can someone help me pick some components? i want to upgrade

Langlest

Langlest

Langlest

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ok guys, i have been having a hard time running games like crysis and im pretty sure its because i only have a single core processor

the problem is that i only have £600 to spend, im totally clueless when it comes to hardware atm & i know that im gonna need a new mobo and most likely ram too

can anyone help me choose the best components for my price range and give me some idea of the improvments ill see?

here is what i have at the moment

AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-57 Processor
NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT 512MB
SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC3200 Dual Channel Platinum Series
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium
Thermaltake Purepower 560W Psu
120gig Maxtor SATA
300gig Maxtor SATA
 
well i just did a bit of searching around on the site and found these components
can anyone tell me if this will be a good buy? i went for another psu (mine isnt modular and im terrible at keeping wires tidy) and my current tower is a bit of a mess

Asus P5N-D nForce 750i SLi (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-265-AS

OCZ ModXStream 780w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-024-OC

Lian-Li PC-A70A Aluminium Tower Case - Silver
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-093-LL

Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x1GB)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-119-CS

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.66GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB) Processor - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-215-IN


this brings the total to £603.89, do you think its a good upgrade from what i have? last time i built a pc i ended up getting the wrong ram for my mobo so could someone say if they see a potential conflict? :p
 
Hmmm...

I would aim for something like:

Q6600 Energy efficent
4GB OCZ DDR2 Ram
Corsair 520 or 620 WATT PSU
IP35 motherboard
Whatever case you like

Plnety of money left that way, do not get 2GB now. 4 really is what you need for gaming. If going quad, the Q6600 is great value for money currently and overclocks like a champion.

Motherboard I am not to certain on, I need to change my current one (P5N-E SLI) at some point to allow me to overclock my Q6600 further, but being lazy about it at the moment, but I would hihgly recommend a nice overclocking board.

You could also get a nice Samsung F1 500 or even a 1TB drive, costing around 50 or 100 respectively. (Amazing how cheap hard drive space is now).
 
thanks mate :) you have almost saved me 100 quid there!

a few questions tho so i dont make any mistakes :p

did you mean these components? (i dont wanna order something and find out i got the wrong things)

Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-004-CS

OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8000C5 1000MHz ReaperX HPC Enhanced Bandwidth Edition Dual Channel DDR2 (OCZ2RPX10004GK)
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-104-OC

Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CP-172-IN

Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-135-AB


if im looking at the wrong ones could you give me the links to the ones you mean? sorry to be a pain in the arse :p

id also like to know if a OEM processor comes with a fan or not?
 
OEM CPU's I don't think come with a fan.

I have the same RAM, CPU and using the 520Watt version of the PSU. All excellent components.

I could be wrong on this, but I think the pro and the regular versions of the IP35 aren't massively different. You might check out the feature set of both and see if you need anything from the PRO, if not get the cheaper version.
 
PSU: 520W Corsair (should be enough)
CPU:
Now it depends if you are going to overclock,
If not:
I'd say: E8400 (/ Q6600 if you use programs that make use of quad core)
If you wanna overclock:
E2200 (cheapest good overclocker 65nm) / E7200 (bit more expensive then E2xxx series but newer Penryn 45nm core and more cache, will probably hit higher speeds / Q6600 65nm (if you are going to use quad core, willing to spend more money for 4 cores or maybe like quad core. It's a good chip :))
Also here you can check some differences between the cpu's:
List of Intel Core 2 microprocessors
E2xxx series overview

Motherboard:
- Gigabyte P35-DS3R
- Asus P5K
- MSI Neo2 FR
- Abit IP35
(Just have a look at those motherboards and see what you need, how many Sata2/USB ports etc and make a choice)
RAM:
- PC6400 4-4-4-12 2x2GB (is better then 4x1GB as that strains the memory controller more)
- PC8500 5-5-5-18 2x2GB (is better then 4x1GB as that strains the memory controller more)
PC6400 should be sufficient.
 
Last edited:
Langlest said:
thanks again mate :D am i going to notice a big increase in performance?
Click to expand...

Went from a Venice at 2.7GHZ with 1GB of ram, to an E4300 +2GB of ram.

Performance jump even in basic windows stuff was massive, encoding, Photoshop, and gaming was just incredible.

I then went from The E4300 and 2GB to Q6600 and 4GB (both systems overclocked of course!) and once again I loved the performance jump.

Quad is basically perfect for me, as I do a lot of intensive work on my PC.

So in conclusion, heck yes :)
 
I would deffo recommend the Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case.

Very, very quiet with the 3 fans provided, loads of room and with some Yate Loons or similar you will have a quiet cool case.

I would also recommend a fan controller also as you can fit up to 7 fans in them, not including the CPU & GFX.
 
Wiggins said:
I would deffo recommend the Coolermaster CM-690 Dominator Case.

Very, very quiet with the 3 fans provided, loads of room and with some Yate Loons or similar you will have a quiet cool case.

I would also recommend a fan controller also as you can fit up to 7 fans in them, not including the CPU & GFX.
Click to expand...

I agree fully with Wiggins! Very good case :) I have it aswell, it's not that expensive and very good build with lots of room !
 
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