B'day in 3 days - upgrade time - need advice

[ABS_UK]

Hi Guys

Its my B'day in 3 days and I'm finally going to upgrade my aging comp; xp2500, Asus A7N8X, Leadtek 6800 (nu), 1GB 3200 Geil memory and a 300W power supply.

I've been going around in circles trying to decide what to get and I've finally come to the conclusion that I need some advice. I need a new CPU, MB, Power supply and Graphics Card , as I'm finally moving to PCIe. I'm not really bothered about overclocking (might dabble a little), and the comps main use will be gaming (HL2, COD2, B&W2, etc); I won't be going SLi/Crossfire now, but may in the future.

My budget is around £600 (if the family is generous enough, I am after all hitting the big 30 ).

I've pretty much set on getting a A64 3700+ and a Seasonic S12 500W power supply, but I can't decide on the MB and Graphics card. I've been looking at the Asus & MSI MB's and most probably a 7800GT GC (although I am tempted by the OcUK 7800GTX or maybe a switch to an ATI card, god I'm so confused...)

Your opinions would be much appreciated. Thanks...

 

[Jimbo Mahoney]

Assuming you are looking around the £220 mark for the gfx card, I'd be going with the X1800XT 256MB @ £234.

Oh, and Happy BDay for Tuesday (?). Mine is Wednesday (I'll be 25) and I am so tempted with an upgrade too....

Oh, and welcome to the forums!

 

[ACESHIGH]

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) £234.94

7800GTX + performance for a much cheaper price. Card would go great with the 3700+ if in your budget.

BEST BANG PER BUCK CARD BAR NONE IMO.

 

[ABS_UK]

Thanks for the quick replies; if I went down the X1800XT route, what MB would you recommend, with crossfire and without.

Oh and Happy B'day for Wednesday Jimbo....

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) £234.94

7800GTX + performance for a much cheaper price. Card would go great with the 3700+ if in your budget.

BEST BANG PER BUCK CARD BAR NONE IMO.

Yup x1800 XT 256mb, cracking price for a GTX beater.

 

[ACESHIGH]

Crossfire mobo - preferred choice; if in price range - Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-131-AS) £146.82 Including VAT
2nd choice - Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS) £82.19
Non crossfire mobo - Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-088-AS) £72.79

 

[OV3RCLOCK3R]

If your looking to overclock the cpu, I would suggest you go for DFI when it comes to MB

 

[hannibal2381]

yeah dfi rock when it comes to overclocking.

 

[speeduk]

Its my bday in 3 days time too and I bought myself one of these

 

[hannibal2381]

very nice, same as the dell 20.1 and the apple 20.1.. they use the same panals.