2 x Upgrade advice needed

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Joined
21 Jan 2008
Posts
488
Location
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Hi guys, just after some advice regarding 2 upgrades I want to do, please have a look and if any alternative upgrade advice or warnings please let me know. Thanks for reading

Firstly, let me paint the picture:

PC1:
This is for the missus, she currently has an old Pentium 1.7 laptop and in need of something better and quicker.
I already have:
• Antec SLK-3700BQE
• Antec Truepower 2.0 550w PSU
• IDE DVD writer
• Sata 250gb WD hdd
• PCI firewire card

I was thinking something simple and minimum fuss, she uses PC for internet, photo editing, web editing and the odd case of video editing, all on a 22” LCD

PC2:
This is mine, I currently have:
• Antec P182 Case
• Corsair HX 620W PSU
• Nvidia 8800GTX
• AMD x2 3800
• ASRock Dualsata 939 mb
• 2GB DDR ram
• SATA HDD & IDE DVD drive

I play fps and football games on 24” dell, the odd bit of video editing and also do quite a bit on vmware on my PC

For both I have Windows XP licenses, no 64 bit, but happy to see 32 bit out till windows 7 arrives


Upgrade

Now this is what I was thinking of, budget around £450 but definitely not able to go more than £500. I know some may think why not reuse my amd x2 3800 for the missus, but the mb is knackered ( only one working usb port and pci slots not working ) and pretty sure one of my memory sticks on it's way out too, so really just want to consign it to the bin and move on

PC1:
Need something with built in video and sound and DVI out, will most likely not overclock as I just want this to run, no mess no fuss


AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 7750+ Black Edition 2.70GHz (Socket AM2+) - Retail
£57.49

Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2H AMD 740G (AM2) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
£54.04

Corsair XMS2 4GB DDR2 PC2-6400C5 TwinX (2x2GB)
£33.98
Sub Total : £126.53
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £20.40
Total : £156.43​


PC2:
Was thinking of going for the X3 720 for now and with am3 mb and DDR3 I can go for a bigger better phenom II chip in a year’s time. Will try to see how much I can overclock but not gonna spend £50 on a cooler for .1GHz difference


AMD Phenom II X3 Tri Core 720 Black Edition 2.8GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail
£114.99

Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P (Socket AM3) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
£112.99

Corsair XMS3 4GB DDR3 10666C9 1333MHz TwinX Dual Channel Kit (2x2GB) (TW3X4G1333C9)
£54.04

Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro PWM CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940/AM2)
£17.24

Sub Total : £260.22
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.50
VAT is being charged at 15% VAT : £40.46
Total : £310.18​
 
sounds fine to me u seem to know what u want and are doing:D

Thanks, let's just say I've read a LOT of posts on OcUK recently regarding this

I've been going back and forth between amd and intel 5200 system for PC1 and between a Phenom II x4 and x3 system for PC 2.
 
Whatever else you do, I certainly wouldn't throw the socket 939 3800 X2 in the bin - all dual core 939 chips are rare now and even though it's the entry level one, it will go for about £50 at auction. Providing it works, sell it.
 
Thanks for the replies

I'll take a look at ebaying the amd 3800 chip, it works fine and I'll be happy getting something for it

As to a better cooler, seen the Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer CPU recommended a few times and it's not much dearer than the arctic, so may go for that one instead.

With regards who is getting the better upgrade, I think it's pretty even ( or so I told the missus), we are both getting 4gb memory, an extra core to what we currently are used to and an improvement in cpu speed.
 
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