Advice on upgrade path??

[burnsybhoy]

Hi,

I'm thinking it's time to upgrade my PC. My current set up is as follows:

Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fox
AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3000+.
PowerColor Ati X550 Bravo Edition 256mb GDDR2 128bit PCI-E.
Corsair 1GB Kit (2X512MB) DDR 400MHz/PC3200.
Foxconn socket 939 NF4K8AC-RS.
Maxtor 6L080M0 Plus 10 80GB 7200RPM SATA/150 8MB Cache.

I built this at the start of 2006 and although it has been the most stable pc I've had I'd like to treat myself to an upgrade.

I'm only considering changing the mobo, cpu and gfx card just now and also memory to DDR 2 if need be.

I've been reading through the posts and it seems Intel are way ahead with cpu's just now so I fancy giving them a try.

I'd only like to spend roughly £50 on each component apart from the cpu which I'll pay more.

I use my PC for the usual things music, video, internet, football manager (..no 3D shooters but I would like fancy desktop effects!!).

What do you guys suggest and will it be a marked improvement on my current set up?

Cheers

[jetinder]

I'm in the same boat as you see
:-
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showt...60#post5522860

After bitter experience on e-bay if you want to get all those bits for £50 each you may be very dissappointed.

DDR2 ram is cheap-ish

You can get 2 x 512 DDR2 PC5400 ram for around £14 + postage.

You can get 2 x 512 DDR2 PC6400 ram for around £18 + postage.

But be careful not get in to a bidding war other wise you will pay more or loose out as people go mental on there to "win".

If you spend £50 on ram on e-bay you can easily get around 4gb DDR2 PC6400 but shop around on e-bay to get the best deal.

Hard drive ...... go to places like novatech.com you get a new 200 gb one for around £30.

Graphics card if your happy with the current one then leave it and save some money.

If want a new-ish one start off with getting a 256mb Gforce 7600 GT if get in to a bidding war you can get that 2nd hand for around £25-£30-ish.

Motherboard will be a huge headache you should get one with 1333 FSB, 3 PCI slots and enough connectors at the back to allow you to plug in your existing hardware, but getting this 2nd hand off e-bay is an utter mine field.

The trend now is to sell 2nd hand motherboards which look " ok and new " but have not been tested by the seller, so no one knows if they work or not, you have a 50/50 chance of buying a good or bad one. On top of that they have no warranty, no money back option and most have no manual, no software, no cables nothing but the bare motherboard.

If you get a bad one you cant send it back so you've lost all your money. But e-bay buyers are going crazy and are paying close to or higher than new motherboard prices for some thing which may or may not work........

This is utter madness............but people don't care and push prices up of things which should sell for peanuts (coz thats all they are worth).

You could get one off private seller but again people will go bidding mad and your £50 budget will be blown and you may get some thing which isnt that good.

Better to get a new one off ebuyer for £50 see
:-
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/132269

Thats the one i'm saving up to get as that has all the bits i need + i dont have to pay rip off e-bay prices for 2nd hand stuff with no warranty.

Asus are also a very good make.

You will need to get a 500 or 600 watt PSU.

CPU will be the most expensive thing you get, wait 3-6 months and you should get a decent new one for around £100 which is now around £150-£200.

Get the E6600 or its equivalent.

Word of caution they are now talking about DDR3 ram and 1600 FSB CPUs so what ever you get now will be out of date in 6 - 12 months time, bear this in mind when working out what you want.

[burnsybhoy]

Thanks Jetinder,

I had been keeping an eye on your post. That mobo looks like the thing I'm after.

I've been loooking at this Gfx card http://www.ebuyer.com/product/106578

and this memory http://www.ebuyer.com/product/91124.

I'm keeping the HD for now as I hardly use it to it's capacity so the only other thing to consider is the cpu.

So far on budget with these 3 components coming to around £140.

Am I on the right track?

[jetinder]

Originally Posted by burnsybhoy

Thanks Jetinder,

I had been keeping an eye on your post. That mobo looks like the thing I'm after.

I've been loooking at this Gfx card http://www.ebuyer.com/product/106578

and this memory http://www.ebuyer.com/product/91124.

I'm keeping the HD for now as I hardly use it to it's capacity so the only other thing to consider is the cpu.

So far on budget with these 3 components coming to around £140.

Am I on the right track?

You are on the right track, but shop around you could get a better deal for the same graphics card.

PC5300 memory is great value and would be a great base to start off on but its not that fast. Getting PC6400 would be better as its faster and you would feel the difference but PC6400 ram costs around £15-£20 more so it depends on your budget.

Getting faster ram is like going on the fast lane of a motorway.

Memory prices go up and down like share prices so they could be high next it could be lower, after that higher etc, look at them once a week and see what happens.

If your not desperate to upgrade now take your time and try to get a better deal.

With my thread I'll keep people updated on what happens, ok some times i have moan on it, other times i don't but like you and others i'm trying to upgrade my PC for decent money.

[burnsybhoy]

Okay I've decided to go for this gfx card for now http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119698

Just looking at memory again and also thinking about ordering the mobo you recommended but with a Intel Pentium D 915 2.8 Ghz cpu. This should keep me going for the next 12 - 24 months hopefully.

What do you think?

[jetinder]

Originally Posted by burnsybhoy

Okay I've decided to go for this gfx card for now http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119698

Just looking at memory again and also thinking about ordering the mobo you recommended but with a Intel Pentium D 915 2.8 Ghz cpu. This should keep me going for the next 12 - 24 months hopefully.

What do you think?

The Pentium D 915 2.8 Ghz cpu will be ok but its false economie to buy this as a stop gap as core 2 duo chips are better. Get a Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.20GHz
:-
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/130486

That should be better and run cooler than the Pentium D 915 2.8 Ghz.

But the decision is yours........ personnaly i want a proper core 2 duo processor and not a pentium as i want to faster PC so I am willing to waite for price drops.

7300 GT will be ok to start off with but isnt that fast, the 7600GS and 7600 GT are faster, the ATi 1800 and ATi 1900 are very fast.

[badbob]

Originally Posted by burnsybhoy

Okay I've decided to go for this gfx card for now http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119698

What do you think?

That card is lousy. As slow as continental drift. Your ATI X550 is faster. I'd upgrade your CPU to the fastest dual core you can buy, if your motherboard supports it.

[burnsybhoy]

Cheers guys...

Thats what I'm so sure about. I just assumed my current gfx card was pants compared to even cheaper ones that are around just now.

What I might do is not bother with a gfx card just now and put the money I'm saving into the cpu. That would give me about £85 to spend.

This then limits my choice to the E4300, E4400 or the E4500...

Any thoughts on what one of those to go for?

[tonyk79]

What about

Intel Route:

Gigabyte GA P31-S3L Mobo £49.31
2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400 (800) £44
CPU 4400 or 4500
Graphic card Ati 2600pro about £50

I would go for this motherboard as it supports the current intel range and will also support the upcoming 45nm CPU's which means if you want to upgrade again then you will not need to replace your motherboard or Ram.

Is your current PSU the new style 24 pin and what power rating is it as you may need to change this to?

[burnsybhoy]

Yeah Tonyk79 that is the mobo that I'm going to go for...

It's just now I need to decide on a cpu...and also the gfx you suggested will I notice a marked improvement on the one I'm currently using?

Bearing in mind it's also a pain trying to get Ati drivers working with linux.

thanks for your help and suggestions...Keep them coming.

[tonyk79]

Im not sure what way the 2600 pro works with Linux but it does have an inbuilt HD decoding chip that will take the strain off your CPU should you want to watch HD files/movies on your pc or lcd tv.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Geforc...-29664-19.html for reviews on some budget cards. I would say that a ATI 2600 pro would be quite a bit faster than your x550 card.

[jetinder]

The Ati 2600 isnt that good, the ATI 1800 and 1900 are much better and faster but you have to pay a lot more as they designed to handle games.

[burnsybhoy]

Jetinder check this article out not too shabby for a stop gap till the quads come down in price..

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/...ium_dual_core/

Just a quick update..!! This morning I went ahead and ordered the Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 cpu and also the Gigabyte GA-P31-S3L motherboard. £85 in total (used Goggle Checkout to receive a £10 discount).

With a little bit of cooling I'm going to overclock the cpu to 3.0/3.2 ghz depending on stability...

[Rennyboy]

Originally Posted by burnsybhoy

Cheers guys...

Thats what I'm so sure about. I just assumed my current gfx card was pants compared to even cheaper ones that are around just now.

What I might do is not bother with a gfx card just now and put the money I'm saving into the cpu. That would give me about £85 to spend.

This then limits my choice to the E4300, E4400 or the E4500...

Any thoughts on what one of those to go for?

Whats your budget for your graphics card, and what games did you hope to play?

[lukeh]

get an older pentium duo: e2180, it's what i'm going to get next month, @ stock it's 2ghz, and can Very Easily go to over 3ghz with stock cooling, only difference between this and the newer c2d is that this has less cache, which you wont notice unless you do alot of video editing etc.