Best thing to do with this system?

Smoke Machine · 22 Jan 2007 at 22:40

First comedy answer such as 'paperweight' gets a virtual slap

I've got an A7N8X-X, Athlon XP3000, Radeon 9600, 512mb RAM, 180gb HDD space over three drives (two external 80gbs and an internal 20gb), Panasonic DVD-ROM and Ricoh CDRW/DVD combo, a SB Live! Digital soundcard.

I can't even remember the specifics of the Radeon or the RAM!

I'm currently saving my hard-earned, as I want something a bit more up to date, but I wondered if anyone had any suggestions that might save me shelling out on £££'s of new hardware?

I've been out of the IT game for ages, and haven't kept up with all the latest stuff, so I turn to this forum for help. Many years ago I got some great help here, I hope the clientele are still as knowledgeable as yesteryear

Cheers in advance, all.

SM.

Dark_Angel · 22 Jan 2007 at 22:54

Sell that system anyway possible, keep the external HD's, and put the money to another computer.

agw_01 · 22 Jan 2007 at 22:59

That system isn't past its 'best before' date yet.

My Mobile 2500 @ 2.6GHz on water, 1gb RAM, 9800 Pro system was stunningly fast.

I say, get another 512mb RAM, upgrade the graphics card, overclock the CPU a bit and you'll be laughing for another 6 months, by which time you should have a fair amount to blow on a beast of a machine.

Smoke Machine · 22 Jan 2007 at 23:00

Don't think I'd get much for it, it's probably worth more to me than the money I'd get.

What's the going rate for a mid-spec games machine these days?

naro · 22 Jan 2007 at 23:09

you might want to keep your old PC as a file server of some sort. FreeNAS is a pretty good NAS OS to use.

Smoke Machine · 22 Jan 2007 at 23:14

I say, get another 512mb RAM, upgrade the graphics card, overclock the CPU

What do you think that'd set me back? It's only got a stock HSF on it, I assume I'd need better cooling?

agw_01 · 22 Jan 2007 at 23:28

512mb RAM = £25
9800 Pro = I believe you can pick them up for as little as £35 now. That's an absolute bargain in my book. I bought my 9700 Pro for £35 and was gobsmacked to see the 9800's going for the same price
Heatsink = Get a nice Thermalright SLK-800 off eBay for cheap... brilliant heatsink which seats an 80mm fan

Smoke Machine · 22 Jan 2007 at 23:39

superb, that's inside the current budget

With a new case on top that'll still be pretty cheap. Would it cope with Vista?

agw_01 · 22 Jan 2007 at 23:44

Can't see why not.

It's at the top end of the Socket A market and lower end of the Athon 64 market. I still think my old Mobile 2500 system @2.5GHz was quicker than my Socket 754 2800+ system at stock.

Smoke Machine · 22 Jan 2007 at 23:57

Sold, I'll go for that then and save some cash for a while to build a new one.

Ta for the advice! That spec'd cope with decent games, then? I wanna play a bit more than FM07. Heh.

agw_01 · 23 Jan 2007 at 00:15

Well I could play HL2, Doom 3, Far Cry, Fear running at 1280x1024 with decent visuals and a decent framerate.

It was nippy in Windows too. I found the biggest jump (apart from the graphics card) was from 512mb to 1gb RAM. You get an immense performance increase from that.

Smoke Machine · 23 Jan 2007 at 14:13

Just ordered a Lian-Li PC-7, another 512MB PC3200, and a Titan Vanessa-L TTC-NK25TB/SC (mainly because it looks mint and I'm shallow :rolleyes:

) and Vista Home Premium OEM

GeezerButler · 23 Jan 2007 at 14:55

I use a similar spec to that as my Media Center (Windows MCE 2005). Mine is an Athlon XP 2800+ with 1GB RAM. Runs absolutely fine and use it as my PVR and media server.

Zefan · 23 Jan 2007 at 15:01

You won't really see any performance benefits from that RAM increase because Vista will chew up tonnes of it. I'd advise a minimum of 1.5gb+ with Vista and latest games.

neocon · 23 Jan 2007 at 15:07

Keep the PC for internet surfing and then get yourself this lot

V7 L22WD 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black/Silver
£225

Xbox 360 Entertainment - 2x Wireless Controllers, Project Gotham 3 Racing & Live Arcade Unplugged Limited Edition Pack
£311

Xbox 360 VGA HD AV Cable

£21

~£500

Awesome game lineup for 2007. No brainer really.

furnace · 23 Jan 2007 at 15:11

PC > 360 imo... Any day.

steve258 · 23 Jan 2007 at 15:14

Smoke Machine said:
Just ordered a Lian-Li PC-7, another 512MB PC3200, and a Titan Vanessa-L TTC-NK25TB/SC (mainly because it looks mint and I'm shallow ) and Vista Home Premium OEM

That is nice but will the aero interface work on 9600pro??

Smoke Machine · 23 Jan 2007 at 17:50

If it doesn't it no great shakes, I'll just turn it off 'til I fit a bit of a better card. Can't find a 9800 Pro for sale online anywhere, can anyone recommend me a sub £50 AGP card that'll be better than my 9600?

steve258 · 23 Jan 2007 at 19:53

Best bet is online auction site tbh.

Just seen plenty of refurb 9800pro for 30 quid.

Keep a look out on 2nd hand 6800s too.

Oooooh just seen a ASUS 6800 with zalman cooler still only going for a tenner with 10 mins left!! :eek: