upgrade advice please

e36Adz

e36Adz

e36Adz

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Joined
28 Nov 2003
Posts
11,713
Location
Manchester, UK
I've had this PC for I think almost 2 years now, its still running well...

spec:

Akasa Eclipse
Asus A8N-SLI Premium
Athlon 64 X2 3800
2GB (1GB X2) OCZ Gold DDR
Aopen 256MB 7800GT
74GB Western Digital Raptor
2TB (1TB X2) Western Digital
500GB Seagate
DVD-RW drive
Razor Krait USB mouse
Crappy USB keyboard :p
Altec Lansing 2.1 speakers
Dell 24"
Vista Ultimate 64

The above was running XP Pro for a long time, last month switched to Vista and it runs it reasonably well however in the next month or so I would like to upgrade it abit.

I've just upgraded the hdds so I have plenty of space, and the raptor is still ok for windows. The monitor is still the perfect size I definately don't need to change that. I think the only thing I really need to change is the cpu, motherboard and ram, and possibly the graphics card?

It's not really used for gaming although I do like to still play some online UT :D which reminds me I would also need you to recommend me a nice mousemat.

What's the best cpu/mobo/ram combo I can go for, lets say budget around £200. Quad core should be within budget. I can always get a gfx card later as this isn't of vital importance yet, like I mentioned the only PC game I play really is UT (the original) :)
 
e36Adz said:
Quad core should be within budget
Click to expand...
  • AMD Phenom X4 Quad Core 9750 2.40GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £99.99
  • Asus M3A78 AMD 780G (Socket AM2+) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £54.99
  • OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £20.99
  • Sub Total : £175.97
  • Shipping : £8.25
  • VAT : £32.24
  • Total : £216.46
:)
 
Seems quad core is abit more pricey then I thought, I've been out of touch with hardware and prices for a long time :p

rz30, that seems ok, but I would rather push towards a low end quad core especially if I was to upgrade in like a month or so. Seems I was abit out with my budget.

hp7909, I didn't even know AMD did quad core when I had a quick glance I was only looking at intel. But that seems alright although I would pay abit extra for 4gb rather then 2gb.

Is the AMD route worth going down again for quad core?

Are prices likely to drop anytime soon, the ram prices seem quite cheap as they are at the moment?
 
The more I've been reading around on the forums, maybe core 2 duo is the way to go.

Does quad core have any real advantages over dual core?

Also, I think I will go with intel this time round.
 
for what you do with your pc :p downloading and getting hammed in UT,

a good wolfdale

4gb ram

and a p35/45 based board should be great

you'll easly get it to 3.5-4Ghz (if your clocking)

that should help your frames in ut :D


you should upgrade your graphics card too

a nice 4670 for ~ £50

and dont forget you can sell your own parts (pc parts lol)
 
How does this look...

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 95W Energy Efficient 2.4GHz SLACR G0 Stepping With Assassins Creed Game

£126.89

Asus P5B motherboard LGA775 Intel P965 Core2 Extreme / Core2 Duo 1066FSB PCI-E x16 SATA Giga LAN 8 ch. Audio ATX

£48.18

OCZ 4GB (2x2048) Vista PerfPerformance Platinum Edition DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz Dual Channel CL 5-4-4-15 Platinum XTC Heatspreader

£53.99

Delivery: £0.00

Total: £229.06

With a small discount I can prob get it all for around £225. I don't need the game that comes with the processor, so could probably get afew quid for that.

I've gone with the cheapest quad core I can find. I've stuck with asus for motherboard as I've had no problems with them. The ocz gold ram is out of stock from where I normally buy, but they have the platinum set in.

Any changes you would recommend?
 
e36Adz said:
74GB Western Digital Raptor
2TB (1TB X2) Western Digital
500GB Seagate
Click to expand...


Wtf do you have on your pc!?!?

You run a movie shop on your pc or something!?!?!?!


--

But more on topic, for what you do no real benefit going for a quad core. A higher clocked E8xxx will be far more benefitial.
 
AlexTrickle said:
Wtf do you have on your pc!?!?

You run a movie shop on your pc or something!?!?!?!
Click to expand...

lol :D you could say that, I hit like 1.8mb/sec on downloads so why not make the most of it :p loads n loads on there, the 500GB mind you is empty its the 2TB im filling steadily :)

AlexTrickle said:
But more on topic, for what you do no real benefit going for a quad core. A higher clocked E8xxx will be far more benefitial.
Click to expand...

How much would I save on dual core, going by the prices I have quoted above? Also, if I do upgrade it I intend on keeping it for the next 2-3 years so would a quad core be more future proof?
 
Last edited:
e36Adz said:
lol :D you could say that, I hit like 1.8mb/sec on downloads so why not make the most of it :p loads n loads on there, the 500GB mind you is empty its the 2TB im filling steadily :)
Click to expand...

you couldnt rent / sell that content :confused::eek::p

back on topic, see if you can get a newer spec moterboard, p35 / p43 / p45 ish
 
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