been a while but I think its time for an upgrade!

LiquidSky

LiquidSky

LiquidSky

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Joined
10 Nov 2003
Posts
13
Location
Liverpool, UK
Hey guys,

I am currently running on a 1.4 duron with a graphics card which isnt even worth mentioning so I have decided I have waited well enough time for an upgrade (around 5 or so years i think) :D

Looking for a conroe spec which is quiet, stable and cheap! Not sure if this is possible but hopefully you can give me some pointers! Won't be overclocking the system so don't worry about the overclockability of the parts. Somewhere around the 400 mark for mobo/cpu/memory/graphics/psu

My hard drive is an old 40gb seagate which is IDE so would that be ok for now or should I go for a new SATA? as they are only cheap and I could prob stretch to afford one.

Going to be using CAD in uni next year and I would like to start playing a few games again which obviously hasnt been possible with my current setup.

Any help would be much appreciated

Thanks,
 
This is a little bit over the budget because I've included a SATA hard drive which I think you will really benefit from, the technology has moved on a fair bit in speed terms. I'm assuming that you will re-use your existing optical drives but if not add another £20 or so for a DVDRW, it is barely worth going for any other sort of drive at the prices they cost now. The graphics card isn't fantastic but it is decent and should be able to play most games.

Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 775) £13.99
(£16.44) £13.99
(£16.44)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £25.99
(£30.54) £25.99
(£30.54)
OcUK GeForce 7300 GT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Corsair 1GB DDR2 Value Select PC5300 Dual Channel Kit (2x512MB) (VS1GBKIT667D2) ( £72.99
(£85.76) £72.99
(£85.76)
Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - OEM £93.99
(£110.44) £93.99
(£110.44)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Sub Total : £348.93
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
Vat : £62.80
Total : £421.68
 
No thats great thanks! I forgot to mention I already have a case which is a coolermaster 'black widow' which im guessing will be ok for this new system? guess i could add that spare money on to the graphics card?
 
ok i've managed to extend my overdraft another £100 so have a bit more money to play with. I have made this spec up from another site, would you say it was much better for the extra £100? If it is I shall order tonight and get it out the way!

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400
Abit AB9 i965, S775
2 x 512MB Samsung, DDR2 PC5400 (667),
256Mb Leadtek 7600GT Mem 1600 MHz, GPU 590 MHz, 12 Pipes
460W Zalman ZM460B-APS Noiseless SLi ATX Ver. 2.2
80 Gb Samsung HD080HJ SpinPoint P80, SATA300
Pioneer DVR-111DBK Black 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer DVD Writer

£538.40 inc delivery and a few cables.

Thanks :)
 
You could get the cheaper Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 as it is capable of being overclocked way past the stock speeds of a E6600 if I remember correcly.
 
Thanks for the reply the system wont be overclocked, never really tried it and i'm hopeing this pc will last me like the last one :D . The reason for the E6400 is that is in a bundle with the mobo and memory for 299 which seems to be pretty good.
 
Managed to make up this spec from OcUK which i would prefer to order from than the other shop saving me £20 but dropping down to the E6300, any advice on improving this in price/performance ratio?

Intel Core 2 DUO E6300 (£110.44)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 (£16.44)
Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (£52.86)
GeIL 1GB (2x512MB) PC5300 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (£93.99)
BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC 256MB GDDR3 (£111.61)
Corsair HX 520W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (£72.84)
Samsung SpinPoint P SP0842N 80GB (£29.36)
Pioneer DVR-111DBK 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (£22.31)
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound (3.5g) (£7.04)
Akasa Serial ATA 45cm DAYGLO Orange Data Cable (£3.51)

Total : £532.10 inc delivery

Any weak points to this system? can't decide which to get now :rolleyes: :D
 
i think that PSU is a bit of an overkill, if you can get a cheaper PSU (someone else can reccommend this one) for 45-55, then get the DS3 motherboard, in which case you can clock your 6300 a lot higher.
 
Ok i'll swap the corsair for the

Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (£51.69)

Im guessing that will be ok? I wont be overclocking the system as I need it to be stable and last a long time so the motherboard should be ok as the asrock i think. This takes me down to £510.95 :D

All good to order, any compatability orders etc?

Thanks for the help guys
 
no compatability problems I can see. Looks good, I'm gonna be building a rig almost exactly the same as this in a few weeks. One thing I decided eventually was to go for the OcUk 7900GS instead of the BFG 7600GT it's only £11 more, and well worth it, IMHO.

Hey man you realise that the hard-drive you are buying isn't SATA right? ;)
 
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