would you reccomend as to be light as i take to LANS.

[p0lish]

Just the GPU....although i have a 4200 too and not looking for any dx 9.0 card any time soon

[M@rco]

Do you think i can overclock with my current board becuase it supports the PC2700 ram so thats one less expense. I am looking to buy a Barton XP 2500 becuase i have heard good things and could overclock it.

[Austin]

Well with PC2700 (333mhz) and your KT333 you can run the RAM async (266FSB with RAM = 5:4, FSB+PCI, 333mhz, PC2700) for a good 5% boost (that's the same percentage an nForce2 gets from Dual Channel). OR you can raise the FSB and keep the RAM synced (equal to FSB, 1:1). Beware though as the '333' in KT333 signifies its ability to run the RAM async at PC2700 while keeping the mobo at 266FSB NOT actually do 333FSB. You should be fine up to 288FSB (PCI and AGP near the limit) but your Palimino will easily hold back your o/c first. You could get a Tbred either for cooler running or a better o/c (TbredB ideally) but even if your mobo does support multiplier adjustment you'll find the limit around 12.5x144=1.8ghz (XP2200+). A new mobo will mean 333-400FSB and you should get a TbredB or Barton around XP3000+ to XP3200+ speed quite easily. XP2500+ is a no no really because your mobo can't do 333FSB and if the mobo lacks mult adj you'll be stuck with 11x multiplier too!

[M@rco]

Thanks for the reply mate i am going to get a xp2500 overclock that and get a new motherboard. Would tha me ok?

[M@rco]

By the way guys i have a Q-Tec 450 watt PSU will it handle all this new hardware , before you flame me i blew to power supplys and needed one quick