cheap upgrade

rorynewpc

rorynewpc

rorynewpc

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Joined
31 Dec 2005
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3
my current system is as follows:

Amd 1700+ 1.4ghz cpu
socket a mboard
80gb ide HD
512mb of ram

thing is it keeps crashing, i replaced the hard drive with a new one, done a memory check (ram is fine) so have put the fault down to either the cpu or mboard.

my question is this. should i buy a new socket A mboard, for about 30 quid.

or should i consider upgarding to a new 64 bit system, socket 939, sata 2 and pci express.

i dont really use the system for games, but for internet, itunes and some simple programs.

is it worth it??

any advice appreciated, just unsure as to the 'real' advantages of these new systems for programs other than gaming etc

cheers
 
a cheap socket 939 single core pc will more than suit your needs, for the price you will pay to get that socket A system back up and running, i'd say your definately better off using the money to upgrade to socket 939

heres a cheap potential buy to get a quick upgrade:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail - (£64.61)
Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard - (£46.99)

the motherboard will take your current RAM and graphics card, but it will also take the newer pci-e graphics cards to allow you to upgrade that later on
so you can stick your current memory/graphics card/HDD/etc into it and have the pc up and running straight away without spending much then upgrade the rest over time

id say you would want to get some newer DDR400 memory soon, as you will more than likely only have DDR333 or DDR266 at the moment, a cheap 512meg stick (all you'll need for what you want to do) is ~£40

then get a nice decent sized HDD, this is a very good buy at the moment;
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - (£52.86)

lastly get a pci-e graphics card whenever you want
 
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mikeymike said:
a cheap socket 939 single core pc will more than suit your needs, for the price you will pay to get that socket A system back up and running, i'd say your definately better off using the money to upgrade to socket 939

heres a cheap potential buy to get a quick upgrade:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice (Socket 939) - Retail - (£64.61)
Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 (Socket 939 & Upgradable to AM2) AGP & PCI-Express Motherboard - (£46.99)

the motherboard will take your current RAM and graphics card, but it will also take the newer pci-e graphics cards to allow you to upgrade that later on
so you can stick your current memory/graphics card/HDD/etc into it and have the pc up and running straight away without spending much then upgrade the rest over time

id say you would want to get some newer DDR400 memory soon, as you will more than likely only have DDR333 or DDR266 at the moment, a cheap 512meg stick (all you'll need for what you want to do) is ~£40

then get a nice decent sized HDD, this is a very good buy at the moment;
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - (£52.86)

lastly get a pci-e graphics card whenever you want
Click to expand...

unfortunately my RAM is SDram but i will be buying a 1 gig stick of DDR2

been doing some homework, and was thinking for the price of the 939 setup i could go to AM2 socket, for about 20 quid more than a 939 setup

just one question, if was to run a AM2 mobo and 3600 processor, what sort of power supply would i need, mine is noisy and probably underspecced, but from looking on the web i can find no advice on power supply spec.

i take it it will still fit in my ATX case???

was thinking of this setup:

M2v Atx Socket Am2 Via K8t890
AMD AM2 Athlon 64 3500 2.2GHz 512kb 940 pin OEM

is there an advantage to buying a reatil boxed CPU, as apposed to an OEM one? whats the difference?

cheers for the help guys
 
Retail packages come with a Heatsink Fan... OEM is simply just the CPU (or whatever ** buying) on its own.

That should fit in a standard ATX case, no problem.

With regarding the PSU... what do you have at the mo? brand? wattage? i wouldnt think you would need to worry about PSU Rails as your not requiring any insane graphics card etc....
 
so i should for a retail cpu so it comes with a heatsink and fan, cheers for that

:cool:

dunno about the spec of the psu but its in the case now so i'll have a look, its prob a 300W psu so should do the job for the minute.

just gotta decide on what motherboard to get now:

it must be AM2 with provision for ide HD and sata/sata2 HD's in the future.
will be buying a low spec pci express card to do me for the minute.
onboard sound is a bonus as only have an old soundblaster

do they do mobos with built in wifi now, as my wireless card is a cheap one and can be difficult installing drivers and doesnt always auto detect

and of course it must be ATX and a few etxra pci slots is always good.
 
no problem :cool:

ermm they do do one, but its for socket 775 which is Intel... im not sure whether they do one for AM2....

with the PSU the.... Enermax Noisetaker 370W EG375AX-VE(G) SFMA ATX2.0 PSU would be good... generic PSU's are usually always crappy lol.

that would last you, or get a higher wattage one if you plan on getting better graphics etc in the future. if you are going to get a graphics card in the future (high end graphics card) look at the Rails on the PSU spec... check the 12V rail mainly if u r getting a card... make sure its over 20A if a single rail if a dual rail or more then check the combined A's lol.... if not then ignore all that crap :)
 
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