Generally, how would you rate my current system?

Ricochet J · 7 Apr 2007 at 19:44

I'm currently running

AMD Athlon 64 3200 Winchester @ Stock
GeIL 1GB RAM @ Stock
HIS iTurbo Excalibur x800xl @ stock although at a click of a button I can instantly overclock at manufacturer's settings
Samsung 160GB Spinpoint HDD
DFI NF4 UT Lanparty Motherboard

Right now I just want something with a but more umph! I want to be able to run games that are 2 years old like X3 at ultra high settings - I find myself settling for medium without any AA or AF!
Likewise for modern games, I don't buy them because I want to be able to run games at full whack! I can run Farcry at full whack with ease!
Not just games, I want my computer to start straight away and not slow down when I create multiple user accounts. Additionally I want to be able to install as many programs as I want without it slowing down significantly!

It's just that i'm hungry for more power! There was a time when the above system had some of the best componants!

I don't want to buy a new system either! I have a limit of £200.

What do you guys recommend?

Defcon5 · 7 Apr 2007 at 19:49

A 3700 (£40) followed by a x1950 pro, (£120) to start with, then sell your old gear and ram so you can buy a 2gb kit (£100)

Get clocking everything, the cpu should be good for at least 2.8Ghz

stinka · 7 Apr 2007 at 19:54

if you can find a bit more money this would sort you right out:

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Gigabyte GA_945PL_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667) £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61) Sub Total : £329.96 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 : £59.31 Total : £398.22

Ricochet J · 7 Apr 2007 at 20:05

Defcon5 said:
A 3700 (£40) followed by a x1950 pro, (£120) to start with, then sell your old gear and ram so you can buy a 2gb kit (£100)

Get clocking everything, the cpu should be good for at least 2.8Ghz

I was considering overclocking the CPU but I haven't got the foggiest to how to do it!

stinka said:
if you can find a bit more money this would sort you right out:

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Gigabyte GA_945PL_S3 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £44.99
(£52.86) £44.99
(£52.86)
Intel Core 2 DUO E4300 "LGA775 Allendale" 1.80GHz (800FSB) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667) £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61) Sub Total : £329.96 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 : £59.31 Total : £398.22

Will that run everything at max?

Richdog · 7 Apr 2007 at 20:07

Ricochet J said:
I was considering overclocking the CPU but I haven't got the foggiest to how to do it!

There are plenty of stickies on this forum and many more resources if you use Google.

Will that run everything at max?

Oh yes. Nice edit.

But you can get PC6400 speed DDR2 for the almost the same price as that Crucial, so the memory could be swapped for better. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-064-GL&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=813

stinka · 7 Apr 2007 at 20:12

Ricochet J said:
I was considering overclocking the CPU but I haven't got the foggiest to how to do it!

Will that run everything at max?

i was in the same boat 6 months ago now im pretty competant with the help of these forums

yes mate no probs, what res do you game at btw?

t31os · 7 Apr 2007 at 20:18

As a sidenote, any PC that you install multiple things to will in time become slower, regardless of the speed, unless you decrease the speed loss by spreading the data across more disks....

Example.

HDD1 - OS
HDD2 - Aps and Games
HDD3 - Storage

Of course in time it will also become slower, but not to the same degree, the key is to just keep the OS drive as free from unnecessary data.

However the faster the system, the less noticable this will be, but it will happen regardless as you add things.

Defrag often, delete temporary files, uninstall things you really don't need.

Ricochet J · 7 Apr 2007 at 20:23

stinka said:
i was in the same boat 6 months ago now im pretty competant with the help of these forums

yes mate no probs, what res do you game at btw?

I've got a crap 17" CRT monitor and play at the max res for that model which is 1024 * 768

t31os said:
As a sidenote, any PC that you install multiple things to will in time become slower, regardless of the speed, unless you decrease the speed loss by spreading the data across more disks....

Example.

HDD1 - OS
HDD2 - Aps and Games
HDD3 - Storage

Of course in time it will also become slower, but not to the same degree, the key is to just keep the OS drive as free from unnecessary data.

However the faster the system, the less noticable this will be, but it will happen regardless as you add things.

Defrag often, delete temporary files, uninstall things you really don't need.

I do it all the time!

stinka · 7 Apr 2007 at 20:44

Ricochet J said:
I've got a crap 17" CRT monitor and play at the max res for that model which is 1024 * 768

that system would kill that res no prob, id be thinking about a new monitor as well, down the line, and im using the Belinea 2225S1W 22" Widescreen. great for gaming and a tad over £200, also the v7 is worth a look