Cheap(ish) build/upgrade

GWillow

GWillow

GWillow

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Joined
16 Jun 2003
Posts
818
Location
Romney Marsh, Kent
Hi,

My son's graphics card has just given up on him, it's a shame as it's the best bit in the machine. The PC is based around an old Athlon 3000, 1.5GB ram some generic motherboard (he's asleep at the mo so can't check the make) and an AGP x1950 pro graphics card.

I thought about buying a new graphics card for him but thought I may as well bring his whole system a bit more up-to-date. As he' only 10 and only currently really uses the PC for MS Word, facebook and World of Warcract (not necessarily in that order) he doesn't need anything stonkingly fast but equally not a slouch.

For the moment he can use his old IDE hard drive (although I would like to be able to add a new sata drive in the future) and dvd drive and I plan (maybe) on giving him my GeForce 8800 GT (PCI express) and getting myself something a bit better. I'd like him to go 64bit and ideally a minimum dual core.

What would be a good route as a cost effective upgrade. I guess he'll need a motherboard, CPU and RAM, assuming he has my 8800.

I'm so out of touch with hardware these days I don't know where to start. I don't plan of overclocking the system.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Hi

I'd start by checking out the overclocked bundles, there's some great bargains to be had there...

Clicky

That'll take care of the important stuff to start off with - you didn't specify a budget but there's something for everybody there, from there you can upgrade HDD, GFX, etc after...

Instead of upgrading to a SATA HDD at a later date, have you considered going SSD?
 
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Yes, it will fit. The case has mixed reviews though, I'd be sure to read through them and weigh up the pro's and con's.

Case Reviews

I'm not sure about upgrading from an 8800GT on a £150 budget. I currently have an BFG 8800GTX and I'm considering going to a GTX 295. If I were to pick something in that price range I'd go for...

Clicky

... something like that, that's just personal preference though - I prefer NVidia and my last few cards have been BFG and I've been very happy with them. Not saying that's the best you can get for your money, it's just what I'd pick...
 
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