General upgrade help :)

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9 Jun 2008
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349
I think its time to replace my withering old amd 939pin 4200 x2, pc3200 ram and a8n-sli motherboard. :D Even though this computer does everything I want it to, I use other people's computers now and realize I could do with an upgrade :p

Basically what I will use from this computer is:

- Case...basic ATX case to be fair...it holds it all and presume is has good cooling. At the moment my AMD is OCed from 2.2Ghz to 2.8Ghz...has been for a few months now, although admittedly I did replace the fans that come with the case with some decent ones. Looking to replace in the future though.
- PSU...Antec NeoPower 55OW ATX2.2...no arguments there? Unless new mobo's need a new connection or something.
- GFX card...BFG 8800GTX 768MB OC2...although its old by today's standards its still a good card that I paid a lot of money for at the time.
- Sound card...X-Fi fatality pro.
- HDDs...got a 250GB and 300GB HDD in here...Sata 16MB cache basic 7200rpm. I WILL upgrade these, but I'll get onto that further on :)
- DVD-RW...I want to use my computer as a media centre...and will want a blu-ray player somewhere down the line...whereas I think the players are OK priced...the blu-ray films are not :X

I want to upgrade my computer in 2 parts;
1. Motherboard / CPU / RAM
2. Hard drives and any other upgrade I think

I can't give an accurate budget as of yet, I'm on a monthly wage which can go easily and learning to drive which makes it worse. Basically the provisional budget is around £550 for the first part of the upgrade, and around £300 for the second part of the upgrade.

I use my computer primarily for gaming, but will be using it much more soon when I get the equipment to make a decent media centre out of it...which on the agenda are some decent speakers and blu-ray player...and possibly a remote.

P.S I'm using Windows XP 32bit Home at the moment, Vista still hasn't grabbed me and I had loads of problems on 64bit XP.

So what do I have to overcome? :p Obviously the AMD or Intel thing...then to go DDR3 or not? Back when I got my AMD they were the clear winner and the only logical choice...now I'm like...AHHH! I've checked benchmarks and the new Phenom II/DDR3 combo seems better for gaming, but the equivalent Intel one...the i7 920 isn't that much worse but seems better at everything else...I'm stuck :P So I would like help on that please!!! This looks tasty but I'm thinking off getting the same with some faster RAM.

The other questions are...is it logical to get a solid state drive for the OS (thinking OCZ 30GB), and a decent sized sataII for my main storage and other games? I'm reading mixed reviews about the solid state drives, but comments on this site show its good if you use it for the OS...but they are 2.5"...do they even fit in the base?.

Also...is Vista worth it yet? :rolleyes:

Any help appreciated and thanks in advance!
 
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think you should give windows 7 64bit a try but if you insist on running 32 bit do not buy 6Gb of RAM!
 
The stock fan will do the job but in no way is it as efficient as any good value third party cooler. Plus, if you intend to overclock it's deff advised to get a separate HSF as you'll be very limited with a stock cooler.
 
hmmm my step-dad has a 'spare' Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler, but its the AMD version, its the same dimensions etc, will it fit the lga1366? I've read good reviews about it, so if I can get that free than all I'll get is a decent 120mm fan!

Am confused though, same name (ultra-120), but different fittings?
 
hmmm my step-dad has a 'spare' Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler, but its the AMD version, its the same dimensions etc, will it fit the lga1366? I've read good reviews about it, so if I can get that free than all I'll get is a decent 120mm fan!

Am confused though, same name (ultra-120), but different fittings?

unfortunately it wont fit there is two types of 120. lga 775/1366 and the amd version.. although deffo +1 for that cooler!! worth 45 quid and a decent fan...sycthe, noctua, xigmatek etc
 
OK for an update I basically realized my current case wouldn't house practically any after market cooler, so I have bought a case, some fans, fan controller and finally a new PSU.

What I bought:

Hiper Osiris Tower
3 X Noctua NF-P12 Vortex Control
Zalman ZM-MFC1 Black Multi Fan Controller
Corsair 750W PSU

Now I get paid on the 21st, hoping all the overtime has paid off and will allow me to be able to afford the major part of the upgrade and learn to drive, if not it will have to take a step back another month but I am keeping my hopes up! I will be using windows 7 RC as my main OS.

Anyway this is what I've picked, anything around £650 is my budget :)

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Then the month after will be finalizing the upgrade with a 4870x2 card and a blu-ray writer.

Thanks for all your help!
 
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