Computer Upgrade advice

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Joined
20 Jan 2005
Posts
1,116
Location
Leeds/Oxford
Hey, I'm currently using a AMD 1 core 3700, 1g ram and NV 7800 GT, 500W seasonic, 74gb raptor and a 200gb sammy spinpoint. It's seen me well but it's getting a little slow and with UT 3 around the corner I’m looking for something faster.

I would need:
*CPU (one of these quad cores?)
*Motherboard (mATX, not overclocking)
*RAM (4gb i guess)
*Graphics card

Looking at around a £500 or so budget, will spend more if it's worth it. How are things at the moment, worth waiting a few weeks for something new?

On another note what’s would you recommend for printers (all in one) which are good quality but most importantly have cheap cartridges (about £50 range for the printer).

Thanks
 
if you were to buy now then

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £31.99
(£37.59) £63.98
(£75.18)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £149.99
(£176.24) £149.99
(£176.24)
Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £142.99
(£168.01) £142.99
(£168.01)
Asus P5K-VM Micro ATX (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £64.99
(£76.36) £64.99
(£76.36)
Sub Total : £421.95
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £8.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £75.41
Total : £506.31

should meet your needs you may want to wait for the new 8800GT(whatever it is) to be released first though especially if you use plan to game on a high res or love eye candy. you will also need a 64 bit OS to see all the ram
 
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Using a Lian Li V300, which i still like. Could move back into my old tower if the ATX mobos are a lot better.

I won't be overclocking, too much hassle for me :)
 
the c2q overclocks really well and its really easy to do no 3rd party cooler should be needed unless you do a significant OC or want better temps,
i think the atx MB are better but if you want a micro atx MB then there isnt anyone stopping you.

i say unless your tower is a nice one (i.e. not a crappy generic one from you local rip off pc retailer) i say get a new case as well (maybe another lian li)
 
I'll leave it as me not overclocking, can always rebuy if i get a mobo that doesn't do well.

Also i've been AMD for a long time, which motherboards does the intel socket (775?) work with? Same for the quad cores?
 
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all desktop C2D and C2Q cCPUs are LGA775

But are all LGA775 motherboards C2D and C2Q supporting?

I generally have a fair few things going in the background when gaming so i think 4 cores might be nice, also heard games are "starting" to use more cores. How big is the speed difference is practice?
 
I'm pretty much set on the Intel Core 2 Quad Pro Q6600 and OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-5400.
Now motherboards are a muddle to me, decided i'm going to go ATX now, got a niceish case already, and will not be overclocking, just want something that will work.

Also what graphics card would be good for UT3, i guess around £200 budget for that. But i have no idea whats the right amount to spend. Will a 8800 GT be very good?

Thanks for you help so far
 
all mbs with the p35 and x38 chipsets are c2q compatible, some older boards will most likely need a bios flash or not support quad or have no ocign ability with them.

the 8800gt is currently the best high end card to get if you can get one. it is just a bit slower then the 8800GTX.
 
do you feel you need a new graphics card? because the one you have currently is still a pretty good card. so you could save yourself 150£ by not buying a new one, that is unless you want to do silly things like play crysis.
 
Well my current has been "ok", and been a little dodgy for me.
The gainwood version comes slightly overclocked am i right?

With motherboards i've done well with asus in the past, i guess they're still good. But what would be the best to go for, all i need is 1 IDE, 2 SATA, PCI-E x16. How much is advisable to spend?

Thanks for all the replies :)
 
how about

pcstuff1111tj2.jpg


basically what i will have/ already have, apart from the ram, and i have the OC2 bfg. , but im pretty your you can use 1 eye and 1 leg and overclock the GT to 710mhz core etc with no problems, even with stock fan (if you dont mind the noise)

the mobo up here would good to have pc6400 ram etc, and the GT is very good!!!, if you OC it to like 700mhz its the same as a GTX
 
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