First Upgrade, can you guys help me out?

eG-Dan

eG-Dan

eG-Dan

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30 Mar 2008
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Location
Liverpool, UK
Well I'm upgrading for the first time, although i know where and what everything is and does inside my PC.. i don't know what i should get.

I have a really low budget (£150), probably the dearest thing I'm going to buy is the Processor..

I have chosen the following processor, i know It's rather expensive and i could easily go for a Quad for a few pound more.. But quad will result in me having to get a new cooling fan, which is more money.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 6400+ Black Edition 3.20GHz

I already have a Motherboard with an AM2 socket along with 4 slots for Memory, so i don't really need to upgrade my mobo yet.

Next i have my RAM. In this PC i currently have 1GB (2x 512mb) DDR2. I'm planning on staying with XP so a 1GB stick should do fine.

Here's the one i have been dreading, the Graphics Card. This is something i have been comparing prices for. The market in Graphics Cards are ever-changing.. with the latest nvidea geforce's being released, and the newest ATI Raedon.. There are just too many to choose from! I need one that will generally have 512mb or more, hopefully opting for the geforce series @ 8600+ but they are all too expensive, if anybody could get me some cheap recommendations on this, that would be great, also it's PCI-Express :)

Finally It's the power-supply. I currently have around 230w for my AMD Athlon 64 single core processor and my GeForce 6150LE. Would 500w be sufficient for running all of the above?

Anybody who can help me out, that would be excellent. There is so much to choose from and I'm just so confused.

Cheers,
Dan

P.S: Some PC Info;

# Maximum Memory: 4096MB
# USB Support: 2.x Compliant
# Standard Memory: 1024MB removable
# Slots: 4 (2 banks of 2)
# Graphics Support: PCI Express x16
# Chipset: nVidia GeForce 6150LE
 
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if you can d/l a demo of sisoft sandra, everest or cpu-z would be useful to have more info on the mobo.

can you confirm that £150 is avilable to get psu, 1gb memory and gfx card ?
 
mp260767 said:
if you can d/l a demo of sisoft sandra, everest or cpu-z would be useful to have more info on the mobo.

can you confirm that £150 is avilable to get psu, 1gb memory and gfx card ?
Click to expand...

Hi Bud,

Cheers for the reply. £150 at the moment is available to get me a PSU, Processor and 1GB of RAM.

Cheers,
Dan

EDIT:
Smorgasbord said:
It's going to be used for games i assume?

If so, your best bet might be making the graphics a priority, then looking at the cpu a little later.
Click to expand...

I need a new CPU as a priority at the moment rather than graphics. The current card works perfect on Medium settings when playing CSS, Age of Conan BETA and Battlefield2142 on low.
 
i'd go for the following, realise you already have 2x512mb of memory, but for 1 gb its near enough the same price as 2gb, 2x512mb can be kept as spare in case of memory problems.

for £150 the processor u mentioned isnt really viable so moved down to the 5000.

Noticed on cpu-z that it lists the make as compaq, not sure if you can fit a "normal" psu in the case, as some of the company put together ones have issues with psu's/mobo's.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ Black Edition 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £49.99 (£58.74)

OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply £36.99 (£43.46)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £24.99 (£29.36)

Sub Total : £111.97
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £21.04
Total : £141.26
 
mp260767 said:
i'd go for the following, realise you already have 2x512mb of memory, but for 1 gb its near enough the same price as 2gb, 2x512mb can be kept as spare in case of memory problems.

for £150 the processor u mentioned isnt really viable so moved down to the 5000.

Noticed on cpu-z that it lists the make as compaq, not sure if you can fit a "normal" psu in the case, as some of the company put together ones have issues with psu's/mobo's.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ Black Edition 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £49.99 (£58.74)

OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply £36.99 (£43.46)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £24.99 (£29.36)

Sub Total : £111.97
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £21.04
Total : £141.26
Click to expand...

Cheers bud :)

Damn VAT, hence why this country and it's taxes are going boom crazy. I will probably order it sometime next week.

Once again, cheers bud.
 
mp260767 said:
i'd go for the following, realise you already have 2x512mb of memory, but for 1 gb its near enough the same price as 2gb, 2x512mb can be kept as spare in case of memory problems.

for £150 the processor u mentioned isnt really viable so moved down to the 5000.

Noticed on cpu-z that it lists the make as compaq, not sure if you can fit a "normal" psu in the case, as some of the company put together ones have issues with psu's/mobo's.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5000+ Black Edition 2.60GHz (Socket AM2) - Retail £49.99 (£58.74)

OCZ StealthXStream 500w Silent ATX2 Power Supply £36.99 (£43.46)

OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £24.99 (£29.36)

Sub Total : £111.97
Shipping : £8.25
VAT : £21.04
Total : £141.26
Click to expand...

Id run with what hes said.
 
Hmm, I've just been told that my Motherboard can only support 600mhz, is this correct or can i still buy the 800mhz RAM option?
 
when ram is rated at 800, in cpuz it'd show that it can run at lower speeds, don't worry about that mate

it'll work fine

it's like having size 10 slippers and size 8 feet

will have plenty of room for growth
 
bledd. said:
when ram is rated at 800, in cpuz it'd show that it can run at lower speeds, don't worry about that mate

it'll work fine

it's like having size 10 slippers and size 8 feet

will have plenty of room for growth
Click to expand...

Cheers Bud! :)

Last question, would a 500w PSU be sufficient for an AMD 6400+ and a GeForce 8800 PCI?
 
I think 500W is fine for a 8800GT, but you'll probably have to upgrade the PSU again when you next upgrade the graphics card.

Also, did you mean 8600, an 8800GT is quite a step up in price (about double).
 
Another question, I'm a total idiot at this, what graphics card am i best getting? I'm looking more at PCI-Express but will my system be able to hold that?

I know i need a new PSU but would i need anything else for this?
 
really depends on you're budget and what you plan to do with it.

noticed you mentioned the 8600GT, not much else at that price you could get any better.

other than that 3 options in order of price (cheapest first)

ATI Radeon HD 3850
nvidia 9600
nvidia 8800GT
 
I'm Just thinking... would my current PC be able to support PCI-Express? I'm looking at the sapphire graphics cards considering i could get a discount from them directly. Probably an ATI Radeon HD 3850.

Cheers :)
 
eG-Dan said:
I'm Just thinking... would my current PC be able to support PCI-Express? I'm looking at the sapphire graphics cards considering i could get a discount from them directly. Probably an ATI Radeon HD 3850.

Cheers :)
Click to expand...

from you're first post :

# Graphics Support: PCI Express x16

so yeah pci-e(xpress) is fine.

i'd go for the 3850 over the 8600.

depending on you're budget/discount u might be able to get a 3870, just a thought

psu i quoted will run that lot ok.
 
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