Choosing a new board

Quronos

Quronos

Quronos

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Joined
19 Oct 2005
Posts
170
Location
Swindon/Southampton
Hi all!

Its been about 2 years since I made my computer, and I'm thinking its time to make a new one. My PC has been reliable and great for what i need at uni, but Ive realised that its time for a change.

I want to be ready for the 64bit revolution when it arrives as Vista. I used to be in the know when it came to hardware, but since going to uni ive found it hard to keep up with it all and as such I dont have a great knowledge of whats hot and whats not any more!

I will be making my new machine in about 2 months time (hopefully) and being a student I dont have a lot of cash!

I'm budgetting about 250.00 GBP for the new system componants.
I already have the case I want to use. I bought it off a guy i know, its big and has lots of modding and cooling potential.

I'd like to stay with brand names like AMD, MSI, and ATI as ive never had a problem with them, anyone got any suggestions on boards, CPU's, RAM and HDD?

Im up for any suggestions outside of the box since ive not kept up with the hardware world.
 
I'll sell you my PC Matt when I'm done with it :p

£250 is a little sparse for all new components, it's just not going to happen.

If you keep your existing RAM and HDD then you'll be able to fit the following into your budget.

What you'll be after is a 939 socket AMD64 as they're about to plummet in price by up to 30%.

As for graphics cards, you'll probably be looking at an x1800xt in a couple of months when they drop to lesss than £130.

Not a clue about boards :D all I know is that DFI are good and make sure you get a PCI-E board as this'll be a hell of a lot more future proof and actually save you money in the graphics department as PCI-E cards are quite a bit cheaper.
 
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cheers for the offer mate, but i had such a laugh makin my last few PC's i'd prefer to make my own then i know whats what.

i made my last machine for about 200 GBP surley prices havnt sky rocketed that much!?

I will be lookin to get new HDD and RAM cause i wanna try and sell on my current PC as it is soon
 
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AM2 is the new socket from AMD and it's really nothing new. All it does is utilise DDR2 instead of DDR, which doesn't give any extra performance. IFAIK it's around the same price, but the only thing going for it is that AMD will be making new processors ONLY for this socket and the next (Which isn't planned for a while so it's not worth thinking about really) which will be hyper expensive, so that doesn't really fit in to your plan.

Do not underestimate 939, it's still got plenty of life in it!
 
sounds like 939 it is then!

anyone got any idea on a great 939 board by MSI for reasonable coinage?
 
I have no idea about boards tbh. I have an MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, which is an nForce 3 board, thus AGP. Pretty good board but nothing magnificent. Unless you want to keep your AGP card or go for a higher spec one then you'll need an nForce 4 board, and I have no clue on them :p

DFI are hot snot so if you can find a decent second hand on ebay for cheap (Unlikely but hey) then go for it.
 
Oh mate you are out of the loop!

A long time ago, DFI are more or less THE overclockers boards, known for well, everything you'd want in a board and more :p
 
bloody hell!

last time i made a PC, the only real manufactureres worth mentioning were gigabyte boards, MSI boards and someone else!

3 main manufacturers were blitzing everyone else!

seems thats changed!
 
Probably ASUS or ABIT, they're pretty popular now. Someone else will have to help you with the board I'm afraid, and the motherboard section isn't read by too many people :(
 
the other thing that you will have to watch out for is that your existing PSU will support a modern board as they draw a lot more on the +12V rail(s).
There's a good chance that you will need to budget for a new PSU too & a good 1 isn't cheap.
Tbh I would say wait until you are ready to build as availability & pricing will have changed by then.
 
Murzo said:
Post the specs of your current system.
Click to expand...


OK, but bear in mind its about 2 years old so no laughing LOL

AMD Athlon XP 2600
MSI MS6712-L (VIA KT400)
512MB DDR PC3200 RAM
Radeon 9600 pro 128MB graphics
120GB maxtor HDD
x16 dvd rom
crappy old CDRW
ANTEC case (performance series)
350watt power supply

Its old now, but has served me well in the 2 and a bit years ive had it. Like i said I want to be ready for Vista, but I'd also like something that I can upgrade in 6-12 months time!

I'm planning on getting a new PSU, cause I know mine wont be up for the task.
I think i'll be after a 500 or a 600 unless you guys suggest anything different
 
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