300 Squid Upgrade

Solari

Solari

Solari

Permabanned
Joined
14 Nov 2002
Posts
5,555
Location
Kent
I'm setting aside 300 quid for an upgrade and am struggling to figure out what I should get.

Main Specs:

Corsair HX520W PSU
Gigabyte 956P-DS3 Mobo
2GB Geil DDR RAM
Core2Duo E6300 with Arctic Freezer Pro 7
HIS x1950 Pro ICEQ3
Iiyama Visionmaster 19" CRT

I'm tempted to get a better video card along with a Tuniq Tower 120 cooler for the CPU. What do you lot reckon? :) The monitor is a bit old but the picture quality is good enough for me.
 
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Seems like a pretty decent spec to me that doesnt need any immediate upgrading. However, the £300 could get you an 8800GTS 640mb or a new widescreen LCD monitor.
 
Maybe if you sell your graphics card (soon) you will be able to afford widescreen TFT and an 8800?
 
why not go for the ocz 2x1gb ram thats on offer at the moment.

im also going for the corsair psu and i will be getting a tuniq or arctic cooler :S dunno which will fit my 680i tho
 
tsj said:
why not go for the ocz 2x1gb ram thats on offer at the moment.

im also going for the corsair psu and i will be getting a tuniq or arctic cooler :S dunno which will fit my 680i tho
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I have the 2x1GB Geil sticks so don't see the point in a RAM upgrade.

I'm hoping I can probably get £100 or thereabouts for my card as the retail price is ~£130 and I've only had it about a month. Sounds like a good idea adding that to the overall upgrade, making it £400 :)

The Pre-Order 8800GTS OC 320MB is 200 quid, so that would leave me 200 quid for a monitor - can I actually get a decent LCD for that price?
 
Solari said:
The Pre-Order 8800GTS OC 320MB is 200 quid, so that would leave me 200 quid for a monitor - can I actually get a decent LCD for that price?
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Yes! For well under that price, as a matter of fact.

The OcUK Value one has suprisingly good specs
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-017-OK&groupid=17&catid=276&subcat=

This one (I have it and am buying a second) is great
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-005-BE&groupid=17&catid=276&subcat=

Personally favorite size is 19" widescreen, as it's a good size yet doesn't require a beast of a graphics card when playing games at decent settings :)
 
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If your stuggling then do you really need to upgrade?

Is your machine lacking in something you want to do or do faster?
 
ste_bla said:
If your stuggling then do you really need to upgrade?

Is your machine lacking in something you want to do or do faster?
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It performs well, the only things I'm unhappy with are the CPU Temps and the Graphics card really - the 8800 should sort that out though.

I think a new monitor will be ncie as it'll free up some desk space. Not sure of the best way to get rid of an old iiyama 19" CRT though. Can't give CRTs away these days.
 
Solari said:
Not sure of the best way to get rid of an old iiyama 19" CRT though. Can't give CRTs away these days.
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I don't know what spare bits you have laying around, but you could use it to salvage another computer together?
 
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