Considering an upgrade

[box]

Hi there,
I've been very happy with my current system for the last 3 years; it has been flawless on XP while doing work and playing games. But I have recently acquired Windows Vista and a 22" display. Windows Vista tends to really hog the CPU sometimes, and with a single core this is a nightmare. Also, with the widescreen my 6600GT is starting to show its age. I will be needing to buy another TFT soon as dual monitors are very useful when working. I thought this would be the ideal time to consider an upgrade.

My specs are in the sig. I am reluctant to replace the mainboard just yet, and so I have been looking into the following options...

Replace NVIDIA XFX 6600GT 128MB

with Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB here


Replace AMD64 3700+ 2.2Ghz

with AMD64 X2 4800 2.4Ghz (found for ~£140 on auction sites)


Buy either 22" widescreen or 17" standard TFT

Please let me know what you think of the above choices. Will the upgrades be compatible with Vista? (esp. the vid card)

Are there any special considerations when buying the 4800? e.g. the 4400 comes with either a 1MB or 2MB cache...I would be looking for the best version available if possible

I already have a 22" belinea widescreen. What would you suggest to use as a second monitor for displaying windows while working on the main screen? Widescreen? Standard screen?

And above all....will I notice a considerable performance increase?

Thanks for your help.

 

[box]

Everything there is compatible with Vista although the graphics card is still a DX9 part so you won't get some of the 'shinier' features that DX10 supports but that still only really applies to some games.

That was my only concern. Is there anything you would suggest waiting for?

Hello tim80bwi, what motherboard will you be using?

As regards to the CPU, is that £140 just for the AMD64 X2 4800 2.4Ghz?

Motherboard is the ECS KV2...yes I knows it's cheap and nasty! But it has served me well.

Yes that's £140 for the CPU w/heatsink + fan

 

[box]

Hello tim80bwi, at the price that you could well be paying for the AMD 4800 and the X1950 Pro, you may actually be better off either changing to the AMD AM2 socket of the Intel LGA 775. Just a suggestion that may well be worth looking in to.

snip

That is very tempting. My only reservation is that I have just spent £80 on replacing faulty DDR1 RAM. And you may think that was stupid, but it was either that or have no PC to work from...so I was a bit stuck. On the other hand, the said DDR1 modules are going for £50+ on auction so I may be OK. You've got me in two minds now!

If I am going for the complete overhaul I would want to clear up a couple of things. Firstly, what happens when I boot up having installed all the new hardware. Forgetting windows activation, I would presumably have all the old hardware drivers sitting around doing nothing on the hard drive. Will this cause any problems?

Also, I have heard that for clean builds these days, Intel are the people to go with...how much truth is in this?

PS: I have little experience of ATI product numbering...how does this 3850 compare against the 1950?

 

[box]

Fire Wizard, thank you for the very useful reply. I have only recently formatted to install Vista, and so am reluctant to do it again; although it's not a massive drawback...it's just the time required

In terms of overclocking, I guess the answer is I'm not sure. I've never really overclocked on the current system mainly because the motherboard is so naff, and keeps crashing Vista. But if you say Intels overclock well (on stock cooling) then I'd be open to giving it a go.

Yes I'm aware of the issues surrounding Vista OEM. I purchased a second license a while back for a different reason but never ended up using it, so hopefully I can use that and all should be ok.

Something to note is that if I did build up from scratch I'd be looking to spend a bit more than the equivalent of a sckt939 upgrade. I'm not too sure about buying 'value' components - would rather wait a month and buy the real deal. So I may just buy the monitor for now and sit on my hands for a couple of months.

From what I can see...

Upgrading current system incl. CPU, Graph ~ £200

Building from scratch incl. CPU, Graph, Mem, Mobo ~ £300 - 350 (minus £50 for selling old mem...so ~£275)

 

[box]

Hi tim,

re: the monitor, Id deffinatley recommend you get another of the same 22, dual screens of different sizes and resolutions can just be an annoyance - additionally, it's very hard to get 2 different monitors to output the same colour, oftem one of the RGB channels will be out. This is especially important if you do any photoshop/premiere work etc.

That's a fair point. I do web design so it probably won't be a massive issue. But I agree, symmetry is much easier on the eye.

 

[box]

Another thing I'm a bit confused about having been out of the component market for a few years: The CPUs being suggested are all £50-80. When I bought my 3700+ (which was mid/high-end at the time), I paid about £150 for it. Is it the case that CPUs have become cheaper, or are these CPUs a bit less powerful compared to today's lineup?

 

[box]

I see. How would these CPUs fair running something like Flight Sim which utilises CPU more than graphics power? In direct comparison I assume E2XX0 > X2 4800 sckt 939?